Here are some of what the Friends of Chandler Pond are up to!
June Watercolor Painting Workshop
On Saturday, June 15, Boston Parks and Recreation hosted a free Watercolor Painting Workshop on the shores of Chandler Pond!
BC Grant for restoration of Chandler Pond
Left to Right: State Representative Kevin Honan, Ryan Woods, Commissioner, Boston Parks & Recreation, Song Ferguson, Friends of Chandler Pond, Bill King, Friends of Chandler Pond, Boston City Councilor Liz Breadon, Jeanine Brennan, Friends of Chandler Pond, Anabela Gomes, BC Task Force Chair, Ben Tocchi, District Director-State Rep. Michael Moran, Tom Keady, BC, VP for Government & Community Affairs
On Februrary 1, 2024 Friends of Chandler Pond & Boston Parks & Recreation were presented with a $250,000 Boston College Neighborhood Improvement Grant Check. This will be used towards the Shoreline Restoration project which will include removal of invasives, plantings of native vegetation and the creation of accessible access points.
January 2024 Pop-up at the Brighton Winter Farmers Market!
Thanks to all of you who braved the cold and stopped by the Friends of Chandler Pond table at Winter Farmer’s Market last Saturday to join as new members and volunteers and to make pine cone bird feeders for our feathered friends. If you missed us this weekend, we’ll be back at the farmer’s market on February 24 and March 23 — we hope to see you there!
spring and Late Fall 2023 Bird Walks
Late Summer bird walk photo by Fred Weissman
Our birder-in-chief Ryan Doherty led several bird walks this year, spotting birds including Tufted Titmouse, Northern Rough-winged Sparrow, European Starling, American Goldfinch, Northern Parula, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Osprey, Great Blue Heron and Double-crested Cormorant.
Here's the complete list of what we saw in an early spring bird walk.
Photos by Bill King (top row), Fred Weissman (middle row cormorants and heron) and Jeanine Brennan (bottom row)
Spring 2022 Friends of Chandler Pond-sponsored Bird Walks!
Ryan Doherty leads our first Bird Walk in early April. Photo by Bill King.
In April and early May 2022, Friends of Chandler Pond sponsored three bird walks led by birder Ryan Doherty, sighting 30+ species. These included: Mallard, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, European Starling, American Robin, Song Sparrow, Chirping Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Canada Goose, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle, Northern Cardinal, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, American Goldfinch, Palm Warbler, Yellow-Rumped Warbler and an Osprey.
These were the first bird walks that Friends of Chandler Pond sponsored. We’ll do more!
Chandler Pond is a wonderful place to look for birds, especially during migration season. It is also officially an eBird hotspot!
Savannah Sparrow photo from a recent Chandler Pond bird walk; Ryan Doherty
April Bird Walk photo by Bill King
April Bird Walk photo by Bill King
Northern Flicker photos by Margery Wieder
2021 Friends of Chandler Pond Fall Festival
We had so much fun at the 2021 Chandler Pond Fall Festival on October 2. Pond-lovers, kids, neighbors, residents, visitors and pets enjoyed a day of fun, live music, magic, watercolor painting, Mass Audubon wildlife demonstrations, sack-races, games, ice cream, pizza, and more. All to celebrate Chandler Pond and bring attention to the great work that the Friends of Chandler Pond do.
We can’t wait to do it again next year!
Spring 2021 Garlic mustard Clean-Ups
This spring Chandler Pond friends gathered to help clear garlic mustard from the path near the pond. Garlic mustard is an incredibly invasive plant that spreads every spring and surrounds Chandler Pond (and neighboring backyards). It's easy to remove this time of year and needs to be pulled up and disposed of carefully. More than a dozen volunteers gathered over two weekend days in May to carefully remove and bag it it before it took over the pathway near the pond.
More pond clean-up days are planned this year, watch our newsletter for details! If you’d like to get our emails and volunteer to help us clean up the pond, visit our home page and enter your email address at the bottom of the page.
Fall 2020 Pond Clean-Up Day #2
In early, Massachusetts October State Representative Kevin Honan and Allston Brighton City Councilor Liz Breadon joined more than 20 Friends of Chandler Pond for our 2nd pond clean-up of 2020. Everyone wore masks while we removed overgrowth, leaves and vines around the pond.
More clean-up days are planned this fall, watch for our Events page for details! If you’d like to volunteer to help us clean up the pond, visit our home page and enter your email address at the bottom of the page.
Fall 2020 Pond Clean-Up Day #1
In mid-September, 2020, new and old Friend of Chandler Pond gathered for our first clean-up since the pandemic. We wore masks and stayed in family groups for a socially-distant removal of leaves, vines and overgrowth in several areas around the pond.
Fall 2019 Pond Clean-Up Day
On October 19, 2019, more than a dozen Friends of Chandler Pond members gathered on a sunny Saturday for a fall clean-up on the east side of the Pond. The hard-working group cleaned and raked more than 50 bags of leaves, vines and overgrowth around the pond. The clean-up included removing debris from a recent storm cyclone that swept through Boston and had filled the pond pathways and shoreline with downed tree limbs.
2019 Chandler pond fall festival
More than 200 people came to the 2019 Chandler Pond Fall Festival on September 14, co-sponsored by Brighton Main Streets and the Brighton-Allston Historical Society. Pond-lovers, kids, neighbors, residents, visitors and pets enjoyed a day of fun, live music, watercolor painting, Mass Audubon wildlife demonstrations, sack-races, games, ice cream, pizza, magic and more. All to celebrate Chandler Pond and bring attention to the great work that the Friends of Chandler Pond do.
Late Summer 2019 Pond Clean-Up Day
On August 31, more than a dozen Friends of Chandler Pond members met at the park, rolled-up their sleeves and cleared invasive weeds, suckers and vines from the southwest areas surrounding Gallagher Memorial Park, and all along Lake Shore Road. The clean-up resulted in more than 30 bags of weeds, vines and invasive growth which were choking native plants and trees.
Invasive trees and vines threaten the health of the pond area and we always need volunteers to help.
summer 2019 pond clean-up Day
On August 2, Friends of Chandler Pond members brought their clippers, wheelbarrows, rakes, and gloves to clean up the northwest corner of Gallagher Memorial Park. The clean-up concentrated on overgrown areas around pine trees planted by the Parks Department which had become choked with invasive sumac trees and vines.
Parks Department weed demo day
On July 30, 2019, Boston’s Head Arborist, Greg Mosman, and the City of Boston Arborist/General Foreman, Max Ford-Diamond, met with members of the Friends of Chandler Pond for a hands-on demonstration of how to remove invasive suckers from trees from around the pond, and a discussion about how to identify and prune weeds and invasive plants on the park grounds. Invasive plants are one of the greatest threats to the nature around Chandler Pond because they out-compete, displace, or kill native plants and trees.
POND WALK-THROUGH WITH NEW PARKS COMMISSIONER
In July 2019 , members of the Friends of Chandler Pond were joined by Boston’s new Parks Commissioner, Ryan Woods, and Christopher Cook, the Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space, for a walk around the pond to view invasive trees, plants and algae, and to discuss ways the city can help maintain and restore the health of the pond in the upcoming year.
