Captain Meriwether Payne, one of our neighbors at the Shore, runs a small boat touring company out of Wachapreague. If you ever want an introductory course on the Shore and the abundance of natural wonders in and all around it, spend an afternoon on the water with her; or better yet, a whole day. Captain Payne first came to the Eastern Shore as a child, when her parents purchased a farm near Locustville, on the Seaside, not far from the Fish and Golf Camp. She is a biologist and horticulturalist, a lovely person, and a Board Member of the Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust. With her knowledge and her Carolina Skiff, you'll learn about -- and experience for yourself -- flounder and farming, watermen and Whimbrels, seals and seagulls, the shifting barrier islands and all the other environmental and economic issues facing Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
The diverse seabird population is Captain Payne's special expertise. Oyster Catchers, Least Terns, Plovers, and Blue Herons; Canadian Geese, Common Terns, Skimmers, Dunlin, Gull-billed Terns, and Laughing Gulls. She also knows the marshes and the reefs, the whelks and guts, the bays and the pirates too. There's a lot of nature out on the water, and a few people too. And Captain Payne captures it all, in her words and in beautiful photographs. Here are just a few of those photographs from her recent trips. They are gifts; and reminders, on this Easter and Passover weekend, of the grace and beauty that surrounds us, as we work out our past, craft our future, and try to live in the moment.
A Great Blue Heron in the seagrass just outside of Wachapreague.
A bathing Dunlin with a "water snake" around its neck.
A Harbor Seal, sunning and a bit perplexed by Captain Payne's attention.
An American Oystercatcher, picking at the oysters in Burton's Bay.
Snow Geese on a farm field adjacent to Finney Creek.
American Oystercatchers bunched up at high tide.
A Dunlin feeding in the bay just off the Fish and Golf Camp.
These seals will be gone from the Shore by the end of April, heading north to cooler waters.
A Great Egret and her stunning reflection in the marsh.
Northern Pintail Ducks.
A group of Dunlin in the shallows and the mudflats at dusk.
A pair of Gadwall.
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