The area labeled "Great Meadow" on the map is now a beaver pond.

Great blue herons and great egrets are common in season, as well as red-tailed hawks and red-wing blackbirds.

Ward Reservation is an emerald quilt of fields, forests, and uplands, stitched together from more than 40 distinct parcels across three hills, Shrub, Boston, and Holt. Looking out from their summits, you can see how the property melds with the surrounding landscape. On top of Holt Hill, the highest point in Essex County, you’ll find the “Solstice Stones,” a compass-like arrangement of stones set up to mark the sunset on the longest and shortest days of the year.

At the base of Holt Hill, along the nearly 10-mile trail network that connects the landscape, a boardwalk trail traverses a quaking bog comprising concentric rings of floating vegetation, each with unique growing conditions. The bog is home to a number of interesting plant species, including orchids and insect-eating pitcher plants. Stop at the numbered stations along the way, each of which signals an interesting botanical or geologic feature.

Almost 10 miles of trails, easy-to-moderate hiking, strenuous in places. Some of the trails here are part of the Bay Circuit Trail, a regional greenway linking the North Shore and South Shore.

The AllTrails website has descriptions and maps of hikes at Ward Reservation.