Linda Loring in Cyberspace!

Nearly a year after hiring Kitty Pochman as her executive director and E. Vernon Laux as property manager and resident naturalist, the Linda Loring Nature Foundation (LLVF) is now online at llnf.org. Throughout the summer, the LLNF is holding open houses to introduce its property to island residents and its visitors. On July 9, Aug. 16 and Sept. 20, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., meet the LLNF staff, board and volunteers for guided walks, children's activities, family fun and refreshments at the property. Call 228-0873 for details and to register.

Learn basic identification of birds, butterflies, dragonflies and other winged Nantucket creatures with resident naturalist E. Vernon Laux during Things with Wings today from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., July 16 and 30, and Aug. 13 and 27 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. And when nesting and fledging is finished for shorebirds, their fall migration preparations commence. Shorebirds on Nantucket and those passing through headed north and south all use the island as a staging area for eating and resting. This makes for excellent bird watching and identification practice with Laux, who will lead birding trips on Friday mornings in August. Trips depend on the tide, call 228-0873.

Hatching shorebirds

With Great Point closed until hundreds of least terns and less than a dozen piping plovers teach their chicks how to fly - called fledging - this does not mean that there's nothing to do at the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge that includes Great Point, when it's open. The Trustees of Reservations and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, which share ownership and management of these amazing barrier beach, salt marsh, tidal pond and wooded ecosystems are hoping visitors will look beyond the beach towels and fishing rods.

To do this, the Trustees are offering four different experiences through October. First, is the Trustees' 2-hour Natural History Tour that enlightens visitors to the wonders of the largest salt marsh on Nantucket, the Glades, via oversand vehicle. This tour rallies at the Wauwinet gatehouse at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. daily and costs $30 for members and $40 for nonmembers, and $15 for children 12 and under.

Get all the angles on saltwater fishing from the beaches along the ocean and ponds on the Fishing Discovery Tour on Thursdays and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. For members only, $65 for adults and $20 for children 12 and under. Go on a field trip with the students of the Nantucket New School on the Coskata Woods Quest to discover the forest between Coskata Pond the and beach-dune system facing the ocean 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Nonmembers may walk out to the Coskata woods after picking up their educational materials at the gatehouse.

Also, when Great Point is open, its lighthouse is open to members 1-2 p.m. daily for climbing its interior spiral staircase. Call 228-6799 for details.

SHAB's sort of summer vacation

Depressing as it may seem to those very few, but dedicated attendees of the Shellfish & Harbor Advisory Board meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, SHAB is cutting back its meeting schedule to one meeting each for July and August.

Typically, July and August are the toughest months for the board to secure a quorum. For these two months, SHAB will meet on the third Tuesday.

But, fear not, the regular meeting program resumes with September's first meeting on Sept. 2. For details, call the Marine & Coastal Resources Department at 228-7261.

Horseshoe crab quota

If you are a horseshoe crab fisherman, you should know that the state's Division of Marine Fisheries, acting with the approval of the Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission, amended the temporary closure of this fishery last week. The DMF changed the closure date from July 1 to July 7, lowered the daily catch limit from 1,000 to 400 crabs, instituted a moratorium on new permits and new overall quota of 165,000 crabs instead of 330,377.

For details, contact the DMF at 617- 626-1520. I