八甲田山系の田代湿原でワタスゲの花が終わって綿毛が出ていると
新聞に掲載されていたので、さっそくカメラを片手に行ってきました。
今回は今まで以上にたくさんの花たちに出会うことが出来ました。
しかし、少し残念だったのは湿原全体の水位が下がっている様で、
湿原のあちこちに水たまりが有るのですが、これが池塘(ちとう)です。
この池塘が枯れた状態になっている所、あるいは溜まった水が少なくなって
そこに生えてたはずの水生植物が枯れてしまっているのが気がかりでした。
長い年月を経てこれまで水生動植物を育んできた湿原の様相が変化しています。
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I saw in the newspaper that the cotton grass flowers
 had finished blooming and fluff was emerging in the Tashiro Marsh
 in the Hakkoda mountain range, so I headed over there with my camera in hand.
This time I was able to see more flowers than ever before.
However, what was a bit disappointing was that the water
 level throughout the marsh seemed to have dropped,
 and there were puddles all over the marsh - these are ponds.
I was concerned that some of these ponds had dried up,
 or that the amount of accumulated water had decreased,
 causing the aquatic plants that would have been growing there to wither.
Over the years, the marsh that has nurtured aquatic plants
 and animals is changing in appearance.