Mass Audubon Burncoat Pond Wildlife Sanctuary — Attraction in Spencer

This place is beautiful! Bit of advice, more than your usual amount of bugs. In certain spots, it was unbearable. Also, this place is exploding with mushrooms, didn't see much wildlife while there ( it was pretty hot though). The one place we found with no bugs was Robert's outlook, a really pretty view of Burncoat Pond. My only complaint (besides getting 3 bugbites on my face) is that the trails are a bunch of loops that don't really go anywhere. The trails are very well marked but if you go to the right from the parking lot, that trail loop takes forever and goes nowhere special. Plus it's mostly through a buggy swamp. Im sure in a different season it'd be fine but it was a mosquito labyrinth for a while there... Going left towards Sibley farm was prettier and...

Pretty nice area to wander through. Good mix of terrain. Meadows, woods, hills and low wetlands. Lots of bird species, native and introduced plants, amphibians, bugs and small mammals. Trails are clean and mostly well marked though full of stones and roots. Parking and trail maps can be found at the Sibley Farm trail head marked on Google Maps. This is also the easiest place I've found to access both Sibley Farm and Burncoat Pond trails. Most (not all) trails eventually loop back if you walk them far enough, though some are pretty long and can be steep. Fairly quiet, not much road noise. Open fields surrounded by woods offer a variety of wildlife photo opportunities. No restroom/porta potties or trash cans so be prepared to pack out...

An odd one, there is a sliver of parking and the trailhead is just next to a few private residence. That said the main trail is well marked, takes an exciting stretch through some wetlands, and comes to a gorgeous beaver dam and stream. I highly recommend the beaver bend loop; it is short but has a few fun climbs and gives some fantastic views of the beaver pond.

When we tried to continue on we came to a poorly bridged stream and then a dead end but I suspect the rest of the trail was...