Notes about your surroundings.

Bay Tours--The Friends of Upper Newport Bay will offer guided tours of the Back Bay area beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Tours will leave every 15 minutes or so, and the last tour will depart at 10:15 a.m. The tours are free and are led by a naturalist.

Participants are asked to meet at Back Bay and Eastbluff drives in Newport Beach. For more information, call (714) 646-8009.

Wetlands Tours--Guided public tours of the Bolsa Chica wetlands will be held Saturday morning. The tours, sponsored by the Amigos de Bolsa Chica group, will depart about every 15 minutes beginning at 9 a.m. from the wetlands’ ecological reserve. The last tour group will depart at 10:30 a.m.

The walks last about 90 minutes and are free.

Those who would like to take one of the tours are asked to meet at the ecological reserve on Pacific Coast Highway, about half a mile south of Warner Avenue in Sunset Beach, across from Bolsa Chica State Beach.

For more information, call the Amigos de Bolsa Chica office at (714) 897-7003.

Marsh Workday--A volunteer work session will be held at the San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve on Saturday, sponsored by the UC Irvine Cooperative Outdoor Program.

The work will involve light maintenance chores, including chopping cattails, repairing dikes and cleaning clogged drains. It will be from 1 p.m. to sunset.

Those who would like to volunteer for the workday are asked to meet at the UC Irvine Arboretum on the university’s north campus. For more information, call Bill Bretz, marsh steward, at (714) 856-6031.