Sixteen club members plus two visitors recently ventured into a remote area of mid-Wales for a long weekend of bird watching in the Elan Valley near Rhayader, a very quiet area (in)famous for the four Victorian reservoirs which supply water to the West Midlands.
Frances Ashling reports:
4 o’clock on Sunday the 5th of May. It’s still dark, surprisingly cold, and very quiet.
John C writes: Even though it’s spring, it hasn’t felt like it for the last couple of days and we spent another damp Sunday afternoon at Pit 60, which, as usual, was not without its rewards.
On 21 April 2024 eight of us embarked on a somewhat risky trip to Barnsley Warren in Gloucestershire, prepared for every challenge from safely parking in a small lay-by right next to a racetrack of a road (The Fosse Way), to climbing down steep steps on a half-hidden bank beyond a hedge, to climbing up and over a rickety ladder stile to land on the side of a precipitous hillside, where the only tracks were those formed horizontally by the age-old tread of sheep.
Maggie Collins writes: Spring seems to be here at last and at the moment the heavy rain is holding off. Jill T called on me to say that Large Red Damselflies were hatching in her pond….
On Sunday March 17, sixteen of us gathered at the Village Hall car park in Adelstrop for a walk to look for signs of spring. A wonderful spring day – long awaited, blossom on the trees, blue sky, white clouds and a mild breeze.
John C. writes: Whilst everyone else was heading off at high speed in the hope of tea and cake at Chastleton House on last Sunday’s walk from Adelstrop, I was lagging behind, turning over wet logs in the hope of finding (what else?) slime moulds. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one interested in them.
One of the first signs of spring is to see a butterfly – a brimstone or perhaps a small tortoishell. But where do they come from, and why do they emerge so soon?
John C. writes: When a fight started in the playground at school the shout of ‘Bundle!’ would go up and everyone would pile in. Well, kids probably couldn’t get away with that these days but the coots at Pit 60 clearly don’t know anything about that.
Lindsay Fisher writes: Most noticeable fungi appear in the autumn, but last month’s wet weather produced quite a crop of eye-catching specimens in Witney’s Deer Park Wood.
WEST OXFORDSHIRE FIELD CLUB