As always, Moth Morning on Saturday 1 July was a success, attracting a full quota of members. Despite it being cloudy, breezy, and cool with an occasional shower, there were plenty of moths collected overnight in the three traps.
John C. writes: Tidying up in the garden a couple of days ago I noticed some white deposits on stalks in my leaf-mould bin. It would have been easy to dismiss them as ‘just mould’ but I decided to look more closely – if you don’t look, you don’t find! – and what I found, though small, was extraordinary and really rather beautiful.
Perhaps it was too hot, but only four people joined Jan Guilbride for an extremely interesting two-hour stroll in the Pauline Flick reserve, near Great Rollright, on the morning of Sunday 25 June.
West Oxfordshire Field Club is 60 years old this year. Malcolm Brownsword, who is one of the club’s longest-standing members and a Vice President, has written some personal reminiscences of his time in the club.
Malcolm Brownsword writes:
At Aston Upthorpe Downs on 28 May, we found what we first assumed to be the sloughed off skin of a young adder. Subsequent research the next day suggested otherwise.
On the warm, balmy afternoon of Sunday 28 May, twenty-two of us wandered down Hill Valley at Aston Upthorpe. While we were being serenaded by blackcaps and whitethroats, we soon identified several butterflies: common blue, brimstone, peacock and small whites. Once we were on a rough chalk and flint hillside, there were the dingy skippers and to our delight what we thought was the rare grizzled skipper.
A neighbour of mine recently witnessed, and photographed, an event that he described as a scene of ‘fear and frustration’ through his study window.
Malcolm Brownsword writes:
In the last week of May, I discovered an uncommon arachnid in my garden. I had seen this species forty years ago on the Costa Blanca and about ten years ago at BBOWT’s Hartslock reserve on the flower spike of a Pyramidal Orchid. It’s the Flower Crab Spider, Misumena vatia.
Following Lisa Lane’s excellent talk about the Chimney Meadows Restoration Project in February, on Monday 15 May 2023 thirteen Field Club members met with Lisa once again to see the Project for ourselves. We were lucky in that it was a dry, fairly sunny day, although the wind was chilly.
As we were walking up Worsham Lane at about 9pm last Friday evening we saw what we took to be a caterpillar walking across the road. It had to be rescued. We encouraged it onto a leaf for a closer look.
WEST OXFORDSHIRE FIELD CLUB