Reports of WOFC meetings
After all the gloom of the past few weeks, not to mention wind and rain, we struck lucky for our walk around Blenheim. The day started sunny and remained dry and pleasant throughout our walk.This was very a different day from our visit to Bury Down on 10th December last year when we experienced driving rain and a Force 8 gale!
3rd November 2024
The Club’s annual fungus foray was a bit further afield than usual this year, but it was well worth the journey.
27th October 2024
Julia Reid writes:
Sometimes things go just right and our day out with leader John Baker was just one of those days. We had really hoped for a dry day so that we could enjoy the views of the Golden Ridge and it could not have been
more perfect.
Jill T writes:
Sunday the 13th of October: thirteen members of the Field Club set out, on a cool but sunny morning, for a short walk around the Ditchley Park environs. While waiting for all the group to arrive, we had already noted Hedge cranesbill and Knapweed in still flower and a Jay flying overhead, a promising start.
After a few days of very heavy rain and flooding, we all wondered whether this outing was a good idea. However, undaunted, seven of us set off to the Forest of Dean, appropriately clad in waterproof gear and wellies. One of the aims of the trip was to learn about a beaver reintroduction project in the area.
Asthall Circular Walk, Sunday 15th September 2024
John Baker writes:
Led by Maggie Collins, this was a well attended walk which took us through one of our most beautiful and familiar rolling landscapes. The threatened rain faded quickly and we were interested to note that in spite of the invasion of customers for the newly opened Jeremy Clarkson pub, on the A40 above Asthall, the peace of the surrounding countryside had not been spoilt.
Visit to Parsonage Moor Sunday 25th August 2024
Julia Reid writes:
We were so lucky to have chosen Sunday for this visit. Saturday had been a day of relentless heavy rain and would have been miserable. Instead, we were treated to a day of cloud but no rain and although paths were damp, with puddles in places, they were perfectly navigable. So twelve of us set off, led by expert naturalist and photographer Peter Creed for what turned out to be a fascinating and really enjoyable morning. Grass of Parnassus was what we were hoping to see, but there was a lot more, and some suprises too.
Whitecross Green Wood 8 August 2024
This ancient woodland once formed the Royal Forest of Bernwood. BBOWT have been felling the Scots Pines planted there in the 1960s and are replacing them with broad-leaved species. The mainly-straight rides are particularly wide, thus letting in plenty of sunlight to encourage growth of plants to encourage butterflies, moths and other insects. For the day of our visit, the forecast was for drizzle, and unfortunately this proved to be correct. Consequently the twelve members who attended got rather wet!
Eight members of the Field Club met on a very warm 18th July at Daneway Banks, near Cirencester. This stunning 17-hectare Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust reserve sits on limestone grassland untouched by modern farming. The combination of butterflies, beautiful wildflowers, and unique landscape features make it a fascinating destination, well worth the drive.
Seven members of the Field Club plus one, very welcome, visitor met in Swinbrook churchyard for an evening walk before looking for glow-worms. We had a fine evening and heard or saw several birds, including Stock Dove, Tawny Owl and Barn Owl. We stopped to peer at the River Windrush just past the Church at Widford before heading up the hill track that took us past Manor Farm and the site of the medieval village. The fields looked magnificent as they were planted with Phacelia tanacetifolia (sometimes called fiddle neck).
WEST OXFORDSHIRE FIELD CLUB