Reports of WOFC meetings
Despite a dismal weather forecast for Sunday 7 July, fifteen members of the Field Club met in a lovely garden in Shilton for our annual moth morning. It was great to have several members who had never been to this event before.
On Sunday 23 June a group twelve members gathered outside Chadlington Bowls Club for a leisurely evening stroll up Green Lane, kindly led by Brenda Betterigde. Our main objective was to see the variety of plants growing on the calcareous terrain. We were favoured by warm sunny weather with a very slight breeze, enough for two hot air balloons to put in a leisurely appearance.
It was hard to imagine that, on 15 June, we were only five days away from the Summer Solstice as we walked across the Common, clad in several layers, including gloves. It was certainly very cool. Dark clouds threatened rain but fortunately we stayed dry.
Our proposed visit to Hackpen Hill for today – Sunday 9 June – had to be cancelled, so we announced a ‘pop-up’ walk instead and took the opportunity to enjoy an amble across Stonesfield Common to look for wild flowers. And we found plenty!
On the cloudy but pleasantly warm morning of Monday 3 June, eleven of us met at Miles Gibson’s fruit farm in Westwell. Miles had invited us over for a guided walk during which we could learn about his organic techniques in growing fruit and we could help to identify plants and other wildlife.
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.
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.
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.
Rather disappointingly, only five members came to the exhibition at Nature in Art in Twigworth, near Gloucester, on 15 February. Perhaps it was the distance that deterred people or maybe just lack of interest, who knows? However, those who did come along were able to enjoy some really exceptional photography.
WEST OXFORDSHIRE FIELD CLUB