Reports of WOFC meetings
Gavin Hageman writes: At 7:15pm – about ten minutes after sunset – on Friday 22 September, fourteen of us, including Maggie’s two enthusiastic and bubbly grandchildren, met at the Woodford Way car park in Witney to look (or rather listen) for bats.
Thirteen of us met with leader John Baker in Stonesfield Church car park on the grey but dry Sunday morning of 17 September. Owen Green from the Oxford Geology Trust came along too, so we had a full quota of Geology experts! Thus began a fascinating and rather exciting morning of discovery.
On the mercifully cooler afternoon of Sunday 10 September following a week of temperatures regularly reaching 30 degrees C, a group of non-arachnophobes assembled at North Leigh Common for an excursion led by Lawrence Bee. Lawrence’s background was in ecological and environmental education, and he developed specific interests in spiders and insects, and has co-written several beautifully illustrated books on the subject.
Ten of us met near Swinbrook church in the evening of 12 July for a walk in the area followed by a hunt for glow-worms after dark.
The Club had a stand in the marquee at the Wychwood Forest Fair at Foxburrow Wood, on Sunday 9 July, again this year.
Sixteen members signed up for the FarmEd walk before the Club’s 60th birthday lunch on 3 August. We learned a great deal from Danielle, our walk leader, who gave us a short introduction about the aims of the not-for-profit organisation at Honeydale Farm, ie “to inspire, educate and connect people to build sustainable farming and food systems that nourish people and regenerate the planet”.
Sue Morton writes: The Club is 60 years old this year, and we marked the occasion with a lunch on 3 August at FarmEd, near Shipton under Wychwood.
Despite the recent unsettled weather, our butterfly hunt on 20 July struck lucky with the elements, and fine, calm conditions netted a fully subscribed haul of members, and a good range of butterflies too.
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.
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