Reports of WOFC meetings
It was a bit grey and chilly on the 27th of April when ten of us met with volunteers Sylfest Muldal and his colleague Mike for a three hour, highly enjoyable walk at the RSPB Otmoor reserve.
Field Club walks are usually not very challenging, but this one was different: it was variously described as an obstacle course or even an adventure. Despite the challenges, we found what we had gone to look for and people enjoyed the adventure, or at least seemed to.
On Saturday 25 March twelve members met at Grange Farm, Bruern to learn about the Littlestock Brook natural flood management project. Ann Berkeley, who is the project manager of the Evenlode Catchment Partnership,
first explained the origins of the project and then gave us a tour of the key sites. Although it was a sunny morning, albeit with a cold wind, it was very muddy underfoot – as you might expect – as we followed Ann across the fields to look at the leaky dams, swales and bunds used for flood management!
It was noticeably an all-female group of eleven who visited the Oxford University Herbaria on the 17th of February, where we enjoyed a fascinating afternoon led by Professor Stephen Harris from the Department of Plant Sciences.
Club visit to Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Slimbridge, Sunday 8 January 2023.
As I am writing this the weather is wet and claggy, so we were lucky on Sunday when six of us arrived at Slimbridge for 11am and it was bright and clear. Starting at the Rushy hide we worked our way down to the Holden Tower before lunch.
It was snowing in Witney; the mercury had fallen to minus four the previous evening; there were warnings of freezing fog, and England were out of the World Cup. On top of that there was a report that the lake was almost completely frozen. It didn’t look good for our birding visit to Pit 60.
St Sepulchre’s Cemetery, 20 November 2022
A Field Club visit to a long abandoned Victorian graveyard hidden off a back street in Oxford’s Jericho area to study the geology of the gravestones might not seem to have an immediate appeal. However, this visit proved to be fascinating on many different levels for those who came. St Sepulchre’s, we discovered, was a haven of quiet and has become something of a small nature reserve in the heart of the city.
Pop-up Fungus Foray at Foxholes, 30 October 2022
At this time of year, fungi pop up like, well, mushrooms – and so do Field Club walks! Our second pop-up walk of the winter season was at Foxholes, a BBOWT reserve near Bruern, which is always worth a visit at this time of year for fungi.
Visit to Thenford Arboretum and Gardens 21st October 2022
We have been treated to some glorious weather over the past year for our walks and outings, but today – Friday 21 October – was an exception. The rain came down in torrents. However, five doughty club members donned waterproofs and braved the downpours. It was well worth the effort.
Sunday 16 October was a glorious day when ten of us met with Peter Creed for a morning’s fungus foray. Peter led us through a variety of habitats, each very different and thus providing a variety of fungi.
WEST OXFORDSHIRE FIELD CLUB