Reports of members’ activities and sightings
John C. writes: “Pit 60”, an old gravel pit in the lower Windrush Valley at Standlake is one of my favourite birding places, not only because it’s only a few miles from home, but because of the numbers of ducks you can see there.
The week before last, Elaine Steane visited the Somerset Levels. She writes: I joined five others on a Naturetrek-led two day visit to the Somerset Levels, based from a very comfortable old coaching inn, The Swan in Wells, just opposite the Cathedral.
Mary Elford writes: On Sunday my family and I went to Lashford Lane Fen in Dry Sandford. We love this small but important reserve that hardly anyone seems to visit. We hadn’t been in the autumn before so didn’t know whether it might be good for fungi. We concentrated our search in the woodland area.
Maggie Collins writes: On a short walk to the Windrush Valley recently we spotted some Blue Fleabane, Erigeron acer, still in flower. There were plenty of seedheads about so it must also have been flowering at its normal time of July and August.
John C. writes: Whilst cleaning out nest boxes with the LWVP volunteers at Standlake last Thursday morning (12 October) we noticed some fungi on a log at the side of the track. I didn’t pay much attention to them at the time but after we’d finished and I’d spent an hour or so in one of the hides, I went back for a closer look.
Sue Morton writes: You know what it’s like packing to go away – you can’t take everything, and this time my bat/cricket detector didn’t make the cut. I regretted this almost immediately when we arrived in Germany last month to balmy evenings, just right for bats, and resigned myself to a cricket-free holiday, as most bush-crickets’ songs are too high pitched for us to hear except through a bat detector.
John C writes: Our recent post about the solitary bees in Sue’s garden (Intrigued by Bees) stimulated quite a lot of interest amongst members, so a (rather belated) update seems in order.
Malcolm Brownsword writes: On 9 August Valerie and I went for a walk along the banks of the Thames, from the bridge by The Barley Mow downstream towards Little Wittenham. After only a few hundred metres we came to a large pool, one of several created by The Earth Trust in the Upper Thames region, and were pleasantly surprised to see a (ringed) Great White Egret.
Lindsay Fisher writes: Maggie C’s recent post about alder tongue galls reminded me of a curious disease that ruined our damson crop this year. Suddenly the apparently normal young fruits exploded into grotesque elongated shapes, turning pale and withering without forming stones.
Maggie Collins writes: After the FarmEd lunch last Thursday (3 August), a few of us took a walk around the farm. Down near the pond we spotted some young alder trees with interesting additions.
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