Lindsay Fisher writes: And thinking about butterflies, as we were last week in Charlbury, reminded me of a recent visit to the Hampton Court Garden Festival.
Hampton Court Skippers
Reports of members’ activities and sightings
Lindsay Fisher writes: And thinking about butterflies, as we were last week in Charlbury, reminded me of a recent visit to the Hampton Court Garden Festival.
Brenda Betteridge, a long term member and one-time Newsletter editor of WOFC, has written some of her memories of the early days of WOFC [which seemed to be rather more adventurous then!]
John C. writes: Late on a rather warm Sunday afternoon nearly three weeks ago we were intrigued by the behaviour of some small bees in the unmown ‘meadow’ area of Sue’s garden.
John C. writes: Tidying up in the garden a couple of days ago I noticed some white deposits on stalks in my leaf-mould bin. It would have been easy to dismiss them as ‘just mould’ but I decided to look more closely – if you don’t look, you don’t find! – and what I found, though small, was extraordinary and really rather beautiful.
West Oxfordshire Field Club is 60 years old this year. Malcolm Brownsword, who is one of the club’s longest-standing members and a Vice President, has written some personal reminiscences of his time in the club.
Malcolm Brownsword writes:
At Aston Upthorpe Downs on 28 May, we found what we first assumed to be the sloughed off skin of a young adder. Subsequent research the next day suggested otherwise.
A neighbour of mine recently witnessed, and photographed, an event that he described as a scene of ‘fear and frustration’ through his study window.
Malcolm Brownsword writes:
In the last week of May, I discovered an uncommon arachnid in my garden. I had seen this species forty years ago on the Costa Blanca and about ten years ago at BBOWT’s Hartslock reserve on the flower spike of a Pyramidal Orchid. It’s the Flower Crab Spider, Misumena vatia.
As we were walking up Worsham Lane at about 9pm last Friday evening we saw what we took to be a caterpillar walking across the road. It had to be rescued. We encouraged it onto a leaf for a closer look.
Maggie Collins writes:
What a hullabaloo this morning at 5.30 am in suburban Witney! It sounded like crows so I got up, reluctantly, to see what it was all about. Hundreds (or so it seemed) of crows were flying around the houses in quite a state making a great racket on our normally quiet street – jackdaws and carrion crows as far as I could tell, once I got my binoculars out.