Reports of members’ activities and sightings
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.
Maggie Collins writes: Several members of the Field Club joined the Wychwood Flora Group on Sunday, 26 March to survey the Yellow Star of Bethlehem, Gagea lutea, at Whitehill Woods, near Stonesfield. Genny Early’s report for the Flora Group follows:
John C. writes: Last Thursday, as usual every fortnight, I spent the morning with the LWVP volunteers, this time tidying up the Windrush path at Standlake (which made a change from removing tree guards at Rushy Common!). It was a lovely sunny morning and Willow Warblers were singing everywhere, although there seemed to be fewer Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs than when Sue and I were there on Easter Monday.
John C. writes: Don’t be put off by the name! Slime moulds, or Myxomycetes to give them their posh scientific name, are perhaps some of the natural world’s most weird and wonderful organisms. They are everywhere but usually overlooked. They are not animals, nor plants, nor fungi. They move and display some sort of intelligence; their small fruiting bodies can strangely beautiful. Over the past year I have become fascinated (some would say obsessed) by them. It’s a real pity that they are cursed with such a terrible name because they really are worth a close look – it’s a new world.
Sue Leigh writes:
Sherborne woods, early February: The nest I am looking at is round, mainly made of moss with a small entrance hole. It is about four feet from the ground in what looks like a fairly open site but in spring and summer would be under a canopy of leaves and surrounded by more vegetation. It was made by a wren.
Lindsay Fisher writes: We don’t often go fungus-foraging at this time of year, but several Witney Woodland Volunteers noticed some flourishing clumps of fungi while working at Deer Park Wood this week, perhaps surprising after all this cold weather. Here are a few snaps. Identifications would be appreciated.
Sue Morton writes: How about a trip to the seaside? My old colleague Emma Woolfenden now lives in Cornwall and volunteers with the the Cornwall Seal Research Group Trust. It was through her that we were able to arrange Sue Sayer’s zoom talk to the Club on seals during lockdown. Emma likes to visit the local beaches, and sends us this fascinating blog about some of the creatures she has met on her walks. It’s nice to learn about things we don’t normally see in land-locked West Oxfordshire!
David Rolfe writes:
During the spring of this year, I carried out a breeding bird survey for the Wychwood Forest Trust at Gibbets Close Farm. The site comprises approximately 50 acres of permanent grassland, that has been left to go wild, and a small farmyard. Main field boundaries comprise untrimmed hedgerows, with many mature oak and ash trees. There are also extensive rows of mainly dead elm trees on higher ground.
Alison Weaver, who has very keen eyes, has recently seen otters in the centre of Witney.
Alison writes: During this year’s very hot summer an island emerged in the Windrush where the river goes under the Witney bridge.
John C. writes:
We don’t usually think of this time of year as a time to go looking for flowers but there are a number of late-flowering species that are as rewarding to find as the season winds down as the first spring flowers are as the season winds up. A particular favourite of mine is autumn gentian, Gentianella amarella. Whilst perhaps not as spectacular as spring gentians – which are rare in the British Isles – they’re not very uncommon and have, to my mind, a rather understated charm.
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