On the cloudy but pleasantly warm morning of Monday 3 June, eleven of us met at Miles Gibson’s fruit farm in Westwell. Miles had invited us over for a guided walk during which we could learn about his organic techniques in growing fruit and we could help to identify plants and other wildlife.
John C. Writes: Not feeling very energetic yesterday – Monday – morning, I decided to spend an hour or so sitting quietly in the small ‘meadow’ area at the bottom of Sue’s garden to see what invertebrates, if any, would visit the flowers.
Maggie Collins writes: Spring seems to be here at last and at the moment the heavy rain is holding off. Jill T called on me to say that Large Red Damselflies were hatching in her pond….
One of the first signs of spring is to see a butterfly – a brimstone or perhaps a small tortoishell. But where do they come from, and why do they emerge so soon?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
WEST OXFORDSHIRE FIELD CLUB