Club 15 in June – continued
Robert greeted five of us at the entrance of a wild meadow near Broadmoor Farm on the eastern edge of Crowthorne on a gloriously sunny, warm June morning. He soon trained our ears and eyes to become ‘tuned’ to carefully looking and listening to what is around: the many different birds, insects and plants.
Emanating from the trees that surrounded the meadow were songs of greenfinch, chiffchaff, blackcap, blackbird and wren. We saw several species of butterfly including the Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Small Skipper and Red Admiral. Robert pointed out how the tops and undersides of a butterfly’s wing differ in colour and pattern. On a small damp area of the paths several butterflies had assembled attracted by essential minerals – this puddling behaviour is more typical of tropical places. Regarding insects, we saw a Forester Moth (which is unusual in this area) and the strikingly blue dragonflies and damselflies. There were also many different plants on show, for example Oxeye Daisy, Musk Mallow and Black Knapweed. Thanks also to Margaret for pointing out some of these. It was such a pleasure to have her in our group.
With all this abundance of nature to enjoy – even in a relatively small meadow – the two hours passed very quickly. Our grateful thanks goes to Robert for passing on his wealth of knowledge and expertise to create a wonderful learning experience. By just slowing down, and taking time to see and hear what is around, it is possible to identify and enjoy so much more of our beautiful world that God created and be thankful for it.
Michael B
Note—the eagle-eyed among you might have spotted mention of a Monarch butterfly in one of the other June walks. I’m afraid this was a mis-identification.