Sixteen members gathered for a walk at Clapham Park Wood.  We walked through trees of a variety of ages from a recently planted section to a section planted in the 1990s and the Ancient Woodland dating back 8 or 9 hundred years.

This year has been quite unusual in that the spring flowering season finished quite early and there were fewer flower species still in bloom than we would normally expect to see.  However the ground was dry and the mud, which can be a factor in this woodland, had all dried up making walking more comfortable.

We managed to see a number of interesting species of plant including Cutleaf Geranium, Yellow Archangel, Black Mustard, Pendulous Sedge and Spindle.  Jay was probably the most interesting bird seen but the birdsong was notable.

Butterflies and Moths were the highlights of the morning.  We started off with a Mother Shipton Moth, followed by Yellow-barred Longhorn Moths with their incredibly long antennae which look amazing as the moths ‘dance’ in the sunshine. Both these moths are day-flying and, though small, are quite beautiful.  We later found the silky net webs of Spindle Ermine Moth festooning one spindle tree.  Some of the webs contained eggs but larvae (caterpillars) were wriggling around in several.