California Gardeners’ Club

THERE was a large turnout for our September meeting when Brian Clews took us for the second part of A Walk on the Wild Side with his fantastic slides of wildlife in the Thames Valley.

Brian moved to Berkshire in the 60s and became involved in a number of voluntary roles with the RSPB, including the Bird Bulletin, which still runs today.

This time most of the slides were concerned with the various insects found in the area, butterflies, moths and damsel and dragonflies, with anecdotes about their life stages and ways of survival.

Did you know that there are over 2,000 species of moth in this country?

They range in size from the Death Head Hawk Moth as big as your hand, to minute micro moths.

Many are brightly coloured too, like the brimstone and cinnabar.

Do you know your damsels from your dragons? The damselflies rest with wings closed over the body, and the dragonflies, which are usually larger, rest with wings wide spread.

They have very good sight and can have up to 30,000 lenses in their large compound eyes.

All are totally harmless. Brian ended with some general pictures of local wildlife; mink, hares, weasels and stoats and a grass snake.

On October 2, Ray Norton will be telling us about

Setting up Pudding Lane Nursery, which should be very interesting as it is so local.