Day 10 - Bincombe Beeches Fair, Crewkerne - EuCAN and Butterfly Conservation Stall

Further to my last post in which I bemoan the lack of summer thus far in 2017, I will reiterate my complaint to whomsoever it might concern! We had agreed to help at the Bincombe Beeches Fair today at the nature reserve I am ashamed to say we had not yet visited.

Bincombe Beeches is a delightful little site and a haven from the hustle and bustle which defines and gridlocks this old market town most days. It is managed by Crewkerne Town Council and today we were honoured to meet the Mayor of Crewkerne and the Town Crier and managed to hold several conversations whilst also holding the gazebo down which was trying to make itself into a parachute and blow away!

Kids were colouring butterflies and coming up with names for them whilst we talked about the valuable work of the EuCAN volunteers who work tirelessly throughout the year in Somerset and Dorset for organisations and charities such as National Trust, Wildlife Trusts and Butterfly Conservation helping to manage sites and keep them wildlife-friendly.

It was a challenge keeping the gazebo down and avoiding hitting anyone on the head with our big display boards whilst trying to enthuse about butterflies and conservation work, but I think we managed it and had a great day. I just want the rain to go away so we can go bat detecting again!

Day 2 - Wildlife Discovery Day, Forde Abbey, Dorset

What a fabulous day this was! There was so much to see and explore and we had the moth traps out (I'm afraid it wasn't me who got up at 4 am to go and check the moth traps this morning!) It was so encouraging to see adults and children alike enthusing about the moths. It was a little damp for butterflies, but we certainly made up for it with the number and quality of moths we caught overnight.

Favourites of the day were:

Buff Tip (This got a lot of 'Wows' from everyone.)
Eyed Hawk Moth - we loved it's 'I'm so scary when I flash my wings open and reveal my hidden eyes' look.
Privet Hawk Moth
Elephant Hawk Moth
Brimstone
Peppered Moth

And I learned today that some hawk moths do not have mouth parts. They eat so much as caterpillars that they don't need to feed as adults. And when you look through the hand lens at the Buff Tip, its face looks remarkably like a teddy bear, but that's not a very scientific thing to say!

Favourite quote of the day, "All these moths aren't from this country are they?" I was pleased to inform the questioner that not only were they from this country, but they had been caught in our moth traps last night" Great to get people excited about moths. I hope this event is repeated every year. How I wish this were my day job!

Buff Tip

Eyed Hawk Moth

Moth trapping

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Elephant Hawk Moth