Events

Picnic - 27th August 2001

The Community Woodland’s first year was celebrated with a picnic.

Moth Night 1 - 13th September 2002

Adults and children enjoyed exploring the Woodland at night as David Redhead led a moth trapping session. 11 species of moth were attracted by a light, to rest on egg boxes for identification.

Moth Night 2 - 15th August 2003

David Redhead led another well-attended Moth Night. A total of 21 species of moth were identified at the two sessions, 2002-2003.

As the trees were becoming established, a species list was prepared for the Community Woodland by a Leafield teenager. Included with the moths were 12 butterfly and 31 bird species. In spring 2004, our first nest was spotted in one of the young field maple trees.

Education Day - 5th November 2004

Puppets and plays at the Community Woodland

Thank you to the anonymous donor who provided a specialist teacher from the Northmoor Trust for a whole day of woodland activities for a class from Leafield School.

The day started in the classroom with the dramatic story of English woodlands from the end of the ice age to the present day and the interdependence of all species. The class then walked down to the Community Wood to identify and explore individual trees and their associated insects, lichens and fungi.

Back at school the children sculpted puppets using clay with collected twigs, leaves, galls and seeds. The class then returned to the woodland to devise and perform plays using their wood sprite puppets.

The children had an enjoyable and stimulating day: we would recommend the Northmoor Trust to any local school who wish to do environmental work.

Bat Night - 9th September 2005

18 adults and children met to walk the footpath at Stag’s Plain, Wychwood and listen to bats using a detector that reduced the frequency of their cries to an audible level. We saw and heard some pipistrelles near the road: the sound was somewhere between a horse clopping and the smack of rather wet lips. More pipistrelles were heard along the hedge but no bats were found in the bracken glade at the top, only crickets, also audible using the detector.

A sound like machine gun fire was briefly heard on the way back. This is characteristic of a Daubenton’s bat but calls vary as bats move between different habitats and it is difficult to identify species precisely using a detector.

Refreshments completed an interesting and enjoyable evening.