Nature Notes

What's new

Our latest issue of Whitchurch Nature Notes is called ‘Sights & Sounds of Summer’. This article by Sally Woolhouse, and including contributions from Alan Boarder and Gill Goodwin, covers a variety of local flora and fauna that can be seen and heard in the summer months in our gardens and public spaces around Whitchurch. See the list of all the Nature Notes below.

Background

This page of the Whitchurch Web was launched in April 2020 to provide some interesting and informal articles about the wonderful natural world here in our local area. The aim is to publish an article from time to time on a seasonal topic; they will hopefully provide some interesting facts about particular flora and fauna that you may see, and also help with the identification of them, with the aid of photographs. Some of the issues are written by myself and others by other members of the community. Please send nature news, photographs, suggestions, comments or questions to me, by email. I will incorporate them in future Nature Notes, where appropriate and possible.

I hope you enjoy reading them and that they add to your appreciation of the natural world all around us.

Sally Woolhouse, Nature Editor, 24th July 2023

Whitchurch Nature Notes

1) Signs of Spring - Part 1 - Spring flowers, such as primrose and green alkanet, blackthorn at the Maze, queen bumble bees. By Sally Woolhouse, posted 1st April 2020.

2) Tess and Scarlet’s Garden Watch - Focusing on the bee-fly, the shield bug and the ladybird. By the Higley twins, posted 9th April 2020.

3) Signs of Spring - Part 2 - Our garden birds, birds of prey overhead, occasional visitors and the dawn chorus. Posted 24th April 2020

4) Signs of Spring - Part 3 - Photo Gallery of birds feeding, nest building and showing off their aerobatic skills, all taken by Whitchurch residents. Posted 24th April 2020

5) Butterflies in Spring - Sandra Parkinson describes some of the colourful butterflies she sees at Chalkhills, Hardwick Road. Posted 23rd May 2020

6) Our Local Deer - How to recognise our three species of deer and how we co-exist with them, by Sarah Dixon and Sandra Parkinson. Posted 3rd July 2020

7) Minibeast Miscellany - A selection of stories and photos about some interesting insects and spiders found in Whitchurch in spring and summer. Posted 5th August 2020

8) Winter Wonders - A look at our local landscape in winter and a feature on otters on the Thames and Pang. Posted 24th January 2021

9) Wild Flowers of the Hardwick Road verges - A guide to the wild flowers on the Hardwick Road north verge, surveyed in 2000 and re-issued in 2021. Posted 28th March 2021

10) Gardening with wildlife in mind – some personal reflections and guidelines about our gardens and how to help the wildlife in them. Posted 14th May 2021

11) Creatures of the Night – focusing on hedgehogs, bats, night-flying moths and glow-worms. Posted 26th July 2022

12) Sights & Sounds of Summer – a miscellany of topics on local flora and fauna that can been seen around Whitchurch during the summer months.  Posted 24th July 2023

Nature Notes ‘Extras’

Nature Notes from Italy - Whitchurch resident Rosemary Pearce has recently been in central Italy and has provided this note on Spring in a Quiet Valley. Posted 11th May 2020

Curious but cute – Pam Chandler’s amazing handiwork brings new meaning to Springwatch – posted 3rd July 2020

The Box-tree Moth (Cydalima perspectalis) - damaging box hedges - posted 11th July 2022

Other links

Updated 24th July 2023