Do come along to a talk on Tuesday 15th November about the life and habits of a Hazel dormouse.  Dave Williams will tell us about their nests and nest boxes, habitat, food requirements and breeding cycle.  Also find out how to identify Hazel nuts that have been opened by a dormouse, a sure way to know if dormice are present.

All welcome, doors open Froyle Village Hall 7pm for talk to start at 7.30pm, entrance free for members, £3 non-members, teas and coffee.

Dave Williams has been working with dormice for almost twenty years. He is currently chairman of the Surrey Dormouse Group (SDG), which he started when he was Mammal project officer at Surrey Wildlife Trust. Now retired he continues to work with dormice and the SDG.

Dormouse photographs by Dave Williams.

Do join us for a talk on Tuesday 25th October by Kim Boog about the Barn Owl Project Hampshire and Bird of Prey Hospital. We’ll hear about the perils barn owls face in the modern world, rescuing rehabilitation and release, habitats and nest boxes. If you’ve never seen a Barn Owl or Tawny Owl up close before this is your chance as Kim will be bringing two of her rescues (which are unsuitable for release).

All welcome, Froyle Village Hall doors open 6.30pm, AGM pictorial review starts at 7pm, Barn Owl talk starts 7.30pm, entrance free for members, £3 non-members, teas and coffee.

Update 14th August: Cancelled due to low water level. Apologies but the water level in the pond has dropped substantially over the last few weeks and it will not be possible to carry out the pond dipping sessions. The problem is that the edge of the pond is now quite far from the water (which is really low) and therefore it wouldn’t be safe to dip or even possible.

Family fun –join us for a 1h dipping session on Friday 19th and Sunday 21st August to see what underwater creatures we can find in the wildlife pond near Gid Lane, Upper Froyle (see location plan).  Children will need to be accompanied by a responsible adult.  All equipment will be provided and numbers are limited so it is essential to book by emailing info@www.froylewildlife.co.uk, stating preference for 10 am or 11.15 am session.

Join us for an afternoon walk 2pm on Thursday 4th August 2022 at Old Winchester Hill, National Nature Reserve for flowers, views and butterflies. Most of our 3 mile, 2h route along the hilltop is relatively flat but it should be worthwhile to descend the steep ‘south slope’ where the chalkhill blue can sometimes be seen in huge numbers on sunny days. The flower rich grasslands have developed on the thin chalky soils that are low in nutrients, and prevent vigorous species from dominating the finer herbs.

Meet 2pm at the public car park OS Grid ref SU646213, about 2km south of A32 at West Meon or share lifts from Froyle Village Hall leaving at 1.20pm. For more information about this NNR, a leaflet can be downloaded as a .pdf from Natural England.

Note: The A32 is currently closed at Farrigdon so look for alternative routes to travel from Froyle.

Call in anytime between 10am and 4pm on Saturday 9th July to visit the wildlife pond and meadow, near Gid Lane, Upper Froyle. There should be plenty to see especially if it’s a sunny day.
Members of Froyle Wildlife will be on hand to assist with identification of wildflowers, dragonflies’ and butterflies. Wildflower species to look out for include; knapweed, lady’s bedstraw, sainfoin, self heal, purple loosestrife, water figwort and bird’s-foot trefoil. Last year on the ‘drop-in’- day 12 species of butterfly and 8 species of dragonfly/damselfly were noted; ladybirds, hoverflies, bees and grasshoppers were also seen. No need to book, anyone can just pop in and see what you can spot.

Find out what flies after dark?  We plan to run a moth lamp on Friday 10th June at the meadow surrounding the wildlife pond near Gid Lane (weather permitting).  Come along anytime, starting 9.30pm until late, warm clothing and torch are useful.  Also we will have a bat detector to hear the echolocation calls of any nearby bats.

There are nearly 2000 species of moth that occur in Hampshire. Moths and butterflies are useful indicator species for the health of our natural environment.

A good night out? So what was it like. We ran the moth lamp on two evenings at the meadow surrounding the wildlife pond in Upper Froyle. The first evening on 10th June recorded 15 species even though the temperature quickly plummeted under a clear cold sky. The second on 12th July with ideal weather conditions recorded an amazing 68 species under overcast sky with a temperature of 21 C at midnight. These included the colourful Elephant Hawk-moth and our largest British species the Privet Hawk-moth. Amongst the hundreds of individual moths seen and some photographed, there are more micro-moth species still to be identified. Hardly any of the moths recorded would be seen during the day. Butterflies and moths are useful indicator species for the health of our environment.

A local landmark on a hilltop field in Froyle was the Cedar of Lebanon that stood there for over 150 years as a sentinel tree. The cedar fell during gales in 2020 and an 8ft long section of trunk was kindly donated by Belport in April 2022. Froyle Wildlife arranged for a local chainsaw artist, Jona Cleaver to carve out a wonderful new seat from the log, weighing about 2 tons.

It is located on Froyle recreation ground (with permission from the Parish Council) next to an area of perennial wildflowers and cornfield annuals. A grant from East Hampshire District Council covered our costs for this community project.

Join us at Farnham Heath on Saturday 21st May for a 2h guided walk by RSPB reserves warden Mike Coates. Centuries ago heathland developed from Common Land that was used for grazing and digging turfs. It is now a rare habitat, Surrey having lost 90% of its heathland. In 2004, an area of conifer forest was cleared in sections over 10 years. The heather seeds, which had laid dormant for decades, sprung to life and this attracted a number of rare birds including nightjars, woodlarks, and Dartford warblers; reptiles including endangered sand lizards; and invertebrates including field crickets and silver studded blues.
Froyle Wildlife members Meet 10.30am at Tilford Rural Life Centre car park Reeds Road, GU10 2DL.

Flora recording amble on Sunday 8th May, around Froyle organised by Alton Natural History Society. Walk led by botanist Isobel Girvan, meet 10am at Froyle Village Hall.

This joint project with Alton Natural History Society recording plant species in Froyle started in 2021 as an update to a previous survey in 1991. The variety of locations surveyed includes roadside verges, field and wood edges alongside public rights of way as well as other areas with landowner’s permission.

All welcome, come and find out what plants occur locally and learn to identify them. See link to Froyle churchyard.

Find out about a variety of projects that you can take in your garden in order to attract wildlife. Susan Simmonds will cover both large and small actions ranging from window boxes to creating wildlife ponds. She will look at some of the pollinator plants you might like to consider introducing to the garden and talk about the huge benefits of some of our very common plants such as dandelions and ivy.

All welcome to join this virtual meeting via Zoom, talk starts 7.30pm, free for members, £3 non-members.

Note:- The Zoom invitation will be emailed beforehand to members and to those on our mailing list. Anyone else who wants to join the meeting can request an invitation through our contact us page.

Susan has a lifelong passion for wildlife and has worked in the conservation sector for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT) for over 20 years. She is also a sessional lecturer at Sparsholt College and enjoys passing on her knowledge through running training courses like plant species identification and mammal tracks and signs.

See blogs written by Susan https://www.hiwwt.org.uk/blog/-susan-simmonds and a series of short YouTube videos https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%27susan+simmonds%27.

Summary written after an excellent talk: The chief take-away for attracting wildlife in your garden is to let your garden grow wild! Those present who happened to also be members of Froyle Gardening Club were faced with a dilemma. Do we tidily weed our gardens or do we allow these native plants to flourish because they are well-liked by pollinators (dandelions, germander speedwell), or are good for butterflies to lay their eggs on (nettles, garlic mustard), or provide nesting places for birds and hibernation sites for butterflies (brambles and ivy)? Susan also suggested that we leave at least some of our lawn to be uncut and we might be surprised what springs up – Susan found a wild orchid. Alternatively, you can scarify or remove a section of turf and sow wild flower seeds – it could just be a small patch.
Non-weed plants that benefit wildlife include mixed native hedges (buckthorn is used by brimstone butterflies), honeysuckle (for moths), scabious (for many pollinators), primrose (for bee-flies). Be aware that some ‘pollinator friendly’ plants at non-organic nurseries may have been sprayed with pesticides!
Less of a dilemma was the introduction of a pond. It helps to have a shallow edge or ‘beach’ for easy access by amphibians and also some marginal planting such as water mint or purple loosestrife. The wildlife, including dragonflies and newts, will find their own way there. But don’t stock it with fish as they will gobble them up. Also, log piles and ‘bug hotels’ allow insects such as ladybirds and cardinal beetles to overwinter, and compost heaps do the same for slow worms and grass snakes. Blogs written by Susan Simmonds can be found at https://www.hiwwt.org.uk/blog/-susan-simmonds.                 Nigel H