If you love the sight and sound of swifts in high summer then this is the talk for you.

This amazing acrobatic bird drinks, preens, collects food and nesting material, and even mates on the wing! We are very fortunate to see their evening acrobatics and hear their characteristic screaming in Froyle as swifts have declined nationally by almost half over the past decade. Their preference to repair and reuse the same nests which are often lost during building and renovation work, coupled with a steep decline in their food supply (flying insects and airborne spiders), makes life challenging for them. The RSPB reports that within 20 years swifts will become rare in the UK unless action is taken to help them.

Our speaker, Edward Mayer, has loved Swifts since childhood. He has set up ‘Swift Conservation‘, a web-based advice service celebrating swifts. He provides advice to government, building professionals and the public.  Edward will talk about the challenges facing swifts. He will also cover cost-effective and simple solutions to protect and encourage swifts (and similar looking summer migrants like swallows and house martins) when we renovate, build or rebuild. This will include how to create and maintain the habitats that encourage population growth of their food sources.

Edward has been highly recommended to us as an excellent speaker and presenter.

PLEASE NOTE THE TALK WILL START AT 7pm, doors open from 6:30pm.
Entrance fee £2, refreshments available.
Donations welcome for Swift Conservation & Froyle Nature Conservation.
Raffle.

By kind invitation of Froyle Estate

Come and enjoy the bluebells and other spring flowers off the beaten track.  A guided woodland walk of about 2 hours and 1.8 miles on Saturday 23rd April at 10am and on Sunday 17th April at 2pm. The tracks are wet and muddy so boots or wellies essential (especially after Friday’s rain). No dogs please.

Contact by email info@www.froylewildlife.co.uk if you’d like to come so we have an idea of numbers and check if postponed due to poor weather.

Updates: The planned walk on Saturday 16th was postponed because of persistent showers all morning. The rescheduled date is Saturday 23rd April 10am but please be aware that it may be slippery underfoot.

Thanks to Froyle Estate for their invitation to us. Both walks had some sunshine to enjoy the woodland wild flowers and bluebells. Plants seen included ancient woodland indicator species such as yellow archangel, wood sorrel, town hall clock, early dog-violet, and the parasitic toothwort.The shape of Hawkins Wood in a 1771 survey is the same as todays OS map. Here are some photos including a veteran coppiced beech tree that is 7.6m circumference.

The River Wey illustrated talk is on Tuesday 12th April 2016 in Froyle Village Hall.

This month we welcome Dr June Chatfield chairman of the Northern Wey Trust and local natural history expert. June will be giving an illustrated talk about the River Wey northern branch, including its passage through Froyle.

Do come along and find out more about our local river and its wildlife, all welcome. Doors open at 7pm for 7.30pm start, entrance £2, refreshments. For other events download a list of our ‘walks and talks’.

We start this year’s programme of Froyle Wildlife events with Dr. Bill Wain’s illustrated talk on Tuesday 15th March which will introduce us to ‘A Dragonfly’s world’. Who hasn’t delighted in watching dragonflies patrolling purposely over a pond or delicate damselflies fluttering along streamside vegetation but did you know there are nearly 6,000 species worldwide? Around 40 species breed in Britain many of which have differing needs. Bill’s talk aims to shine a light on habitat and management requirements for these beautiful insects whose ancestry goes back over 300 million years. All welcome to come along at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.

Download the list of 2016 Walks and Talks

Dragonflies seen in Froyle in 2015

Froyle Wildlife – Walks & Talks – 2016    DAIRY DATES

• Tuesday 15th March –  “A Dragonfly’s World”. A talk by Dr. Bill Wain – Village Hall – 7:30pm start.
• Tuesday 12th April – “The River Wey”. A talk by Dr. June Chatfield – Village Hall – 7:30pm start.
• Thursday 12th May – “ Keeping the Skies Alive – Helping  Swifts & Swallows survive the 21st Century”.  A talk by Edward Mayer – Village Hall – 7:00pm start.
• Saturday 18th June “Dragonfly Walk”. Walk Leader – Dr Bill Wain; Meet at the Village Hall at 10:00 am.
• Saturday 23rd July “The Magic of Bees” – Talk & Walk.    Speaker/Leader: Mike Edwards; Meeting Point – TBC.    Talk 9:30 – 10:30 am; Walk 10:45 – 1:00 pm.
• Saturday in September –  “Wildlife at Mill Farm”. Walk Leader Nick & Jenny Shaylor; Meeting Point & Date – TBC.
• Thursday 20th October – “Return of the Red Kite” + AGM. A talk by Keith Betton  – Village Hall – 7:30pm  start.  Wine and nibbles will be served before the AGM.
• November (provisional) – “Wildlife & Hedgerows”. A talk by Jon Stokes – Village Hall – Date & time TBC.

It’s helpful for us to have an idea on numbers – If possible please email walksandtalks@www.froylewildlife.co.uk. However, you are very welcome just to turn up too!

• Entrance fee: £2. (Children under 16 free).
• Donations to the speaker’s charitable organisation  and Froyle Wildlife Group.
• Doors open 30 minutes before the start of the talks.
• Light refreshments inc. wine available.
• Occasional raffle and other fund raising activities.

(Additional details on the speaker or walk leader will be published in advance of each event. Details of our fete activities + ad hoc summer butterfly walks to follow.

All are invited to our short AGM followed by a talk about Barn Owls on Friday 30th October 2015 at 7.30pm in the village hall.  There will also be a display board showing some of the local wildlife seen and view an update of this year’s bird sightings in Froyle.  Non-members are welcome and drinks and nibbles will be available during the evening. Donations invited.

Do you want to find out what runs about in our hedgerows especially at night? Come and join us on Sunday morning October 18th when John Buckley will lead us in identifying what small mammals have been temporarily caught in humane traps that were set earlier by kind permission of  Mill Farm, Isington.

Children especially find it exciting, firstly to find out if anything has gone into the trap to find food and shelter, then to find out and identify the species, will it be a type of mouse or a vole? So children, get your parents to come along! For an ID guide click on link to download pdf.

There are a limited number of spaces available so if you are interested in joining us, we will meet at 8.45am on Sunday 18th October at the Village Hall to travel to the location. It is vital that you contact us by Tuesday October 13th so we know what resources will be needed.

Update 18th Oct: A count of 50 small mammals (bank vole, field vole, wood mouse, common shrew and water shrew) were seen at four locations. Adults and children all enjoyed close up views before they were released again.

Two Mills walk Saturday 30th May 2015

Join us for leisurely 2.5 mile stroll following footpaths and quiet lanes taking in Isington and Froyle Mills.  We will be and looking to see what’s flowering and flying on the way with refreshments to follow at Mill Farm Organics Shop (to be paid for individually).  Afterwards there is the option of a further 1.3 mile round walk on footpaths through the farm, south of the railway line, then back to the shop.

Meet at Froyle Village hall for a prompt 9 am start. The going is mostly flat with the odd gentle incline -there are some styles.  We will be taking the underpass so we don’t have to dodge the A31 traffic!  Allow about 3 hours plus an extra 1 hour if you wish to extend the walk as above.

Please let us know  beforehand if you would like to come. Mill Farm needs to organise enough tables and cakes and we need to organise transport back to the hall.

On Tuesday May 12th 2015 (postponed from 5th) there will be a bat walk led by our speaker last November, Nik Knight from the Hampshire Bat group. We shall start at the Village Hall car park at 8.30pm, taking a circular walk, finishing at the Village Hall. Nik is bringing bat detectors so that we can hopefully be able to identify some of the species of bats that are around Froyle. Click on link to hear samples of bat echolocation calls.

Leader Keith Betton, Hampshire Bird Recorder

Interested to learn more about the birds to be found in our parish?  Then you could do no better than joining Keith (who gave the great talk in the village hall last autumn) on a 5 mile round walk from the village hall to see what’s flying and singing.

Please meet at the hall for a prompt 9am start. Should anyone prefer a shorter walk of 3.75 miles ending at the church in Upper Froyle, then do please let us know so that transport can be arranged to and fro.

Allow 2 ½ – 3 ½ hours and bring a snack and drink if you wish plus binoculars if you have them and would suggest walking boots or wellies as parts of Saintbury hill track can be very muddy.