Call in anytime between 10am and 4pm on Saturday 8th 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 15 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.

How did the day turn out? The weather forecast was unsettled at best so it was with some foreboding that we packed up the car in the morning to go to the pond area and meadow near Gid Lane. We had barely finished setting up the gazebo and display boards when the heavens opened and the rain poured down accompanied by thunder and lightning – we regretted not putting the gazebo sides on. Fortunately after two and a half hours the rain ceased and we had our first two visitors who were Swiss and were on route hiking from Winchester to Canterbury.
Gradually a few more visitors arrived as the weather warmed up. The sun also brought the insects out, the most numerous and colourful were the butterflies with 17 species noted including Small Copper, Brown Argus, Small Tortioseshell and Painted Lady, the latter species being migrants from North Africa. Other creatures spotted included Dark Bush-cricket, Roesel’s Bush- cricket, 14-spot Ladybird, Tawny Longhorn beetles, Spotted Longhorn beetles and Dock Bug.