Conhan River Park

nightshade · #1 (**permalink**) 29-06-2006, 10:13 AM

Friday &th July 8:30pm There will be a BAT and MOTH walk at the Conham River Park,near Hanham,There will be a guided bat walk and later 10:30 a look at moths from the moth traps that have been set up,please come it will be a good evening
Work permitting I should be there
This is an outing organised by; John V Morris of the Goucestershire Wild Roots Project
tel.01454 86 3581

Alan · #2 (**permalink**) 29-06-2006, 10:18 AM

Sounds good nightshade, the trouble is you make it sound as if it's just down the road! I wish!

Hope you have good fun though. I've never been to one of these bat/moth doos. Lol....another one to go on the ever expanding list of wildlife things to do!

....gowd not another book to get

Willow · #3 (**permalink**) 29-06-2006, 09:36 PM

Sounds great, nightshade...especially as (sorry, Alan, I don't want to rub this in, but...) - it is just down the road (quite literally!!!) from me!

Thanks for the info, nightshade - I ( -and the family - if that would be ok? Are children allowed?) are very much interested in coming along....We all love bats (and are lucky enough to have them visiting our garden from time to time...so we're often dashing out there with our bat detector!

) And moth trapping is something we've always wanted to do....

(I hadn't heard about the Wild Roots project - I've just checked out the website, and I can't believe I missed finding out about the launch...it being so local to us!)

Can I just confirm, nightshade...is it Fri 7th? Is everyone meeting at the car park?

Thanks very much,

Willow

Wild-Woman · #4 (**permalink**) 30-06-2006, 04:32 AM

Sounds like fun but too far for us I'm afraid. Hope you have a good evening. Julie

nightshade · #5 (**permalink**) 30-06-2006, 08:57 AM

Hi Willow that is all the info I have at present if you ring John Morris on the given number he should be able to confirm

Willow · #6 (**permalink**) 03-07-2006, 08:30 PM

Thanks nightshade. Hope to be there, if we can. If we can't arrange things to be there, we'll look out for other Wild Roots events - great to know about this project, and the opportunities to get involved. Thanks for that!

Willow

nightshade · #7 (**permalink**) 03-07-2006, 09:01 PM

Hi Willow,I will look out for you,my eldest boy is coming home I was told today so it may yet come to nowt

Willow · #8 (**permalink**) 03-07-2006, 09:41 PM

Hi nightshade,
It may well come to nowt here too - our children providing the uncertainty factor in our plans as well! But we'll do our best - hope to see you there...or at similar local events in the future; unpredictability of family life allowing!

nightshade · #9 (**permalink**) 08-07-2006, 01:42 PM

I made it ,despite the unsettled weather over 15 people turned up for the bat and moth walk including a lot of youngsters.The bats duly performed and the youngsters looks of awe as they actually heard a bats voice was magical(and a good few of the grown-ups)
I could not stay for the mothing ,but previously had spoken to the gentlemen concerned who were as interested in the bats as we were in the moths,I recommended Wild About to them and hope that they will bring their expertise over with them
To Walkers Bat workers and Moth-ers thankyou for a very good evening
Were you there Willow?

Jonny · #10 (**permalink**) 08-07-2006, 01:57 PM

Nice one Nightshade, there great them organised evenings

Willow · #11 (**permalink**) 09-07-2006, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightshade

I made it ,despite the unsettled weather over 15 people turned up for the bat and moth walk including a lot of youngsters.The bats duly performed and the youngsters looks of awe as they actually heard a bats voice was magical(and a good few of the grown-ups)
I could not stay for the mothing ,but previously had spoken to the gentlemen concerned who were as interested in the bats as we were in the moths,I recommended Wild About to them and hope that they will bring their expertise over with them
To Walkers Bat workers and Moth-ers thankyou for a very good evening
Were you there Willow?

Hello nightshade – yes, we were all there: husband, two children and myself – and we all thoroughly enjoyed every moment! My little girl was the one who volunteered to be the bat workers’ assistant by dressing up as a demo bat! She was over the moon that she was chosen to do that – and that she was the first one to find a moth for the moth gentlemen to identify. Everyone was so kind, friendly and welcoming – and gave so much attention and encouragement to my daughter’s questions and enthusiasm, and to sharing their expertise and knowledge with us all. We all learned so much – and want to say thank you so much to all involved.

In fact, I logged on today, especially to come on WAB and to say a BIG thank you to you, nightshade, for flagging up this event here; because I wouldn’t have known about it otherwise…and it really did turn out to be one of our best wildlife watching highlights of the year! My daughter (who is batty about bats and all wildlife) couldn’t stop saying (with total glee) “This is fun!” all evening. It was indeed such a magical moment when we heard the bat’s voice on the bat workers’ detector. My daughter has a little children’s bat detector which we use often – but we’d never heard such amazingly clear “bat-chatter” as was picked up on that more sophisticated machine! I think I must have been one of the adults with sheer spellbound wonder and delight written all over my face to equal that of the youngsters! We got some wonderful views of amazing “acro-bat-ics” too didn’t we? (sorry for the dreadful pun!)

We saw some beautiful moths at the end (for a short while, before the children’s fatigue took over!) The moth gentlemen had caught some amazing late-flying beauties the previous night for us all to see – the (hope I’ve got all these right) - Elephant, Poplar, Privet and Eyed Hawkmoths. None of us had seen any of these species in real life before, so it was a real privilege. I hope the moth gentlemen do join us here on WAB – they and the bat workers were such a friendly mine of info.

In all, it was an excellent, magical evening, in great company – an experience I’m sure my daughter will never forget. We’ll definitely be getting involved with the Wild Roots project in any way we can. Thanks again nightshade for recommending this event. I seem to have rambled on rather a lot in my enthusiasm for how good it was….hopefully a real testament to all who were involved in its organisation!

Willow

wildone · #12 (**permalink**) 09-07-2006, 06:23 PM

Hi Willow, sounds as if it as a very enjoyable, entertaining and educational evening. Thanks for your post about it, for those of us who live too far away.

wildone

Jonny · #13 (**permalink**) 09-07-2006, 06:33 PM

Nice writeup Willow, not often you can find something that interests children and adults alike.

Willow · #14 (**permalink**) 09-07-2006, 07:19 PM

Thanks Wildone and Jonny,

Glad you enjoyed reading my account!

Yes - it was the fact that the event was so welcoming and inclusive of everybody (children, adults - plus great access for our disabled son in his wheelchair) that made it such a special evening for us. I'm so pleased that nightshade let us know about the Wild Roots project - as it's an answer to our prayers; giving us exactly the kind of local opportunity to get involved in nature conservation as a whole family that we've been searching for, for a long time now! So - many thanks again, nightshade!

Willow