West Beckham Old Allotments Bioblitz

Amazingly (after all, it is the end of July …), the weather was kind to us on Saturday July 31st, when the West Beckham Old Allotment Bioblitz took place. More than 30 people visited at some point in the day, and our species monitors worked hard to identify as many species as they could in the six hours given to them. Jane Williams produced her usual array of superb cakes and Sarah Mitchell, the RSPB’s Operation Turtle Dove’s regional officer, was present all day, amazing visitors with views of spiders through her microscope, while we were also treated to some fantastic moths, courtesy of Bob Titman and his moth trap.

Identification of 183 species (so far) made this a very successful day, with a staggering 58 of these being new records for the site. There will be a detailed account in the next issue of the newsletter in early October.