CROW (Conserve Reading on Wednesdays)
Wednesday, 4th May 2016
Paices Wood Country Park, Aldermaston ~ Scrub clearance

A miscellany of tasks awaited the group for this visit to Paices Wood including burning the remaining birch and willow scrub cut during the winter, repainting the numbers on the reptile refuges and clearing paths.

At the end of the day during which five grass snakes, a number of common lizards, a dingy skipper butterfly and a drab looper moth had been seen, time remained for a walk around the site.

Primroses were to be found in abundance.

Violets, food plant of the larvae of many of the Fritillary butterflies.

Lady's smock, milkmaids or cuckoo flower is the food plant for the larvae of orange tip butterflies (also seen during the day). By tradition it is unlucky to bring the flower into the home although the leaves can be eaten as a substitute for watercress.

Wood spurge on which drab looper larvae feed. A member of the Euphorbia family which includes the poinsettia, the white juice exuded from the leaves and stems is poisonous.

Lichen on a birch.

Created: Saturday, 7th May 2016
Photographs: Alan Stevens