We had a wonderful family morning with the Wild about Loddiswell group. It did not sound inviting. The forecast was for rain and the start time was a bit early – 8.15a.m.! But the rain held off, we found fascinating creatures, had lots of laughter and finished with excellent cakes.

Wild about Loddiswell have their own moth trap and this had been set up in the church porch overnight. Phil Dean, our friendly moth expert, had arrived soon after 7a.m. to put any moths that had alighted on the walls of the porch into see-through containers. This was so that we could all admire them before we let them go later. He had his head torch with him to look into dark corners.

Soon after eight o’clock, the rest of us were gathered, ready to welcome the first arrivals. There weren’t many because of the forecast of rain but those who did come were so enthusiastic and observant.

Fiona van Es started us off with an exciting discovery. She saw some interesting poo in the grass. She asked us what we thought it was and was so pleased when one of the children guessed it was hedgehog’s poo, She told Fiona, “We have hedgehogs in our garden.”

Then Fiona showed us how to use a sweep-net, swishing it to and fro through the long grass and turning the net inside out over one of the white trays she had brought to see what fell out. With practice, the children became more and more athletic and successful, sweeping up insects through the long grass. We soon had lots of insects including little flies, bugs, beetles, grasshoppers and spiders. We used magnifying glasses to see them closer.

Slightly out of breath, we went into the church porch, where the moth trap was hanging. We stood round the inside of the porch in a circle. Inside the trap were lots of egg-boxes piled loosely on top of each other. One by one Phil took out the egg-boxes, looked at the moths sheltering on them and called out their names: riband wave, royal mantle, barred straw, dingy footman, swallow-tailed, uncertain. All the names were fascinating. Phil explained that ‘uncertain’ was the name of a moth; it didn’t mean that he wasn’t sure what species it was! The boxes were then passed from hand to hand all around the circle.

We went outside again and the children and I walked along the winding paths that have been mowed through the grass jungle until, we came to a hedge. Over

it a plant was spreading, smothered in thousands of very small white flowers, so that it looked like a white cloud hanging down from the hedge. Its name is hedge bedstraw. The name was made up long ago, because people would collect it and put it in their pillows or between the sheets to give a nice, relaxing scent, which might make them sleep better. The children collected some to give to their parents to give them a good night’s sleep!

Fiona had left an aquarium with some animals she had collected from her garden pond that morning. She asked us to gather around and see what we could find hiding among the water-weed. First they spotted lots of big, round, black water snails and then they spotted two newts. Someone, sure to become a stand-up comedian on TV, said, “That one is mine. I call him Tiny because he is ‘my newt’.” There was a pause, then a groan from us all and lots of laughter.

In a plastic tray, Fiona had also brought about a dozen empty cases of the larvae of southern hawker dragonflies. Those larvae had crawled out of her pond, where they would have lived for a year or two. They climbed up the stem of a water plant and, as they rested in the open air the cases would have split open. Out from the cases had slowly emerged bright blue dragonflies. They lived out the last month of their lives as beautiful, winged insects.

As we neared the end of our morning, it still remained dry. Phil suggested it was time to release the last of the moths from their containers, as a freedom celebration. Someone suggested we call it, ‘The Great Escape’. We most admired the swallow-tailed moth that had wings with two tails projecting, like a swallow’s tail. This gave rise to the moth’s name and to the name of its cousin, the swallow-tailed butterfly.

Ken and Hilary, from the church congregation, organised drinks and home-made cakes for us; a perfect end to a perfect morning. We thanked Liz Montague and Fiona for organizing it all, Phil for being our moth-man and all of us for being there. And as we gave a cheer, the rain began to fall.

There will be another Wild about Loddiswell family morning in the Autumn. Do come and join us; anyone is welcome.