News and Events

PHOTO COMPETITION AND CALENDAR. 

We organise an annual competition in memory of Nicola Devine, the legendary Trap Grounds photographer, who died in 2022. Thanks are due to everyone who submitted images of Trap Grounds scenery or wildlife. The judges had a hard time deciding on the winners and the runners up, but here are their final choices:

Winners: Julie Dyson (over-18 category) for her study of Scarlet Elf Cup fungi:

13-year-old Lyra Pittard (under-18 category) The Dragonfly Pond in Spring:

Runners up: Laurie Bicknell (aged 6!), Patrick Lewin, Corinne Richards, Ian Shaw, Penny d'Souza-Eva, and Martin Wainwright

All of their photos are featured in the 2026 calendar, which is NOW ON SALE, for the same prices as last year (£8 for one, £15 for two, £20 for three). To order copies, please download form.

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Heard or seen on our MAY MORNING BIRDSONG WALK this year (2025): 33 species, most memorably a Kingfisher, numerous Blackcaps, and our newest resident: a Cetti’s Warbler.

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Scooped (temporarily) out of Swan Pond on our CHILDREN’S POND-DIPPING AFTERNOON on 18 May: lots of wriggly creatures, including sticklebacks, water scorpions, water boatmen, and diving beetles. The children were intrigued to examine some of their findings under microscopes.

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RINGED IN THE REED-BED on 31 May this year: 21 birds in two mist nets. Nine were Reed Warblers, seven of which were males in breeding condition. This suggests that there could be at least seven breeding pairs in the Trap Grounds. The group members also ringed the elusive Cetti’s Warbler, but it was not in breeding condition, so they deduced that it was probably a male that has failed to attract a mate.

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Detected on our EVENING BAT WALK on 12 June: Noctule, Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, and Daubenton’s bats, plus a Nathusius’ Pipistrelle (a first); but sadly no sign of a Barbastelle this year.

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Sniffed on our SMELLY WALK FOR CHILDREN on 29 June: at least 20 examples of aromatic plants traditionally used for medicinal purposes by herbalists. Who knew that tincture of Meadowsweet was used to cure toothache? That Roman soldiers used to put Mugwort in their sandals to stop their feet getting blistered on long marches? And that St John’s Wort was used to cure bed-wetting and coughs?

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Detected on a second BAT WALK, on Monday 14 July: in addition to all the species listed above that were detected on 12 June, for the first time ever we detected Greater Horseshoes and Lesser Horseshoes, both of them increasingly rare in England.

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BIRD-RINGING in the reed-bed, 6 September: expert bird-ringers Patrick Lewin and Thomas Miller ringed 42 birds in the course of two hours. Most exciting was the unexpected appearance of a second Cetti’s warbler, which watched the ringing of the first one from a discreet distance. We have known since January 2024 that there is one Cetti's warbler resident in the Trap Grounds, but now we know that there is at least one other. We hope that these elusive rarities are a pair, and that they will breed next Spring. Cetti's warblers favour thick shrubby vegetation in damp areas close to ponds and marshes -- so those two have come to the right place. Here's the full list from the event on 6 September:

  • Blackcap 2
  • Blue tit 21 (yes, 21)
  • Cetti's warbler 1
  • Chiffchaff 4
  • Dunnock 2
  • Goldcrest 2 
  • Great tit 4
  • Long-tailed tit 3
  • Robin 1
  • Wren 2 

 

 

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