Hitchin Wildlife

HITCHIN NATURE NETWORK BUG HUNT JULY 2024   A Bug Hunt took place on Sunday afternoon 21 st July on Butts Close, organised by Hitchin Nature Network, and centred on the part of Butts Close by the swimming pool where there was plenty of long grass. The weather was kind, sunny and warm but not too hot. A table with books and posters, some moths to look at and insect nets to borrow was set up and even half an hour before the scheduled start we had eager customers wanting to chase bugs. Who knew that chasing insects would be so popular, especially amongst the younger generation who were delighted to catch even the smallest of things? I was hoping people might find some unusual bugs and that I could record what we saw, how many of them there were and take some pretty photos. In the event I was rushed off my feet with a constant stream of youngsters, and those not so young, asking questions about what they had caught. It was delightful to be part of and see such enthusiasm and I thi...

  HITCHIN NATURE NETWORK – MOTH BREAKFAST 2022 In June Hitchin Nature Network held a Moth Breakfast and I wrote a related article ready for Inside Hitchin magazine as part of its Hidden Hitchin series of articles, very unfortunately this lovely little magazine has ceased publication and the article has never seen the light of day, so I thought I'd post this instead.  The theme of the piece was hidden creatures : those flying things which visit Hitchin’s gardens and wild spaces under the cloak of darkness: moths! We at Hitchin Nature Network understand that not everyone is the greatest fan of moths, but we are here to try and point out that they are really interesting, a marvellous part of our local wildlife and can look really cool! The breakfast was held at Mel & Dom's garden and Dom, who just happened to have a Willow Beauty land on his glasses, was obviously very happy to be a moth landing site.  The Willow Beauty is quite a large moth and many of the larger mo...