A group of 16 met at the Langdon Nature Discovery Centre for the walk in May. My aim was to find orchids in the top fields; however, my search was in vain. Instead, we had a circular walk round the reserve seeing and hearing quite a lot, as there were plenty of bird songs. I recorded over 18 different birds seen or heard on the walk. We identified a number of the bird songs and also plant species.

The most incredible sight was a bush completely covered in what looked like spiders’ webs, but was actually the web of a caterpillar

I originally identified this as a spindle ermine moth caterpillar, but was later told is was an orchard ermine moth caterpillar as the host plant was not spindle.

We ended the walk with refreshments in the Visitor centre

Details of future meeting dates and contact details are to be found on the Upminster u3a website at Walking with Wildlife group

Terry Smith