You guessed it ...

Abdon Churchyard - Wednesday 29th June 2016

... it rained




Not just the rain we have experienced on our recent trips - showers followed by a soaking as the finale. But steady rain that started early and did not relent.

It even caused one of our group to cry off in the morning as he did not want to dissolve!

A couple of us made the journey and were met at Abdon Village Hall by our drenched but stoical host for the day.

He and his wife moved to Abdon recently. If he was expecting a quiet life in the country he was to be disappointed as his fame had preceded him. He was soon recruited to help form a local wildlife group for the area. And, being who he is, he suggested that the group ought to have an objective. A decision was reached to attempt to record 1000 species in a nine tetrad square centred on Abdon, within a year.

The total currently stands at about 450 and we had been invited to help boost this number!

We made our way to the churchyard and did a quick inspection of the church's small car park before entering the grounds.



The car park had been relatively sheltered but in the churchyard we were met by the full force of a stiff wind as well as the rain. Undeterred we explored the grounds around the church.

I vacuum sampled the uncut vegetation in the foreground of the above photograph, tipped the collection into a tray and then watched helplessly as the wind blew it away.

Fortunately the church had an entrance porch which was open. We took full advantage of this to provide respite from the wind and rain.



We made quick dashes to various parts of the grounds, did a quick collection by vacuuming or beating, then returned to the safe haven of the porch to see what we had found.

And it was a dry spot for lunch.



We carried on for a little while after lunch before the wind and rain started to get the better of me when we called it a day.

Despite the weather we were able to record about a couple of dozen species to help meet the target. Not a lot, but better than nothing and we may be able to try again later in the year.



Unfortunately it was not like this.