Ox Close Wood

A window into the wildlife of a wood

Hairstreak White-letter Hairstreak Satyrium w-album. There is a resident colony in Ox Close. Elm is the larval foodplant.

Ox Close Wood is wholly owned and managed by the East Keswick Wildlife Trust and this website shows much of the wildlife that can be found within the wood.

The East Keswick Wildlife Trust has a separate website that describes its work, activities, projects and events. To access the website of the East Keswick Wildlife Trust please visit   www.ekwt.org.uk.  The EKWT website includes forthcoming events.

The Trust was created in 1992 in order to purchase the wood so that it could be preserved for the benefit of wildlife and people. We have regular work parties within the wood (and other reserves that are managed by the Trust) and would welcome any volunteers who are interested in helping. Please contact me using the email address at the bottom of the page. The wood is situated between Wetherby and Harewood, W. Yorks.

All photographs in this website, unless accredited otherwise, were taken by me.

All insects are wild and free and taken on the basis that they and their environment are the main concern. If you see any errors of identification, please let me know. Cameras that I have used have been a Panasonic DMC-FZ30 and, from October 2007, and a Nikon D80. The Panasonic is a “bridge” camera and has a good Leica macro-zoom lens. The lens most frequently used with the D80 is the Nikon 105mm macro.

Reference books used in the main to identify specimens are, for odonata; Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland, by Brooks and Lewington. For beetles; Der Kosmos Kaferfuhrer, by Harde and Severa. For wild flowers; Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland by Blamey, Fitter & Fitter. For fungi; Mushrooms by Roger Phillips. For insects in general; Insects of Britain and Western Europe by M. Chinery, and for moths; Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland by Waring, Townsend and Lewington.

paul@ekwt.org.uk

  • If you see anything in the wood that you would like to tell us about, please do so to the email address above. Include a photo if possible.
  • I would be pleased if you could advise if any of my identifications requires a correction.