Oak Leaf Roller

Visiting Foxhill Farm I had a surprise as soon as I walked through the gate. A fairly large oak tree guards the entrance and I made a check for galls. I found none but instead noticed a neatly rolled leaf. I was both pleased and mildly alarmed: pleased that the insect responsible was new to the farm but worried because an infestation of these caterpillars can defoliate an oak tree. The caterpillars I refer to are those of the Green Tortrix Moth, Tortrix viridiana.

Rolled up leaves on an oak tree betrayed the presence of  the

Oak Tortrix Moth. Foxhill Farm, Badby. 5 May, 2020

A number of insects can create leaf rolls of one sort or another but these are very distinctive.

The genus gives its name to the Tortricidae family, of which some 400 species are, or have been, found in Britain.


Beneath the tree Red Campion, Silene dioica, was flowering exuberantly. It does very well in this part of Northamptonshire but White Campion is far less common hereabouts, being commoner in the east of the county. The generic name is a reference to the woodland god Silenius. According to folklore he was important to fairies, as he gave protection to their honey stores. What he got in return no one knows.




Red Campion was flowering well in places where nibbling sheep

fail to reach. Foxhill Farm, Badby. 5 May, 2020

I spent most of my time working my way along the hedgerows but did delve into a few grass tussocks. A crab spider, Xysticus cristatus, was frequent in this habitat.

This female Xysticus cristatus was found in a grassy tussock.

Foxhill Farm, Badby. 5 May, 2020

The warm sunshine was encouraging lots of flies to bask on convenient surfaces with a blowfly, Calliphora vicina, being especially common.

Specimens of Calliphora vicina gathered in sunny positions.

Foxhill Farm, Badby. 5 May, 2020

The visit was a particularly productive one with the arthropod total for the farm now exceeding 510.