County Recorder Report

COUNTY RECORDERS’ REPORT 2017

WILTSHIRE & SWINDON

Edited by

Gareth Harris WSBRC Biological Records Officer

March 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction, Gareth Harris ...... 3

WSBRC Update – the team! ...... 4

Figure 1 Total Species Records by Year & Cumulative Total ...... 5

Figure 2 Records held by WSBRC as of March 2018, by taxon group. And as % of total ...... 6

Figure 3 Records Held By Taxa ...... 7

County Recorders’ Annual Reports ...... 9

Amphibians and Reptiles, Gemma Harding ...... 9

Bats, Gareth Harris ...... 10

BIRDS, NICK ADAMS ...... 12

diptera, Anthony Bainbridge ...... 13

Higher Plants, Sharon Pilkington ...... 14

Macrolepidoptera, Dave Brotheridge ...... 17

Mammals (excl. bats), Gareth Harris ...... 18

lepidoptera, MIKE FULLER ...... 20

Odonata, Steve Covey ...... 22

Coleoptera, MARC ARBUCKLE ...... 25

Sawflies, K. John Grearson ...... 29

Geology, Isobel Geddes ...... 30

This report and any additional reports not included here can be downloaded from the WSBRC website via the link - http://wsbrc.org.uk/wildlife-recording/county-recorders/

Front Cover: southern migrant hawker © Damian Pinguey, rugged oil beetle © Marc Arbuckle, slow worm © Gareth Harris, and juvenile adder © Gareth Harris

INTRODUCTION, GARETH HARRIS

Once again, I am delighted and excited to present the latest annual report from Wiltshire’s county recorders, for 2017 – where else do you get such a superb overview of the recent advances in our knowledge and understanding of the county’s flora and fauna? Where else are you better able to understand the vast amounts of time and commitment that Wiltshire’s recorders, county recorders and recording groups, expend in doing so? And the achievements and the advances are many and varied and, in many cases, breath-taking.

Once again, the annual report highlights the breadth of biological recording activity in Wiltshire and the committed experts undertaking and coordinating such work. In a short report, of course, it’s not possible to highlight ALL of the time expended by the county’s committed recorders; or the time taken to coordinate and train surveyors or the time taken in verifying the large volumes of data being generated in the county. In many cases the work of the county recorders is truly Herculean but undertaken behind the scenes! But your efforts ensure a smoother data flow in the county and as time goes on data flow gets better and better, year by year, with more people sharing their data and greater volumes of verified records available to be used.

THANK YOU to you all, and your respective groups, for all your time and effort in 2017. We are immensely grateful for your time and energy – we spend a lot of time saying thank you, so much so that I wonder if there is a way of expressing greater, elevated thanks.

There has also been some tremendous recording activity in the county in 2017 by professional consultant ecologists of whom increasing numbers submit their data to WSBRC, usually directly, increasingly through Living Record and iRecord’s The Consultants Portal. Significant datasets have been received this year from the A303 Stonehenge Bypass (from the Atkins-Arup JV who lead on ecological assessments in 2016 & 2017), which includes large volumes of data relating to vascular plants, bats, birds, badgers, with more to follow (terrestrial inverts etc).

The joint project with Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) continues to bear fruit, including capturing large volumes of historic data as well as receiving more recent datasets from consultant ecologists working on Salisbury Plain. The efforts of members of Salisbury Plain’s conservation groups continue to be immense and the contributions of recorders such as Mike Lockwood (brown hairstreak and other invertebrates), Iain Perkins (fairy shrimp and common toad in ephemeral pools) continue to completely change our understanding of how these species use these landscapes, providing a worthy reminder that Salisbury Plain is an important wetland habitat!

Last year we celebrated approaching our 2 millionth records – this year, thanks to everyone’s efforts, we are approaching our 3 millionth record! But more importantly, we celebrate everyone’s role in achieving this – from those at WSBRC who manage the database day to day, to those capturing and importing the records from a zillion different sources, to the verifiers and county recorders who help us maintain high data quality, to the folk who coordinate surveys and collate the data, and of course, those who spend vast numbers of hours, each year, in varying weather conditions, often during unsociable hours, to survey and monitor a diverse range of species and habitats. Not only is this a team effort, but the majority of the team are unpaid volunteers, many of whom have survey and identification skills far beyond the “professionals”. And that if course is the irony of biological recording in the UK; it is underpinned by the unpaid experts and surveyors.

The biological recording landscape in the UK continues to grow, develop and improve, but in doing so, it often feels like it becomes increasing complex, with a proliferation of new recording tools, smartphone apps and websites, all generating increasing volumes of data. Consequently, the greatest pressures are perhaps most evident in verification, with the team of verifiers increasingly feeling a growing burden, as increasing volumes of data require expert verification. A lack of verifiers willing to adopt resources such as Living Record places additional burden upon the LERCs (requiring us to manually access and download data and share with verifiers to ensure they may be 3

verified and used) whilst also leaving recorders frustrated when their records seem to languish online, unverified for prolonged periods. It’s unfair to place increasing burdens on existing verifiers/county recorders, many of whom are already under strain, so we need your help in identifying additional verifiers, perhaps deputised by the county recorders, to assist in the verification process.

We decided in 2017 that, going forwards, we would encourage use of iRecord for more obscure/under-recorded taxa, since iRecord is at least favoured by many of the national verifiers (in part because photos can be uploaded). During 2017 and early 2018 therefore, we stepped-up efforts to harvest key datasets from iRecord.

WSBRC had an incredibly busy 2017 with further staff changes (detailed below) and a further contraction in core funding – and yet we still delivered a huge amount of work. It’s clear that 2018 will be another challenging year; from the recruitment of a new centre manager, to meeting the needs of the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), to meeting shortfalls in funding. And of course, the huge anticipated changes in the environment sector resulting from Brexit.

A year ago, I asked you to imagine Wiltshire without a county biological records centre – how will your data be used to safeguard habitats and species, to inform reserve management or development schemes or policy frameworks? How will data relating to sensitive species and sites be stored and safeguarded, to prevent disclosure to the wrong people whilst ensuring it informs the right people? Who will collate and manage this vast evidence base, that grows year-on-year?

And this is why we need you, your ongoing support and for you to act as our advocates. We all do what we do because we care passionately about our natural environment in Wiltshire. Thank you again for all your help in 2017!

Now, I wonder which species will comprise the 3 millionth record – and who will record it? Answers on a postcard please…….

Gareth Harris MCIEEM March 2018

WSBRC UPDATE – THE TEAM!

It has been another tremendously busy and challenging year, and once again, the great work of the county recorders and verifiers is smoothing the flow of data and ensuring a high standard of data quality. Yours and our efforts do not go unnoticed and the volume of high quality data is being increasingly used to inform policy and planning processes across the county. Our work is not just about numbers of records, it’s about the context and quality, and the quality of the data we receive gets higher each year, in terms of detail, accuracy and currency. This makes a huge difference in terms of how much it is taken into account, particularly in relation to future development work, which continue to run apace here in Wiltshire with proposals for large numbers of houses looming on the horizon.

From all of the team, thank you to all of the county’s recorders, county recorders and verifiers for all the work you do and your ongoing support.

Records

On the 12th March 2018, our database holdings were over 2.2million records (comparing favourably with 1,910,794 species records in mid-February 2017); during this financial year we passed the 2 millionth record!

Given that we reached one million records at the beginning of 2012, we are clearly generating some momentum in increasing our database holdings. This time period is characterized by concerted efforts by the whole team to focus on mobilising as much data as possible as well as promoting & encouraging further data submission from recording

groups and consultant ecologists. As a consequence of this effort we developed more streamlined processes for handling and checking data to improve its quality and consistency and enable us to mobilise records for use within a shorter timeframe. A huge part of this can be attributed to the help and support of the county recorders and recording groups in the county, not only in submitting their data but in supporting our efforts to improve verification processes. These processes are constantly under review to enable us to refine and improve them.

FIGURE 1 TOTAL SPECIES RECORDS BY YEAR & CUMULATIVE TOTAL

Thus far, during the year 2017-18 over 264,519 records have been added to the database, currently our best-ever year for data input to the database and with three weeks remaining in this financial year, this number will continue to grow. See Figure 1. We expect to surpass 3 million in the next financial year – we have already received some large datasets which will be imported in the coming months.

Figure 2 outlines the total number of records in the database, focussing upon those taxon groups accounting for around 0.2% or more of the total holdings. Flowering plants, moths, butterflies and birds continue to comprise more than 80% of our total data holdings. In recent years however, focussed efforts upon other species group continue to result in increasing availability for less-recorded groups too, notably mammals & bats (following publication of Mammals in Wiltshire, 2nd Edition, in March 2017), reptiles and amphibians (in relation to data analyses contributing to the publication of The Herpetofauna of Wiltshire, in March 2018), fungi (following the submission of large datasets collected by the late Ted Gange) and coleopteran (when Marc Arbuckle commenced as county recorder).

A further breakdown of the total numbers of records, and how these have changed over time, for each taxon group, is detailed in Figures 3. The percentage increases in records since 2009, 2012 and 2017 have been provided to provide further context.

WSBRC staff and volunteers, as well as colleagues at Wiltshire Council, continue to capture data from consultancy reports, typically submitted by the consultants. This generates many of our records for amphibians and reptiles.

The joint project on Salisbury Plain training area, with Defence Infrastructure Organisation, has enabled the submission of significant numbers of records generated through surveys undertaken by DIO staff, their conservation groups and consultant ecologists working upon their behalf. Whilst many of these records were historic datasets relating to the 1990s and 2000s, increasing volumes of current data are now being submitted, including notably by the conservation groups. The knock-on effects of the DIO project to our efforts to ever-improve the data flow are significant. Worthy of particular mention here are the Herculean efforts of Iain Perkins at DIO, whose professional and voluntary efforts have results in the submission of considerable numbers of records of species found on The Plain, notably fairy shrimp and common toad.

Gathering data from consultancy reports, monitoring projects and other work has helped supply numbers of other taxa such as amphibians and reptiles and crustacea.

FIGURE 2 RECORDS HELD BY WSBRC AS OF MARCH 2018, BY TAXON GROUP. AND AS % OF TOTAL

More generally use of Living Record and other online recording tools has helped to ensure a steady flow of data across a wide range of taxa, even where a local verifier isn’t available. Alongside this we now receive the majority of records in electronic formats, predominantly in Excel, and often in standardised formats such as our standard recording form.

We are also increasingly engaging in the harvesting of verified data from other online sources such as iRecord (thereby accessing data from a range of national recording schemes) as well as Record Pool (Amphibian & Reptile Conservation).

Clearly some species groups are recorded at a much greater level than others and this reflects aspects such as recorder interest and ability, ease of identification and numbers of species within each taxa. This will likely always be the case, but it’s encouraging to see increases where they occur and continue. Notable increases are being noted for more challenging species groups already, notably Coleoptera and Spiders. Increase in Increase in No. records No. records No. records No. records % Increase Since % Increase Since % Increase Since Taxon group records 2009-records 2012- 2009 2012 2017 2018 2009 2012 2017 2018 2018 slime mould 69 1,134 1,322 1,643 1,574 509 95.80% 30.98% 19.54% fungoid - 70 95 98 98 28 100.00% 28.57% 3.06% fungus 5,107 54,454 66,279 94,660 89,553 40,206 94.60% 42.47% 29.98% lichen 4,679 8,525 16,044 17,372 12,693 8,847 73.07% 50.93% 7.64% alga 16 16 18 20 4 4 20.00% 20.00% 10.00% chromist - - 45 52 52 52 100.00% 100.00% 13.46% stonewort 21 127 304 378 357 251 94.44% 66.40% 19.58% liverwort 1,325 2,090 2,834 2,836 1,511 746 53.28% 26.30% 0.07% moss 10,553 16,232 20,948 20,984 10,431 4,752 49.71% 22.65% 0.17% clubmoss 2 51 74 74 72 23 97.30% 31.08% 0.00% horsetail 1,292 1,517 2,603 2,652 1,360 1,135 51.28% 42.80% 1.85% fern 10,312 12,309 14,178 14,339 4,027 2,030 28.08% 14.16% 1.12% conifer 6,237 8,101 8,184 8,265 2,028 164 24.54% 1.98% 0.98% ginkgo 1 19 52 52 51 33 98.08% 63.46% 0.00% flowering plant 439,826 576,804 852,020 862,528 422,702 285,724 49.01% 33.13% 1.22% flatworm (Turbellaria) 72 96 195 195 123 99 63.08% 50.77% 0.00% roundworm (Nematoda) - 1 1 1 1 - 100.00% 0.00% 0.00% hairworm (Nematomorpha) - 1 9 9 9 8 100.00% 88.89% 0.00% mollusc 1,755 2,158 3,577 3,704 1,949 1,546 52.62% 41.74% 3.43% annelid 285 399 713 873 588 474 67.35% 54.30% 18.33% acarine (Acari) 6 18 62 63 57 45 90.48% 71.43% 1.59% spider (Araneae) 4,804 10,129 10,420 10,454 5,650 325 54.05% 3.11% 0.33% harvestman (Opiliones) 45 33 55 56 11 23 19.64% 41.07% 1.79% scorpion - 1 1 1 1 - 100.00% 0.00% 0.00% false scorpion (Pseudoscorpiones) 13 13 14 14 1 1 7.14% 7.14% 0.00% crustacean 673 1,041 4,684 5,802 5,129 4,761 88.40% 82.06% 19.27% millipede 37 38 55 57 20 19 35.09% 33.33% 3.51% centipede 42 42 53 56 14 14 25.00% 25.00% 5.36% springtail (Collembola) - - - 1 1 1 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% insect - mayfly (Ephemeroptera) 554 1,216 4,840 4,850 4,296 3,634 88.58% 74.93% 0.21% insect - dragonfly (Odonata) 5,605 7,374 13,621 14,944 9,339 7,570 62.49% 50.66% 8.85% insect - stonefly (Plecoptera) 4 73 449 449 445 376 99.11% 83.74% 0.00% insect - orthopteran 206 1,318 1,483 1,701 1,495 383 87.89% 22.52% 12.82% insect - earwig (Dermaptera) 6 30 48 67 61 37 91.04% 55.22% 28.36% insect - cockroach (Dictyoptera) 9 26 26 29 20 3 68.97% 10.34% 10.34% insect - booklouse (Psocoptera) 10 11 14 14 4 3 28.57% 21.43% 0.00% insect - true bug (Hemiptera) 762 1,102 1,685 2,196 1,434 1,094 65.30% 49.82% 23.27% insect - thrips (Thysanoptera) - - 3 3 3 3 100.00% 100.00% 0.00% insect - snakefly (Raphidioptera) - 2 6 6 6 4 100.00% 66.67% 0.00% insect - alderfly (Megaloptera) 17 29 69 79 62 50 78.48% 63.29% 12.66% insect - lacewing (Neuroptera) 35 41 64 68 33 27 48.53% 39.71% 5.88% insect - beetle (Coleoptera) 2,128 8,196 12,085 15,426 13,298 7,230 86.21% 46.87% 21.66% insect - scorpion fly (Mecoptera) 11 19 53 70 59 51 84.29% 72.86% 24.29% insect - caddis fly (Trichoptera) 296 739 3,283 3,295 2,999 2,556 91.02% 77.57% 0.36% insect - butterfly 47,786 71,251 118,319 136,687 88,901 65,436 65.04% 47.87% 13.44% insect - moth 36,807 80,340 332,710 439,451 402,644 359,111 91.62% 81.72% 24.29% insect - true fly (Diptera) 1,696 2,423 5,629 7,491 5,795 5,068 77.36% 67.65% 24.86% insect - hymenopteran 895 5,199 9,186 11,406 10,511 6,207 92.15% 54.42% 19.46% bryozoan - - 43 43 43 43 100.00% 100.00% 0.00% jawless fish (Agnatha) 11 27 50 56 45 29 80.36% 51.79% 10.71% bony fish (Actinopterygii) 895 1,175 2,098 2,131 1,236 956 58.00% 44.86% 1.55% amphibian 3,400 4,415 8,904 10,566 7,166 6,151 67.82% 58.22% 15.73% reptile 1,927 2,324 3,458 3,869 1,942 1,545 50.19% 39.93% 10.62% bird 22,556 83,860 312,470 370,096 347,540 286,236 93.91% 77.34% 15.57% terrestrial mammal 27,380 35,387 75,358 92,674 65,294 57,287 70.46% 61.82% 18.68% TOTAL RECORDS 640,168 1,001,996 1,910,793 2,164,906 1,524,738 1,162,910

FIGURE 3 RECORDS HELD BY TAXA

Recorder Support WSBRC continues to face significant challenges, with further reductions in core funding (from Wiltshire Council) compounding the withdrawal of funding from Natural England in the previous financial year. Compounding this, Purgle Linham left WSBRC in November 2017 after 14 years here, in order to pursue new opportunities with Natural England.

Despite these challenges WSBRC continues to develop its portfolio of work developing and building-upon projects and partnerships, for example, with Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and with the farm clusters in the Pewsey Down and Chalke Valley (supporting the work of Simon Smart). And as discussed previously the mobilization of data from a variety of sources ensures that we continue to develop and expand our data holdings.

We continue to identify gaps in recording, whether geographical gaps or gaps in expertise, and aim to support recorders in these areas, whether through training or signposting of resources. The recent publication of the Mammals in Wiltshire_2nd edition and The Herpetofauna of Wiltshire support these efforts by promoting these species groups, gaps in knowledge and the recording groups working upon them. Such work generates and supports new expert and experienced recorders which, where possible, we engage with to support the existing county recorders and other verifiers. We hope to lead on and support further atlas projects so if you have a desire to publish one for your subject area do get in touch to discuss it.

This year we have held various training events to encourage and support recording and recorders, including courses for the Living Record online recording system, in conjunction with partners including the WWT Wild Connections project, Defence Infrastructure Organisation and the Pewsey Downs and Chalke Valley farm clusters. We have also led on training in brown hare survey, for example, for the WWT Wild Connections project.

Staffing Once again, the team saw a number of changes in 2017. Jasmine Walters & Gareth Harris continued to provide cover whilst Alison Mitchell was on maternity leave and Grace Elwood also worked part-time with us. Our long-term student placement, Isabella Stephens, continued with us, beyond the requirements of her placement into late winter. In March, Grace’s contract ended and Jasmine secured full-time employment with an environmental consultancy a few weeks prior to her contract ending. During the spring, Alison Mitchell returned from maternity leave (but on a part-time, rather than full-time basis) and consequently Gareth Harris’ contract to provide maternity cover also finished.

By August, we had recruited Michael Hordley and during the autumn Jonathan Cooper and Gareth Harris were contracted on short-term, part-time contracts once again. This was partly following the news that Purgle Linham, after working as WSBRC’s centre manager for 14 years, was leaving us to seek fresh challenges with Natural England in the New Forest.

In March 2018, therefore, staffing comprises Michael Hordley (permanent, full-time), Alison Mitchell (permanent, part-time) and Jonathan Cooper and Gareth Harris (short term, part-time contracts, ending 31st March 2018).

And of course, we are fortunate to be supported by all our volunteers over the year – thank you to Iain and Katy, and our new volunteers, Judith and Natasha.

Going forwards, we will be recruiting a new centre manager in spring 2018 – watch this space!

The WSBRC Team, March 2018

COUNTY RECORDERS’ ANNUAL REPORTS

The following are a selection of annual reports from the Wiltshire and Swindon (VC 7 and 8) County Recorders and some of its recording groups. For additional reports not represented here or for more information visit the relevant group’s website or contact the individual County Recorder.

AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES, GEMMA HARDING

Records

The records received directly from volunteers and general public reduced in 2017 but this reduction is no bad thing as it is most likely attributed to many people now submitting records via online recording portals such as, Living Record and Record Pool, rather than direct to the County Recorder. A good number of records were submitted, via Living Record in particular, which were then verified by myself or members of Wiltshire Amphibian and Reptile Group (WARG). This process appears to be working well and we expect it to become more efficient over the coming years.

Active Recording and Monitoring Projects/ Events

Toad patrols and monitoring: Monitoring is still ongoing at Wichelstowe in Swindon. The main issue at this site was linked to amphibians becoming trapped in drains. However, in 2016 ladders were installed in a number of the drains/ gulley pots and these seem to be doing their job as very few amphibians required rescuing in 2017. There are still some ongoing issues with the site and we will continue to monitor the area and work with the council and ecologists to ensure the protection of local amphibian populations are prioritised.

The toad crossing at Smallbrook near Warminster continues to be patrolled and at present the convenor does not need further assistance. There are a further four other active patrols in Wiltshire that may need assistance and WARG will attempt to make contact and help where possible.

Regular monitoring of amphibians and reptiles has continued at Rushey Platt, Salisbury Plain and Blakehill Nature Reserve. We have added two new monitoring sites in Swindon, both ponds, one at Croft Wood and the other at Broome Manor Copse. The Swindon based volunteers will aim to monitor the ponds annually. Much of the regular monitoring is still focused around Swindon and we are keen to expand beyond this area and welcome new recorders across the county.

Future Projects

The Herpetofauna of Wiltshire, First Edition, is the first document in Wiltshire to outline the distribution of the county’s reptile and amphibian populations. The atlas represents the first document in the county to promote our amphibians and reptiles and the importance of the habitats that they need. Over 10,000 records, covering the period 1996 to 2017, have been included in the atlas, offering the most up-to-date assessment of the county’s herpetofauna to date.

The atlas can be downloaded, free-of-charge from the WSBRC website, http://wsbrc.org.uk/herpetofaunaofwiltshire/

This publication has been supported by Wiltshire Natural History Publications Trust, whose grant supported the map production and data management by WSBRC. Huge thanks are extended to the many other contributors, including members of Wiltshire Amphibian & Reptile Group and other recorders and consultant ecologists across the county.

Gemma Harding, County Recorder, Wiltshire Amphibian and Reptile Group - [email protected]

BATS, GARETH HARRIS

Recording highlights of the year?

Publication of Mammals in Wiltshire, 2nd Edition. The new atlas can be downloaded here, free of charge. Mammals in Wiltshire_2nd edition_ver 1.0. WSBRC, with WMG and WBG, produced a freely-accessible web-based document to ensure the information is widely available, not least to the many recorders and organisations contributing to its production.

This publication has been supported by Wiltshire Natural History Publications Trust, whose grant supported the map production and data management by WSBRC. Huge thanks are extended to the many other contributors, including those writing species accounts, capturing data, surveying and submitting records and to Dr Fiona Mathews and Dr Patrick Dillon for providing their insights for the foreword.

It is hoped that this atlas will help to promote the importance of the county, its habitats and mammal species, to a wider audience, promoting the importance of safeguarding important sites for mammals, now and in the future, to local planning authorities, statutory bodies such as Natural England and Environment Agency, as well as nature reserve managers across the county. This includes those sites where mammals are the feature of interest for designated sites, for example the bat species listed on the Special Areas of Conservation at Bath & Bradford-on-Avon and Chilmark Quarries, and Dormice included as features of the Savernake Forest SSSI.

Wiltshire is an incredible county supporting significant numbers of many of the UK’s species of conservation, ranging from recovering populations of Otters and Polecat, to Brown Hare, Water vole, Harvest Mice and Hedgehog. The county also supports nationally and internationally-important sites for bats (such as the SACs mentioned above). Furthermore, recent surveys are highlighting important populations of rare woodland bats such as Bechstein’s and Barbastelle bats.

2017 was another busy year for the bat group with highlights too numerous to list in detail!

Hibernation counts early in the year at sites within the Bath & Bradford on Avon SAC highlight that this area continues to support nationally and internationally important numbers of greater horseshoe bat. Concern grows however over the conservation status of a number of sites here (as well as some sites not included in the SAC) where continued disturbance by those illegally accessing the underground sites, as well as built development, impacts bats using these sites. Complicating this further, access to some sites is changing as landowners act to prevent unwanted access, in some cases re-grilleing mine entrances without consideration for access for survey and monitoring. Times are changing! Where we can, we work with Natural England and the landowners to achieve the best outcomes. Wiltshire’s designated sites for bats seem somewhat fragile at present.

Hibernation counts at the disused railway tunnel in Marlborough, monitored as part of the Savernake Project, showed continued usage of the site by hundreds of bats, primarily Natterers bats with smaller numbers of Daubenton’s and Brown long-eared bats. Intriguingly a lesser horseshoe bat has begun hibernating here (since 2015), not previously recorded in monitoring which commenced in the 1990s. A string of warm winters has seen numbers of bats using the tunnel fall. The tunnel is another location potentially to be impacted by nearby built development but liaison with the consultants acting for the developer, and Wiltshire Council, offers some promise of positive outcomes for the bats using the site, as well as those undertaking monitoring here. The owner of the tunnel likewise continues to be supportive - plans for Further bat enhancements are being made for later in 2018, in part thanks to some support from the bat group.

The Bechstein’s bat studies at Green lane & Biss woods, Trowbridge continued in 2017, with the monthly bat box

monitoring supplemented by detailed monthly tree roost feature assessments. Further radiotracking was delivered in 2017 and multiple new tree roosts have been found too.

Wiltshire-wide surveys for Bechstein’s and Barbastelle bats continued with a new site for Bechstein’s bat located in the Braydon forest (the sixth woodland found supporting this species in this area) whilst as part of the same project (The Braydon Forest Bechstein’s Bat Project) bat box monitoring and ringing studies continued at two nearby sites. Elsewhere in Wiltshire surveys uncovered barbastelles at a new site in central Wiltshire...... This project continues to find new sites for Wiltshire’s rare woodland bats.

The CWP project continued with Will Ponting delivering further bat box checks and ringing/re-trapping of soprano pipistrelle bats through the year. Further trapping surveys targeting Nathusius’ pipistrelle bat were delivered, and efforts were rewarded in October with the capture of a male Nathusius’ pip, the first to be trapped in the CWP. It’s worth noting that despite multiple annual checks to several hundred bat boxes since 2005, only 1 Nathusius’ pip has been found in boxes here. This trapped Nathusius’ pip is also, to my knowledge, the first trapped in Wiltshire.

Male Nathusius’ Pipistrelle bat, Cotswold Water Park © G.Harris

Challenges noted or experienced in the past year

2017 proved to be a challenging year for bat workers. Inclement weather during early spring curtailed trapping surveys, whilst during July to September, blustery weather conditions curtailed trapping surveys in woodlands as well as the autumn swarming trapping surveys at mine entrances. Thankfully the warm, wet spring and summer appears to have resulted in a good breeding season for many bat species (by which I mean that there’s been little evidence of a poor breeding season).

Have you noticed any significant changes in the distribution of one or more species in the County?

In 2017 notable changes primarily relate to improved recording efforts, improved data management or improved data sharing rather than a population trend. For example, more new woodlands supporting Bechstein’s and Barbastelle bat have been confirmed (Braydon Forest and Grovely Wood, respectively) whilst considerable work upon the bat research dataset for horseshoe bats (Dr. Fiona Mathews et al) in the Bath & Bradford-on-Avon Bat SAC is highlighting new findings regarding how bats are using these sites.

Was it a good or bad recording season?

Despite the often poor weather conditions which frequently necessitated the re-arrangement of survey events, 2017 was a good recording season for bats with positive outcomes for most of the county’s key projects and a steady flow of incoming data.

Gareth Harris, County Recorder, Wiltshire Bat Group [email protected]. February 2018

BIRDS, NICK ADAMS

Introduction

As a land-locked county, the importance of Wiltshire for birds is perhaps overlooked. It is one of the most important counties for farmland birds in the UK. We seem to be bucking the trend for nationally declining species like corn bunting Emberiza calandra and yellow wagtail Motacilla flava with increased numbers.

Areas like the Cotswold Water Park are Internationally Important for lesser black-backed gull Larus fuscus Nationally Important for a number of waterfowl (great crested grebe podiceps cristatus, shoveler Anas clypeata, tufted duck Aythya fuligula, pochard Aythya ferina, gadwall Anas strepera, smew Mergus albellus, coot Fulica atra and green sandpiper Tringa ochropus).

Records

Many thanks to everyone who submitted bird records in 2017. Living Record now supplies about the same number of records as member f the Wiltshire Ornithological Society (WOS) do directly on spreadsheets. Hopefully this trend will continue as it’s a great way to record and make full use of the all-important records.

Capturing records is a growing challenge with the increasing use of Social Media as a vehicle to pass news around.

Recording year

WOS are keen to target key species within Wiltshire and do our best to help conserve them. One of specie to come onto our radar is curlew Numenius arquata. This species is in a period of significant decline and it is firmly red-listed, therefore a species of high conservation concern. In the UK we have around 30% of the world population and have the largest population of any country. By working with Wilts WT, WWT, RSPB and other like-minded organisations it is hoped to reverse this decline. There are perhaps as few as ten pairs now breeding in Wiltshire. As part of the group working in Wilts to help this species, WOS hope to be able to help find these nests and assist the landowners to give each nest the maximum chance of success.

DIPTERA, ANTHONY BAINBRIDGE

Many thanks to all those who have sent pictures for me to confirm an identification; there have been several this year, and while it is true to say that some were blurred photos of unidentifiable or uninteresting Diptera, a few were of especial interest; I’ve shown two of them with this report: Choerades marginatus, an Asilid or Robber fly, reported by Nick Upton and new to the Wiltshire list; and a lovely picture of a larva of a Phantom Midge Chaoborus crystallinus – not at all uncommon but crisply caught on camera by Roger Hammond.

The other shots show Choerades marginatus in cop (Photo Nick Upton) two Asilid species noted during a foray into SPTA West in June. On that occasion I actually photographed more beetles than flies, and Marc Arbuckle has noted those records.

The Anthomyiidae are a diverse group of flies (similar to muscids at first sight) in which I’m just beginning to take an interest. Until recently there have not been any useful keys, but a draft set has just been released and I shall be working through it over the next few Chaoborus crystallinus Photo Roger Hammond months.

For the rest I simply list the main 2017 records below: Mesembrina meridiana (fam Musc) An Anthomyiid (unidentified as yet) Musca domestica – of course! Eristalis pertinax (fam Syrph) Hilara maura (fam Empididae) Euempis tesselata (fam Emp) Leptarthrus brevirostris (fam Asilidae) Leptogaster cylindrica (fam Asilidae) Choerades marginatus (fam Asilidae – new to the Wiltshire list) Leptarthrus brevirostris f & m Calliphora vicina (fam Calliphoridae) Photo Anthony Bainbridge Chaoborus crystallinus larva (a phantom midge) Sargus bipunctatus (fam Stratiomyidae)

I note here additionally three non-dipteran records (a sawfly Tenthredopsis litterata, a scorpionfly Panorpa communis, and Haplophilus subterraneus (a centipede – new to the Wiltshire list). The sawfly was identified for me by John Grearson; the centipede Haplophilus subterraneus record is new to Wiltshire and was confirmed for me by a national expert on the Myriapoda. In the midst of all this I’m working on a project to re-mount and label my own collection; a real pain when there are far more interesting aspects of being a dipterist. But needs must….. Leptogaster cylindrica m Photo Anthony Bainbridge Anthony Bainbridge, County Diptera Recorder - [email protected]. March 2018

HIGHER PLANTS, SHARON PILKINGTON

Recording

With only three recording seasons left to collect data for the BSBI Atlas Updating Project (also known, less tongue- twistingly as Atlas 2020) Wiltshire’s most active botanical recorders/WBS members continued to target their efforts in parts of the county that had received little attention since 2000. At last, the gaps are getting smaller and coverage of the county has increased greatly although North Wiltshire still needs more effort – as ever.

Sue Fitzpatrick returned to full recording activity after recovering from her hip surgery and immediately expanded her efforts into new areas. Dave Green really got into the swing of things in the NW of the county and Ness Williams returned to offer a helping hand with other underworked southern areas. Ness was involved with the Wiltshire Flora Mapping Project three decades ago and is a most competent botanist so her return was most welcome. Very sadly, Tom Cairns, who had been a very enthusiastic and active recorder in recent years in the Melksham area, passed away after being diagnosed with cancer. I’m sure he’d have been pleased to learn that his recording work in ST96 will be continued in 2018 by Jasmine Walters.

Between us, Richard Aisbitt and I received 59,234 botanical records with a 2017 date. The majority were generated by the various recorders engaged in Atlas 2020 along with others entered in Living Record, iRecord and incidental records and reports received by the Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre. The records centre also sent a most welcome batch of 40,000+ plus records dating back a number of years.

Two recording meetings were held by the WBS in 2017 to specifically target under-worked parts of the county. In June two groups visited one of the most remote parts of the county, near Fosbury and Tidcombe on the Wiltshire/Hampshire border whilst in August several recording parties set out from Mere. Both meetings generated lots of valuable records for these areas and much fun was had along the way. A positive side-effect of such meetings is that less experienced botanists gain improved identification and confidence in recording species which they can then apply to their own recording.

New county/vice-county records

Such high levels of recording for Atlas 2020 not surprisingly generated many new county or vice-county records, the vast majority of these being naturalised introductions or casuals rather than genuine natives. Dave Green (on occasion with Helena Crouch) mined a rich seam of these at Great Cumberwell land-fill site, near Bradford-on-Avon. His finds included: Marsh-mallow Althaea hirsuta, Prince’s-feather Amaranthus hypochondriacus, Common Morning-glory Ipomoea purpurea, Royal Mallow Malva trimestris, White Mignonette Reseda alba, Silver Ragwort Senecio cinerea, Sweet-William Catchfly Silene armeria and Maltese-cross Silene chalcedonica.

Elsewhere in Wiltshire, other new records included:

 Betula celtiberica Furzley Common: edge of woodland. Wiltshire Botanical Society, conf. Sharon Pilkington.

 Cape-gooseberry Physalis peruviana Royal Wootton Bassett: single plant growing on waste ground adjacent to new house builds. Martin Buckland.

 Christmas-rose Helleborus niger Two records. Kingston Deverill: several escapes. Anne Appleyard, Sue Fitzpatrick, Irene Lucas and Vanessa Williams. Burton: dumped soil in woodland. Dave Green.

 Creeping Thistle x Marsh Thistle Cirsium x celakovskianum Bentley Wood: Pat Woodruffe.

 French Rocket Sisymbrium erysimoides Malmesbury: pavement-wall angle. About 6 plants. Sharon Pilkington, WBS meeting.

 Golden Alison Aurinia saxatilis Devizes: growing in cracks in roadside wall. Martin Buckland.

 Hairy Michaelmas-daisy Aster novae-anglicae Ashley Wood: in a dumped industrial area. Dave Green.

 Intermediate Periwinkle Vinca difformis Seend Cleeve: well-established and spreading on verge of track near houses. Sharon Pilkington.

 Knotted Crane’s-bill Geranium nodosum Market Lavington: garden escape into local footway. Martin Buckland.

 New Zealand Wind-grass Anemanthele lessoniana Limpley Stoke and Bradford on Avon: Dave Green and Helena Crouch. French Rocket Sisymbrium erysimoides in Malmesbury Bittlesea Farm: Dave Green. (Sharon Pilkington)

 Orange-peel Clematis Clematis tangutica Great Cheverell: naturalised in Buddleja scrub on railway embankment. Sharon Pilkington.

 Pale Corydalis Pseudofumaria alba Highworth: 8 plants on face of high stone wall by Brewery Street car-park. Richard Aisbitt.

 Pasta Wheat Triticum durum Tidcombe: volunteers on both bridleway verges. Anne Appleyard and Sue Fitzpatrick.

 Royal Mallow Malva trimestris Dilton Marsh: single large plant in pasture. Darrell Harrison, conf. Sharon Pilkington.

 Salix gmelinii Hilperton Marsh: several trees in ditch-line and bank. 4-5 m height, coppiced in the past. Dave Green.

 Small Alison Alyssum alyssoides Allington: escaped in village. Anne Appleyard and Sue Fitzpatrick.

 Taraxacum pulchrifolium Downton: on verge. David Leadbetter, conf. A.J. Richards.

Have you noticed any significant changes in the distribution of one or more species in the County?

On the Increase: Hairy Bindweed Calystegia pulchra

Every year certain plants come to my attention as having been overlooked or misidentified, or sometimes as genuine new colonists of our county. In 2017 this honour is bestowed on Hairy Bindweed Calystegia pulchra, a large and showy herbaceous climber.

I first came across this introduced species romping vigorously over nettles and scrub by a layby in Amesbury earlier this year. Then I found it at the side of the A303 near Stonehenge, and again in two different Amesbury hedgerows. I was struck by the thought that a plant that I may have been dismissing as Large Bindweed C. silvatica, an introduced species and one that is widespread across Wiltshire might sometimes have been this species instead.

What attracted me to the plant was the size and colour of its flowers, which are at least the same diameter as C. silvatica. The flowers are robustly striped with pink (apparently they can also be all pink though I’ve not yet encountered this form) and, like C. silvatica, have inflated, pouch-like bracts that hide the sepals. The leaves are a peculiar shape, with the lower part being more parallel-side than the gradually tapering leaves of C. silvatica. C. silvatica is usually white-flowered but can also be pink-striped and one of the important diagnostic characters of C. pulchra is the presence of appressed hairs on the pedicels (flower stalks). These are often very sparse and confined to the bottom or top of the pedicel where they are usually visible only with a hand-lens.

Since becoming familiar with this plant, I, and a few other recorders have found it in a number of other places. It seems to be particular frequent along the Wiltshire A303 where perhaps its seeds are dispersed by vehicles but it’s worth hunting for in August and September when it is at its most showy in roadside hedges and waysides elsewhere. I’m sure there’s much more of it to be found.

Hairy Bindweed Calystegia pulchra in Amesbury (Sharon Pilkington)

Sharon Pilkington, County Recorder, Wiltshire Botanical Society - [email protected].

MACROLEPIDOPTERA, DAVE BROTHERIDGE

Firstly may I pay tribute to Godfrey Smith, who, until his sad passing, with his brother Michael, were, so ably, the Micromoth recorders for the county for many years? So many I can’t find out the exact year they started, not even from Michael!!! They made a huge contribution to the distribution of Wiltshire’s Lepidoptera and due to outstanding field work and ability to breed species added knowledge of life histories, particularly where Micro's were concerned. It was a privilege to know Godfrey and I recall many a wise word coming from both him and Michael.

Now Wayne and I have taken on the Micro's as well, the pressures of verifying the records, of what are frequently difficult species, has become apparent and I am even more appreciative of their efforts.

As for the moths of 2017 it can be summed up as pretty spectacular. We had at least 6 records of Cliften Nonpareil in N Wilts alone as well as numbers in S Wilts outside the usual restricted area they are found in in SE Wilts. With no migrants reported from the coast I think it appropriate to assume they are now a widespread breeder in the county. Another moth that did well was the Gold Spot with several recorders reporting much larger numbers the usual odd one or two. The Tawny Pinion and Dotted Chestnut both had several records, with the former seemingly having a resurgence.

Selected highlights are Syncipacma polychromella, from Highworth, Phtheochroa schreibersiana from N Swindon, Diasemia reticularis from Farley all new for the county. C. perspectalis the Boxworm moth has been found in Swindon and Devenish reserve, indicating a continuing expansion of the species from its first site at Farley. Watch out for Box bush/ hedge defoliation!!!

Macro highlights are The Olive Crescent from Farley, a first for the county, Dingy Mocha from Farley, Mullein Wave from Swindon, Pinion Spotted Pug, from Sutton Veny and Avebury, Silver Striped Hawk and maple Prominent from Farley, Hoary Footman from Chippenham, Great Brocade from Swindon, Splendid Brocade and Bird Wing from Farley, Silver Hook from Highworth, Cream Bordered Green Pea from Cricklade.

Scarcer migrants were represented by several Scarce Bordered Straw from several locations and a Ni moth from Farley.

Finally, I would like to thank and acknowledge the work Wayne does in sorting the records we get on several different formats to a format I can verify and amend if necessary. His efforts take a lot of time but make my task so much easier. Without him we would not have the numbers of records to forward to WSBRC or Butterfly Conservation.

Dave Brotheridge & Wayne Clinch, Wiltshire Macro-moth & Micro-moth Recorders, Butterfly Conservation - [email protected] March 2018

MAMMALS (EXCL. BATS), GARETH HARRIS

What were your/your group’s recording highlights of the year,

This publication has been supported by Wiltshire Natural History Publications Trust, whose grant supported the map production and data management by WSBRC. Huge thanks are extended to the many other contributors, including those writing species accounts, capturing data, surveying and submitting records and to Dr Fiona Mathews and Dr Patrick Dillon for providing their insights for the foreword.

Within seconds of publishing any atlas it instantly goes out of date! So even before we finished it we were identifying the gaps in our knowledge and the necessary steps to begin addressing them. One such intriguing gap was for harvest mouse where a reduction in recording effort in recent years suggests either a contraction in range or a reduction in survey effort. During winter 2016-17 and 2017-18 a number of folk across the county searched for harvest mouse nests on a range of sites successfully finding them in most places. More recently, during October and November 2017, WMG worked with Black Sheep Consulting to survey for harvest mice on four landholdings in south Wiltshire where WMG members and their friends successfully found nests in abundance on all sites surveyed. This was followed by a request from Wiltshire Wildlife Trust to survey Langford Lakes reserve, and specifically the area of new wet grassland; the reserve’s Wednesday volunteer team and Matt Calloway did a superb job, finding 22 nests in rushes, sweet grass and reeds.

Dormouse monitoring

WMG’s coordination of further surveys for dormice in the county continues to yield great results. Dormice were confirmed in the Longleat Forest in recent years and the team leading the monitoring here recorded breeding this year and increasing use of the boxes. Dormice have also recently been re-confirmed at a woodland in central Wiltshire, where they were previously recorded in the 1990s, and box monitoring will be ongoing here. Monitoring has also been initiated at a large woodland west of Trowbridge too.

Polecats

One of the less glamorous aspects of mammalogy is the recording of roadkill and carcasses. For some species this is

an invaluable contribution to our knowledge and this is exemplified perfectly with the polecat. Each year the majority of records of this species are generated, unfortunately, from roadkill. We are keen to receive such records, especially where the record is accompanied with photos that enable us to (attempt to) confirm if the animal is a “pure” native polecat or a hybrid polecat-ferret. Improved mammal recording in Wiltshire and greater awareness of the interest in polecats and roadkill records is enabling us to tentatively identify some areas of the county which seem to generate greater encounters with polecats, whether dead or alive. Two recorders in particular deserve mention here for they encounter more polecats (dead and alive) that anyone else in the county! Mike d’Apice and Diane Lee have submitted some great records (with photos) from the area north of Salisbury over the past couple of years, including some incredible video footage by Diane of a polecat determinedly feeding on a roadkill hare at dawn!

Records submission has dropped markedly following the completion of the atlas but conversely, a small group of people in the county are recording large numbers of mammals (and indeed other species) each year in Wiltshire, so particular thanks go to Sue Walker, Penny Theobold, Martin Buckland, Jasmine Walters and others too (too many to mention them all!).

Have you noticed any significant changes in the distribution of one or more species in the County?

The dormouse is the only mammal species (aside from some of the bats) monitored in Wiltshire each year in sufficient detail to enable an assessment of trends. Anecdotally, the dormouse box schemes in much of the county suggested a poor season in 2017 with reduced numbers of adults and litters noted – interestingly two of the longest-running schemes, in the south-east of the county, seemed to show no obvious negative change. The declines noted in the county may be in line with national trends.

For most other species, there is insufficient data to make any comment upon trends however notable findings and survey results relate to dormice and harvest mice. New dormice monitoring schemes were established in 2 new location of which dormice were proven at one of these by the end of the survey season. Five locations were surveyed for harvest mice and good numbers of nests were found at all locations – additional casual records of nests were made at several other locations too. So it would seem this species is under-recorded across it’s range in Wiltshire.

Gareth Harris on behalf of the Wiltshire Mammal Atlas Project & Wiltshire Mammal Group - [email protected]. February 2018

LEPIDOPTERA, MIKE FULLER

I think most people will agree that 2017 has been a very good butterfly year, after the two poor seasons of 2016 and 2015. It was also a season of early emergence for most species with some achieving earliest ever records. With a few exceptions, most species, including several of our scarcer ones have flourished in the generally good weather up until the end of July when it became very unsettled.

Most of the skippers appeared to have a good season. The Small Skipper continued its recovery from a run of poor seasons and the two spring skippers, the Dingy and Grizzled, both did well on their favoured grassland sites. The Essex Skipper, easily overlooked amongst Small Skippers, was widely reported in small numbers. Large Skippers excelled in the warmth of June and the first half of July and as in 2016, were seen in much larger numbers than usual. The extremely local Silver-spotted Skipper had a poor season at Porton Down and only one or two were recorded from its only other known locality in the Bulford/Tidworth area.

Of the Whites, the Large and Small were scarce in the spring but were more commonly seen during July and August. The Green-veined White was again a scarce butterfly in the spring whereas the Orange-tip and Brimstone both did well. Migrant Clouded Yellows arrived in reasonable numbers with 78 being recorded, although this was the lowest number since 8 in 2012.

The Hairstreaks are all small and elusive unless specifically searched for and tend to be under-recorded.

Green Hairstreak had a good season with good numbers reported from favoured sites. Purple Hairstreak, although common and widespread wherever oak trees occur, were rarely seen in double-figures although it had a good season on the Picket Wood evening transect, peaking at 113 on 3 July. White-letter Hairstreak, our most elusive and least ‘understood’ species, were reported from most of their known colonies plus one or two new areas but as usual in very small numbers, often just ones and twos.

Once again we are indebted to Robin Griffiths et al. and Mike Lockwood for their Brown Hairstreak egg-searching efforts. In the spring 291 eggs (269 in 2016) were found in the Braydon Forest area in the north of the county and 308 in the south. As usual, only a few of the very elusive adults were reported in August, but relatively high autumn egg counts (c.590 in north and 297 in south) suggested a good season.

The Small Copper, after last year’s disastrous year, showed some improvement with 92 reported of the spring generation (32 in 2016) and the summer/autumn generation continued the recovery. The Brown Argus and Common Blue were both scarce in the spring but much improved in the summer generation. Adonis Blue was well below par on most sites in the first generation but fared much better in the second generation. Chalkhill Blue were reported in low numbers, only the colony at Clearbury Down being the exception where about a 1000 were estimated being present on 24 July. Holly Blues experienced their third excellent year being numerous in the spring but appeared to be scarcer in the summer/autumn. The only Wiltshire colony of Silver-studded Blue at Landford Bog WWT reserve had a better season, peaking at 17 (8 in 2016). The spring generation of Small Blue did very well and 65 individuals of the second generation were reported during July and August.

Duke of Burgundy did well, as in 2016 and 2015 in the south but is becoming very rare in the north with probably only three tiny colonies remaining. White Admiral had a much better season and was commonly seen in several woodlands whereas the elusive Purple Emperor was reported in fewer numbers than of late.

Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock were both reasonably common in the spring but scarcer in the summer with a few exceptions of high numbers, whereas Commas were scarce in the spring but commonly seen in late June and July. Many Red Admirals survived the very mild winter with 90 reported from Jan – Apr (10 in 2016). It went on to become

common in the summer/autumn with 67 reported still on the wing during November. Some Painted Ladies probably also survived through the winter although there was an early arrival of immigrants in March, particularly in Devon. Up until the end of May, 43 were reported and then, perhaps rather surprisingly, mainly singletons throughout the June and July heat-waves with further small numbers in August.

Both Pearl-bordered and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary had a better season than in 2016 but need all the help they can get to maintain their status in the county. Dark Green Fritillary, as in 2016, did very well during July and the Silver- washed Fritillary improved on last year’s rather poor showing. The female form Valesina was reported from several woodlands. The Marsh Fritillary had another very good season with some high numbers reported from its favoured sites.

Most of the common ‘browns’ did exceptionally well – the Speckled Wood (after a slow start), Marbled White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Ringlet were all reported in numbers often too high to accurately count. The Small Heath also did well in the spring after a late start and was also commonly reported in late summer. The Wall was reported from known localities in reasonable numbers although it is never as numerous as most of the other browns. Unfortunately no Grayling were seen on the chalk on Salisbury Plain once again and although easy to overlook, is probably now confined to a tiny heathland area in the extreme SE of the county.

A much more detailed account of all of Wiltshire’s 45 species will be found in the 2017 Annual Butterfly Report which will be available in April 2018.

My thanks to all the recorders and transect walkers for submitting records and their continuing support, allowing this brief report to be compiled.

Mike Fuller, Wiltshire Butterfly Recorder - [email protected] February 2018

ODONATA, STEVE COVEY

For most species, 2017 proved to be an average year for both the numbers seen and the locations at which they were recorded. There were one or two notable highlights however!

The year got off to a reasonably early start with Large Red Damselfly being seen by Helen Rice on the By Brook [VC7] on 6th April and by Lorraine Blakey in her Salisbury [VC8] garden on 9th. The first dragonfly [Anisoptera] followed quite quickly with Broad-bodied Chaser on 11th at Cadnam Common Pond [VC8] by Derek Jenkins and Downy Emerald photographed emerging at Lower Moor complex, Cotswold Water Park (CWP)[VC7] on 21st by Steve Birt.

New species for the year then appeared at regular intervals through the season with the latest sightings being of Southern Hawker on 20th October at Market Lavington by Gareth Harris, Common Darter on 5th November at Sandpool, CWP by Neil Pullen and finally a Migrant Hawker on the edge of Seagry Wood on 8th November by Martin Buckland.

Several species had particularly successful seasons.

Hairy Hawker appears to be consolidating its position in the Lower Moor area of CWP with many more sightings of both males and females, including mating behaviour.

Image copyright Dave Butcher.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly appears to be expanding its range a little too. This year it has been discovered on the lake at Stanton Park on the edge of Swindon by Nick Nettleingham on 27th July and has appeared to have colonised the Wilts and Berks canal between Swindon and Royal Wootton Bassett with sightings [by Steve Birt and myself] all along that stretch which has been restored and flooded but not in use yet for boat traffic. Mating behaviour was noted at both locations. A single male was also seen by myself at Ravensroost Meadow Ponds on 6th August – another new location!

Image copyright Steve Covey

Further evidence of this range expansion included the first records for VC8; Steve Cham (BDS national recorder) found 6-20 Small Red-eyed Damselflies on a small lake in Westbury on 9-7-2017. This is a yet another new location and the only current one in VC8!! Its raises further possibilities of this species being found elsewhere in the county.

Golden-ring has been seen again in several places between Calne and Chippenham associating with small streams on the greensand outcropping. Also in Bentley Wood [including Sue Walkers garden!] near Salisbury – not that far from the New Forest population.

Image copyright Mark Briscoe

Beautiful Demoiselle continues to spread into further atypical locations and is now becoming almost as widespread as Banded Demoiselle in the county!

On 20th June at Coate Water Country Park Tony Martin, a local birder, photographed a mature male Red-veined Darter. Helen Sly saw it or another at the same location the previous day. These are the only sightings for this species in the county for several years!

Image copyright Tony Martin

The most exciting discoveries for the county this year however are as follows.

Scarce Chaser finally achieved proof of breeding status in Wilts when Steve Birt found an exuvia on the margins of one of the turning ponds on the Caen Hill flight of locks on the K & A canal at Devizes on 11th May! I visited on 14th and found a further 2 exuviae. In mid-June several mature males were noted holding territory there, all with abdominal mating scuff marks. We just need to find them on the Bristol Avon now, their main population location.

Last but not least, Damian Pinguey visited Ravensroost Meadow Ponds near Minety on 5th August where he found a stunning blue form female Southern Migrant Hawker – the first of that species for Wiltshire and the first of that form for the UK!!! He also got some superb shots of her but sadly she didn’t stay for others who went looking the following day [including myself].

Image copyright Damian Pinguey

Finally, as always, a huge thanks to all those who took the time to record and send in their sightings; please keep up the good work. More details and additional images can be found on our Facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/441544116004916/

Steve Covey, Odonata VCR [VC 7/8] February 2018

COLEOPTERA, MARC ARBUCKLE

After 25 years, Michael Darby, Wiltshire’s first county recorder, retired from the role to focus on his study of worldwide Ptiliidae. In that time his contribution to the history of Wiltshire Coleoptera has been significant and his inspiring book Wiltshire Beetles published in 2009 rarely leaves my side.

I took on the position in March 2017 and was greatly encouraged that the first record sent to me came from 7 year old Adam Randall. Adam found a male black oil beetle Meloe proscarabaeus on the 5 March 2017 under the Pewsey White Horse. Hopefully it will be the first of many records from this young man. In fact many black oil beetle records came in during March and April after a request was made via social media, the WSBRC website and the local press. Iain Perkins (DIO) found nine on his mother’s front lawn in Warminster! South Wiltshire, particularly the area in and around Salisbury Plain, does appear to be a stronghold for this declining UK BAP priority species.

Other notable spring records included:

23 March 2017: Toadflax leaf beetle Chrysolina sanguinolenta found by Iain Perkins drowned in a puddle on Rough Down near Imber.

1 April 2017: A first for Wiltshire, the rare and blind, soil-dwelling weevil Ferreria marqueti first found at Kew Gardens was just one of a number of interesting finds by Adrian Mylward an experienced coleopterist and surveyor working for the National Trust on an excursion from Dorset.

2 April 2017: Lesser thorn-tipped longhorn beetle Pogonocherus hispidus found by fellow county recorder John Grearson on the window of his conservatory in Ashton Keynes (Sue Walker found another on a fellow trustee’s collar in Bentley Wood on the 7 May).

8 April 2017: Green tiger beetle Cicindela campestris Nigel Cope and I found a male near Tilshead which proved to be the earliest record for the Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA).

29 April 2017: Andrew Carter found a female Oedemera femoralis in his moth-trap, a rare nocturnal soldier beetle associated with Ivy and Sallow.

Iain Perkins photographed a specimen of the blue alder beetle Agelastica alni near Imber on the 24 May 2017 which turned out to be a new beetle for the SPTA, VC8 and Wiltshire. Interesting in as much as from 1946 to 2003 there were virtually no records for this leaf beetle in the UK and it was even thought to be extinct. A few days later on the 27 May I too found the beetle crawling up a wall inside my house and on the 12 June emails came in from David Lawman who’d found a gravid female the previous day in Bentley Wood and Antony Coles who’d found specimens in Foxham on Willow on the 2 and 3 June. Rather embarrassingly I found a number living in a coppiced alder right outside my house which from the extent of the defoliation to the leaves had obviously been there for some time. At this point I must thank Dave Hubble who runs the Chrysomelidae Recording Scheme for confirming my determinations. For those interested there is more information about this rapidly spreading beetle in an article I wrote for the Larkhill and Westdown Conservation Group newsletter.*

18 July 2017: Nick Hutchings found another first for Wiltshire, a female red longhorn beetle Stictoleptura rubra in Grovelly Woods.

Another first for the county and one of the most interesting finds of the year came from Stuart Roberts, our Wiltshire county recorder for Hymenoptera. In mid-August Stuart found good numbers (about 20 individuals) of the orange-shouldered blister beetle Sitaris muralis in the Salisbury and Lower Woodford area, a ‘rare as hen’s teeth’ cleptoparasite found in the nests of the hairy-footed flower bee Anthophora plumipes. My thanks to Steven Falk for the use of the photo.

Special thanks must also go to Antony Coles who has not only supplied me with a number of useful specimens for my reference collection but continues to record a number of interesting species, many of which may be new to VC7. Antony has also found what appear to be a few firsts for Wiltshire including on the 26 July 2017 the tiny weevil Isochnus sequensi (whose larvae mine Salix) which is slowly moving westwards from Kent. In addition I must mention his Leiodid (round fungus beetle) Ptomaphagus varicornis a rare (RDBK) species which he found on the 1 February 2017 sieved from an abandoned mouse nest under a fly-tipped television set in the water tower car park in Tilshead. According to Mark Telfer** this has only been recorded on a handful of occasions in the last 40 years. Interestingly Mark also recorded it from Salisbury Plain – albeit in SPTA Centre.

Another first for North Wiltshire and VC7. Michael Darby forwarded a record dated 28 September 2017 from Jon Cooter, the acknowledged UK expert on Leiodidae, of the staphylinid (rove beetle) Ceritaxa pervagata found under the summer truffle Tuber aestivum from private woodland near Marlborough. The previous record*** appears to be pre-1970 from somewhere in south Wiltshire.

Even I got in on the act, finding the rugged oil beetle Meloe rugosus on the 28 October 2017, a first for SPTA Centre, which was followed by two further records from Iain Perkins in November (on the 19th and 22nd) from his porch in Warminster. It’s good to get sightings of this nocturnal autumn/winter species which may be under-recorded for the simple reason that not many people go looking for beetles at night at this time of year :0)

And a few more, hot off the press.

19 November 2017: Gabrius bishopi

30 December 2017: Lathrobium longulum.

Two more Staphylinidae firsts for Wiltshire, VC7 and Antony Cole – both recorded from Elm Farm in Foxham and verified by Dr Roger Booth from the Natural History Museum, London. Plus a new ground beetle (Carabidae) for Wiltshire Pterostichus longicollis this time verified by Dr Mark Telfer.

In view of the quantity of Antony’s finds Mark Telfer has asked us to write up an article for The Coleopterist magazine.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has sent me records, particularly those accompanied with photos. Keep up the good work.

Marc Arbuckle, County Coleoptera Recorder - [email protected] February 2018

Sources: *Arbuckle, M. 2017. Alder Leaf Beetle. LWCG Newsletter 32 p13-16

**Telfer, M.E. 2012. A day on Salisbury Plain www.markgtelfer.co.uk/ants/a-day-on-salisbury-plain

***Hyman, P.S. 1994. JNCC A Review of the scarce and threatened Coleoptera of Great Britain (Part 2).

SAWFLIES, K. JOHN GREARSON

A total of 52 sawfly records were logged during the year, 11 from other individuals and determined by myself. The balance of 42 records were accumulated during my own survey work.

Five visits were made to the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's Clouts Wood Complex during the summer, focussing on Clouts Wood itself and on Markham Banks. This survey will continue during 2018 and 2019 and will include the other elements of the complex. During the 2017 survey, Clouts Wood yielded a few common species but Markham Banks has marshy areas with a variety of plants, including Equiseteum, a habitat much suited to many sawfly species. Several scarcer species were found in the vicinity of the Equisetum including a male Dolerus pratensis, a species new to the county. Benson (1952) considered this a local species occurring throughout Britain and often abundant, however I had never seen the species before, the larvae feed on the Equisetum.

I am planning to visit the new reserve at Morningside Farm, Royal Wootton Bassett as part of the baseline invertebrate survey.

Sawfly recording is currently at a low level and it is not possible to judge whether there have been significant distribution changes in the county for any reason or to establish whether it was a good or bad recording season in 2017.

K. John Greason, County Sawfly Recorder - [email protected]. February 2018

GEOLOGY, ISOBEL GEDDES

Wiltshire Geology Group has been more active in 2017. There have been no new site designations, but site maintenance has been undertaken at two Local Geological Sites:

1. Dead Maid Quarry (SSSI) at Mere,

2. Docks Clay Pit in the 'demonstration pit' we dug out 10 years ago by the canal at Bradford-on- Avon.

Before After

Isobel Geddes, Wiltshire Geology Group, [email protected]