Issue 2 March 2007

The newsletter for biological recorders in , Halton, and Wirral

Cheshire’s Unique Peregrine Falcon? See the back page for the full story.

Also in this issue: ODONATA RECORDING IN CHESHIRE CHESHIRE BARKFLY CHALLENGE CHESHIRE BRAMBLE REVIEW RODIS WHAT’S THAT? MINING BEES

This issue has been produced with the support of

Cover & back page photos: Peregrine Falcon© Jeff Clarke Editorial WREN Funding For A Pied Blackbird Welcome to the 2nd edition of the Sentinel. I would like to Biodiversity Pays Off pass on my thanks to all those Since March 2003 the Landfill who have contributed articles, Communities Fund (formerly the Landfill information and images. tax Credit Scheme) has offered funding I have kept back a number of for nature conservation projects. Category items for future publication in DA is a specific project category aimed at the delivery of biodiversity conservation order to maintain the balance for UK habitats and species. WREN, of this edition. Please continue the largest Distributive Environmental sending in articles and snippets. Body in the UK has substantial funding As a colourful and highly available for projects in Cheshire, illustrated newsletter the Halton and Warrington and has already delivered a number of conservation images are as important as the projects throughout the UK. One of copy. Supplied images should the first projects funded under the be in tiff, or high quality jpeg

revised scheme was the construction Banks© copyright Tom format, with a minimum 300 dpi of reedbeds at Oxmoor Local Nature resolution and a minimum of Reserve in . Two WREN grants I first saw this rather handsome specimen 1600 pixels on the longest edge. totalling £46,000 have enabled new last autumn, on Higher Lane, Dutton, reedbed lagoons to be created at this perched proudly on top of a newly flailed Following feedback we have site which is adjacent to the hedge, defiantly declaring his ownership reduced the number of and provides a popular green space for of the surrounding territory. I feared for columns in an article to improve workers at the nearby industrial centre. his long-term prospects as he has plenty readability for those viewing the The new lagoons at Oxmoor are a major of all-black rivals in the area who, I web version of the newsletter. habitat creation scheme for the Borough assume, must be queuing up to give him Keep the comments coming! of Halton. They have increased the a good pecking. In addition, I frequently area of both open water and eventual Finally thanks once again to David see a sparrowhawk patrolling the same reedbed, contributing to the targets in hedgerows and our white-headed friend Potts for his help and advice Halton’s Biodiversity Action Plan. The is hardly inconspicuous. However, I’m on the layout for this edition. lagoons have been an instant success, happy to report that I continue to see this attracting a new dragonfly to the reserve Jeff Clarke, Editor bird, confidently chasing off other males - a Black Tailed Skimmer - which has been filmed on video and is available and now spring is approaching, chasing for viewing on the Halton web site. after the girls too. Long may it continue! NEWS IN BRIEF Richard Smith Tom Banks Training Opportunities

Carl Clee (Cheshire Recorder for Aculeate Hymenoptera) will be running a training course on the identification of social and solitary bee genera. This will take place on Saturday June 16th at Pickering’s Pasture LNR near starting 10.00am, the day will consist of an indoor presentation on the various bee genera followed by a practical session in the afternoon. Places are limited to 20, to book contact Tony Parker on 0151 478 4363 or e-mail [email protected]

© copyright Jeff Clarke Tom Mawdsley will be running a training course on the identification of British Hoverflies.This will take place on Amphibians in Action Saturday July 7th at the Wirral CP visitor centre at Thurstaston After an exceptionally mild winter it’s hardly surprising that starting 10.00am, the day will consist of an indoor presentation many amphibians, particularly frogs, are already busy mating. on aspects of Hoverfly biology and identification followed by One garden pond in Warrington has upwards of twenty frogs present, despite only being created in April last year. The frogs a practical session in the afternoon. had been active prior to the turn of the year and the nightly chorus Places are limited to 20, to book contact Guy Knight on has increased in intensity and reached its peak shortly after the February freeze. Check out the activity at your local pond now! 0151 478 4369 or e-mail [email protected] 2 What’s That?

The ‘old’ rECOrd website had a form which allowed recorders and members of the general public to send in details of their sightings. However, this was very limited in scope (only 6 records at a time) and there was no in-built checking for format problems or for record duplication. This ‘form’ based system has now been replaced by a brand new, shiny database driven system, rECOrd Online Data Input System (RODIS), which will: - accept as many records as you wish to key - apply format checks to dates, grid references, and other fields - check your data against the current database for duplication - check your grid reference against your site name to prevent inversion of Eastings and Northings - check the person against the database to prevent incorrect spellings or typos - allows you to recall and edit your data - allows you to scroll through your entered data for checking purposes - provides a taxon dictionary so that you can easily find Latin Names to match English Names - provides lists of acceptable Sex/Stage entries and Record Type entries - has a ‘Sticky’ facility so that you can set fields to remain in the entry boxes from record to record, thereby speeding up the entry process. This system makes entering and sending your data to rECOrd a simple, efficient and useful process which can be done wherever you have an Internet access point, be that in your office or from the couch in your own living-room. The new system can be found via the large RODIS button on the rECOrd homepage at: http://www.rECOrd-LRC.co.uk – and we would be very keen to receive sightings from your visits to sites and/or from your back-gardens. The system is currently very new and we would be keen to receive feedback from users on how useful they find it, and on any problems they find when keying data into the system. Please send comments, suggestions, and development ideas to: [email protected] Bluebell Boost From WREN WREN have been involved in conserving native Cheshire Bluebells since 2001 and have funded two long running programmes aimed at using volunteers to collect seed and plant Bluebell bulbs. Funding totalling £18,800 has transformed woodland areas throughout Cheshire, Halton and Warrington and has given communities the opportunity to undertake practical conservation work. The project has now progressed and instead of using commercial nurseries to grow seed and supply Bluebell bulbs, volunteers with learning difficulties at the Barrowmore Estate near are undertaking this work as part of an ongoing training programme. Paul Oldfield, Nature Conservation Officer for Halton Borough Council stated “In autumn 2006, Halton Borough Council introduced native bluebells to five of their nature reserves to help towards their Bluebell Biodiversity Action Plan. Dr Sam Langdon at rECOrd coordinated the planting of over 20,000 bulbs in the reserves. She worked with the BTCV to do much of the planting and on some reserves local community groups and schools were also involved in the planting. The five main reserves Submission Deadline for receiving bulbs are Hale Road Woodland, Clincton Wood, Moore Meadows, Wigg Island and Pickering’s Pasture. Moore Primary School helped with Summer Edition planting at Moore Meadows and community groups assisted at Wigg Island. There was planting at Arley Woods by Oakfield Community Primary School, st May 31 2007 as well as at Murdishaw Valley Please send articles and The borough is very proud to put its Bluebell plans images for future editions to into action, and without the help of WREN, this would never have happened.” [email protected] © copyright Eric Fletcher Richard Smith 3 Odonata Recording in Cheshire The Cheshire recording scheme for Dragonflies and Damselflies has been running for 21 years since Richard Gabb took over the role of Cheshire Recorder from Ian Rutherford in 1985. In 1977 the National Odonata Recorder, David Chelmick, had suggested that there was great potential in Cheshire as it appeared to be rather under-recorded. How times have changed since then. Richard decided to apply the tetrad based approach to odonata recording in Cheshire having previous experience of this from the Cheshire breeding bird survey. The area chosen for this is identical to the bird recording scheme and includes modern Cheshire and all Wirral along with Warrington and Halton. Liverpool Museum was very encouraging and supported development work and helped to encourage new recorders through a series of meetings. Site recording cards were produced by Richard and distributed to recorders to both stimulate recording and also standardise the data submitted. The original card listed 19 species and provided space to record breeding status through observation of behaviour and the presence of larvae or exuviae. This was an innovative approach which has since been mirrored in the national recording scheme and many local schemes across Britain. With a mobile order such as Odonata this allows separation of casual sightings and those for sites that support a breeding population. Feedback of information to recorders was very important and an annual report showing results was produced along with distribution maps. This was distributed to all recorders and proved one of the best tools to encourage further recording. Stephen Hind processed all the cards in the first year by hand and produced the tetrad dot maps, based on all records from 1980 onwards. It was soon clear that the volume of data being received required electronic handling and the fairly recent advent of the Acorn BBC computer allowed this to be undertaken during 1986 using a simple database programme. A series of small programmes was devised to access the database and create distribution maps showing breeding status for each tetrad and also historic information gleaned from museums. These programmes are still used today to produce the maps and flight period histograms used on the Cheshire Odonata website although the data are now kept on an Access database. Looking back over the old reports I can see what great changes in our knowledge “Black tailed Skimmer... now well established across Cheshire”. of Odonata in Cheshire have been made since then. For example, in 1986 the Common Hawker Aeshna juncea was shown in only 21 tetrads of which only 4 had proven breeding. Today the map shows 67 tetrads with breeding proven in 13. In that year 20 different species were seen across Cheshire and in 2006 this has risen to 24 in spite of having lost the White-faced Darter Leucorrhinia dubia in the intervening years. Some areas remain under-recorded and I am sure that exploration on the Wirral would reveal some interesting data. The 1980s were clearly an interesting time to start recording Odonata as these insect

have been changing their distribution in © copyright Jeff Clarke Britain with a general northwards movement of many species. This has resulted in species that had rarely been seen in the county becoming common breeders there. The Emperor Dragonfly Anax imperator had only been reliably recorded once in 1955 before the first males appeared at in 1988, but subsequent years have seen this insect spread right across Cheshire to the extent that it is even attempting to breed in upland acidic pools. A similar story is true of the Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense which has expanded its colonisation in the county and can now be found at a range of sites in the west and centre of Cheshire. In 1985 after some superb detective work and hypothesis the Club-tailed Dragonfly Gomphus vulgatissimus was discovered to be breeding on the Dee, having been previously unrecorded north of the Severn. Other species were completely new to Cheshire; the first being the Ruddy Darter Sympetrum sanguineum on the Grosvenor Estates in 1985 and this was followed by the Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta and Black-tailed Skimmer Orthetrum cancellatum, all of which are now well established across Cheshire. Migrants have been represented by the Yellow-winged Darter Sympetrum flaveolum which has been seen in a number of years, most recently in 2006. If one were to speculate on what next there are a couple of likely candidates in the White-legged Damselfly Platycnemis pennipes and the relatively new to Britain species of the Small Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma viridulum which is rapidly moving northwards and is well into the Midlands. Continued on page 5... 4 Today the database stands at 13,500 individual records submitted since 1980 and we have a much clearer picture of the distribution of Odonata in Cheshire. This does not mean that there is nothing to be discovered. In 2006 previously unrecorded colonies of Beautiful Demoiselle Calopteryx virgo were found on the stream systems feeding into the Dee in south-west Cheshire. Surely there are further colonies of Variable DamselflyCoenagrion pulchellum to be found somewhere in south and west Cheshire? Annual reports are no longer produced but information is available on the Cheshire Dragonflies and Damselflies website at http://www.brocross.com/dfly/dfly.htm and news pages show the latest sightings during the season. There are distribution maps and flight period histograms along with a wide range of photographs which can help with species identification. Records can be submitted by email and are available to view on the website. The data are also supplied to the National Recording Scheme and to rECOrd. Any records will be gratefully accepted and added to the database. David Kitching - Cheshire Odonata Recorder A Review of Bramble Recording in Cheshire The study of Brambles in Cheshire has been undertaken since around the 1820’s when William Wilson the famous Bryologist lived in the Warrington area. The latter part of the 19th Century was a golden age for the study of brambles, or “batology”. Around this time several Cheshire species were studied including two localised Cheshire endemics from the Hills now called Rubus castrensis and Rubus wolley-dodii. The latter species is now very rare, with only a single shaded clump having been seen in recent times near Edge Park. Clearly this species is in need of monitoring and it is hoped that additional plants might be found during the summer of 2007. Around the early 1970s we were lucky enough to have a BSBI vice county recorder, Alan Newton, with a passion for the study of Brambles. Alan described A map, produced from Mapmate, of records I have made since 1990 for Rubus several new species with the type localities wirralensis is presented above. being within botanical Cheshire. These included Rubus distractiformis from Hale, near Altrincham, Rubus porphyrocaulis from Marple, Rubus accrescens from Lindow Common, and Rubus wirralensis from Aldford, south of Chester. For further images of Rubus species and in due course, identification details, do visit: www.british-wild-flowers.co.uk Note that for Rubus wirralensis there is a clear ‘eastings’ line across from the Chester area and this relates to my recording activity being focused on land across from and above SJ2070 until relatively recently. Above is an image of the panicle of Rubus wirralensis at Upton Woods, on the Wirral. The additional dots below the line relate to further studies carried out during © copyright David Earle the summer of 2006. Note that a few additional 5km x 5km records are given in ‘The Flora of Cheshire’ A Newton 1971. It is hoped that additional records will be gathered for the south of the county for this species during 2007. Continued on page 6... 5 Continued from page 5...

Whilst R. wirralensis is often very abundant in the Wirral woodlands, another bramble Rubus moylei which is locally abundant at Upton Woods is actually quite rare in Cheshire, as the map presented left indicates. © copyright David Earle

The flowers ofRubus moylei are very different to those of the pink floweredRubus wirralensis. Note the contrast of the white flushed with pale pink petals and red based styles. This short article gives a brief insight into the diversity of Brambles that occur in Cheshire. It is intended that additional articles will follow to illustrate the advances that will be made in my home county of Cheshire over the coming years. David Earl The Cheshire Barkfly Challenge Barkfly? OK, you probably haven’t heard the name ‘barkfly’ before which isn’t surprising since it was only coined about three years ago. It is the name that is now used for species of the insect order Psocoptera that can be found out-of-doors (previously known as barklice). Challenge? I’m not going to beat around the bush – Cheshire is probably the worst recorded county in Britain for barkflies with only 5 of the 68 British species having been recorded. This lack of recording is not because they are rare or difficult to find – far from it – just about every tree and bush in Cheshire is likely to be home to some species. It’s not because it is difficult to get hold of a good identification guide. The RES handbook has recently been revised and now includes keys to all the currently known British species. No, it just needs people to go out and look for them. So here’s the challenge – in one year increase the number of Cheshire species from 5 to 20 and thereby fill an important hole in the map. And you can start straight away. Dig out an old umbrella (or beating tray if you’ve got one) and some sort of stick, go out into the garden, hold the umbrella upside down under a tree or bush and tap (decisively rather than destructively!) the branches with the stick catching anything that falls in the umbrella. Then look carefully for small (2mm) insects resembling the photo. You are likely to find two species that will be Royal Entomological Society Handbooks for the new to the Cheshire list – Ectopsocus briggsi Identification of British Insects - Vol. 1, Part 7, and E. petersi! To identify them they need Psocids, Psocoptera (Booklice and barklice), 2nd to be pickled in alcohol and viewed under a binocular microscope. If you would prefer Edition 2005 someone else to identify them I’m happy to Ectopsocus petersi photographed by © Brian Valentine check out specimens that are sent to me. A few tips: Barkflies are small insects (1.5 – 6.5 mm) that often resemble tiny lacewings in the way that they hold their wings in a tent-wise fashion (though some are wingless). They have long, simple antennae and a distinctly bulbous postclypeus (the bulging area below the antennae in the photo). Winter is the worst time to record barkflies, the diversity of species progressively increases from the spring reaching a peak in August and September before declining again after the first frosts. Different tree species have different barkflies and branches have different species to trunks. Please send your records (and/or specimens) to: Bob Saville, The National Barkfly Recording Scheme, Caretaker’s Cottage, Vogrie House, Vogrie Country Park, Nr Gorebridge, Midlothian EH23 4NU (E-mail: [email protected]). As I said – I’m not going to beat around the bush – that’s your job! Bob Saville 6 Minding the Mining Bees The North Wirral Coastal Park between Wallasey (SJ2792) and Meols (SJ2390) is an important habitat for solitary bees, wasps and ants and a number of Red Data Book and nationally scarce species have been identified there (Clee 2003). One of these, the Vernal Mining Bee Colletes cunicularius (L.), is the subject of a Cheshire Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP). I have been monitoring the Wirral Coastal Park population annually since 2003 in conjunction with Carl Clee, Entomology Section, World Museum Liverpool and the Wirral Ranger Service. C. cunicularius is restricted to coastal sand dunes in North West and in North West and South Wales and has a flight period from early April until the end of May when it forms nesting aggregations in warm south facing slopes. After mating, each female constructs a main access burrow in the sand which gives rise to five or six short lateral branches, each of which terminates in a single cell. The total burrow depth can be up to ~1 metre. After provisioning each cell with pollen and nectar, she lays an egg which hatches after ~5 weeks and the young larva starts to feed on the stored food mass. Within the cell the developing pupal stage transforms into an adult which over-winters without leaving its cell. In the UK, Creeping Willow Salix repens is the favoured foodplant for the bees and at the Meols site they have also been observed foraging on Grey Willow Salix cinerea and Dandelion Taraxacum sp. For population monitoring, nest site locations have been recorded as 8 figure grid references using a GPS system kindly loaned from rECOrd. These locations vary in size from small low lying areas ~2-3 square metres in area which may contain ~10 burrows to much more extensive high level dune sites ~30 metres across which may support nest burrows for several hundred bees. How well are the bees surviving? Since 2003 when monitoring started, the majority of the nest site locations are still active. At the Wallasey end of the Coastal Park there is evidence of a gradual shift in location away from areas where there has been an excessive build-up of surface vegetation towards less heavily vegetated areas where there is still some visible sand to burrow into. What are the major threats to their survival?

The remnant and artificial dune systems at Wallasey and Meols receive very © copyright Cheshire Wildife Trust little fresh sand due to the presence of extensive coastal sea defences. The survival of C. cunicularius there depends on the management of existing sandy areas to retain a significant number of south facing slopes with the appropriate degree of vegetation cover. Completely open sand is too friable to support the burrow structure and too dense a surface vegetation cover, especially of bryophytes, makes burrowing impossible. Selectively scraping dense surface vegetation and humus from south facing sandy areas, which have hitherto not been populated, has been successful in encouraging fresh burrow formation. This practice should also continue to ‘regenerate’ previous nest sites that have been abandoned due to over-vegetation. Although the dunes are subject to intense visitor pressure from humans and other animals (dogs and horses), the nest site locations are holding up well, even when in some cases bees are nesting only inches away from a bridle path used daily by riding schools. The trampling effects of horses and humans may in part actually help the bees by minimising vegetation build-up in some areas. 2006 was a particularly bad year for disturbance to the nest sites with extensive surface burning due to vandalism in the Wallasey dunes and contractor excavations for leaking water main repairs which destroyed ~25% of the nest sites at the Meols end of the Coastal Park. As the 2007 population monitoring exercise is fast approaching I shall be keen to assess the effects of this trauma for the next generation of C. cunicularius – let’s hope the population recovers and continues to thrive as it has done so in this area for some 100 years now (Clee 2003).

JOHN MCGAW – WIRRAL WILDLIFE INVERTEBRATE RECORDER.

Reference. Clee, C. (2003). Annual Report & Proceedings of the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society, 36-42:127

7 A Passion for Peregrines As a mad keen birdwatcher since the age of four I have long cherished certain species. I blame the subversive influences of the Ladybird book series, with it vivid images of waistcoated juvenile Starlings massing on berry-laden bushes, or Lapwings tumbling across recently ploughed fields, the latter clearly painted before autumn sown crops became the norm. Of the entire Ladybird series the book on Birds of Prey gripped my imagination most, my bedroom would be strewn with paintings and sketches copied from the well-thumbed pages. Oh how I coveted the prospect of finding my own Great Grey Shrike, Rough legged Buzzard and above all the Peregrine Falcon. Since then I have had the pleasure of watching one of the worlds most charismatic birds many hundreds, if not thousands, of times, including some extraordinary encounters; from an explosion of feathers in front of my fathers car as a teircel (male falcon) grabbed an unsuspecting Mistle Thrush a few metres from the windscreen to standing enthralled on the ridge of Crinkle Crags as another displaying male looped-the-loop in an aerial display that put the Red Arrows in the shade, to a breathless chase at Parkgate as a juvenile bird attempted to capture a Merlin. So it is that I come to relate one of my most cherished and indelible Peregrine memories. Last May I was fortunate enough to be invited along to a licensed Peregrine ringing session by Prof. David Norman. The nest site was an industrial location in the North of the biological recording area covered by this newsletter. I brought along my camera equipment to capture the events. As can be imagined the down covered chicks were a delight and remarkably docile. This was in stark contrast to their mother, whose vociferous complaints regarding our intrusion into her domestic arrangements had me spellbound. While the chicks were being quickly processed I decided to take some shots of the female as she made repeated high speed passes over the nesting ledge, all the while uttering her aggressive ‘rak-rak’ call. I took up station on a nearby gantry and captured some of the action. The wind was perfect and made it easy for her to wind-hang over the nest site. Thanks to David’s skilful handling the disruption was soon over and the chicks were returned to their ledge. Within a short space of time the female returned to her favourite perch above the ledge and save for the look of murderous intent glinting in her eyes, she was the picture of calm. I then managed a couple of shots of her through a gap in the shuttering. It was then that the uniqueness of this female became apparent. At the time of taking the pictures we know from Prof. Norman’s previous visits that she is at least six years old. Unlike all other adult Peregrines, whose upperparts are blue-grey this female retains a strong reddish-brown cast to her upperparts plumage, almost akin to retained juvenile plumage. Normal adult Peregrine plumage is attained in the third calendar year. On closer inspection of the barring on this bird’s chest and belly there is also a distinct brownish tinge to what would normally be grey-black. The plumage is clearly aberrant, and despite an extensive trawl of the available literature and the internet I was unable to find any reference to adult Peregrine Falcons exhibiting brown plumage tones. It would appear that she is truly a unique bird. The fact that all of her chicks have been ringed may allow us to follow up the endurance of her genetic trait passed on to her sons and daughters. I continue to be intrigued by this bird and every Peregrine I see gets an extra perusal to check for traces of this plumage aberration. I would be delighted to hear from anybody who could verify a similar observation. Anyone wishing to follow the life of this bird more closely should visit the Merseyside Ringing Group website where more information about this bird is available. In the meantime I hope to be fortunate enough to get another invitation to spend a few breathtaking minutes in the company of one of this planets most beautiful creatures and a true ‘force of nature’. Jeff Clarke More information on this bird and the Merseyside Ringing Group can be found at www.merseysiderg.org.uk/

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