Contents / Diary of events
NOVEMBER 2017
Bristol Naturalist News
Discover Your Natural World
Bristol Naturalists’ Society BULLETIN NO. 565 NOVEMBER 2017
BULLETIN NO. 565 NOVEMBER 2017 Bristol Naturalists’ Society Discover Your Natural World
Registered Charity No: 235494 www.bristolnats.org.uk
HON. PRESIDENT: Andrew Radford, Professor
CONTENTS
of Behavioural Ecology, Bristol University
3 Diary of Events
ACTING CHAIRMAN: Stephen Fay
HON. PROCEEDINGS RECEIVING EDITOR: 4 Society Walk / Society Talk
Dee Holladay, 15 Lower Linden Rd., Clevedon, 5 Lesley’s “Natty News…” BS21 7SU [email protected] HON. SEC.: Lesley Cox 07786 437 528 6 Get Published! Write for Nature in Avon [email protected] HON. MEMBERSHIP SEC: Mrs. Margaret Fay 7 Joint BNS/University programme 81 Cumberland Rd., BS1 6UG. 0117 921 4280 8 Phenology ; Book Club [email protected] Welcome to new members HON. TREASURER: Michael Butterfield 14 Southdown Road, Bristol, BS9 3NL 9 Society Walk Report; (0117) 909 2503 [email protected] Poem for the month
BULLETIN DISTRIBUTION 10 BOTANY SECTION Hand deliveries save about £800 a year, so help Botanical notes; Meeting Report; is much appreciated. Offers please to: Plant Records
HON. CIRCULATION SEC.: Brian Frost, 60 Purdy
Court, New Station Rd, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 13 GEOLOGY SECTION
3RT. 0117 9651242. [email protected] He will be pleased to supply further details. Also 14 INVERTEBRATE SECTION
Notes for this month contact him about problems with (non-)delivery.
BULLETIN COPY DEADLINE: 7th of month before 15 LIBRARY Hand-coloured books publication to the editor: David B Davies,
The Summer House, 51a Dial Hill Rd., Clevedon, 17 ORNITHOLOGY SECTION BS21 7EW. 01275 873167 [email protected] Avon Winter Bird Survey Grants: BNS typically makes grants of around Winter Garden Survey; Forward Dates; £500 for projects that meet the Society’s Recent News.
charitable aims of promoting research & education in natural history & its conservation in 19 MISCELLANY Botanic Garden; the Bristol region. Information and an application Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project; form can be downloaded from bristolnats.org.uk Badock’s Wood Tree walk
Email completed applications to 20 Pictures of the month
Health & Safety on walks: Members Cover picture: Sent by Clive Lovatt – see participate at their own risk. They are his article on pages15-16.
responsible for being properly clothed and shod.
Dogs may only be brought on a walk with prior
agreement of the leader.
Bristol Naturalists’ Society Discover Your Natural World
2 Registered Charity No: 235494 www.bristolnats.org.uk Diary of events Back to contents
Council usually meets on the first Wednesday of each month. If you plan to attend please check date & time with the Hon. Sec. (from whom minutes are available to members). Any member can attend, but must give advance notice if wishing to speak.
Visitors & guests are welcome at any of our meetings. If contact details are given, please contact the leader beforehand, and make yourself known on arrival. We hope you will enjoy the meeting, and consider joining the Society. To join, visit https://bristolnats.org.uk and click on membership. Members are members of ALL the sections.
NOVEMBER 2017 Thu 2 Midweek walk: Oldbury-on-Severn Society 10:00 page 4 Wed 8 Life in a Noisy World Ornithology 19:30 page 17 Wed 15 Society Talk: Myths, Moths & Butterflies Society 19:30 page 4 Sat 18 Sand Point & Middle Hope Ornithology 10:00 page 17 Wed 22 Clarence Bicknell & Bristol Botanists Botany 19:30 page 10 Wed 29 The Origins of Starfish & Brittle Stars Geology 19:30 page 13 DECEMBER 2017 Wed 13 Talk Ornithology 19:30 page 18 Wed 20 Society Talk Society 19:30 page 4 Wed 27 Christmas Meeting Botany 19:30 page 11 Thu 28 Field Meeting Ornithology page 18 JANUARY 2018 Wed 10 Talk Ornithology 19:30 page 18 Wed 17 Society Talk Society 19:30 page 4 Sun 21 Field Meeting Ornithology page 18 Wed 24 AGM + year reports Botany 19:30 page 11 Wed 31 AGM + Members’ evening Geology 19:30 page 13
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST Pliosaurus! at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery until 7 Jan page 13 Tue 14 Nov Myths, Moths & Butterflies Gorge & Downs 19:00 page 19 Thu 16 Nov Springboards etc. – Carnivorous plants Botanic Garden 19:30 page 19 Sat 18 Nov Gift Wrapping Workshop Botanic Garden 10:00 page 19 Sun 19 Nov Trees & Historic Features Badock’s Wood page 19 Sun 19 Nov Autumn bird identification (NB Date change) Gorge & Downs 11:00 page 19
Thu 7 Dec Giant Pliosaurs Museum 19:30 page 14
There will be an all-day Local BTO Conference on Sunday March 18 held at the Wiltshire Music centre in Bradford on Avon. Details available soon. Tickets about £20. The Chair is Stephen Moss. Talks: on Bristol Gulls by Peter Rock; on the Cranes by Amy King; on Swifts by Edward Mayor; on Ringing at Chew by Bob Medland and on birds of Salisbury Plain by Paul Castle.
Write for Nature in Avon!
Contributions are invited for the next Nature in Avon which is planned for May 2018. Do
consider writing up any interesting finds, projects or events either as a short report or a longer article. We would also be glad to receive photos to illustrate your contribution. The deadline is 31 March 2018. Please send to Dee Holladay, [email protected]
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SOCIETY ITEMS
SOCIETY MID-WEEK WALK Contents / Diary Thursday, 2nd November, 10am, 3½ to 4 miles The Anchor Inn, Oldbury-on-Severn. BS35 1QA This pleasant walk is on footpaths and lanes entirely within the floodplain of the river Severn, so there are no steep climbs. The published route actually includes a walk round the perimeter of the former nuclear power station but I do feel free to tailor things according to our remit, which is to explore the wildlife while trying not to disturb it. It is likely that hedgerow fruits will be on show (but we have found that fruit harvests have been early this year, so maybe not) but part of the route, because it is along the estuary footpath is liable to be rather exposed if the weather is stormy. Meet at 10am in the car park or on the road opposite the Anchor Inn. Do let me know if you are coming. Tony Smith: 0117 965 6566: [email protected] Next walk: 7th December, Cheddar circuit
SOCIETY TALK Our Winter Lecture Programme includes a range of natural history topics to interest, inform and – most importantly – to enjoy. We commend them to you. We meet at Westbury Methodist Church on the third Wednesday of each month from now until March. Please make a note in your diary to join us.
MYTHS, MOTHS & BUTTERFLIES Wednesday, 15th November Speaker: Matt Brierley 19:30
A Year in the Life of Bristol’s Butterfly Conservation Officer Westbury-on Trym Methodist Church, Westbury Hill, BS9 3AA
Butterfly Conservation’s campaign to improve recognition, understanding and support for Lepidoptera got underway at the beginning of the year with the appointment of Matt, an all-round naturalist, as the officer to deliver the campaign in Bristol. He will be coming in to tell us of the journey so far. Expect a complex mix of film footage, anecdotes, fact and a habit of looking at questions in an unusual way.
Future dates: 20th December 2017. 17th January, 21st February, 21st March 2018.
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NATTY NEWS Contents / Diary
The power of nature can be observed in many ways. The immense power of the elements, the strength of the maternal bond and the incalculable abilities of a native species to landscape a huge area without the aid of maps, computers or even a ‘bird’s eye’ view, are three of them.
Hurricane Irma was the second major hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic season. It was a very long-lived, Category 5 storm that caused catastrophic damage across the northern Caribbean and Florida and dominated the news amongst claims that the ferocity of it provided evidence of climate change. Yet I received a message from Florida that read, “Lots of tree fluff everywhere. House is in great shape! I stayed up and watched it. AWESOME does not begin to explain the force of the wind. Our trees danced and the rain and wind was a white sheet racing of the roof. At the height of the storm, the most amazing sound I could hear over the wind was the thousands of tree frogs singing loudly to each other! I guess saying, “Hang in there!!!” I thought it was even more fantastic how the butterflies, caterpillars and birds were back the next day!” Furthermore,
One Muscovy Duck in Plant City, Florida became a celebrity. She had laid 13 eggs at the base of an Oak Tree in someone’s garden and usually left the nest several times a day to feed and drink but when the hurricane struck with torrential rain and wind speeds of 107 mph in this area, she hunkered down and stayed put. After two days the householders took her some food and water, which she readily accepted but it wasn’t until the relative calm of the third day that she rose to reveal 13 unharmed eggs. She had been covered in branches, moss and detritus but was unharmed. She has become known as ‘Irma, The Wonder Duck’ but 100’s of catfish were not so lucky when Hurricane Nate struck the USA. They were left stranded in the streets of Biloxi, Mississippi.
Beavers which were once a native species before being hunted to extinction in Britain, could be re-introduced into the Forest of Dean to control another by-product of the weather, i.e., flooding. The unique skill of these talented animals gives them the power to transform the landscape with precision and purpose. The Forestry Commission is strongly enthusiastic about the idea which also has the support of the villagers of nearby Lydbook They feel that beavers will rapidly create dams, canals and ponds to enhance the biodiversity of the area and boost tourism whilst potentially holding back 6,000 cubic meters of water to prevent the flooding that the village experienced in 2012. Successful schemes already operate in Scotland, Devon and in a new introduction in Cornwall, 1000 cubic metres of water were being stored within two weeks of the start of the project.
Some Recent Research news: Neonicotinoids have been found in 75% of samples of honey taken worldwide according to a new study by Mitchell, et al., and reported in Science (Issue 6359 / 6th Oct.). 198 samples of honey taken from every continent in the world except Antarctica contained at least one example of these chemicals. Concentrations were highest in America, Asia and Europe. 5
Although scientists say that amounts are well below permitted safety levels for humans, one third of samples contained levels high enough to be detrimental to bees. Spokesmen for the insecticide manufacturers of this most commonly used insecticide type, dismissed the study as too small to draw any conclusions. However, another large-scale study led by scientists at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology reported their findings in Science earlier in the year and concluded that neonicotinoids harm both honey and wild bees. See: Woodcock, et al., (Science: Issue 6345/ 30th June 2017) Contents / Diary Noise from construction projects can disrupt schools of fish according to new research from the University of Bristol. A team of researchers, including our new President, played recordings of pile driving and other noises typically associated with marine construction projects, such as wind turbine installation, to small groups of sea bass and found that the fish dispersed from their protective schools, thus making the individuals more likely to be susceptible to predation. The team led by Dr. Ioannou, reported their findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. In addition, Fish also have personalities according to research carried out by Exeter University. The study entitled ‘Testing the stability of behavioural coping style across stress contexts in the Trinidadian Guppy’ has been published in Functional Ecology. It showed that all the Guppies had strategies to cope with stressful conditions, such as to hide or to escape, etc., but that individuals within the group responded differently to the stress factors presented and that these individual characteristics were replicated in different situations over time and circumstance. “So, while the behaviour of all the guppies changed depending on the situation – for example, all becoming more cautious in more stressful situations – the relative differences between individuals remained intact.” Finally, Barn owls may hold the key to human age-related hearing loss (Presbycusis), as they don’t suffer from the condition. A study, reported in The Royal Society Proceedings B by Bianca Crumm et al., demonstrated that even a 23 year-old Barn Owl did not experience significant hearing loss. Birds can repair their ears in the way humans repair a wound. The paper discusses the auditory sensitivity of barn owls with respect to other species and suggests that birds, which generally show a remarkable capacity for regeneration of hair cells in the basilar papilla, are naturally protected from presbycusis.
Lesley Cox, Hon. Sec. Postscript: The Lost Words published on 5th Oct. is a series of acrostic spell-poems for children by Robert MacFarlane based on words about nature that have been deleted from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. MacFarlane states that acorn, bluebell, conker and kingfisher have all been deleted – but for blackberry, read Blackberry. Perhaps not just lost words but a lost generation(s)? More work for us to do!
Write for Nature in Avon! Contributions are invited for the next Nature in Avon which is planned for May 2018. Do consider writing up any interesting finds, projects or events either as a short report or a longer article. We would also be glad to receive photos to illustrate your contribution. The deadline is 31 March 2018. Please send to Dee Holladay, [email protected]
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JOINT BNS/UNIVERSITY BIODIVERSITY EVENTS Contents / Diary
This year’s series of events closed last month but it will be back in the spring with another varied programme.
Report on the Bat Walk at Goldney on 29th September: A mix of 24 BNS members, University students, staff, alumni and members of the public were treated to a wide ranging introduction before heading down to the orchard in search of our fellow mammals on this fairly mild, dry September evening. The area was surprisingly quiet at first. However, within a few yards, as we moved along the lower flank of the apple trees laden with fruit and between the mature trees adjacent to the old stone wall that separates off the somewhat dilapidated stone cottages from a by-gone age, we hit the ‘channel’ that formed part of the largely circular route being used by the bats that night and heard the familiar bubbling sounds of the echo locating calls. Serotine, one of our biggest bats and Pipistrelle, one of our smallest, were detected with the latter flying in close to benefit from the insect spoils created by the heat columns we produced. There was sufficient activity here to make us reluctant to move away but eventually we walked up past the Grotto to the Yew hedges and down to the woodland strip, marvelling at the huge girth of one of the first Plane trees to be planted in Bristol as we did so, and returning to our original location which proved to be the busiest. Everyone, without exception, expressed their enjoyment as we walked back at the close of the event and the bubbling of bat calls was replaced by the hum of contentment.
CASTLE PARK TREE TRAIL: Congratulations to BNS member Ann Freeman who decided that the numerous tree collections, some memorial, and specimen trees within Castle Park deserved a proper tree trail to inform the passing public of their beauty and purpose. Richard Bland devised the trail; the BNS sponsored the tree labels and joined with the Civic Society in producing the leaflets for the new attraction, opened by The Lord Lieutenant of Bristol on the 11th September at a nearby hotel, at which Richard Bland was a speaker (right).
THE BNS at THE BEE & POLLINATION FESTIVAL: 2nd and 3rd of September
Our thanks go to the Curator Nick Wray who gave us a prime location on the terrace of the Holmes.
Lesley Cox, Hon. Sec.
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PHENOLOGY Contents / Diary September was dull, cool and wet. The average maximum temperature was 18.5°C, two degrees cooler than last year, with a maximum of 21°C on the 1st. Rainfall was 102mm, the second wettest month of the year so far and the wettest September since 2012. Rain fell on 20 of the 30 days, but the largest daily quantity was 15mm. However, the total rainfall over the past twelve months is still only 738mm, the lowest at this point in the year since 1989.
The average temperature over the past twelve months remains over 15°C, and this has been the case since February 2014. Since 1852 the twelve-month average maximum temperature has been 13.7°C, and there has never previously been such a long period with an average of over 15°C. This is a significant temperature because bees, and most other insects, and cold-blooded creatures, can’t operate below it. So, although the climate pattern, based on 30 years averages, shows three peaks, in 1880, 1960 and today, with cooler periods in between, it does look as if times are warmer now, which will have an impact on all wildlife.
The cooler September conditions resulted in a slowing up of the fruit-ripening process. It was the best year for acorns that I have recorded since 2000, and it was better than the last decent year, 2006. A good year for Whitebeam and Sloes. Rowan had its usual good crop but, unusually, it is still on the bough. Elder was average, and Beech poor.
Colour turning dates are very subjective, but the depth of colour seemed unusually spectacular for the end of September. Many dogwoods have turned a deep red, Field Maples are yellow on top and green below, Sweet Gum are well on their way from green to bright red, and the rather few Narrow-leafed Ash trees are an amazing red. I have also been struck driving across the country from East to West, that autumn is brighter and further advanced in the East than the West. In some places White Poplars have already lost their brilliant silver and just a few last leaves flap at the tips of their branches. Beeches, by contrast, lose leaves from the top first. Some ash trees simply turn a pale green and fall, while others become a bright yellow, in contrast to the still green Oaks. . Richard Bland
READING GROUP / BOOK CLUB
The Reading Group is a wide-ranging natural history book club and welcomes new members. You don’t have to be a member of the Society to join us. We are recognised as a book club by the Bristol libraries service and so we are able to borrow a set of the book we want to read.
Contact: Tony Smith 0117 965 6566 [email protected], for details of meeting places and times. Our new read is: Life of a Chalk Stream, by Simon Cooper, Collins (2015)
Welcome to new members of BNS: Mrs. C. M. Harris (Interests: General, Botany, Invertebrates, Mammals, Ornithology) Mr Barry Horton (Botany, Geology)Ms Nicola Ramsden (Botany, Invertebrates, Mammals, Ornithology, Geology)
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Society Walk Report: Contents / Diary Iron Acton Walk: October 5th. I have to carry out a recce of every one of the mid-week walks, sometimes twice. Of course, I can still get it wrong but the main purpose of this ‘prequel’ is to meet the wildlife that is amenable to human conversation. Cows are pre-eminent in this regard and really like you to discuss the weather and ask them if they have any concerns. One of the mysteries of this walk was the presence of very large, delicious apples, ‘windfalls’, beneath a tree. To me it was an enigma. The tree was an Oak tree. You mustn’t fly to the obvious conclusion that I mistook oak-apples (which are as you know, galls) for apple varieties such as ‘Queen’, ‘Peasgood Nonsuch’, ‘Monarch’ or ‘Belle De Pontoise’. These were large or very large apples with wonderful flavour (I’ve been this way before). We could see an apple tree in a garden at least 20 m away. It had been a stormy night but how could the weather have driven so many fruits over so great a distance? I had brought plastic shopping bags with me and none of us were in the least concerned with provenance, just treating it as Providence. Birds are obviously a real nuisance. There they are, high up, totally black against the brilliance of the sky and so, near the remains of an iron works from 1789, as I’m elucidating on the special plants of acidic grassland, say Dyer’s Greenweed, with tiny yellow flowers gone over so that one has to look closely at to see its special but undeniable merits, then a voice calls out, “Sparrowhawk” and immediately six or more pairs, that’s about one between two, of binoculars were trained on a tiny dark spot in the firmament that appears to be moving. But, of course, one cannot have a meaningful conversation with a bird, it’s insects that respond to the kind word. My walks are like a succession of tableaux and on the recce I had the distinction to have chatted-up a beautiful and large, yellow and brown Hornet. On the walk we paused by several ‘bushes’, there’s no other word, of Ivy in full flower but all of these were small examples with a few honey bees, hoverflies and wasps. We stood in the lane before my selected Ivy bush, with every sense tuned to the different sounds and movement of feeding insects. I had asked people beforehand to expect to be asked to stand and stare silently, look into the dark recesses of the bush for the unmistakable hint of something much greater and menacing. And so we stood and the Hornet of a few days previously, that I had seen bumping aimlessly into the yellow, spherical masses of Ivy stamens and had suddenly changed his/her aimlessness into a grasp and a bite in the neck region of a honey bee, let me down! It didn’t appear. Twenty minutes of observation by twelve dedicated natural historians with no result. But then it was only a few metres down the lane to the apples. A very enjoyable walk as it turned out.
Tony Smith
From Brenda Page, a poem for the month of November
November
The feathers on the willow The thistle now is older, Are half of them grown yellow His stalk begins to moulder, Above the swelling stream; His head is white as snow; And ragged are the bushes, The branches all are barer, And rusty now the rushes, The Linnet’s song is rarer, And wild the clouded gleam. The Robin pipeth now.
R.W. Dixon
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BOTANY SECTION PRESIDENT:- Clive Lovatt 07 851 433 920 ([email protected]) Contents / Diary
HON. SEC:- David Hawkins [email protected] INDOOR MEETINGS Indoor meetings are held from October to March on the 4th Wednesday in the month at 7.30pm - 9.30pm in the Westbury-on-Trym Methodist Church, Westbury Hill, BS9 3AA. The church is on a bus route and has a free public car park beside it.
Bristol Botanists at Casa Fontanalba More than a hundred years ago, at his home Casa Fontanalba in the Maritime Alps in Italy, Clarence Bicknell welcomed three members of Bristol Naturalists’ Society: H.S. Thompson in 1907, and J.W. White and Cedric Bucknall in 1911. Following Clive Lovatt’s valuable contributions to research into these botanists, in his articles in the Bulletin and Nature in Avon, I have published an article online at http://www.clarencebicknell.com/images/downloads_news/bristol_botanists_at_casa_f ontanalba.pdf . My article explains their links with Clarence Bicknell (1842-1918) who was not only a botanist but a prehistorian, artist, Esperantist, and philanthropist. Their links included the expedition of White and Bucknall to the Balearic Islands in 1903, where they found the plant Pimpinella bicknellii at the site where Bicknell first discovered it, and Bucknall’s article Rock Figures of the Maritime Alps published in the Proceedings of the Society in 1913. On 22 November I will give a talk about Clarence Bicknell and the Bristol botanists, accompanied by a showing of the film The Marvels of Clarence Bicknell. Graham Avery, Oxford University [email protected]
CLARENCE BICKNELL AND THE BRISTOL BOTANISTS 7.30 pm Graham Avery, University of Oxford Wednesday 22 November Among the botanists whom Clarence Bicknell welcomed at his summer home in the Maritime Alps in Italy were three members of Bristol Naturalists’ Society: Harold Stuart Thompson in 1907, and James Walter White & Cedric Bucknall in 1911. Clarence Bicknell was not only a botanist but a pioneer in the exploration of the prehistoric rock engravings of the Alps. He was also an artist, Esperantist, philanthropist, and founder of the Museo Bicknell in Bordighera. Graham Avery, Vice-President of the Clarence Bicknell Association (http://www.clarencebicknell.com/ ), will explain the links between this remarkable man and the Bristol botanists, and show the short film The Marvels of Clarence Bicknell. The appended photograph of Clarence Bicknell is from a Carte de visite in the BNS Archives, which H Stuart Thompson had kept inside his 1914 book, Flowering Plants of the Riviera, until it “bulged too much” with similar related ephemera. The illustrations to Thompson’s book, which will be available to view at the talk, were 112
10 water-colours of plants painted by Bicknell. In addition, 60 stunning life-size facsimiles of Bicknell’s other plant portraits, published recently by the Clarence Bicknell Association, will be available to view.
For your Diary Wed. 27 Dec. - an evening of brief talks & good cheer with the annual botanical “quizzle”. Wed. 24 Jan. 2018 – AGM and recorders’ reports of the year’s botanical discoveries. Wed. 28 Feb. 2018 – Nick Wray on Development of the Bristol University Botanic Garden. Wed. 28 March 2018 – To be confirmed.
BOTANICAL NOTES Contents / Diary FIELD MEETING REPORT URBAN PLANTS OF NORTH & CENTRAL YATE led by Clive Lovatt, Thu. 21 September A certain amount of reconnaissance is sometimes useful, even for a ‘pot luck’ meeting. The urban area to the East of Yate Station proved rather dull, in the sense of an Englishman’s home being his castle: little in the way of botanical interest escaped from the gardens. Still, single plants of Narrow-leaved Ragwort Senecio inaequidens and the attractive Somerset Skullcap, Scutellaria altissima (second county record) turned up. The River Frome seemed to have leaves of a water buttercup under every bridge but it doesn’t appear ever to have been recorded formally: Stream water-crowfoot, Ranunculus penicillatus, no doubt like the one at Cheddar. Six of us met at the station car park in the rain and saw how some plants such as Sainfoin, Onobrychis viciifolia, and Fodder Burnet, Poterium sanguisorba ssp. balearica had become established in a fenced off area with abandoned flower tubs. The three Fleabanes, Conyza species were all found nearby. In the verges of the Trading Estate, we saw Common Stork’s-bill, Erodium cicutarium and Knotted Hedge-parsley, Torilis nodosa, two recent invaders to this habitat, and a young plant of Cabbage-palm (it looks like neither) Cordyline australis which could hardly have been planted here. Heading for Nibley we entered a field and on dumped soil, along with mixed Violas from some ornamental display found a single plant of Henbit Dead-nettle, Lamium amplexicaule. Moving on, we tasted Water-pepper, Persicaria hydropiper, and sat down to lunch (whereupon the drizzle stopped) on a bank with rusty coloured soil, and there was Sheep’s Sorrel Rumex acetosella, a pleasing survivor. Stonecrops, including the grey Thick-leaved Stonecrop Sedum dasyphyllum greeted us as we crossed the stile and walked down the old lane to Nibley, where we saw the usual three small ferns of old walls. In the village on a driveway, there were a few plants of Green field-speedwell Veronica agrestis, with its usual white flowers. Beside the main road again, we puzzled over a scattered patch of a St John’s-wort, which seemed to be the hybrid of the perforate and imperforate species. Three of us then went on to Westerleigh Common to look at the ponds, two of which had much Water- purslane, Lythrum portula, though there was yet again no trace of Petty Whin, Genista anglica, seen in 2000 (and later) by one of the ponds – but which one? As we returned to our cars, we spotted Common Calamint, Clinopodium ascendens. Common? First hectad (10km square) record for over 50 years. It is this variety of habitats and the expectation of the unexpected that makes botanising in the urban fringe so interesting.
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PLANT RECORDS Contents / Diary John Martin reports Tibetan Cotoneaster, C. conspicuus from Redwick, New Passage, ST5585, determined by the (inter)national expert Jeanette Fryer. This seems to be new to Gloucestershire – John complains that the setting, not far from the motorway exchange, hardly matched the grandeur of the name. In a field next to the Almondsbury garden centre car park he found another ‘exotic’, that is likely to be Korean Mint, Agastache rugosa. This would also be new to Gloucestershire in the wild. He has also seen bird seed aliens at Chew Valley Lake, including a hawk’s-beard (Crepis) or two. Another new alien plant for Gloucestershire was found by Rupert Higgins, Russian Sage, Perovskia atricifolia in gutters on the northern side of Redland Court Road at ST5874. Reference to the BSBI database shows 122 records for Britain and Ireland, all bar one gathered by Professor Mick Crawley, one of the authors of the recent New Naturalist on Alien Plants. A century ago, a botanist from the Natural History Museum wrote that he had received an invitation “from the man in Leigh Woods”. So, in a sense did I yesterday, finding that the square ST5474 (Paradise Bottom) had only 12 records in our local MapMate dataset. Pale Willow-herb, Epilobium roseum is quite common in ditches in that acidic part of the woods and I added the grass-leaved Small Pondweed Potamogeton berchtoldii to my Avon Gorge list from one of the five ponds in the area. Particularly pleasurable was to find a second site in the woods for Narrow Buckler-fern Dryopteris carthusiana, on a slightly raised portion above the water in the wet and muddy Paradise Bottom. It is easily distinguishable from the Broad Buckler-fern by standing upright with the basal pinnae horizontal – but especially by the light brown scales on the stem (not with a black centre). The Flora of the Bristol Region had current four sites. It wasn’t known from Leigh Woods between 1930 and 2015 and it seems that White never found it there. It is once again the time of year for looking at the Oraches (Atriplex) in the saltmarshes. One, Long-stalked Orache A. longipes is distinguished by its large (up to 2cm) leafy bracteoles wrapping the seeds, like hands in prayer. These are on long stalks, of about 1 cm. Miss Gravestock, one of my predecessors as Botany Section Secretary found it in the Avon Estuary in the 1970s but in common with many of us, I've always found it somewhat elusive, perhaps because of hybridisation with the usual Spear-leaved Orache A. prostrata and because the long stalks only occur a few times on a specimen. I found a convincing plant by the most northerly river light under Leigh Woods and hope to find more over the next few weeks.
If you've found some interesting plants in the Bristol area, let me know.
Clive Lovatt, Shirehampton, 7 October 2017
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GEOLOGY SECTION PRESIDENT: David Clegg [email protected] HON. SEC.: Richard Ashley, [email protected] Tel: 01934 838850
LECTURE MEETINGS Contents / diary
Lecture meetings take place in room G8, Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, BS8 1RJ. For those unfamiliar with this venue: Enter the Wills Building via main entrance and walk ahead between the two staircases. Turn left when you reach some display cases and follow the corridor round. Room G8 is on your right.
THE ORIGINS OF STARFISH AND BRITTLE STARS Dr. Aaron Hunter 7.30pm, Wednesday 29 November Dr Aaron Hunter is a Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences. He has worked extensively on the origins of both the Asteroidea (Starfish) and the Ophiuroidea (Brittle Stars) relating their development to the seas in which they lived.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND MEMBERS’ MEETING Wednesday 31 January 2018 Full details will be given in the next edition of Naturalists’ News but please give consideration to any items that you would like to talk about or exhibit and also to who you would like as Section Officers.
PLIOSAURUS!
Pliosaurus! exhibition runs at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery until 7 January 2018 – a special temporary exhibition and accompanying events showcasing the huge fossil specimen Pliosaurus carpenteri named after its finder BNS member and ex-President Simon Carpenter. See also the talk at the foot of page 14.
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INVERTEBRATE SECTION PRESIDENT: Robert Muston 0117 924 3352 Contents / Diary Hon. SECRETARY: Moth Broyles [email protected] 07809 281421
INVERTEBRATE NOTES FOR NOVEMBER 2017 Contents / Diary The stunning moth the Clifden Nonpareil (sometimes called the Blue Underwing) is suspected as having recently colonised the counties of Dorset, Hants and Sussex. Following single records from our region in 2015 and then 2016, two separate occurrences have been reported again this autumn, one in Portishead and another in Bath. Are these immigrants from Europe, wanderers from a south coast population or even evidence of establishment closer to home? Time will tell. Perhaps less welcome (although also a very attractive species) is the second record from the region Clifden nonpareil, Portishead, 30/8/2017 Photo © David Hawkins for Box Tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis. The larva of this species can devastate box hedges. As autumn takes a firmer grip, looking back on 2017, my own best finds would be the beetles Osphya bipunctata and Tetropium fuscum. The former is a Red Data Book 3 species so nationally uncommon although it had been recorded previously at the woodland south of Bath where I found it. The latter is a longhorn beetle previously only known from Scotland and one site in Wiltshire, in the UK. Mine was walking on cut timber in a woodland near Pensford. Bob Fleetwood has gone one better as he seems to have discovered a colony of the mirid bug Adelphocoris quadripunctatus on the Severn Estuary coast. One or two historic English records of this species date back over a century. In 2016 the species was found in South Wales, those near Weston-super-Mare are the first English records following this new colonisation by the species, if confirmed by the national recorder for the Hemiptera. The first ‘Insect Festival’ organised jointly by the Royal Entomological Society and Bristol Museum & Art Gallery took place on Saturday 23 September at the latter venue. Around 2,000 people visited the building that day, many as families with young children, who were treated to displays and activities including from the BNS. Bug hunts across Brandon Hill were also part of the fun. It is hoped to make this a regular event, perhaps biannual.
Ray Barnett 04/10/17
Bristol Museum Winter Lectures: Thursday 7th December 2017 MAULED, INJURED AND SICK: Sore Tales of Giant Pliosaurs Speaker: Dr Judyth Sassoon (University of Bristol) 7.30pm Venue: University of Bristol School of Economics, Finance and Management, 8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TU (close to the junction with Priory Road). All talks are FREE and open to all, thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Friends of Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives. However, due to heavy demand, places MUST be booked in advance by visiting the Bristol Museums website and following the link under the relevant entry https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art- gallery/whats-on/ .
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LIBRARY BNS Library at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, BS8 1RL. HON. LIBRARIAN: Jim Webster [email protected]. Open: Wed. 1.15pm-2.15pm, Sat. 10.15am-12.15pm. Contents / Diary NB: closed Saturdays associated with Christmas, New Year or Easter Bank holidays. Committee member on duty: 0117 922 3651 (library opening hours).
Access to the Society’s Proceedings and Nature in Avon online We are grateful to the Biodiversity Heritage Library and its participating institutions (Harvard and the Natural History Museum in particular) for digitising our Proceedings and Nature in Avon without charge and making them publicly available. To access them you can google “Biodiversity Heritage Library” and use the search facilities, or you can go direct to our own index pages at: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/98898#/summary (for the Proceedings, i.e. up to 1993); and http://biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/99328#/summary (for Nature in Avon, from 1994 to date)
“A Hunt in such a forest never wearies”: hand-coloured botanical books in the BNS Library British Wild Flowers, with plates by John E Sowerby was first published in 1860. It was effectively a concise single volume edition of the magnificent 36- volume English Botany (1790-1814), illustrated by his grandfather, James Sowerby, who had visited the Avon Gorge in 1799 when he collected and drew Salsify, Tragopogon porrifolius from there. The copy of British Wild Flowers in our library was bought by Ida M Roper (as she signed herself) in 1894 and was given to the library from her estate in 1935. Miss Roper was our Hon. Librarian 1925- 33 and was President of the Society 1913-16. The quote above is from her book-plate (see image). The plants are arranged on the 89 plates in a grid pattern, 20 to a page, but with taller plants overlapping the allocated rectangle, so that the vetches almost tangle around each other. It preceded the inclusion of Fitch’s woodcuts with Bentham’s British Flora in 1865. Those were left for hand-colouring by the owner, but the younger Sowerby’s book was issued hand-coloured. The plate with 18 roses is the most attractive. Our library also has a set of English Botany itself, in the third edition in which the original copper plates were re-drawn and lithographed. Our set of 11 volumes, with over 1800 hand-coloured plates of single plants must be a first issue, as the title pages go from 1863 to 1872. The Library lacks the 12th volume with ferns and the index (1886) and the partial supplement (1892). J W White in his Flora of Bristol (1912) wrote “happy are those who possess” this version rather than the re-issue of 1901-2 “in which many of the plates are vexatiously spoiled by crude mistaken tints laid on in a hurry”. White’s own copy (I don’t recall which issue it was) passed to the Sandwiths and then to Lewis Frost who bequeathed his botanical library to his Cambridge College (Emmanuel). More stunning though, and rather forgotten on a higher shelf, is the first 24 volumes of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. Our copies are bound as 12 books, with nominally 966 hand- coloured copper plates, though a small number appear never to have been bound in. They have 1793-1806 on the title pages but the work first came out in 1787, which probably explains some missing plates, as the publishers collated the volumes later from the available spare leaves. William Curtis visited the Avon Gorge in 1793, but his wild plants are illustrated in the lavish Flora Londinensis, which the library doesn’t have.
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The series continues to this day, although hand-colouring has long been replaced by printing. Its main function was to illustrate new species introduced into cultivation in Britain from around the world, hence its original sub-title, Flower-Garden Displayed. The plates are fully and very deeply coloured, with waxy whites for Jessamine (Jasmine) and an incendiary orange for the Greater Indian-Cress (Garden Nasturtium). Their luxuriance has to be seen to be believed (see left, a species of Trillium). Our set was presented by R V Sherring in 1929 and appears to have cost him £4:10:00 when he bought it. Sherring (1847-1931) was born and died in Bristol, and collected plants in West Indies and British Guiana. He was mentioned twice in the Flora of the Bristol Coal-field (1886) and is known to have gone fern-hunting in Asham Wood with Miss Roper in 1917, where they found Brittle Bladder-fern, Cystopteris fragilis: a hunt in such a forest never wearies.
Clive Lovatt, 30 September 2017, written in the BNS Library
Great Tit nestbox in a Somerset garden – see first para, page 17
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ORNITHOLOGY SECTION PRESIDENT:- Giles Morris, 01275 373917 [email protected]
HON SEC.:- Lesley Cox 07786 437528 [email protected] Contents / Diary
Our new President will be with us this month so don’t miss this early chance to catch up with him. He started his research career studying Parus major (Great Tits), which was the fifth most commonly ringed species in Somerset during 2016 with 434 birds ringed, according to the latest BTO ringing report. Its cousin, the Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), was in first place with 1080 specimens ringed whilst in contrast, the most commonly ringed bird in Gloucestershire was the red listed Lesser redpoll (Acanthis cabaret) where 1194 individuals within this species underwent the process. Information derived from ringing includes the longevity of British Birds. 13 years, 11 months & 5 days was the longest span between ringing and recovery for a Great Tit (BB76998) ringed as a nestling in Lancashire and recovered 30 miles away in Cumbria after sadly being hit by a car. The Blue Tit record is 10y 3m 10d in Bedfordshire and the Lesser redpoll, 6y 10m 11d in Greater Manchester. Here in Bristol, we are look forward to seeing all of our members this month, with or without rings.
FIELD MEETING SAND POINT AND MIDDLE HOPE Saturday, 18th November Leader: Giles Morris (07712 398903) 10:00 Meet at the NT car park (ST 330659) at the northern end of Sand Bay. We will walk up to the point and along towards Middle Hope and St Thomas's Head. This is always an interesting spot for migrant passerines and winter visitors in the trees and scrub of the headland. We shall also take the chance to see what waders are in Sand Bay and Woodspring Bay. The terrain is roughish, so suitable footwear is advisable and, being a coastal site, it will be exposed to whatever weather the day throws up, so please dress appropriately. We should finish at about 1 p.m.
LECTURE MEETING
LIFE IN A NOISY WORLD Wednesday, 8th November Speaker: Prof. Andy Radford 19:30
Westbury-on-Trym Methodist Church, BS9 3AA
Close your eyes and listen, anywhere in the world, and you will hear a plethora of sounds. My talk will explore ways in which this acoustic environment is of fundamental importance to animal behaviour. I will consider the use of vocalisations to mediate both social conflict and cooperative actions, show that animals eavesdrop on the vocal signals of other species, and discuss how noise produced by human activities can have an impact on wildlife.
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Avon Winter Bird Survey The results of last winter’s bird survey has just been sent to all participants. 51,000 birds were counted, in 113 squares at a rate of 171/hour. This is a useful measure of density and is higher than summer counts. The survey uses the BTO Breeding Bird Survey methodology, and requires two visits to a square, one in November/December and the other in January/February. Observers can choose their own One-km square, and are asked to make two 1000m transects across it recording all birds seen or heard. Anyone interested in joining this scheme should contact Dave Stoddard at [email protected] for detailed instructions
Winter Garden Survey 2017-2018 This survey of garden birds in winter has been run since 1973 and is probably the longest running local garden survey in the country. It collects week-by-week data on the birds using your garden from Oct 1 to March 31. It is not too late to join the survey. Please contact Jane Cumming at [email protected] (Please note that the spelling of this address is intentionally different from the name of the bird)
Forward Meeting Dates Contents / Diary Indoor: 13th December 2017. 10th January 2018 Field Meetings: 28th December 2017. 21st January 2018. Also on Sunday 18 March a BTO conference in Bradford on Avon.
ORNITHOLOGY RECENT NEWS September proved to be an exciting month. It began relatively quietly with the long staying first-winter Woodchat Shrike still on station on Sodbury Common where it remained until 19th. Gales in mid month from the southwest produced the hoped for seabird scarcities. On 11th there were two Leach's Petrels at Severn Beach along with a European Storm- petrel and a Grey Phalarope. After a lull next day further gales on 13th produced more Leach's with up to five reported from Severn Beach (with the usual counting problems there) and four off Anchor Head. Even scarcer with us are Sabine's Gulls. They breed in the Canadian Arctic and winter at sea in the South Atlantic and Southern Pacific. Their southward migration takes some close to our western seaboard so with westerly gales they can regularly be seen in favoured south-western seabird hotspots. We don't have such things in our patch of course, but they do sometimes get funnelled up the Bristol Channel to our area - a juvenile was in Sand Bay on 12th followed by one at Severn Beach next day and then one at Avonmouth on 17th, 19th and (photographed in the docks) 26th.
Looking to the East there were two Siberian passerines in the form of the now regular Yellow-browed Warbler at New Passage on 24th and a Richard's Pipit at Clevedon-Yeo next day. The lakes produced another big build-up of Great Egrets with up to 16 at Chew and at least a couple of young Cattle Egrets were there on and off - presumably from the Somerset breeders. The end of the month produced a very welcome if rather late influx of Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers, but we have yet to have an American wader this autumn. Perhaps October will produce something remarkable... John Martin
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MISCELLANY
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL BOTANIC GARDEN The Holmes, Stoke Park Rd, Stoke Bishop, BS9 1JG. Booking: 0117 331 4906. www.bristol.ac.uk/botanic-garden Email: [email protected]
Contents / Diary
Thu. 16 Nov., 7.30pm Springboards, water slides and sticky pools – how carnivorous pitcher plants catch their food. Speaker: Dr. Ulrike Bauer, Royal Society University Research Fellow. Frank Lecture Theatre, Wills Physics Laboratory, Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TL. Free to Friends on production of membership card. Visitors are asked for a donation (suggested £5). Attendees can use any University car park: nearest are in University Walk and The Hawthorns (no booking necessary). Sat. 18 Nov. 10am – 4pm Gift wrapping workshop with Amanda White, Gift Frippery. Unlock the secret to a professionally wrapped gift which looks too good to open! Print your own paper and get creative with your stylish flourishes. Price: £35. Includes all materials and seasonal refreshment. Limited to 10 places. At the Botanic Garden. Bristol BS9 1JG 0117 42 82041. E:[email protected] W:www.bristol.ac.uk/botanic-garden
Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project Booking & further information: Contact the Project on 0117 903 0609 or e-mail [email protected]. Pre-booking essential for all events. Details of meeting points are given on booking.
Tue. 14 Nov. Myths, moths and butterflies (Talk) They say never work with children or animals but Butterfly Conservation’s Education Officer for Bristol, Matt Brierley, does both. The consequent kids’ questions have inspired Matt to answer those teasers you’d think you know the answer to but don’t. Why are butterflies called butterflies? What’s the difference between a moth and a butterfly? And do moths really wear perfume? Join Matt to hear why we need to rebrand moths, which butterfly hisses and what happens if you lick a toxic caterpillar. 7.00pm - 8.00pm £4.00. Sun. 26 Nov. (NB – date change – previously advertised as taking place on 11th November) Autumn bird identification walk. Spend a morning on the Downs with Ed Drewitt learning to identify resident and migrant birds. This walk is aimed at those who are developing their bird identification skills and / or have been on one of our spring birdsong courses. 9.00am - 11.00am £6.00.
FRIENDS OF BADOCK’S WOOD www.fobw.org.uk Contents / Diary
Sun. 19 Nov. NOTABLE TREES & HISTORIC FEATURES of the woodland in Badock's Wood. Join Nicola Strange for an introduction to the Historic Trees and other archaeological features of the wooded areas of Badock’s Wood. Meet Lakewood Road entrance. Please [email protected] to book a place. Please book either
10:30 – 12 noon or 1.00-2.30 pm. 19
PICTURES OF THE MONTH Contents / Diary
2 Stonechats taken Oct. 9th by Steve Hale, who writes: “October is the main passage month for Stonechat in our area, sometimes double figure counts can be noted.”
Blue Tit – our most ringed bird – see p17, 1st paragraph of the Ornithology Section.
Clifden Nonpareil (Catocala fraxini) A remarkable find, printed here at about life size (“75-95 mm wingspan”) – see page 14. Photo © David Hawkins
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