Crested Cow-Wheat in Trouble C
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Nature in Cambridgeshire No 55 2013 Plate 1 Riffle and kingfisher bank Plate 4 Restored ditch to give two-stage channel. Plate 2 Shoal creation through gravel placement Plate 5 Reed-bed two years after planting. Photographs by Rob Mungovan. See article on page 49 Plate 3 Log jam bank CONTENTS Muntjac Deer in Cambridgeshire Arnold Cooke 3 Crested Cow-wheat in trouble C. James Cadbury 22 The Hemiptera of Coe Fen, Cambridge Alex Dittrich, Alvin Helden, Rodi Mackzenie & Guy Belcher 32 Marsh Carpet moth larvae at Wicken Fen Norman Sills 37 Cambridgeshire Otter Survey – 2012 Peter Pilbeam 44 A Land Flatworm new to Britain Brian Eversham 46 River Cam Habitat Enhancement Project Rob Mungovan 49 Symphytum ´ perringianum in Cambridge Philip H. Oswald 57 A recovery programme for wetland plants at the Kingfishers Bridge Reserve Roger C. Beecroft, C. James Cadbury, & Stephen P. Tomkins 60 Contributions towards a new algal flora of Cambridgeshire:7. Rhodophyta. Hilary Belcher, Erica Swale and Eric George 71 Diptera of the Devil’s Ditch, Cambridgeshire I Perry 76 Lichens in the West Cambridgeshire woodlands Mark Powell, Louise Bacon and the Cambridge Lichen Group 87 Waterbeach Airfield and Barracks Louise Bacon 96 Trumpington Meadows CNHS Survey Jonathan Shanklin 100 A New Era for Cambridge University Herbarium Christine Bartram 108 Announcing a Fenland Flora Owen Mountford and Jonathan Graham 112 Green-flowered Helleborine in Cambridge Monica Frisch 116 Bourn Free Jess Hatchett, Ruth Hawksley & Vince Lea 118 Geodiversity Ken Rolfe 127 Additional Sulphur Clover populations Philippa M. Harding and Paul T. Harding 129 Sulphur Clover: a correction Louise Bacon 131 Vascular Plant Records Alan Leslie 131 Bryophyte records M. Burton and C.D. Preston 137 OBITUARY 139 BOOK REVIEWS 140 Weather notes from Cambridge University Botanic Garden 2012 John Kapor 146 Cover Illustration: Ribautodelphax imitans. Photograph by kind permission of Tristan Bantock. See article on Hemiptera of Coe Fen (page 32.) Nature in Cambridgeshire’s website: www.natureincambridgeshire.org.uk Copies of Nature in Cambridgeshire may be obtained by writing to Nature in Cambridgeshire, c/o Museum of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ (price £7 plus postage and packing). Copies of many earlier issues are also available. Articles for consideration for future issues should be submitted to the Editor, Mr H.R. Arnold, Windyridge, Shillow Hill, Bury, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE26 2NX. (email [email protected]) ISSN 0466-6046 Published in association with the Cambridge Natural History Society © Nature in Cambridgeshire EDITORIAL We have a larger than usual volume this year, with an interesting variety of topics covered. Amongst the vertebrates we have a detailed appraisal of the Muntjac in the county, and a report on a recent survey of Otters, whilst Water Voles and their problems are discussed in a paper on the Bourn Brook. In botany we cover Crested Cow-wheat, wetland plants at Kingfishers Bridge, lichens of west Cambridgeshire woodlands and Green-flowered Helleborine at a site in Cambridge. We welcome the return of an article on algae by Hilary Belcher and Erica Swale after they missed last year, for unavoidable reasons. Amongst the invertebrate topics we cover the Diptera of the Devil’s Ditch. The Hemiptera of Coe Fen and the Marsh Carpet moth at Wicken Fen. This year we report two new species, new not only to Cambridgeshire, but new to Britain. Philip Oswald describes Symphytum x perringianum and Brian Eversham describes an as yet un-named flatworm. We also have most of the regular contributions, but no report on Invertebrates. The weather was so inimical to most invertebrates this summer, that very few records were reported, and certainly not sufficient to make a report. We congratulate the following people, whose achievements have been acknowledged: Chris Preston and Philip Oswald were awarded the 2012 Thackray Medal by the Society for the History of natural History (this medal is awarded for a significant achievement in the history of those areas of interest to the Society) and Rob Mungovan, whose work at Trumpington Meadows earned him a Green Apple Environment Award. It is also worth noting that Philip Oswald, my predecessor as Editor, and a stalwart of the Editorial Board, celebrated his eightieth birthday in April 2013! Editorial Board: Mrs E. Platts (Chairman) Mr H.R. Arnold (Editor) Miss Vicki Harley (Membership Secretary) Mrs J.K. Bulleid Dr T. Carter Mr P.H. Oswald Dr C.D. Preston Dr L. Bacon Dr R. Preece Dr Alvin Helden 2 Muntjac Deer in Cambridgeshire Arnold Cooke Reeves’ Muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) is a native of south-east China and Taiwan. It was first released into the wild in this country in 1901 near Woburn in Bedfordshire (Chapman, Harris & Stanford, 1994). Other releases, together with natural spread from the various foci, resulted in colonisation of much of southern, lowland Britain a century later (Chapman & Harris, 1996; Ward, 2005). This review describes the Muntjac’s colonisation of Cambridgeshire and how, when, why and with what success it has been managed. The main aim is to bring together a large amount of disparate and often unpublished information on Muntjac and their impact in woodland in Cambridgeshire. Colonisation Chapman, Harris & Stanford (1994) quoted A.J. de Nahlik as believing Muntjac occurred in 1952 at Great Raveley in what was formerly Huntingdonshire (V.C. 31). While this is possible, it was not until the 1990s that a significant population built up in Raveley Wood (Cooke, 2007). The first record of Muntjac in the Annual Reports of the Huntingdonshire Fauna & Flora Society dates from 1959: Muntjac were said to be resident throughout the year in Brampton Wood (Worden, 1960). The first record in old Cambridgeshire (V.C. 29) was in 1961 from Hayley Wood (Symonds, 1983). Symonds (1983) and Chapman, Harris & Stanford (1994) considered it likely that this was the result of natural dispersal from the Woburn area - and the deer in Brampton Wood may also have resulted from natural colonisation. Muntjac were seen on a number of occasions in south west Cambridgeshire in 1962, and their tracks were ‘quite widely’ distributed in the snow in early 1963 (Fordham, 1963). In August 1970, I was with Bernard West when he found the skull of a buck in the nature reserve at Grafham Water. Small slots occurred in Monks Wood in 1970 - 1971 around pens containing captive deer (see Mellanby, 1973). At that time, there was considerable confusion locally between Muntjac and Chinese Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis), but the latter species was not positively identified in the Monks Wood area until Al Scorgie and I saw a buck on the verge of the B1090 in October 1977. Muntjac were positively identified in several areas of the wood prior to 1977 (Jefferies & Arnold, 1977), so the small slots seen in the early 1970s were almost certainly made by this species. By 1976, Muntjac were described by Jefferies & Arnold (1977) as being widespread and firmly established in Huntingdonshire. However, they were still relatively rare in the south of V.C. 31 and virtually unreported from the north. It was not until 1980 that they started being seen in Woodwalton Fen and Holme Fen, about five and ten km respectively to the north of Monks Wood (Cooke & Farrell, 1995; Cooke, 1998; Carne, 2000). 3 Despite being even further north than the Fens of Woodwalton and Holme, colonisation in the Soke of Peterborough began earlier with, for instance, Muntjac being seen in Bedford Purlieus in the early 1970s (Welch, 1975). Chapman, Harris & Stanford (1994) suspected that Muntjac were introduced to Northamptonshire in several places, as they occurred in Salcey Forest, Yardley Chase and Rockingham Forest in the 1930s; this, therefore, was the likely route for the relatively early colonisation of Bedford Purlieus. In V.C. 29, during a general deer survey in 1980-2, Muntjac were found to be widely distributed throughout the southern half of the vice county (Symonds, 1983). They were recorded in two thirds of surveyed woods larger than 10 ha, being well established in some, such as Hayley, Ditton Park and Widgham Woods. There were also several reports of Muntjac within the City of Cambridge, as well as from gardens in Histon and Burwell. Muntjac were first noted in Wicken Fen in the mid 1980s (Carne, 2000). By this time, Muntjac had become very abundant and conspicuous in Monks Wood, suggesting a very dense population. When Lynne Farrell and I started a dusk surveillance programme in spring 1986, we averaged 22.5 sightings per hour. The two largest ancient woods in Cambridgeshire, Monks Wood and Brampton Wood, then stood out as having particularly high densities of Muntjac. One of the main reasons that large woods have higher densities (Cooke, 1996; Rackham, 2003) may be that they have larger and quieter blocks of woodland in which the deer can shelter. Dung counting in Monks Wood showed that Muntjac activity increased away from the rides into the centres of the blocks (Cooke, 2006). In 1994, I devised a scoring system, based on signs, both for the Muntjac themselves and for their damage in a wood (see Appendix 1 for a more detailed description of the method). Scores for Cambridgeshire woods (including woodland on several more open sites) are given in Appendix 2. Deer activity scores during the 1990s indicated that the largest woods (including Wennington Wood) already had dense populations whereas Muntjac were still colonising smaller woods (e.g. Aversley, Lady’s, Raveley, Riddy and Wistow Woods). During the 1990s, Muntjac were also being found more frequently in less optimal habitat, such as brick-pits, shelter belts, game cover crops, railway embankments, hedgerows and gardens. In my garden in Ramsey, where I lived between 1983 and 2007, a Muntjac first turned up in 1995, and occurrences became more common until, by the time I moved away, they had young in the garden.