LYONSHALL COUNTRY DIARY

Issue 45: September 2020

‘FOUND BENEATH THE SPREADING BOUGHS OF AN OLD FRIEND ON THE RAILWAY TRACK’!

Nestling amongst the stones of the abandoned track-bed. What are they?

How intricate the relationship between , plants, habitat, wind, rain, light and temperature can be! Timing, too, is crucial, as farmers know – the crop that failed in a wet Spring won’t suddenly come to life in a sunny Summer, the seasons are not interchangeable.

I’ve been musing on this in September for two reasons: • Firstly, all the old proverbs and traditional names for September talk about fruit and harvest -- “September blow soft till the fruit’s in the loft” (16th century English proverb),”Haerfestmonath” (Harvest-month - the Old English name for this month), “Gerstmonath” (Barley-month - Anglo-Saxon) and “Fructidor “ (Fruit-month - the French Republican name for it). If those boring old bureaucrats, the Romans, hadn’t decided that “September” was the seventh (“septem”) month in their calendar, we might have gone on enjoying its more descriptive name. And it doesn’t hurt to be reminded of the importance of “fruit” (in its widest sense) in nature. There has been a lot of fruit around Lyonshall this year to provide food for animals of all kinds, including humans, as well as conveying seed for next year’s plant-life. Much of this produce is about a fortnight earlier than usual, which may be a trend for the future and require re-timing of harvest festivals! • Secondly, a lot of the photos and text contributions I’ve received this month show the interdependence of flora and fauna. Although “pollination” and “foodstuffs” are the most well-known links, there are other complex connections. The photo at the top of this page is a clue to another example...

So instead of my usual “Flora” and “Fauna” headings and sub-headings, I might ramble across topics this month and see where each subject leads me! I hope it won’t be too confusing...

Oaks and For no particular reason, let’s start with Oak trees, specifically the Pedunculate Oak, the big long-lived tree of English history of which The Fishpool Oak is a fine example. (No, I don’t know what “pedunculate” means, either – it’s dismissed in my dictionary as “botanists’ Latin” and has something to do with stalks.) Male and female flowers are borne on the same tree but nevertheless they rely on wind pollination, the male being a short catkin which often appears before the leaves to maximise pollen dispersal – not a Bee in sight! The result is the well-known acorns, as shown on the left above (without their cups). Incidentally, did you know that the little knob on a pull-down window blind is traditionally made from oak in the shape of an acorn because acorns are said to “protect against lightning and thunderbolts”? However, if the Oak doesn’t need an , there are an awful lot of insects which need the Oak – estimates vary between 500 and 2,000 species! These include several caterpillars which feed on the leaves and, with the exception of the Oak Processionary , do little damage. They also include Gall Wasps (Cynipoidea), which bear no resemblance to the black-and-yellow-striped stinging creatures often found on fallen fruit this month (Beware drunken wasps!) but are tiny and nondescript! Galls are swellings caused by a “layer of protective tissue” put out by the tree as a reaction to invasion by the larvae of Gall Wasps, and although galls may last for months, forming a feeding-station for the larvae inside, most do no harm to the trees. Until this September the only oak galls I knew about were the Oak Apple and the Robin’s Pincushion, both mentioned in previous LCD issues. However, I discovered the small, shiny, round green-and-red objects (seen on the right of the masthead picture) on the ground below an Oak tree, which our Lyonshall Tree Warden has now identified as ‘Cherry Galls’. They are caused by the asexual generation of the Gall Wasp Cynips quercusfolii on the underside of Oak leaves, fall with the leaves and mature on the ground. The adult wasp emerges over the Winter to lays its eggs in the dormant Oak buds where the sexual generation develops in little purple galls from which the adults emerge to lay eggs on the new Oak leaves and start the cycle all over again. The only danger the larvae risk is that young Cherry Galls are enjoyed by Wood Pigeons – another thread in the interwoven lives of plants and animals!

But if you think Cherry Galls are both pretty and interesting, two other Gall Wasps lay eggs on the underside of Oak leaves and their galls have also been found in Lyonshall this September – the Spangle Gall (Neuropterus quercusbaccarum) and the Silk Button Gall (Neuropterus numismalis). The life cycles of the wasps are very similar but their galls are very different!

Acorns & ‘Cherry Galls’. ‘Common Spangle Gall’ & ‘Silk Button Gall’ © David G. Has anyone written a thesis on the insect life on the English Oak? Lyonshall would be a very good place to start with its venerable oak trees dating back to The Middle Ages!

Plants and Pollinators Someone MUST have done a comprehensive study of plants and their insect pollinators (“entomophily ”)! Bees are important, of course, and especially for honey-lovers, but “it’s not just bees”. Insect pollinators include butterflies and , wasps, hoverflies and some beetles. The plants that attract them (generally by colour or scent) can be found in our own gardens and local hedgerows, at Lyonshall Nurseries and at ‘Birches Farm’ [HR5 3EY], The Herefordshire Wildlife Trust’s “new” Nature Reserve on the western edge of the Parish, now an officially-designated SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest ) and open to the public (No dogs, please). This September we have sightings, photos and reports from knowledgeable contributors from all of these places, which together still only touch on this vast subject. To start with the mechanism! Bees and most have long proboscides with which they can probe flowers for nectar and hairy bodies to which the pollen clings as they feed. www.herefordshirewt.org>nature-reserves>birches-farm Two very good examples from Lyonshall September 2020 are [1] a Buff-tailed Bumblebee on a garden plant, the “Firecracker” Culphea, where it has bored a hole through the long flower tube to get to the nectar and [2] a Silver Y Moth on an ‘Autumn Crocus’ at Birches Farm. The Common Carder Bee – so called because it combs together dry plant material to cover its larvae – is particularly hairy and was photographed on a ‘Sedum’ at the Garden Centre; a similarly hairy Bee, also on a ‘Sedum’, is what we believe to be an unexpected but welcome “in-comer “ from central Europe, the Bombus consobrinius (a name to conjure with and it has no common one!); and another Sedum-visitor was our familiar White-tailed Bumblebee.

Silver Y ©Sarah Cad. Buff Tailed Bee, Carder Bee, B. Consobrinius, & White-tailed. In fact, Simon Thomas at Lyonshall Nurseries, who took the photos, reports that Bees and Hoverflies particularly love Sedums and that 6 different species were seen simultaneously this month. This conforms with the fact that many plants and pollinators are generalists and don’t limit themselves to specific pairings. Among the later-flowering plants to attract insect pollinators are Ivy – my Ivy flowers were a-buzz with tiny insects in the late- September sunshine; Sedums are obviously a good example from our gardens; while Devil’s Bit Scabious is described as an “important nectar source in the Autumn” in the wild. Devil’s Bit Scabious is a pretty little plant of marshy meadows and woodland (shown here amongst Bracken at ‘Birches Farm’) with an interesting name-derivation! The “Scabious ” comes from “scabere ” – to scratch – because it was believed to cure skin-conditions such as those seen in the bubonic plague and the “devil’s bit” because its roots look shortened, as though bitten off by ‘The Devil’ in a rage at the little plant’s healing properties! Pollinators don’t discriminate between cultivated and wild plants ‘per se’ and shown here on the Devil’s Bit Scabious are another White-tailed Bumblebee and another Silver Y Moth, as well as an Ear Moth and a Hoverfly.

Devil’s Bit Scabious & ‘Ear Moth’, ‘Hover Fly’ ‘Silver Y’ & ‘White tail’ © David G. And finally (for this issue) on the subject of insect pollinators, two beautiful photos – a Small Copper Butterfly on what looks like a Bramble and a Common Digger Wasp on a Calendula. If you look very closely you can see the pollen on the hairy legs of the Wasp as it climbs out of the heart of the flower.

‘Small Copper’ © Sarah Cad. ‘Digger Wasp’ © Simon T. Arachnids Arachnophobes, look away now ! Two of the largest spiders in Britain were to be seen in Lyonshall this September – the Common Garden Spider and the Four-spotted Orb Weaver.

Garden Spider © Simon T. ‘Garden Spider’ & ‘Orb Weaver’ eating a Cranefly © David G. These are members of the same family, the species which build the wheel-like “spider’s web” we all recognise.

Being something of an arachnophobe myself (due to “their having eight legs”, according to Sir David Attenborough and one of my reference books, though I can’t see why and I don’t mind octopuses!) I had never thought much about where and when their lovely webs can be seen, i.e. the relationship between spider, habitat, weather and timing, until these photos arrived. Time for a little research! The webs are built wherever the Orb Spider anticipates most flies, hence gardens with plenty of shrubbery or fences (and often the wing-mirrors of my car, which is an odd aberration!). They are built at night, which is why you rarely see one under construction, and a Common Garden Spider can build one in under an hour, despite the fact that it may comprise up to 60 metres of silk. They are most often built in early Autumn, when the adult females emerge, and most visible when each strand carries morning dew. And a Garden Spider sitting quietly in its web promises a fine, calm day, but if it is “shortening its stay lines” or coming indoors, wind and rain are imminent. Spiders carry an enormous mythology and folklore but in their case “fact is stranger than fiction”. Still a bit scared ? Look at this photo, taken in Lyonshall this month, of “Lottie”, an enormous Bernese Mountain Dog, contemplating a spider’s web found on her morning walk – and remind yourself that the camera can lie! It gets my vote for Photo of the Month!

‘Lottie’ and ‘The Spider from Hell’ ! © Simon Thomas.

Butterflies, Moths and Habitats There has been an appreciable decline in the number of Butterflies recorded in the UK at the ‘Big Butterfly Count’, despite record levels of participation due to coronavirus restrictions, according to the Butterfly Conservation Trust. The average across 19 common species showed a decline of -34% by comparison with last year, of which the Painted Lady was worst at -99%, followed by the ‘Silver Y Moth’ (of which we have two photos this month) at -70%. I certainly haven’t seen a ‘Painted Lady’ in Lyonshall this year and other butterflies have not been particularly plentiful, although there seemed to be a lot of “whites” around at the beginning of this month. The Trust’s scientist’s statement reads:

Butterflies and moths are incredibly valuable indicators of the health of our environment. Their declines show not only the effects of human behaviour on the world around us but also the changing patterns of our weather. As well as being important and beautiful creatures in themselves, they play key roles in the ecosystems of birds, mammals, invertebrates and plants as food, population controllers and pollinators. Their conservation is vitally important.

A “sobering thought” and one worth bearing in mind, especially when looking at the recent photos of Moths received from David Griffiths and Nick Spencer. On the subject of habitat, it is worthy of note (as was apparent from last month) how many Moths like our damp conditions and the trees such as the Willows thriving here – Lyonshall Parish’s myriad underground Springs and Watercourses have value after all.

1. Angle Shades Moth – a distinctive, large moth, widely distributed and enjoying a range of habitats including woodland and gardens. 2. Frosted Orange Moth – a woodland and marsh-loving moth, its larvae feed and pupate inside the stems of Thistles and Burdocks. 3. Red Underwing – a larger moth which lives in gardens and riverbanks and often rests on the trunks of Willow and Poplar (the feedstuffs of its larvae) where it is well camouflaged as its mottled upper wings fold over the red under-wings which give it its name. 4. Sallow Moth – as its name suggests, a common resident of marshy places. The larvae feed on Willow catkins early in the year but later on herbaceous plants. 5. Common Plume Moth – you may remember that we’ve seen these lovely little moths with the unusual wings before, but previous ones were white or very pale blue. 6. Beautiful Plume Moth – again, the colour is the most obvious difference from its “Common” relative. Both varieties of Plume Moth hibernate and then have two generations per year, so that adults are on the wing in July and again in September. 7. Clifden Nonpareil – a very large Moth and a rarity, seen here high in a tree in the village centre. It is now “only an immigrant”, very occasionally seen in S.E. England, so it will be fascinating to discover whether its presence in Lyonshall was a “one-off” or whether it re-appears, a lucky coincidence or a response to 2020’s unusual weather conditions. 8. And finally: The Herald Moth and its caterpillar, which was found munching on the leaves of our young Black Poplars which are being carefully nurtured by ‘Go Wild in The Curl’ to ensure their survival! We have recorded the adult moth in previous years and it’s quite common, so this caterpillar is – as they say – “pushing its luck” !

‘Herald Moth Caterpillar’ © David G.

[1].© D.G. [2]. © D.G. [3]. © D.G. [4]. © D.G.

[5]. © N.S. [6]. © N.S. [7]. © D.G. [8]. D.G.

Fungi – a Different World My theme of interdependence, flora and fauna, habitats and climate, all becomes blurred when we look at fungi! They tend to be more common in the Autumn but the fact that a particular fungus appeared briefly in one place one September doesn’t mean it will appear there, or anywhere in the vicinity, the following year or ever again! A fungus might like rotting wood, or grass, or to be under beech trees – but having apparently ideal conditions is no guarantee that a particular fungus will ever be found. And as mentioned last month, many fungi come and go within hours; others appear quickly, last seemingly unchanged for months and then suddenly disappear. They come in all shapes and sizes and a range of colours. Slugs will nibble at some but not others. Looking for fungi is pointless, finding them is serendipity, happy chance. ☺ There have been a number of “happy chances” in Lyonshall this September:

1. Scaly Wood Mushroom – Found in large quantities for just a few days. Delicious! 2. Giant Puffball – also delicious if sliced and fried when young but one of the few fungi which really DOES “go up in a puff of smoke” quite soon. 3. Bald Inkcap – almost transparent and delicately pretty but, oh, so fragile! It lasts barely a day, especially in rain. 4. Snowy Inkcap – another fragile inkcap, this time with a chalky white coating, it grows on old dung. Possibly poisonous, certainly risky. 5. Brown Roll-rim – Also known as “Poison Pax”, which tells us all we need to know! Common in birch woodland. The only fungus to have ever killed a professional mycologist... 6. Grey Spotted Amanita – variable in colour and easily misidentified so avoid eating, especially as not considered very tasty ! 7. Shaggy Parasol a.k.a. Woodland Parasol – the only fungus I’ve ever come across which is described as “elegant and shabby-chic”! Also considered –“Good to eat unless you’re one of the 1 in 25 people whose stomach can’t tolerate it”. I think I’ll give it a miss ! 8. Honey Fungus –one of the prettiest versions of this diverse species, here suddenly growing on a Wellingtonia tree stump which was felled well over 60 years ago. There is no point in trying to eradicate it now. 9. Orange Peel Fungus – most commonly found on “disturbed soil by woodland paths”. Starts as concave cups but changes shape as it grows. Edible but not recommended. 10. Pink Waxcap – also known as Pink Ballerina. Found in old, short, unimproved grassland, particularly on acidic soils, which explains its presence at ‘Birches Farm’. Rare! Do not pick. It is a rare species. 11. Turkey-tail on an apple tree stump. We’ve seen this pretty little bracket fungus many times before but this is a new outcrop. The Slug is not aiming for the fungus but making its way steadily towards the fallen cider apple! 12. And now, as a sort of “full stop” to this section, a small (2 cm diameter) bright yellow blob which appeared on a wooden tree sculpture for about 3 days before vanishing without trace. It is picturesquely called “Dog Vomit Slime Mold”. (“Vomit of troll cats” in Scandinavia, “Witches’ butter ” in other parts of Northern Europe.) Nature’s nomenclature is not for the squeamish!

[1.] ‘Edible ’. [2.] © Isobel H. [3.] [4.] © Sarah Cad.

[5.] ‘Very Poisonous’. [6.] © Sarah Cad. [7.] ‘Don’t bother’! [8] “Pest”.

[9.] © Sarah Cad. [10.] © Sarah Cad. [11.] “The Turkey creep” ! [12.] “YUK!” Perhaps because we have so little control over the growth of fungi we easily forget that they are crucial to the ecosystem, effecting the decomposition of dead organic material and returning it to the soil as the nutrients and chemicals of life. I have no idea how we translate this knowledge into habitat preservation but no doubt the mycologists and other natural scientists take fungi (and slime molds) into account in their plans .

Popular Creatures, Predators and Prey

A few random observations on some of the larger and better-known creatures seen in the Parish this September!

First, ‘A’ is for Amphibians ! A number of contributors have commented happily on Frogs and Toads in their gardens or on grasslands and we are pleased to show the latest photos of each. I’m also told that Toads are very active in the night-time pursuit of slugs in some parts of the Parish! When they exhaust other supplies, they’re welcome in my garden as the only Toad seen here so far at ‘The Old Station’ is definitely a very indolent juvenile. .

The ‘Common Frog’ & The ‘Common Toad’. © David G.

Secondly, ‘B’ is for Birds ! Buzzards can still be seen frequently either wheeling overhead or sitting watchfully on posts, waiting for an incautious small to appear. The Red Kites, on the other hand, have been seen less often than previously. Goldfinches and many varieties of Tits are around and Sparrows are noisily choosing their Winter roosts. The Blackbirds were very busy during the Indian Summer in the middle of the month but not quite so active in the rain. Owls, especially Tawny Owls, have occasionally been seen and frequently heard. And I have an answer to my question in last month’s issue about the migration of the Swallows – the last one was seen here on September 17th. As to the ever- present Wood Pigeons – one, at least, has decided “Why walk or fly when a nice, smooth vantage-point has been made for you on which you can sit and watch the world go by?” Third – Mammals We’ve mentioned the most common predators and while gardening I chanced on a common prey – this tiny skull of a Field Vole (shown here balanced on a pencil sharpener!) which fell off a bank I was weeding. It is amazingly perfect, even down to its little teeth. Other potential prey includes Rabbits and Squirrels, of course, but they still seem plentiful enough. Has the Brown Rat population decreased or is that wishful thinking? And we have another Hedgehog sighting from Sarah Cadwalleder at ‘The Birches’! That’s three groupings that we know about in the area and hopefully there are very many more about. Please be very careful before burning wood-piles or such like. “Our Hedgehogs” will be tucking-up into their hibernation sites very soon.

‘Resting Pigeon’ ‘Field Vole’ skull. The ‘Birches’ Hedgehog. And before we leave the subject of Mammals, I thought you might like to see a photo taken this month and sent to us by a former Lyonshall resident and a reader of ‘The Diary’!

Watching over us from British Columbia – “Penny’s Bear” !

Photo taken in her “garden” in British Columbia, north west Canada by Mrs Penny Holosko née ‘Penny Pettit ’, previously of ‘Castle Weir’ House and Farm! From her ‘wheelchair’ ! ☺ Penny is an avid follower of events in ‘The Parish of Lyonshall’. Her original home.

Just a Brief Note on Wildflowers Has anyone else noticed how many of the Spring and early Summer wildflowers have decided on a second flush this month? Valerian and White Borage are flowering substantially for the second time this year and there are scattered Buttercups, Dandelions and Daisies among the Cyclamen! No doubt it’s the weather!

White Borage and Red Valerian. Lynhales Pool I am pleased to report some reduction in the oil contamination of ‘Lynhales Pool’. It is disappearing slowly but surely. Hopefully they will confirm that it is clean by next year.

The Lynhales Pool pollution is being cleared up. © Isobel H.

Lyonshall Weather in September

September was a dry month with temperatures about normal except it was unusually ‘Dry’ which confused our flowers. However the ‘Hard Fruit’ [Apples & Pears] thrived. Sadly the very wet August spoiled a lot of the farmers’ harvest. Then we got that oft-wanted “Indian Summer”. I do wish that people would realise that this refers to the sunny period that often follows the ‘Monsoon Rains’ in the Indian sub-continent. Yes, it is a memory of “The Raj” but it has nothing to do with North American “Red Indians”. It is a happy memory of 100 years of an “Empire” - long gone. I bet a lot of us ‘British’ people remember the ‘Indian Summer’ with joy. It was a welcome relief in The Punjab, Burma, Delhi and in The Himalaya Kingdoms. We oldies remember it now as a Meteorological event – not as a cause of angst!

Comment There is so much more I could have said in this issue of the Country Diary about the wider aspects of nature and the relationship between its many facets but: a) You probably know as much about all that as I do and b) This issue is long enough! So I won’t rabbit on but just add a cautionary note to my August statement about Government plans for the environment. The Prime Minister announced last week that “30% of Britain’s land surface will be protected for wildlife”. Yippee! But if that 30% includes large tracts of northern Scotland, significant stretches of Mid-Wales and Snowdonia and the Lakeland hills, there could be precious little left for Lyonshall. Yes, I’m being parochial but when the last Red Kite leaves Lyonshall, it will be no consolation to know that there are lots of Kites in the Cairngorms... ☺

ALL CONTRIBUTIONS, verbal or photographic, amateur or expert, gratefully received at [email protected]

Moth of The Month: Bird of The Month: BEWARE DRUNKEN WASPS !

The ‘Clifden Nonpareil ’ ‘Scruffy ’ The Buzzard.