Environmental Records Centre Newsletter No.79 Spring/Summer 2018

ith the milder winters we have allows us to set different sensitivity For those of you looking for a new Wseen recently, the recording levels for different species. So for some challenge, I recently read an interesting season never really seems to stop but species like bats and badgers, DERC article by Douglas Boyes on some of it certainly gets a boost as the warmer will get the detailed data but on the the moths found in birds’ nests. Whilst weather comes in. Many of you are now distribution maps visible to all recorders, cleaning out the nest boxes in his using Living Record to collect data, the resolution can be set at 1 km or 10 Welsh garden Douglas took the disused and with over half a million records for km. At DERC, the list of ‘sensitive’ species nests and stored them in an unheated Dorset collected by Living Record since is relatively short. With guidance from outbuilding to see what emerged. He it started in 2010, it has made a huge the county recorders we have identified found four moth species including difference to the way we work. There are those species which may be at risk and set Niditinea striolella The Brindled Clothes other recording systems available, often our levels of access to data accordingly. Moth, a relatively scarce moth with a used for specific projects or recording However, not all systems have the same limited distribution. Douglas followed groups, like the BirdTrack apps local control levels. iRecord, for example, this up by collecting 250 nests to developed by BTO. We are beginning to uses a national list to set the resolution study, adding several more species. incorporate some of this data into our level. Any additional restriction is set The full article can be read here: www. database but we have to look at each by the recorder or verifier on individual mothscount.org/uploads/E-moth%20 dataset individually and assess the records. Although this is not an issue for April%202017%20final.pdf . Birds cannot quality of the data before preparing it the majority of records, it can bypass the be disturbed during the breeding season for import. considerations applied by the records but it would be interesting to discover if a centre or local conservation groups, so broader selection would be found in nests All these systems handle the data in please, be aware. from the southern counties. different ways. One of the advantages of Living Record for DERC, is that it Carolyn Steele Records Centre Manager Dorset Building Stone Work continues to expand the Dorset Dorset Important Building Stone website, launched in Geological 2017. The website was set up by a small and group of amateur and retired professional Geomorphological geologists who wish to investigate, Sites publicise, celebrate and archive information about the building stones used in Dorset’s A reminder to anyone historic churches and buildings. interested in geology, including practical The purpose of the study is to identify conservation on local the stone used in historic buildings sites, DIGS may be while exploring the county and enjoying the group for you. ourselves immensely! The purpose of the Although some of Photos © Brian Haigh Photos website is to add to the sum of knowledge Ham Hill Stone at St Mary’s Church, Bradford Abbas the group are about historic buildings in Dorset. academically trained in geology no Under one menu the website provides geological knowledge information about the main building is necessary to be stones of Dorset, plus those from outside a member of the the county like Ham Hill Stone and which group. If you would are used in Dorset buildings. The largest like to join, have a section of the site is devoted to churches, look at the website arranged geographically. In time we plan to dorsetrigs.org.uk/ or add further to the sections covering Other get in touch with the Historic Buildings and Quarries and Pits. chairman, Alan Holiday at alanholiday@ Dorset Building Stone can be found at btinternet.com dorsetbuildingstone.weebly.com

© Rhiannon Rogers New members will be Banded flint & Heathstone at St Nicholas’ Church, very welcome. Kelvin Huff Winterborne Kingston

Dorset History Centre, Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1RP 38 Dorset Wildlife Tel:Spring (01305) 2018 225081 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.derc.org.ukSpring 2018 Dorset Wildlife 37 Dorset Environmental Records Centre

A Year of Purple, Clubs and Corals

Back in the Autumn/Winter 2016 DERC newsletter I wrote in more detail about waxcap grasslands. In recent years survey work undertaken by a number of keen grassland fungi enthusiasts as well as funded surveys has revealed how important Dorset is for not just waxcaps but the allies regularly found in grassland habitats. This is important work as it’s also the case that the UK as a whole is of international importance for the grassland fungi assemblage. Ivory Coral Straw Club

In the last few years records of waxcaps (Hygrocybe s.l.), or the number of species and sites where they are found, has been increasing steadily. Each year is also different and 2017 proved to be an exceptional year for new species records but also for the diversity at some key sites.

So looking at some of the highlights, the first group to mention is the Clavariaceae the clubs, corals and spindles. Despite relatively drier than average early Jubilee Waxcap Violet Coral autumn conditions, by the second week of October enough moisture has arrived to bring forth mushroom Survey at Aunt Mary’s Bottom SSSI found a good selection of Hygrocybe fruiting bodies. At a site close to Pilsdon and the surrounding grasslands has species including Blushing Waxcap H. Pen the widespread but rarely recorded identified this area as being particularly ovina with just the one previous county Straw Club Clavaria straminea and Ivory important for grassland fungi. This is record. But it was another Clavariaceae Coral Ramariopsis kunzei were found, the a very important site for waxcaps and that stole the show again. Nestling on latter in some abundance in one spot. their allies and the big highlight this a northerly, mossy bank the discovery Both of these were new Dorset records year was the purple/pink Jubilee Waxcap of the spectacular and beautiful Violet occurring in a recently discovered rich Gliophorus reginae, at the time, the Coral Clavaria zollingeri. Another Dorset waxcap grassland site. At the same fifteenth UK record. Only recognised as first, this scarce species is widespread site the nationally scarce earthtongue a full species recently, it was named to in Wales and northern England so its Trichoglossum walteri was the second commemorate the diamond jubilee of Her discovery was a big surprise. Further west county record along with another rarity, Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2012 and the grasslands on the Golden Cap Estate Matt Fanvault Camarophyllopsis schluzeri. the 60th anniversary of her Coronation in have proved to be very rich yielding Not all finds were from unimproved 2013. another record of Blushing Waxcap plus grasslands. Old lawns can be important the uncommon Beige Coral Clavulinopsis for fungi and the second recent county In early November, after a few minor umbrinella. record of Olive Earthtongue Microglossum frosts had set back inland grassland fungi olivaceum, a UK BAP Priority Species, was sites, ’s coastal grasslands Sean Cooch found at Bovington along with the 1st were turning out to be particularly rich. Natural England record for the club Clavaria tenuipes. A few visits to Castle SSSI Senior Advisor

Edited by Carolyn Steele Registered in England as Dorset Environmental Records Centre Trust Company Limited Registered Charity No. 900287 Registered Company No. 2447393