Dorset Environmental Records Centre Newsletter No.81 Spring 2019

n the newsletter this time I am pleased to be able to include encourage more recording. Bryan mentions a couple of great Ia note on the work Natural England are doing with the finds below. Jack Potter has compiled a short report on his Dorset Bat Group in Purbeck. The South Dorset Ridgeway search for some rare or long-lost invertebrates during 2018 project, which came to an end last year, generated a huge with more volunteers needed for future work. So, as always, number of records for a relatively poorly recorded part of there are plenty of reasons for getting out and about in Dorset. With the exception of the area covered by the Sutton Dorset this year. And whatever you find, please do send your Poyntz Recording Group we had only patchy or historical records into DERC. records for the Ridgeway, so it was good to be involved and Carolyn Steele (Records Centre Manager)

The South Dorset Ridgeway Over the last three years a project led Volunteers and the Dorset Flora Group Dorset County Council and grazing has by the Dorset AONB team and funded surveyed five of the SSSIs, several of been re-introduced in the form of a through HLF focused on the South Dorset which had not been recorded in detail small herd of Belted Galloway. This, in Ridgeway which runs from Eggardon since the 1990s. conjunction with the tree removal and Hill in the west to Poxwell in the east. An impressive 20,000 species records Bracken cutting, is helping to restore the This chalk landscape is one of the richest were added to the DERC database; birds, valuable heathland and acid grassland in southern England for archaeology butterflies and plants formed the bulk habitats. Interesting finds here include ranging from Neolithic tumuli, to Bronze of the records, although many groups Bilberry Pug Pasiphila debiliata, a very rare Age field systems and the imposing were represented. A grassland fungi moth in Dorset, Heath Pearlwort Sagina Iron Age hillforts, most notably Maiden workshop at Valley of Stones added subulata, an uncommon annual plant Castle. Part of the project was to raise several new species to the site list last recorded here in 1992, and the bee awareness of the biodiversity of the area including the uncommon Clavulinopsis Colletes succinctus last recorded in 1941. and to encourage recording. A series of umbrinella. Three new waxcaps were also It is hoped that the volunteer groups that workshops were organised focussing on added to the list bringing the total to have been established will continue to different aspects for a range of habitats, 22 and making the site of International record from the area which is rich in both including chalk grassland at Valley of Importance for this group. heritage and biodiversity. Stones NNR and heathland at Blackdown. Blackdown is now being managed by Bryan Edwards (DERC Ecologist)

Veteran Tree workshop at Looking for lichens on a Little Bredy © Jill Hearing Sarsen stone © Jill Hearing

Beige Coral (Clavulinopsis Heather Colletes (Colletes succinctus) umbrinella) A local coral fungus This bee forages solely from found in unimproved grasslands heather and was seen in several rich in fungi seen at Valley of places on the northern slopes of Stones NNR. © Bryan Edwards Blackdown. © Bryan Edwards

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

Purbeck Bat Project news - Bats with Bling! Natural England has been working closely with our local coastal roost and returning to Ringed Horseshoe bat experts from the Dorset Bat Group to try to better understand the original roost. The coastal © Nick Squirrell the movement of Greater Horseshoes and other bats across roost had a large number of the Purbeck landscape. Successful bids for Species Recovery bats and the blue ringed Programme funding and DEFRA scientific equipment funding has bat immediately stood enabled more in-depth investigations at a number of quarries in out and, without any the area which haven’t been surveyed for these rare bats before. intervention, was known to have travelled some 10km Bat workers are understandably resolute in their care for the from its original capture. This beasties and the need to not disturb or handle them un- is the start of understanding necessarily. We are now working closely with them to see how the how they move across and bats use the remaining quarry sites in Purbeck, by catching and use features in the landscape colour ringing them so that a simple observation can confirm that and how we can best conserve a bat was ringed in one site and has turned up in another, and and enhance them into the Mist net then another. future. Of course the recaptured © Nick Squirrell bat, being a male, may well We started in October with two ringed in a local Purbeck roost. have been hoping to collect more bling. If so he was released Using harp traps and mist nets three of the quarries were disappointed with just the one ring – still “we liked it and we put a staked out later the same evening to try and capture other bats ring on it” to steal a Beyoncé line… emerging to be ringed with a unique colour ring for each quarry – we were all really surprised when one of the bats ringed at Bat workers keep an eye out for coloured rings should you came the building just a few hours before was caught at a quarry 7km across Greater Horseshoes and please, let us know. away. Subsequently one of the two ringed has been seen at a Sue Moore and Nick Squirrell (Natural England)

Saldula setulosa - Hairy Shore Bug Macrosteles lividus – Poole harbour is the only location in the UK for S. setulosa, reported from sandy silty a hopper in a haystack substrate amongst sparse Spartina near to heathland. Although ad-hoc surveys have This is an exceptionally rare species of been conducted, an extensive survey of suitable habitat around Poole Harbour had fen/marsh leaf hopper with only 4 UK not been done. As a difficult group of Hemiptera, they are largely avoided by amateur records, two of which are from Dorset. entomologists which I incorrectly assumed to be the reason for the lack of records. Pre-1960 records from P. Harwood with Bugs were hoovered up during the survey, examined and recorded focussing on unhelpful broad locations for Gussage areas at Arne and Studland. Four species were found, although unfortunately not the and Parley was the start of the goose target species. Saldula palustris was by far the most common, appearing to occur on chase. Anecdotal evidence from a a range of wet substrates (silts and sands) often in the open, occasionally amongst European forum indicated that the a range of intertidal plant species. A small number of Saldula pilosella, which is most foodplant may be Common Spike-rush similar to S. setulosa, were found amongst samples of S. palustris. Halosalda lateralis (Eleocharis palustris). After consideration with its yellow-sided pronotum was rare. The distinctive, much larger Salda littoralis of most likely spots to check, Alan Stewart was also rare. Three keys were used (Kirby, Mau and Southwood & Leston) and were (Auchenorrhyncha Recording Scheme co- found to be unhelpful to separate S. pilosella from S. setulosa. ordinator for Britain and Ireland) and I set Hairy Shore Bug The key by Kirby also contained an incorrect couplet. A trip to out to target Sites of Nature Conservation © Jack Potter the Angela Marmont Centre at the Natural History Museum Importance near Gussage as the most enabled the verification of the keys and the separation ofS. likely habitat. After poking around in pilosella from S. setulosa with two new identification features some sub-optimal habitat yielding (see PDF on DERC website). I observed that S. setulosa habitat common grassland species, we retreated is likely to be much reduced in Poole Harbour from historic to Stevens Castle SSSI near Verwood provision due to the matting of its described habitat by where I have found many Macrosteles macro-algae caused by nutrients from agriculture within the species in previous years amongst an catchment. Although disappointing, negative surveys are abundance of E. palustris. This was far useful and have provided a distribution and abundance of more promising albeit not at an historic Saldidae in Poole Harbour. The search will continue next year location although, contrary to previous in new locations within the harbour; if you are interested in visits, no Macrosteles species were present taking part, please do not hesitate to contact me at Jack. at the time so the search continues. [email protected]. Jack Potter (Natural England)

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