Published by RUGBY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY www.rugbynaturalhistory.org.uk PRESIDENT – Dr P Reeve Newsletter No 250 July 2018 Contents this edition ~Minibus trip: Rutland Water (book now!) ~News of members ~Summer field visit reports ~ Winter indoor meetings: dates for your diary ~Data protection information ~Current committee members (with contact information) Appendices included: species lists for Grove Hill, Snitterfield Bushes, Dunchurch Meadows, Stockton Cutting and Tasker’s Meadow Photos © Paul Hodges: cowslip carpet; thimble morel; semi-free morel at Grove Hill reserve Minibus trip? Speak up now! Rutland Water. Would you like to travel by minibus to our Rutland Water field visit on Thursday 6 September? Several members requested that we arrange this and David Knapp is willing to do so as long as there is sufficient interest - at least sixteen people would be 1 needed. The cost of a minibus would be £20 per person. The departure/return point would, as usual, be St Mark’s Church car park in Bilton, with additional pick up/drop off points in Long Itchington and Marton. The proposed return visit to Oxford Natural History Museum was cancelled because there were not enough people to make it viable. This is therefore now the FINAL CALL (!) for Rutland Water. If you would be interested in travelling by minibus, please let David know by Wednesday 1 August 2018 and he will then get back to you with further details. Tel. 01788 817346 or e:mail [email protected] News of members Most members will already know that Frank Ollerenshaw died in May. Nine of us attended his funeral, where we learned that he had served in young people’s organisations, as well as being a member both of the society and of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and having many other interests. We shall miss him. We were saddened to hear from her daughter that Gwen Bale had recently died. Gwen was a vice-president of RNHS until our AGM in February, when Ted Pearson reminded us of her large contribution to the society over many years. Some of this was recorded in the April newsletter. Our thoughts remain with their families. Summer field visit reports Thanks to everyone who has sent in a report from the first part of the summer field visit season: Biddy Allen; Lyn Classey; Paul Hodges; and Janice Tolley-Hodges. You, too, could send in a visit report. No special qualifications are needed and you don’t need to provide the sort of extensive species list that Paul compiles if you don’t want to. (As is now usual, these are in appendices and give a more detailed picture than the brief notes here. The lists also contribute to official records via copies of this newsletter.) Please have a go - just imagine that you’re telling some friends about the trip (which, in a way, you are). Don’t forget that the remaining visits for this summer are on the printed programme card which was available at indoor meetings and was in a file attached to the email carrying the July newsletter. (They are Combroke for Oxhouse Farm on 21 July, Brandon Marsh on 4 August, Crick on 25 August, Rutland Water on 6 September [see above!], Swift Valley on 22 September and Coombe Country Park on 6 October.) Remember also to note whether a visit is to a restricted site. These are marked on the list, and open to RNHS members only, on the date organised. Gathering time at each site is ten minutes prior to the given time so that the visit can start promptly. Grove Hill On Saturday 28 April members were treated to forty-three flora species, twenty-three birds, eight fungi, six lichens, four mosses, one alga, signs of four mammalian species, two types of 2 newts, with evidence of egg laying, and tadpoles of both frog and toad. Paul’s full list of species is in Appendix 1, three of them shown in photos on the front page above. Snitterfield Bushes A group of the RNHS stalwarts turned out on Saturday 12 May to explore this classic Warwickshire Wildlife Trust site. The species list for the SSSI is in Appendix 2. PH Draycote Meadows Eight members arrived at Draycote Meadows SSSI (Thursday 24 May) to a sea of yellow buttercups. The weather was cold and windy, with a short shower of rain at the beginning and end of the walk. The weather was such a contrast from the previous hot and summer-like few days. Underneath the golden buttercups were the green winged orchids. Due to the chilly wind there were no butterflies; however a blackcap was singing amongst the hawthorn blossom. There were a couple of common spotted orchids in flower and many adder’s tongue ferns. The moonwort remained elusive! Our bird list was sparrowhawk, blackcap, buzzard, rook, woodpeckers, nuthatch, chiff chaff, willow warbler and blackbird. The flora list was buttercups, green winged orchid, common spotted orchid, adder’s tongue fern, pignut, hawthorn, cowslip, twayblade, meadow vetchling, meadowsweet, English elm and blackthorn. JT-H Adder’s tongue orchid at Draycote Meadows photo © Lyn Classey Dunchurch Meadows Eight people were on this trip (Saturday 9 June). The highlights were colonies of common spotted orchids (50+ spikes), displaying lapwing, green woodpecker, song thrush, ragged robin, two species of speedwell, large and small skipper butterflies, common blue butterflies, common knapweed, yellow barred brindle moth, yellow shell moth and pignuts in flower. See also Appendix 3. PH and JT-H Stockton Cutting and Tasker’s Meadow A few RNHS members assembled on Saturday 23 June and were treated, due to the hot and sunny conditions, to range of butterflies, dragonflies, damselflies and flora. Some things were going over as we hadn't had any real rain for over three weeks at that time. Highlights were greater butterfly orchids, six-spot burnet moths, marbled white butterflies, grizzled skippers, 3 dingy skippers, three species of grasshopper, green field tiger beetles hunting solitary wasps and bees. Appendix 4 gives a full species list. PH Pond morning About twenty members attended Peter and Kay's pond morning (Thursday 5 July). We had an enjoyable morning watching dragonflies and damselflies at the quickly maturing pond, and looked at the night’s catch in the moth trap. Peter's pond was declared open and we helped him demolish a welcome buffet lunch. It may be that a full species list will appear in the next newsletter. LC © Lyn Classey Moth morning On Friday 6 July, fourteen members had a fabulous blue sky morning looking at and trying to identify, due to the warm night, hundreds of moths from moth traps belonging to Roy and Biddy Allen, David and Sue Knapp, Graham Robson and Paul and Janice Hodges. Some of those identified are listed below. A really good morning - we enjoyed it! BA Angle Shades Dusky Sallow Polar Grey Beautiful Hook-tip Early Thorn Poplar Hawkmoth Bright-line Brown-eye Elephant Hawkmoth Riband Wave Brimstone Flame Round-winged Muslin Rustic Brown-line Bright-eye Flame Shoulder Scarce Footman Buff Arches Garden Carpet Short-cloaked Moth Buff Ermine Ghost Moth (female) Silver Y Buff Footman Green Pug Single-dotted Wave Buff Tip Grey Dagger Small Angle Shades Burnished Brass Heart and Dart Small Blood-vein Cabbage Heart and Club Small Fan-footed Wave Clay Iron Prominent Smoky Wainscot Cloaked Minor Large Emerald Snout Clouded Border Large Yellow Underwing Spectacle Common Footman Large Twin-spot Carpet Swallowtail Common Rustic Leopard Moth Swallow Prominent Coronet Lesser Yellow Underwing Sycamore Dark Arches Light Arches Tawny Marbled Minor Dingy Footman Lunar-spotted Pinion Uncertain Dot Marbled Minor V Pug Double Square-spot Peach Blossom Vines Rustic Drinker Phoenix Wainscot Dunbar Plain Golden Y Willow Beauty 4 Autumn-spring programme Many thanks to Paul and Janice, who once again have organised a varied programme of evening talks for our forthcoming Thursday evening indoor meetings. To make sure that you don’t miss any, please put these dates in your diary now. 2018 September 27, Paul Hodges, An explanation of Local Biodiversity Action Plans for priority habitats and species in Warwickshire October 11, Jan Clemons (WART), Amphibians and Reptiles in Warwickshire October 25, John and Val Roberts, Astonishing Fungi November 8, Steve Brookes, Conservation of Lear’s Macaw in Brazil November 22, Matthew Merritt, Birds and Wildlife of the Falkland Islands December 6, Photographic competition (with raffle and buffet) 2019 January 10, Tricia Scott (Warwickshire Bat Group), Ecology and Conservation UK of Bats January 24, Scott Hackett, Temple Balsall and Cuttle Pool Nature Reserve February 7, Dr Chris Leach, Change perspectives of Galls and their communities February 21, AGM, followed by a quiz set by Janice Tolley-Hodges and Paul Hodges March 7, Fern Hodges and Tony Landless, UK Wildlife Cruise March 21, Annual dinner (with raffle, though tickets will be available in advance) Data protection (the General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] refers) To comply with the data protection regulations which came into effect in May, your consent is required for the society to hold your personal information. As a member of the RNHS, your membership details will be kept on personal computers for the purposes of administering membership subscriptions, circulation of newsletters and the management of trips and other activities of the RNHS. The data recorded are taken from the annual membership application form and consist of name, address, telephone number and email address. These data are held securely in password protected files. Your details will not be passed on to any other organisation or third party and will be deleted if you leave the society. You have the right to see what information is held and, if required, to have it changed.