Nature in Avon Volume 77

Bristol Naturalists’ Society

Registered Charity No: 235494

The Bristol Naturalists’ Society aims to stimulate a greater awareness of natural history and geology in the Bristol area. It is a thriving and friendly Society with something of interest for everybody, young or old, professional or amateur. It is actively involved in a long term programme of education, research and conservation. Each year its talks, trips and publications are enjoyed by hundreds of people wanting to find out more about our natural world.

For details of membership and activities please see the website at: www.bristolnats.org.uk

Nature in Avon

ISSN 0068-1040

Receiving Editor: Dee Holladay, [email protected]

Editorial Committee: Ray Barnett, Tim Corner, Clive Lovatt, Mark Pajak, Nick Wray.

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Nature in Avon

Volume 77

CONTENTS Editorial . 1

Winter Hoverflies of the Bristol Region Jon Mortin 2

Peregrines Ten Years On Ed Drewitt 8

J W White’s Racy Botanical Articles Graham Avery 13

Lower Writhlington Tip, Simon Carpenter 20

Chills and Thrills of Plant Sex Alex Morss 29

New Records to the Bristol Region Ray Barnett 35

Land of Limestone and Levels: Lincoln Garland Defining the West of & MikeWells 42

Phenology Report, 2016 and 2017 Richard Bland 53

The Queen's Hitchhikers Alex Morss 55

A Slime Flux Jean Oliver 59

Slimbridge 72 Years Ago Richard Bland & Martin Davis 61

Seeds of Change Nicholas Wray 66

Geology and Landscape of the Bristol Region Richard Arthur 80

Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 Ray Barnett 85

Weather Report for 2017 Richard Bland 95

Society Annual Report 2017 103

Treasurer's Report for 2017 113

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4 Editorial

How encouraging to see that natural history recording is alive and well, and that social media is encouraging a new generation to join in! There are Facebook groups and identification websites for almost every group of and plants, and Citizen Science is the new buzzword. John Mortin reports that recording of hoverflies has markedly increased as a result of the setting up of Facebook groups, Simon Carpenter describes a family day at Writhlington Batch where hundreds of people searched for fossils, and Alex Morss describes an increasingly popular New Year Plant Hunt organised by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Some 6,000 people and hundreds of school children have visited the Ballast Garden in Bristol Harbour; Nick Wray gives us a fascinating account of its creation. The records of both hoverflies and plants in flower at New Year also indicate the influence of changes in weather patterns on our natural history, Richard Bland gives us more details of this in both his Phenology and Weather papers. Ray Barnett has also cited weather patterns in his report on Moth populations, with increasing numbers of new from more southern climes. Ed Drewitt highlights how climate, as well as the usual suspects, intensive farming and pesticide use, have affected populations of Peregrines and other birds of prey. BNS has a long history of distinguished experts in all fields and many were interesting characters. Graham Avery brings us some delightful letters written by JW White about his botanical field trips and Richard Bland reports his discovery of a letter written by Peter Scott describing the visit which lead to the setting up of the Slimbridge Wildfowl Trust. Richard Arthur has given the non-geologists an introduction to the geology of the region, highlighting at the same time a helpful internet resource for visualisation, while Lincoln Garland and Mike Wells ask us to pause and consider the geographical nature of our region as a whole. I hope you enjoy this issue. Thanks to all the contributors and also to the committee for their help and advice. Dee Holladay [email protected]

1 Winter Hoverflies of the Bristol Region Jon Mortin

Introduction Hoverflies are members of the Syrphidae family of true (Diptera). There are around 283 species currently recorded in the UK (Ball & Morris 2015) although only 166 species have so far been recorded in the Bristol Region. Many people are familiar with at least the more common and colourful hoverflies which can be seen sunbathing or visiting pollen and nectar sources both in the countryside and in gardens. Until recently hoverfly recording was largely carried out by specialised entomologists, but in the last few years many other people have contributed records. Popularisation of this group of first began with Stubbs & Falk’s book in 1983 (revised in 2002) but the publication of “Britain’s Hoverflies” in 2013 and the launch of the UK Hoverflies Facebook Group (also in 2013) have both encouraged much wider participation. BRERC also published a guide to the easily identified hoverflies of the Bristol Region in 2011. Many people have gained more confidence in identifying hoverflies by using the available guides and uploading photographs to the Facebook Group and getting identifications (where possible) as well as helpful feedback (including confirmation of correctly identified ones).

Winter Hoverflies One consequence of the increased recording of hoverflies in recent years has been a surprising number of records generated in late Autumn and Winter (at a time when entomologists had traditionally put away their nets). It’s not immediately clear whether this trend is due to the extra out-of-season recording effort or to a real change in hoverfly activity, due perhaps to climate change or to the increased availability in winter of both native and non-native flowering plants. Most of the species which tend to be spotted are known to hibernate as adults and can emerge on a sunny winter’s day to sunbathe or feed on any available nectar source. This article summarises (and illustrates) the 14 hoverfly species which have so far been recorded in the Bristol Region from November (although not strictly a winter month) through to February. Records are also included of some hoverflies which could not be identified to species from a photo alone (but of known ). The winter hoverfly species so far recorded in the Bristol Region (in order of total winter records) are as shown in Table 1. From the table it can be seen that the majority of records (64%) were from November (when temperatures are generally higher) with very few records from January.

2 Winter Hoverflies – Jon Mortin

November December January February Total winter Species records records records records records Eristalis tenax 15 5 1 9 30 Episyrphus balteatus 16 4 1 4 25 Melanostoma scalare 10 0 0 0 10 Meliscaeva auricollis 2 1 1 5 9 Eristalis pertinax 6 0 0 1 7 Sphaerophoria sp 4 0 0 0 4 Sphaerophoria scripta 3 0 0 0 3 Syrphus sp 2 1 0 1 4 Syrphus ribesii 1 1 0 0 2 Eupeodes luniger 1 0 0 1 2 Helophilus pendulus 1 0 0 0 1 Baccha elongata 1 0 0 0 1 Platycheirus albimanus 1 0 0 0 1 Meliscaeva cinctella 1 0 0 0 1 Xanthandrus comtus 0 1 0 0 1 Syrphus torvus 1 0 0 0 1 Total 65 13 3 221 102

Table 1: The winter hoverfly species so far recorded in the Bristol Region

Year January February November December 1970 0 2 1 1 2006 0 0 0 1 2007 0 1 2 0 2008 0 5 0 0 2009 0 0 0 0 2010 0 0 0 0 2011 0 0 0 2 2012 0 1 2 2 2013 0 0 2 0 2014 0 1 6 2 2015 0 0 1 2 2016 0 4 19 1 2017 0 1 30 1 2018 3 5 N/A N/A Table 2: Dates of records

3 Winter Hoverflies – Jon Mortin Dates of records The earliest records of winter hoverflies on the BRERC database are from 1970. These were all records of Eristalis tenax found hibernating in caves (so not actually on the wing and active). Records of active hoverflies range from 2006 to 2018 with the majority of records from the last few years (see Table 2). From this table it can be seen that hoverfly sightings in the real winter months (December to February) have always been quite rare with no obvious trends. November sightings, however, have increased dramatically in recent years (see graph below). This may reflect mild Novembers in recent years and it would be interesting to see if there is a correlation between local climate and hoverfly sightings. There may also have been an increase in recording activity in recent years.

Nectar sources Winter hoverflies are generally spotted in warm sheltered locations especially where pollen and nectar sources are available. Parks, gardens and hedgerows are generally ideal habitats. Ivy is a popular nectar source at this time of year but many other plants are worth checking (if still in flower) such as Hogweed and Yarrow. Ornamental winter-flowering shrubs such as Viburnum tinus and Fatsia japonica are also favoured by many species.

Photographic records Not all hoverflies can be identified from photographs but the ones found in the winter months can often be reliably identified provided the right features are visible. Here is a selection of photos to illustrate the appearance of the species referred to in this article.

4 Winter Hoverflies – Jon Mortin

Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade Hoverfly) Eristalis tenax (Drone ) on Mexican 28/11/2016 (Bristol) Orange Blossom 07/11/2016 (Bristol)

Sphaerophoria scripta Eristalis pertinax on Ivy 03/11/2017 (Bristol) 06/11/2016 (Yatton)

Meliscaeva auricollis on Mexican Helophilus pendulus Orange Blossom. 10/11/2016 (Bristol) 06/11/2016 (Yatton)

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Syrphus ribesii Baccha elongata on Hogweed 13/11/2016 (Shirehampton) 22/11/2014 (Severn Beach)

Melanostoma scalare on Ivy Meliscaeva cinctella on Fatsia 13/11/2016 (Sea Mills) 11/11/2017 (Bristol)

Syrphus torvus on Ivy Eupeodes luniger 07/11/2013 (Sea Mills) 28/11/2016 (Bristol)

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Platycheirus albimanus on Radish Xanthandrus comtus 13/11/2016 (Shirehampton) 06/12/2014 (Bristol)

References Ball S. & Morris R. (2013 1st edition, 2015 2nd edition) Britain’s Hoverflies WILDGuide. Lee K. & Purslow R. (2011) Introduction to Hoverflies of the Bristol Region. BRERC. Stubbs A.E. & Falk S.J. (2002 2nd edition) British Hoverflies: an illustrated identification guide. British Entomological & Natural History Society, Reading.

7 Peregrines Ten Years On Ed Drewitt

In 1998 I began watching Peregrines in Bristol and studying their prey. Twenty years ago, the world of the Peregrine in the UK and across was very different. Peregrines were just creeping back from the disastrous effects of pesticides, such as DDT, which caused eggshell thinning and the breaking of eggs during incubation. We were fortunate in the UK; Peregrines didn’t quite disappear completely, but they dropped to around 300 pairs. As DDT was banned completely across Europe by the late 1970s and early 1980s, remaining individuals were able to breed and help colonise the UK again. Eggshells have continued to thicken back to normal levels ever since. Across Europe, many countries, such as Poland, lost their breeding Peregrines completely; reintroduction programmes from captive breeding programmes have ensured Peregrines once again stoop in the skies above Warsaw and Wracław.

Peregrine Falcon (photo: Hamish Smith)

Ten years ago when the 3rd Peregrine Conference took place in Poznan, Poland, countries were seeing their populations of Peregrines increasing fast from a slow beginning during the 1980s and 1990s. In the UK, urban Peregrines, which I have studied in detail, were breeding in cities such as Exeter, Bristol and London. The picture in Britain was certainly looking rosier than other countries and we had the largest population to boot.

8 Peregrines Ten Years On – Ed Drewitt Fast forward a decade and at the end of September 2017 I went to the 4th Peregrine Conference in Budapest, . As in 2007, around 50 participants were giving a range of talks about Peregrines from their dispersal behaviour to their relationship with other closely-related species such as the Lanner and Saker.

Key findings: • Peregrines are doing very well across Europe and numbers have been rising sharply across their European range. In the UK Peregrines are increasing across England, particularly in urban areas. In 2014 there were 1505 pairs of Peregrines breeding in the UK, up 5% from the survey in 2002. Of these up to 225 nest on man-made structures, mostly nest boxes on buildings, pylons and industrial buildings. • Some populations are doing less well, for example, in northern parts of the UK and northern parts of . In the UK this is thought to be a range of issues including wet springs/changing weather, less prey available and persecution. In northern Spain their more recent lower numbers is thought to relate to very wet springs and long term effects from the Prestige oil spill in 2002. Peregrines fed on affected oiled birds leading to accumulation of oil residues in their tissues, affecting their survival. • Peregrines take up the best sites first and as the population increases they take up less favourable sites. Peregrines are nesting closer to each other, some within half a kilometre or less. As Peregrines become widespread and use up available breeding sites, some populations are being affected by density dependent factors. For example, more young Peregrines are being spotted at their parent’s nests the following year, often helping to rear chicks, rather than dispersing away. • The reintroduction of Peregrines in has just come to an end now the population is doing well without further releases. In Poland, reintroductions continue, particularly in forested areas where they are reviving the tree-nesting population. • The improving quality of web cameras is helping to provide more evidence for night hunting behaviour. My own studies proved this back in 2008. However, it is reassuring to hear of more recent captures that show Peregrines bringing in live prey in the middle of the night. For example, in Brussels, a Skylark was brought back to a church still breathing. A wriggling Common Sandpiper was brought back by a male Peregrine at 3am; the male went to sleep with the wader in its talons and started to eat it at 6am, by which time rigor mortis had set in! In , prey items include Golden Oriole and Scops Owl, amongst common prey such as Starlings and Feral Pigeons. In Hungary, some pairs frequently bring back Noctule Bats to the nests, although the young often leave them uneaten.

9 Peregrines Ten Years On – Ed Drewitt • In Scotland hundreds of rural Peregrines are fitted with PIT (Passive Integrated Responder) tags, and every nest has a receiver ring placed. As birds visit nests their PIT tag gives off a signal which the ring receives. This is enabling researchers to track birds across their range and discover that many Peregrines visit different nests that are not their own on a regular basis. In Rome, satellite tracking reveals young birds will visit all the nests in the region and has enabled researchers to discover new nests that they were unaware of. • The oldest Peregrine is from Scotland and was recaptured recently at 22 years old. • In recent years two or three nests in the UK are laying five eggs; this is being repeated in cities in other countries, such as in Brussels, while in Rome maximum clutches of only four eggs are found. Female Peregrines are usually known to lay a certain clutch of eggs, so perhaps five-egg females are spreading their genes and this characteristic. Or is this being influenced also by food supply? • The question was raised whether Peregrines in urban areas now need any help. In Belgium, a box was recently taken down in Flanders to avoid conflict with pigeon fanciers. While a pair was resident, they hadn’t yet bred. In other countries, such as in Rome, the city’s population have been reliant on the addition of nesting boxes. Across England, the majority of town and city Peregrines are reliant on nest boxes/platforms. • Juvenile Peregrines in Brussels, Rome and across Sicily spend time away from where they hatched before returning days later. In Sicily young Peregrines disappear for 4 - 7 days before reappearing. During this time some individuals move up to 228km away while others only move 17km. One chick spent weeks at 2,500m above sea level around the rim of a secondary crater of Mount Etna. In Rome, one young bird roamed 1380 over four days before returning back to its nest. Each day it was flying over 300km non-stop, exploring . • In Exeter, Devon, a pair of Peregrines in the city exhibit unusual behaviour towards Buzzards. Between 2009 and 2017, there have been 455 attacks on juvenile Buzzards moving through Exeter on migration. Of these 70 have involved birds being physically attacked or downed, injured and often killed.

Sakers Sakers falcons are declining across their range. In Mongolia this is down to electrocutions, with up to 5,000 birds dying each year. Work is under way to persuade the power companies to modify their pylons and ensure new ones are not dangerous.

10 Peregrines Ten Years On – Ed Drewitt In Hungary, Sakers feed on the Suslik, the European ground squirrel. For reasons not quite understood Susliks are disappearing. Mild winters are thought to be one factor. Susliks hibernate using fat laid down in the summer and autumn to survive. With warmer winters they are metabolising at a higher rate and not making it through the winter, waking when there is no food. Intensive agriculture is changing the landscape, although grasslands do still exist for the squirrel. With fewer Susliks Sakers are turning to catching birds, competing with the Peregrine, although less efficiently. As Peregrines increase across Hungary, some are beginning to use the nest boxes of former Sakers, removing future nesting possibilities for them. In Sicily, a similar thing is happening with Lanners. While Peregrines have shown no change in what they eat over the years, Lanners are finding less mammal, reptile and prey, and therefore are turning more to birds. Not being a bird specialist, Lanners are not so efficient at catching birds, and this appears to be affecting their breeding success and survival.

The Eagle Owl Ten years ago it was evident that the Eagle Owl was beginning to increase its range across Europe, partly natural and partly through reintroductions. Some Eagle Owls were beginning to prey on Peregrines in and Germany, alongside feeding on other birds such as Buzzards and Long-eared Owls. There had even been some occurrences in Scotland. It is clear that the Eagle Owl has increased rapidly in the past decade; for example, in Germany its population is now 5500 to 6000 pairs. The Peregrine population has risen to 1200 – 1330 pairs. Eagle Owls started nesting in close proximity to Peregrines, sometimes only 6m apart and usually the young Peregrines were predated. Peregrines are only successful in years when there are no Eagle Owls. Since 2011 the owls have been venturing into urban areas, even using the nest boxes of Peregrines. At one site a nest box was put up for both the Peregrines and the owls to avoid conflict. However, the owls were caught on camera predating the newly hatched chicks and taking them back to their own young. The owl box was removed to avoid any further breeding and predation. The spread of the Eagle Owl across Europe, helped by reintroductions, is seen as a natural phenomena and that longer term a balance will hopefully allow the two species to continue to live side by side, despite obvious predations. Eagle Owls only nest on buildings for between one and three years due to high mortality; many die through collisions with vehicles and buildings. As the Eagle Owl continues to pose a natural threat to Peregrines in Germany and other European countries, the Egyptian Goose, increasing in Germany, is also nesting at former Peregrine sites by ousting out the Peregrines and stopping them from breeding. This is a species to watch!

11 Peregrines Ten Years On – Ed Drewitt What will the next ten years look like? In many countries, as in urban sites in England and Belgium, the population of Peregrines will be at saturation level. Less favourable sites will be taken up by Peregrines and birds will nest in closer proximity. Across all countries there is still room for more Peregrines as they continue to re-populate their former range. We are likely to see more single young birds, often males, from the previous year’s brood stay with their parents to help rear young. In rural parts of the UK Peregrines may continue to decline, particularly if weather, prey abundance and illegal persecution all play their part. However, in many areas of western Europe, where the sport of racing pigeons is declining, this conflict and the subsequent poisonings will disappear. However, in the Balkan states such as and Serbia, where racing pigeons is also a young person’s sport, the conflict is likely to continue. Some pigeon fanciers from Serbia, now living in , have brought with them poisons that are legal in their home countries and illegal in Austria. Recent court cases are ensuring that those caught face heavy penalties. As the populations of bird species in the UK and across Europe continue to change due to the intensification of agriculture and other man-made factors, it will be interesting to see whether the diversity of prey and abundance of certain species in the diet of the Peregrine changes as it has with Lanners in Sicily. Continuing developments in technology, in particular smaller and cheaper tracking devices, will help us understand more about the dispersal of Peregrines and how they use their environment. Colour ringing projects will continue, providing a way in which both researchers and members of the public can read and/or photograph ring details, providing a bigger picture of where Peregrines travel and how long they live. The use of web cameras will continue to engage tens of thousands of people, and as the quality of the footage continues to improve, the behaviour of Peregrines can be analysed by universities. Members of the public and volunteers are able to record accurate times and dates of when eggs are laid, chicks hatch and young fledge from the nest, providing details on the phenology of the Peregrine’s life cycle and how this might change over time.

Ed Drewitt’s attendance at the 4th Peregrine Conference in Budapest, Hungary in 2017 was kindly supported by a grant from the Bristol Naturalists’ Society.

12 J W White’s Racy Botanical Articles Graham Avery St Antony’s College, Oxford

James Walter White – photograph taken in 1927 (Journal of Botany)

James Walter White (1846-1932), author of The Flora of Bristol (1912) and President of Bristol Naturalists’ Society in 1907-9, was a pharmacist by profession1. His obituary tells us that ‘readers of the Pharmaceutical Journal often enjoyed his racy articles, especially those descriptive of botanical tours in Spain, the Balearic Isles, etc. These tours were made usually in the company of his old friend, Cedric Bucknall’2. Intrigued by this remark, I consulted the Pharmaceutical Journal (4th series) Volumes 1-39 (1895-1914) in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, where I found that White contributed four articles to the Pharmaceutical Journal:

1 In 1874 he took over the business of Giles, Schacht & Co. whose shop was at 52 Royal York Crescent, Clifton (now a hair salon). His home was at 18 Woodland Rd (now owned by Bristol University). 2 Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society 1932, pages 341-2, by Ida M. Roper and H. Stuart Thompson.

13 J W White’s Racy Botanical Articles – Graham Avery • Balearic Botany, 1903 in Vol. 17 pages 166-170 (August 1 1903) • In Quest of Sea-Lavenders in Vol. 18 pages 280-281 (February 27 1904) • Three Summer Days in Minorca in Vol. 20 pages 288-289 (February 25 1905) • Palma de Majorca in Vol. 20 pages 740-744 (May 20 1905) Here I summarise these articles, and comment on White’s literary style. More information on him can be found in the articles published by Clive Lovatt3, and in my article on White’s links with the botanist and archaeologist Clarence Bicknell, at whose summer home in the Italian Maritime Alps he stayed in 19114.

Clarence Bicknell - Photograph sent by Clarence Bicknell to Harold Stuart Thompson (BNS Archives)

3 In the Society’s Nature in Avon Vol. 67 (2007) pp 54-63 A fitting tribute: the late years and funeral of J. W. White and in the Society’s Bulletins No. 486 (Dec-Jan 2009-10) A reply … concerning the recently published Flora of Bristol, No. 487 (February 2010) Under Cook’s Folly Wood, No. 492 (July/August 2010) Balearic Botany in 1903: two Bristol botanists abroad.. 4 See Bristol Botanists at Casa Fontanalba published at http://www.clarencebicknell.com/ images/downloads_news/bristol_botanists_at_casa_fontanalba.pdf

14 J W White’s Racy Botanical Articles – Graham Avery Balearic Botany, 1903 In this article White described the visit that he and Bucknall made to the Balearic Islands (Majorca & Minorca) in April-May 1903. I do not need to say much here about that visit since Clive Lovatt has summarised and commented on it elsewhere5. The two men travelled via Paris and Barcelona to Port Mahon on the island of Menorca, where they made a series of botanical excursions, and then took a boat to Palma on Majorca, where they botanised for several days. On Majorca they found ‘the most interesting plant of the whole trip… the latest discovery in the Balearic flora’. This was the endemic Pimpinella bicknellii which they found at the site in the mountains where Clarence Bicknell had first discovered it in 18976. In fact Bicknell had assisted White and Bucknall in planning their tour in 1903, and lent books and maps to them. After describing the finding of P. bicknellii, White commented ‘My fond hope is that some day I may revisit the spot at a time when the plant shall be in fruit’. Although he and Bucknall revisited the island in the following year (see below) they did not return to the plant’s find-spot.

In Quest of Sea-Lavenders In this article White gave an account of his visit in 1904 to the French coast near the Pyrenees, where in a small area were to be found 12 species of Sea-Lavender (Limonium), a plant which is not a Lavender (Lavandula) but whose flowers have a lavender tint. He wrote ‘Their time of flowering is in late summer, when even botanical holiday- makers yearn for the cool North, or for bracing air among Swiss mountains… But, said Aristotle, “no excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness”7, and when at the beginning of August two genial friends of mine8 suggested that a week might

5 In Balearic Botany in 1903: two Bristol botanists abroad cited above. That article was based on White’s paper Balearic Botany, 1903 in the Year-Book of Pharmacy… with the Transactions of the British Pharmaceutical Conference… Bristol. July 1903 pages 547-558. The text of White’s paper in the Pharmaceutical Journal of 1 August 1903 is identical, except that the extract from the Conference minutes included in the Transactions (page 558) appears at a separate place in the Journal (page 215). 6 For its discovery, and its present status, see my article Clarence Bicknell and Pimpinella bicknellii published at http://www.clarencebicknell.com/images/downloads_news/ clarence_bicknell_pimpinella_bicknellii_avery_2017.pdf 7 Attributed to Aristotle by Seneca in De Tranquillitate Animi 17.10: ‘Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae fuit’. 8 White does not say who his companions were on this visit to France. Probably they did not include Bucknall, for White did not mention France in the list of countries that he visited with Bucknall in his obituary of him in Journal of botany, British and foreign (Vol. 60, 1922, pages 64-7).

15 J W White’s Racy Botanical Articles – Graham Avery be very profitably spent between Narbonne and the Spanish frontier, where doubtless we should gather most of the aforementioned rarities, visions of green alps and snowy peaks in Grindenwald (sic) faded from my mind, and packing up some drying paper, eucalyptus oil and insect-powder, I set out for the trysting place’.

Cedric Bucknall - Photograph taken in his garden in 1915 (Journal of Botany)

Travelling overnight by train they arrived at Narbonne at about 6am and breakfasted at the Hôtel de l’Univers. During a stroll along a watercourse they collected plants which they hurriedly put into a press before catching a train at 11:11am to the rocky island Ile Sainte Lucie. Informed by gamekeepers that they could not explore it without permission from the owner, they went to the château where ‘the patron and his great dogs came out in no very good humour, with dark looks and much snarling, but… we obtained what we wanted’. On the island they found many species of Sea-Lavender, and other interesting plants, though ‘mosquitoes swarmed

16 J W White’s Racy Botanical Articles – Graham Avery around in clouds’. ‘From so successful an excursion we returned merrily enough, and even, it may be feared, with “swelled heads” in two senses’. The next day they drove to Gruissan-la-Mer where ‘good luck awaited us with a new series of rare plants that we especially desired’. In the following days they travelled to Fitou, Collioure and Port Vendres ‘bearing up against siroccos and dust- storms’. ‘At length, finding no more Sea-Lavenders, the quest was relinquished and we fled up the Vernet valley to less arid and more health-giving resorts among the gorges of Canigou’.

Three Summer Days in Minorca In this and the following article White described the visit that he and Bucknall made to the Balearic Islands in 1904. He explained that their ‘visit to Majorca and Minorca in the spring of 1903 had proved so successful botanically, and so delightful in all respects, that there remained a keen desire to visit these fascinating islands at a later period of the year, when some of the endemic species that flower late, or whose localities we had not hitherto been able to reach, might be secured. With the easy-going optimism of Nature-loving travellers my friend and I assumed that the perfect climate of April and May would not be much modified in August… The truth was vouchsafed to us within five minutes of our landing in Minorca at noon on August 3… As we walked up from the quay to our old quarters at the Hôtel Central, all the fires of heaven seemed to flash upon us from above, below and around. The dazzling glare from white paving and white walls closed our eyes’. Later, on the coast, they suffered from the attentions of an ‘active and bloodthirsty tick’, a ‘sub-tropical harvest-bug’, and the ‘Mahon mosquito’. At night ‘the winged terror and the heat banished sleep’. Nevertheless they made some successful excursions, and with the aid of a local landowner found the island’s greatest rarity Lysimachia minoricensis9. On cliffs they gathered ‘several species of sea-lavender and the great wild leek, which at home is to be found only on , in the Bristol Channel’. White went on to write about the cultivation and irrigation of the land for wine and grain. He also described their visit to the church of Santa Maria de Mahon: its great organ, captured at sea in the French wars, ‘proved an irresistible attraction to my comrade whose musical genius10 revelled in its pure mellow notes… and here for a brief space he gave his gift full play’. On their last day on the island they at daybreak to catch the boat to Majorca.

9 This species later became extinct in the wild, but remained in cultivation and has been re- introduced. 10 Cedric Bucknall was organist and choirmaster of All Saints' Church, Clifton.

17 J W White’s Racy Botanical Articles – Graham Avery Palma de Majorca In this article White continued the story of their visit to the Balearic Islands in 1904. Arriving on the East coast of Majorca they crossed the island to Palma in the West, passing through the Northern mountain range and staying for a day or two at Soller, where they found a number of interesting plants. Since no coach was available at Soller, they had to hire a ‘small covered cart and… a bony, sad-looking mule. This mule, undersized, unkempt and pitiful, but having the intelligent air of an well versed in privation and arduous labour, watched the arrangement of his load with bared teeth and a despairing eye’. ‘The first part of our journey was very slow… We ourselves walked most of the way, taking short cuts up the steep slopes and looking back now and then… The view was a splendid mingling of blue sea and sky, of fertile valley, of far-reaching rocky heights to the right and left, and of innumerable terraces of vines and olives with the intense sunshine over all’. ‘Then begins a descent on the other side… to the broad rich Palma plain. When we drove through it in the spring-time this country had the appearance of an immense orchard covered with crops of various hues and thousands of vines and almond trees. Now the ground is bare, brown and burnt, as if by the breath of a furnace’. Late in the afternoon of 13 August they were at last set down in Palma, where at their inn the evening meal provided ‘a study of human nature in the contemplation of Spanish excitability’. ‘Out of doors, all was bustle and animation’ since the annual fiesta was taking place. On the following day, a holiday, ‘every open space is crowded with people dressed in their best, who either stand in animated groups fanning or gossiping, or elbow their way good-naturedly to and fro’. Most of White’s article was devoted to a description of the city, and included several photographs of people in the streets. In the afternoon there was bull-fighting, and to escape the crowds they took a tram to Porto Pi to botanise on the coast. On their return to the city in the dusk ‘the festive excitement had increased… gaily dressed people streamed in and out of the town and filled the whole expanse with a joyous crowd. Music and dancing formed the main attraction…Such al fresco entertainments as these are only possible in a climate where the weather can be foretold with almost unfailing accuracy’. White concluded with the reflection that ‘it seems reasonable that not only to pharmacists and botanists, but to any that live at high pressure and need a change, and to all who want a new sensation, one should recommend a voyage to Palma de Mallorca’.

J.W.White: was his writing racy? The basic meaning of the word ‘racy’, first used in English in the 17th century, is ‘lively, entertaining, amusing’. More recently it has acquired a sexual connotation,

18 J W White’s Racy Botanical Articles – Graham Avery which was hardly the case for J.W.White’s articles in the Pharmaceutical Journal. But his writing was certainly more lively and amusing than anything to be found elsewhere in that periodical, or more generally in botanical journals of that period. His articles in the Pharmaceutical Journal contain practically nothing about pharmacy, and not much about botany. The style is that of travel writing: he tells us about the places that he visited, and his means of transport; he comments on people, meals, and climate; he rhapsodises about the landscape. Evidently White’s excursions to foreign parts offered fresh experiences and sensations, and were a welcome change from daily life in Bristol. If he lived today, he would be well equipped to pursue a career as a travel journalist, writing up his adventures for magazines and newspapers. I should add that White’s magnum opus, The Flora of Bristol (1912), was likewise well written and entertaining. The botanical historian D.E.Allen has remarked that it ‘was particularly outstanding for two reasons. One was the generous amount of valuable or otherwise interesting comment appended to so many of the entries… The other was the author’s graceful prose: it was a Flora that was a contribution to literature as well as a contribution to botanical knowledge’11. Here is an example of the lively and amusing prose that can be found in The Flora of Bristol. In the Preface White wrote: ‘This book is the outcome of an ideal hobby, cultivated in the spare moments of a business career. It is not too much to say that my love of botanical pursuits has brought me health, friends and recreation, with a host of delightful experiences that have amply compensated for the cares of a harassing occupation’. ‘No pains have been spared in sifting and verifying the enormous mass of alleged facts that have been reported… The oddest notes are sometimes sent in. Perhaps the most comical in my experience informed me that Linnaea borealis grew on a cricket-pitch in West Gloucester! The plant turned out to be Bog Pimpernel. But what a cricket-pitch!’12

11 Allen D.E. (2003) Four centuries of local Flora-writing: some milestones. Watsonia 24, 271–280 12 The Flora of Bristol (1912) pages v & vi

19 Lower Writhlington Tip, Radstock: protecting and promoting an internationally important Coal Measures fossil site Simon Carpenter [email protected]

An introduction Lower Writhlington Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the edge of Radstock, Bath & NE , is internationally important for its Coal Measures plant fossils. In 1984 with coal reclamation and landscaping of the colliery spoil, a previously unrecognized fauna of was recovered including the largest ever collections of Coal Measures insects. The ‘rock store’ was created in 1987 to provide a designated collecting area where fossils could be found and the area turned and refreshed periodically to provide fresh exposures. In 2017, the Bristol Naturalists’ Society, in partnership with Radstock Museum, contributed funds to turn over the ‘rock store’. This hadn’t been done for several years. The rock store continues to be a popular destination for collectors and an important resource for Radstock Museum who use it to run family fossil days. The author was invited by Radstock Museum to help at their family fossil hunt, shortly after the rock store was turned in 2017. This precious fossil-rich Coal Measures resource could so easily have been lost in the past if it hadn’t been for the dedicated efforts of volunteers, various geological partners and the agreement of the landowners to accommodate a rock store. The popular family fossil hunt shows how important this site is for the local community. We need to protect and promote sites like this, where local people can get involved, to learn about the local geology, to value and understand the discoveries that are made and to work closely to support Radstock Museum. The following account describes the background to the rock store and highlights some of the exciting fossil discoveries that have been made over the last 30 years. The fossils are preserved in exquisite detail and play a critical part in our understanding of the ancient environment during the Carboniferous Period. The history of coal mining is touched on briefly, but the interpretation of the palaeo- geography and the ecology of the Coal Measures has not been covered in any detail as these subjects are much more eloquently described by other authors. Some of these sources are listed at the end of the paper.

20 Lower Writhlington Tip, Radstock – Simon Carpenter Joining a fossil hunt The fossil hunt was a fantastic and memorable day for many reasons. It all started at the old Colliery Winding Wheel in the centre of Radstock and opposite Radstock Museum. It was here that local families had been asked to congregate. Radstock Museum coordinated the event and the destination, Lower Writhlington tip, was about a 15 minute walk away. By the time we were ready to set off, the group had grown significantly and a rough head count suggested nearly 200 people. When all the introductions had been said, the group moved off, a long millipede of people, many were children and most of them clutching hammers. I was convinced that the front of our long, sinuous, many-legged group had already reached the tip before the final few had left the town centre. Being one of the last to arrive, the chorus of gentle tapping could be heard for some distance before the site was reached. The scene had a strange Dickensian feel about it (Fig. 1). It wasn’t long before some of the families had found some wonderful plant fossils, but unfortunately, on this occasion, no arthropods or insects were found.

Fig. 1: Members of the public enjoying a fossil hunt at the rock store, Lower Writhlington tip in 2017. Organised by Radstock Museum. (photo: Simon Carpenter)

21 Lower Writhlington Tip, Radstock – Simon Carpenter A brief history of coal mining in Radstock Standing on the top of Lower Writhlington tip, now largely tree covered, it is hard to imagine that all this material, many thousands of tons of Coal Measures spoil has come from deep underground at Writhlington Colliery. Kilmersdon and Writhlington collieries were the last to operate in the , both closed in September 1973. The most productive period for coal extraction in the Somerset coalfield peaked around 1901, with an estimated 1,250,000 tons of coal mined annually across 79 separate collieries. By the middle of the 20th century only 14 collieries remained. The decline of coal mining in the area can be attributed partly to the complex geology of the coalfield; many of the coal seams were thin and disrupted by faulting. The great depth at which the coal reserves lay also made their exploitation expensive and in the end, uneconomic. This situation was further exacerbated by manpower shortages and cheaper coal from Europe.

Writhlington Geological Nature Reserve and the creation of the rock store The small village of Lower Writhlington and the colliery spoil tip Writhlington batch (Grid Ref: ST703553) are located 1.5 km east of Radstock. The Colliers Way cycle route, constructed on the line of the former Somerset and Dorset Railway, runs along the northern flank of the batch and provides the best access to the site either from the Wellow direction to the north east of Radstock or from the direction of Radstock Museum and the town centre via Waterloo Road. After closure of Writhlington colliery in 1973, the batch continued to be a well- known destination for collectors seeking plant fossils for which it is internationally renowned. The spoil tip dates back to 1829. From 1984 to 1986, the Burrow Brothers (Sales) Limited reworked the spoil for coal and it was during this period that a substantial number of plant fossils were retrieved. This was only possible with the help of a large number of amateurs who were organised largely through the efforts of Peter Austen and the West London Wildlife Group. It was also during this time that a significant fauna of land arthropods, especially insects, began to be found. Much of the insect material was collected by enthusiastic volunteers and subsequently described by Jarzembowski (1989). Although Lower Writhlington tip had taken over 140 years to accumulate, the work to extract coal and landscape the spoil heap would be completed within a year or so. To allow for the continuing collection of fossils, it was suggested that once the landscaping of the tip was completed, an area would be set aside for this purpose and became known as Writhlington Geological Nature Reserve. To facilitate this, financial help from the Geologists Association was secured and the project was

22 Lower Writhlington Tip, Radstock – Simon Carpenter supported by the Palaeontological Association and the Nature Conservancy Council. The site was notified as an SSSI in 1992. The rock store covers an area of approximately 0.5 hectares (1.24 acres). It consists of a number of bunds and troughs with about 1.5 m vertical difference between the top of the crest and the lowest point of the trough. One objective was to turn the rock store periodically to expose fresh, unweathered mudrock and to keep the area free of vegetation. The rocks exposed in the reserve were moved here from across the entire spoil tip. The site, as far as can be judged, has only been turned a few times and it is inevitable that continuing this process will deplete the fossil resource as more material is collected and removed. It is also important for the future of the site that all collectors collect responsibly. A case study for collecting specimens is given by Natural England in their Technical Information Note TIN119. In this it states clearly that rare finds are made available to experts and museums. In further clarification it says ‘Every individual who makes a find at the site has an obligation to record details. Fossil insects must be made available for study. Details about fossil plant finds must also be recorded but unless of particular interest, may be retained by the collector.’ (Prosser et al., 2006). For organised trips to Writhlington, like those arranged by Radstock Museum, it is relatively easy to convey this message to a large captive audience of local people about the value of the site as a geological resource and the importance of sharing interesting finds. Having a welcoming local museum, which works closely with the local community also encourages greater collaboration, be it monitoring the condition of the site or collecting fossils. These are admirable tasks that should be encouraged. This is citizen science at its best – many of the families who join Radstock Museums fossil forays may then go back individually to look for fossils. These experiences, particularly for the younger generation, can have lasting impacts and I suspect for many of us, our initial interest may have been sparked by attending such an event. Collecting fossils for commercial gain is strictly prohibited and discouraged. Writhlington Geological Nature Reserve continues to be owned by the Burrow Brothers (who own the mineral rights) and because of its SSSI status, is managed by Natural England.

Lower Writhlington tip – a special place for fossils The coal bearing strata in the Radstock area lie beneath a covering of younger Jurassic rocks. Writhlington Colliery worked coal seams from the Radstock and Farrington Formations, part of the Westphalian Stage of the Carboniferous Period. In its final phase of working between 1925 and its closure in 1973 it exclusively worked the Farrington Formation, so much of the mudrock seen on Lower

23 Lower Writhlington Tip, Radstock – Simon Carpenter Writhlington tip has come from here. It is thought that the fossil-bearing mudrock packed with so many interesting and well preserved fossils has come from a unit of rock above a coal seam, known locally as the No. 10 or New Coal in the Farrington Formation. Jarzembowski (1989) suggests a period of rapid sedimentation for the mudrock unit caused by a flood event that overwhelmed and destroyed the swamp vegetation that formed the ‘New Coal’. Lower Writhlington tip is also a Geological Conservation Review (GCR) site (GCR volumes were produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee to identify sites of national and international importance) because it has produced the largest ever collection of Carboniferous insects in Britain with over 1,400 fossil specimens having been recovered to date, including the world’s earliest known Damselfly. One of the commonest insect fossils are cockroaches (Fig. 2). Other arthropods include arachnids (spiders and scorpions), rare millipedes and occasional crustaceans (clam shrimps) as well as a host of extinct families. For a more complete list of arthropods, please refer to Austen (2001).

Fig. 2: A cockroach wing from Lower Writhlington tip (Registration number: BMB 014863) (photo: Ed Jarzembowski)

24 Lower Writhlington Tip, Radstock – Simon Carpenter In August 1985, Jarzembowski (Milner 1994) found an isolated footprint, preserved as a positive cast on a mudstone block (Fig. 3). The tetrapod footprint is identified as having been made by a pelycosaur, a mammal-like reptile. This is the first record of a pelycosaur and the first tetrapod footprint found from the British Westphalian (a subdivision of the Carboniferous Period). This specimen was donated to the British Museum (Natural History) and resides in the Palaeontology Department, registered as BMNH R 11034.

Fig. 3: A tetrapod footprint from Lower Writhlington Batch (photo: Ed Jarzembowski)

Jarzembowski (2004) also records the discovery of an egg case from Writhlington that belongs to the fresh water shark Palaeoxyris cf. carbonaria. Such fossils tend to be rare and only occasionally found. The assemblage of plant fossils however, are relatively common and represented by gymnosperms, ferns, horsetails and club- (Thomas & Cleal, 1994). Preservation can be superb (Figs. 4 & 5) with plants heavily compressed by the weight of the sediment overburden and transformed into a layer of carbon. Exquisite detail of the plants are preserved as highly coalified adpressions (carbon compressions and impressions on counter part).

25 Lower Writhlington Tip, Radstock – Simon Carpenter

Fig. 4: Lobatopteris camertonensis (Kidston) Knight (photo: Christopher Cleal, National Museum of Wales)

Fig. 5: Annularia spinulosa Sternberg (photo: Christopher Cleal, National Museum of Wales)

The stunning diversity of fossil arthropods and plants found on Lower Writhlington tip provide a unique insight into the world’s earliest known ‘tropical forest’ ecosystem. The coal measure sediments were not laid down on an ocean-wide scale as some of our marine sediments have been, but were restricted to narrow areas of continental margins, creeks and deltas.

26 Lower Writhlington Tip, Radstock – Simon Carpenter During the Westphalian (a subdivision of the Carboniferous system), fluvatile and lacustrine depositional environments were established in our region across an open, forest covered, coastal plain. This was subject to sporadic marine incursions from the east, but these marine incursions ceased by late Westphalian times. These varied environments supported a large diversity of plant and animal life as we can see from studying the fossil flora and fauna from Lower Writhlington tip. The superior preservation of delicate plant structures and insect wings implies reduced oxygen levels inhibiting decay and creating conditions that were unfavourable for predators. Rapid sedimentation and the fine-grained mudrock the fossils are found in are also critical factors to explain the excellent preservation of the specimens found on Lower Writhlington tip. It is thought that during the latter part of the Westphalian, a period of uplift and non- deposition occurred across much of southern England. Deposition did continue, however in some areas including the Bristol and Radstock coalfields. Here the swamps continued to flourish for a little longer preserving a later flora and fauna, largely missing from other areas.

The future As our love affair with coal diminishes and we look for more sustainable sources of fuel, opportunities to study fresh coal spoil will inevitably decline, so it is important that Lower Writhlington spoil tip is cherished and managed as a fossil resource. As the fossils are exhausted, it may be necessary to consider creating other ‘rock stores’ where new and different material may be found. The out-of-print Nature Conservancy Council publication “New sites for old” mentions a ‘rock store’ at Kilmersdon Colliery coal tip, made up of the same Farrington Group rocks that were spread across Lower Writhlington tip. This site could be re-opened as a fossil collecting resource along with other tips that we know less about. Although coal mining came to an end in the Radstock district over 45 years ago, the fossil treasures it carried to the surface still inspire and fascinate. Lets hope we are still writing about Radstock’s coal measure fossils in the next twenty years.

Acknowledgements and thanks In late autumn 2017, the fossil-rich rock store was turned with financial support from the Bristol Naturalists’ Society and Radstock Town Regeneration Fund, for which they are both sincerely thanked. This will allow this important fossil resource to remain available for study for many more years. Tom Randall, Radstock Museum trustee is thanked for his efforts to secure the outstanding grant from Radstock Town Regeneration Fund and Anny Northcote for leading the hugely popular fossil hunts for Radstock Museum. I would like to thank David Collingbourne, Natural England for his support and assistance during the planning phase of the project, and the landowner Burrow Brothers Ltd for their continued support and access to the

27 Lower Writhlington Tip, Radstock – Simon Carpenter site to study fossils. Christopher Cleal and Ed Jarzembowski are thanked for providing the wonderful images of fossils that have helped bring this paper to life. Finally, I would like to thank Richard Ashley and Alan Bentley for kindly taking the time to read through my account and offering welcome improvements.

References Austen P.A. (2001) The Writhlington experience. In Bassett M.G., King A.H., Larwood J.G., Parkinson N.A. and Deisler V.K. eds. A Future for Fossils. 67-70. National Museum of Wales, Geological Series No 19, Cardiff. Jarzembowski E.A. (1989) Writhlington Geological Nature Reserve. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 100, 219-234. Jarzembowski E.A., 2004. Atlas of animals from the Late Westphalian of Writhlington, Geologica Balcanica, 34, 1-2;47-50. Milner A.C. (1994) A Carboniferous reptile footprint from the Somerset Coalfield. Proceedings o f the Geologists' Association, 105, 313-315. Prosser, C.D., Murphy M. & Larwood J.G. 2006. Geological conservation: a guide to good practice. Peterborough: English Nature. URL: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/83048 Thomas B.A. & Cleal C.J. (1994) Plant fossils from the Writhlington Geological Nature Reserve. Proceedings o f the Geologists' Association, 105, 15-32.

Further reading Bentley A. (2000) The Geology of the Somerset Coalfield. Five Arches Special Issue. Radstock, and District Museum Society. Cleal C.J. & Thomas B.A. (1994) Plant fossils of the British Coal Measures. The Palaeontological Association, London. Natural England Managing geological specimen collecting: Writhlington case study Technical Information Note TIN119 First edition 4 July 2012 http://www.englishgeodiversityforum.org/Downloads/Managing Case Studies/TIN119_edition_1 - Writhlington.pdf

Museums with fossil collections from Writhlington SSSI Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery (Insects) Manchester Museum (Spider-Like Arthropods & Horseshoe Crabs) National Museum of Wales in Cardiff (Plants) Radstock Heritage Museum (Plants and Arthropods) Museum (Plants)

28 The Chills and Thrills of Plant Sex on a Winter’s Day Alex Morss www.alexmorss.co.uk Do we misjudge nature’s clock? Each year, I go rummaging on the national New Year Plant Hunt13 and, like others across Britain, I find chilly blooms that go far beyond many people’s expectations. We find defiant, frosty white chandeliers of Hogweed blossom swaying above the snow, their styles and stigmas dusted in pollen and fragrant with fresh nectar. And mauves, blues, golds and pinks splash a wild and determined constellation across every back alley and green space. This time, some 532 different wild flower species were caught in the act of blossoming over New Year, across the UK. That is a whopping chunk of Britain’s total natural flora, which, for context, has around 3,000 flowering plant species.

Freezing hot totty: Hogweed blossom in the snow (Heracleum sphondylium)

My home city of Bristol always offers up a good number of dainty beauties to delight and surprise many people. They frame a somewhat confusing winter canvas in our minds. We sense we have found the icy lost property of summer, dropped from the fleeing sun’s pockets. Whose compass has been switched - ours or theirs? Have we made too many assumptions in the past, or are flower seasons changing? How can these echoes of long, sunny days radiate such fertility, suspended in a

13 The New Year Plant Hunt is organised by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. This year it took place between 30th December 2017 and 2nd January 2018.

29 The Chills and Thrills of Plant Sex – Alex Morss frigid winter landscape? Critically, where are their winged midwives, their sweet- tongued pollen dancers, now the warmth has gone? What creatures will enjoy their stage soliloquy, with the insect theatre so empty? We’re getting a bit lyrical – but there is a point here. Pollination is a conundrum. Flowers are all about sex, yet many seem to be blooming out of kilter with their tiny trading partners, who perform best in finer weather.

Insurance: Sow-Thistle, Dandelion, Groundsel. © C. Spears. (Sonchus oleraceus, Taraxacum officinale agg, Senecio vulgaris)

Some common winter wild flowers such as Dandelions, Groundsel and Smooth Sow-thistle use the ecological equivalent of an insurance policy in hard times. They use clone or self-fertile mode, sometimes as well as, or instead of insects, cheating the pollinator lottery. Sow-thistle is indeed a very smooth operator, being able to flit between pollination options, with thousands of offspring per plant, thanks partly to this strategy. Groundsel’s close relative, Ragwort, is another interesting New Year one – it provides a life support system to a huge range of our struggling pollinators.

Promiscuous pollination: Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)

30 The Chills and Thrills of Plant Sex – Alex Morss Ragwort casts its net wide by making nectar that’s attractive to hundreds of different species throughout the year, including at least 20 species of butterfly, many types of bees, , flies and other invertebrates. This way, there is usually something hungry around to oblige with pollination, thanks to the long season of opportunity. Some frequent winter wild flowers, such as Hazel and the grasses, are actually wind-pollinated, so the winter season with its cruel, sharp winds can be a bonus to the flower’s busy business of reproduction. They billow out vast volumes of pollen that travels far on the gales, as well as high into the nostrils of hay-fever sufferers.

Wind powered: male Hazel catkins (Corylus avellana)

But then we meet the likes of the mint family, which throws up an abundance of Red and White Dead-nettles at New Year, seemingly defying logic. After all, these are classic pollinator magnets, having evolved flower shapes specially adapted for insect-pollination, and always humming with bees. Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) can switch to self-fertile mode when its luck is low. This group invests heavily in nectar with a higher sugar content, attractive petal colours, nectar guidelines on the five petals just for bee tongues to follow like a needle on a record, levers that tickle the bee in exactly the right place at the right time to exchange pollen and avoid self-fertilisation. Fragrance, and long flower corolla tubes adapted for long-tongued bees. But all that at New Year? That’s a huge effort to go to for a small chance of sex…

31 The Chills and Thrills of Plant Sex – Alex Morss

Fickle: Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum)

What’s probably going on here is that White Dead-nettle and others like it are using a winter flowering strategy to gain a subtle advantage. Those January blooms probably enjoy less competition for pollinators, because there are fewer flowers around. And by blossoming over a longer season, they can increase the chance of being in bloom during finer days when more insects are in flight. In contrast, short- lived annuals of spring and summer tend to plough their energy into blasting out prolific flowers to compensate for the shorter period, to ensure they achieve reproduction.

Fit, in all weather: White Dead-nettle (Lamium album)

32 The Chills and Thrills of Plant Sex – Alex Morss Our Bristol search usually throws up natives, aliens, perennials, annuals, clones, self-fertile, wind-pollinated and insect-pollinated varieties, and always more than the national average (16). This time we found 35 species even after that thrilling flurry of snow (listed on the table below). Britain’s most frequent New Year flowers were Daisy, Groundsel, Dandelion, Annual Meadow-grass, Gorse, White and Red Dead-nettle, Shepherd’s Purse, Hogweed, Smooth Sow-thistle, Ragwort, Common Speedwell, Petty Spurge and Herb Robert. Perhaps in the future, the New Year Plant Hunt will reveal whether flower phenology is changing. But it might be that wild flowers are just hardier than traditional knowledge had suggested, that we did not look hard enough in the past, that they do not conform strictly to seasonal stereotypes, and more do bloom in the winter than were previously recorded. Historical definitions of flower times were based on the Flora of the British Isles (Clapham et al, 1987) and Flora of Great Britain and Ireland (Sell & Murrell, 1996). The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland used those timings to compare results for the past three New Year Plant Hunts. Based on those texts, 58% of this year’s flowers were late ‘Autumn stragglers’, but nevertheless still running their marathon in January; 14% were ‘early spring’ arrivals, perhaps prompted into sprouting by milder spells or soil disturbance; 10% were on time; but 18% had an uncertain seasonal range, or were considered year-rounders with a long flowering period. The figures are derived from 9,907 records of 532 species, recorded across 450 locations, with 709 botanists recording.

Scientific name Common name Bellis perennis Common Daisy Brachypodium sylvaticum False Brome Campunula portenschlagiana Adriatic Bellflower Campanula poscharskyana Trailing Bellflower Cardamine flexuosa Wavy Bittercress Cardamine hirsuta Hairy Bittercress Centranthus ruber Red Valerian Conyza sumatrensis Guernsey Fleabane Corylus avellana Hazel Crepis capillaris Smooth Hawk’s-beard Cymbalaria muralis Ivy-leaved Toadflax Dactylis glomerata Cock's-foot Diplotaxis erucoides White Wall-rocket Erigeron karvinskianus Mexican Fleabane Euphorbia peplus Petty Spurge

33 The Chills and Thrills of Plant Sex – Alex Morss

Scientific name Common name Heracleum sphondylium Hogweed Hirschfeldia incana Hoary Mustard Lamium album White Dead-nettle Lamium purpureum Red Dead-nettle Lapsana communis Nipplewort Lavatera arborea Tree-mallow Leucanthemum vulgare Ox-eye Daisy Mercurialis annua Annual Mercury Poa annua Annual Meadow grass Primula vulgaris Primrose Senecio vulgaris Groundsel Senecio jacobaea Ragwort Sonchus oleraceus Smooth Sow-thistle Stellaria media Chickweed Sisymbrium officinale Hedge Mustard Tanacetum parthenium Feverfew Taraxacum officinale agg Dandelion Tripleurospermum inodorum Scentless Mayweed Valerianella locusta Common Cornsalad Veronica persica Common Field Speedwell

Species List, New Year Plant Hunt, Bristol, Dec 30th 2017

For further information and results of the 2017-18 BSBI New Year Plant Hunt see https://bsbi.org/new-year-plant-hunt This article was first published as a blog at www.alexmorss.co.uk

34 New Moth Records to the Bristol Region Ray Barnett

Moths of the Bristol Region was published by the Bristol Regional Environmental Records Centre (BRERC) (with sponsorship from the Bristol Naturalists’ Society and others) in 2008. It attempted to summarise all known historic records, as well as map all current records, for moth species reported from the area demarcated by the local authorities of Bristol City Council, Bath & NE Somerset Council, Council and South Gloucestershire Council, an area formerly forming the County of Avon but also the area for which BRERC is funded to hold data. Including records up to and including 2007, it is now a decade since that volume was published and in that time new species have been added to the list and others thought erroneously recorded, lost or extinct have been rediscovered. In total 51 species have now been added and the purpose of this article is to put those additions on record. The moths added to the list can be divided into the following groups: historic records which were previously unknown to the authors, species which were probably present but had been overlooked by recorders, or species which have arrived new to the region since publication.

Antigastra catalaunalis (photo: Paul Bowyer)

35 New Moth Records – Ray Barnett ‘New’ old records of macro moths With respect to historic records, Bedford Museum contacted the author to report that specimens of the Spurge Hawk-moth and Alder Kitten respectively had been listed in their collections with Bristol data. Both specimens date from the second half of the 1890s, the former a migrant and the latter a presumed resident. In addition, Peter Andrew (Andrew, 2018 in press), researching the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery collections in 2017 came across a specimen of the Many-lined moth with Bristol data from 1878 originally from the F Hanbury collection but within the Charles Bartlett collection (the latter donated in the 1940s to the museum). The Many-lined had been listed in the Moths of the Bristol Region as erroneously recorded in the 19th century. In Alfred Hudd’s list from the end of that century, he recounted how G. Harding had taken a specimen in a meadow in the Gloucestershire part of the Bristol region and had sent it to Mr Doubleday for identification. His conclusion was ‘probably polygrammata’ [the Many-lined] but as this was before the similar and much commoner Oblique Carpet was recognised as British, both Harding and Hudd had then decided it was probably the latter. The Many-lined is only known otherwise from the Cambridgeshire fens, so perhaps not surprising that it may have occurred in our region previously if reported from the Somerset Levels, more surprising however to have a specimen from the Gloucestershire side of Bristol. What is clear though is that Hanbury’s specimen and the one taken by Harding are not one and the same. The Harding specimen was reported as very worn, which the Hanbury specimen is not and the latter probably post-dates the other by some time. Labelled ‘Bristol’ it is not possible to know if it too came from north of the city as with the earlier one. The specimen had been overlooked during the research for the Moths of the Bristol Region.

Previously over-looked species? Of the other macro-moth species new to the region, the Marsh Pug is the one most likely to have just been overlooked by recorders, as it is a day-flying species which can be quite inconspicuous. The Balsam Carpet’s larva requires Orange Balsam as a foodplant and was only first noted as a British moth in the 1950s. Orange Balsam is not especially prolific in the region, which may be why the moth has not been recorded previously. The Devon Carpet is another wetland species with a larval foodplant of Common Marsh Bedstraw. Long known from the Somerset Levels and Moors, this moth has been expanding and increasing its distribution across the UK in recent years and so its appearance in our region maybe due to that, or alternatively due to being overlooked on the Levels within the Bristol Region.

36 New Moth Records – Ray Barnett New colonisers The distribution of many moth (and other insect) populations seem to have been altering since the 1980s in particular, the suspicion being that this is driven by climate change. Moths of the Bristol Region reported the arrival of species such as Small Ranunculus and Cypress Carpet as potentially due to this reason. This phenomenon has since continued with the establishment of a breeding population of L-album Wainscot on the North Somerset coast and in addition the appearance of migrant examples of Portland Ribbon Wave, Rannoch Looper, Kent Black Arches, Toadflax Brocade and Orache Moth, all of which could be precursors to new colonies perhaps. (What is not recorded here is that other rare species which are already on the region’s list have experienced major changes. For example, the Clifden Non-pareil is now thought to be breeding in southern England, and a rash of sightings in our region may reflect this and may even mean it could be resident in our region. Similarly the Jersey Tiger has expanded out of its Devon/Dorset stronghold and is now undoubtedly resident here. The huge increase in the occurrence and abundance of the Scarlet Tiger is also truly remarkable.) Finally with respect to the new macro-moths recorded, the single example of the Scarce Merveille du Jour, recorded in a light trap by the M5 motorway in unsuitable habitat, is a bit of an anomaly. Not known as a migrant and with no known resident populations in the near vicinity, one wonders what this record represents.

Changes to the micro moth fauna The micro-moths are the group where one would expect most new discoveries to have taken place given the large number of species and the difficulties in identification. Indeed 39 of the 51 species listed as new to the book are ‘micros’, however a surprising number (12) are also adventive species which have recently arrived in the UK and/or our region. Cydalima perspectalis (sometimes called the Box-tree Moth) is perhaps the most striking and has been covered by the popular media as its larvae can devastate Box hedges in gardens. oleae has a larva which mines the leaves of olive trees and a search through sapling trees in a garden nursery revealed its presence. Prays ruficeps has been separated from (Ash Bud Moth) on the basis of DNA analysis and so has probably always been present in the region but regarded as a colour form of P. fraxinella. Similarly Oegoconia deauratella has been shown to be present thanks to genitalia dissection of specimens which would otherwise have been probably assumed to be O. quadripunctata. The examples above give a feel of the variety of species added since 2008 but what this whole list does not convey is the decline in abundance across the UK of

37 New Moth Records – Ray Barnett common species of moth which has been revealed by analysis of Rothamsted data (Butterfly Conservation – The State of Britain’s Larger Moths 2013). This study suggested a 40% decrease in total moth abundance over the period 1968-2007 in southern England, a decline which it is thought has been continuing since. Aside from one or two exceptions, most moth recording in the Bristol Region is largely on a presence or absence basis and does not involve collection of quantative data. Therefore any declines locally of common species (of which it is suspected there are many) are difficult to prove for certain, let alone analyse the possible reasons. Again nationally, although climate change is suspected to be impacting upon many species in terms of their distribution and life cycle, the large decreases in numbers of common species is being linked to intensive agricultural practices. Systematic data collection of the abundance of targeted common species might therefore be a worthwhile future project for local moth recorders.

Box Tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis (photo: Suk Trippier)

38 New Moth Records – Ray Barnett New species of recorded since 2008

First year of Family and species name record Micro moths Nepticulidae Stigmella aceris (Frey) 2012 Ectoedemia heringella (Mariani) 2012 salaciella (Treits.) 2017 Gracillariidae Caloptilia azaleella (Brants) 2015 Caloptilia falconipennella (Hb.) 2014 Caloptilia hemidactylella (D. & S.) 2016 Phyllonorycter comparella (Dup.) 2013 Yponomeutidae Yponomeuta rorrella (Hb.) Willow Ermine 2013 Yponomeuta sedella (Treits.) 2015 Praydidae Prays ruficeps (Hein.) 2013 Prays oleae (Bernard) 2013 Autostichidae Oegoconia deauratella (Herr.-Sch.) 2008 Oecophoridae Metalampra italica (Bald.) 2015 scribaiella (Zell.) 2016 Cosmopterix pulchrimella (Chambers) 2010 Cosmopterix lienigiella (Zell.) 2015 polychromella (Rebel) 2015 Dichomeris alacella (Zell.) 2007 Chrysoesthia drurella (Fabr.) 2013 micella (D. & S.) 2009

39 New Moth Records – Ray Barnett First year of Family and species name record asteris (Mühl). 2012 Coleophora sternipennella (Zett.) 2016 Coleophora versurella (Zell.) 2014 Coleophora adspersella (Benand.) 2013 Coleophora paripennella (Zell.) 2015 scirpi Stt. 2013 Pterophoridae Crombrugghia laetus (Zell.) 2011 Aphelia viburnana (D. & S.) 2011 Acleris umbrana (Hb.) 2013 Acleris logiana (Cl.) 2012 Cochylis molliculana (Zell.) 2009 aurofasciana (Haw.) 2014 Bactra lacteana (Carad.) 2013 Pyralidae Dioryctria sylvestrella (Ratz.) 2012 Crambidae Diasemiopsis ramburialis (Dup.) Vagrant China-mark 2014 Antigastra catalaunalis (Dup.) 2017 Cydalima perspectalis (Walk.) 2009 Moringaceae Noorda moringae (Tams.) The Moringa Budworm 2013

Macro moths Sphingidae Hyles euphorbiae (L.) Spurge Hawk-moth (Historic, 1897 or 1898) Geometridae Idaea degeneraria (Hb.) Portland Ribbon Wave 2011 Xanthorhoe biriviata (Borkh.) Balsam Carpet 2013 Costaconvexa polygrammata (Borkh.) The Many-lined (Historic 1878) Lampropteryx otregiata (Metc.) Devon Carpet 2014 Eupithecia pygmeata (Hb.) Marsh Pug 2013 brunneata (Thunb.) Rannoch Looper 2011

40 New Moth Records – Ray Barnett First year of Family and species name record Notodontidae Furcula bicuspis (Borkh.) Alder Kitten (Historic, 1898) Noctuidae Moma alpium (Osbeck) Scarce Merveille du Jour 2014 Calophasia lunula (Hufn.) Toadflax Brocade 2017 Trachea atriplicis (L.) Orache Moth 2016 Mythimna l-album (L.) L-album Wainscot 2010 Nolidae Meganola albula (D. & S.) Kent Black Arches 2014

References Fox R., Parsons M.S., Chapman J.W., Woiwod I.P., Warren M.S. & Brooks D.R. (2013) The State of Britain's Larger Moths 2013. Butterfly Conservation and Rothamsted Research, Wareham, Dorset, UK.

41 Land of Limestone and Levels: Defining the West of England Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells Biodiversity by Design Ltd, Monkton Combe, Bath [email protected]

Introduction In spite of the homogenising effects of globalisation, many people have a powerful sense of pride and identity in their location, believing that they are part of something that is distinct and immediately recognisable to a visitor. Given such perceptions, the West of England’s Joint Spatial Plan team are investigating whether the West of England has special characteristics of ‘place’ that engender shared interest and regional affinity to which emerging planning policies might positively respond - the ultimate aim being to promote happiness, health and wellbeing. This approach to the design, planning and management of space is often described as ‘place-making’, though it should be noted that a place is always of course already there, with all its social and environmental history, and many aspects of it may just need ‘discovering’ and ‘expressing’. As ecologists and geographers we wish to ensure that the physical environment is not treated as merely a backdrop to human experience in the emerging place-making strategy but rather is given equal emphasis with cultural influences. Our aim here therefore is to identify the West of England’s unique and unifying landscape characteristics, relating to topography, rural scenery, and flora and fauna, which intertwine with human experiences to create a ‘sense of place’, thereby distinguishing the Region from adjoining areas. Furthermore, we examine whether the inhabitants of the West of England show a particularly special environmental consciousness that sets them apart from neighbouring populations, reinforcing attachment to the Region’s physical environment.

Defining Boundary Features The boundaries of the West of England (hereafter also referred to as ‘the Region’) are consistent with the former county of Avon and enclose an area of 1,343km2 (Fig. 1). Avon was replaced in 1996 by the four unitary planning authorities of Bath and North East Somerset (BANES), Bristol City, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. Recently the four authorities have been developing a West of England Joint Spatial Plan to integrate policies on transport, housing, the environment etc.

42 Land of Limestone and Levels – Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells

Fig. 1: West of England Region and key landscape features

Although the boundaries of the West of England were primarily envisioned to encapsulate the four unitary authorities and facilitate strategic planning, by good fortune there is also considerable logic in recognising the Region as a distinct physical geographic entity. This is because the Region, which is roughly triangular in shape, is enclosed by three distinctive natural boundary features. The West of England is bound by limestone ranges to the south and east; these being the (Plate 1) and the southern spur of Cotswold Scarp (Plate 2) respectively, both of which consist of wide plateau-tops, in places over 300m in height, dissected by steep combes. The Mendips form a particularly striking frontier, rising abruptly from the low-lying patchwork expanse of the Somerset Levels to the south. Both hill ranges are designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), meaning that they are amongst the nation’s most distinctive and naturally beautiful landscapes, and both incorporate multiple sites designated for their ecological importance.

43 Land of Limestone and Levels – Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells

Plate 1: Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; Lox Yeo Valley in foreground and Crook Peak in background (photograph by Lincoln Garland)

Plate 2: Cotswold Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty near Bath; Kelston Park in background (photograph by Matt Prosser)

44 Land of Limestone and Levels – Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells By contrast the , which borders to the west and separates the Region from Wales, is a coastal/estuarine environment. The Severn Estuary is of international ecological importance, being designated as a Ramsar Site and Special Protection Area (SPA) on account of its wetland habitats and associated waterfowl populations. The estuary is one of the largest in Britain and has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world. While definitions of the Severn Estuary’s limits differ, on the English side they are generally considered to extend from the village of Aust (at the old Severn Bridge) to Sand Point (near Weston-super-Mare), which conveniently mark the approximate northern and southern extremities of the Region’s western boundary. In other words, the banks of the Severn Estuary are, on its English side, more or less exclusive to the West of England. Upstream conditions along the Severn become increasingly riverine, while to the south the Estuary empties into the open sea of the Bristol Channel. These three significant boundary features combine to provide the West of England with physical enclosure and perhaps also instil in the population a self-awareness and sense of sanctuary, emotions that are probably much less evident in more featureless regions that morph imperceptibly into one another. There are perhaps parallels here to be made with the separateness and associated pride experienced by the Cornish whose county is also clearly physically distinguishable, being bounded by sea on three sides and the River Tamar on the fourth.

Arrival Experience: ‘Gateways’ to the West of England Residents and visitors entering the West of England via its principal road links may experience a genuine ‘sense of arrival’ as they breach the striking and picturesque frontiers. Accessing the Region from the North, the M5 motorway is increasingly squeezed by the Cotswolds Scarp and Severn Ridges, before the Cotswolds snake away to the east to reveal the relatively low-lying expanse of the Frome Valley. Entering from the north-east the Frome Valley is also abruptly revealed where the M4 motorway traverses the Cotswold scarp at Tormarton. From the South, the M5 enters the West of England via Loxton Pass, a narrow gap in the Mendip Hills below Crook Peak (perhaps the Mendips’ most distinctive hilltop) (Plate 1). Beyond Loxton Pass is the Vale of Winscombe, considered to be one of the prettiest valleys in the Mendips (Toulson, 1983; Garland, 2016). The most dramatic of all the arrival experiences, however, is from the west, via the Severn Bridge and the Second Severn Crossing, which link the Region to Wales. It should be emphasised that arrival experience is a particularly key consideration in place-making, as the special emotions experienced during the first moments of returning can influence, either positively or negatively, the level of anticipation, expectation and ultimately the enjoyment of homecoming. On arrival in the west, the sense of ‘apartness’ and otherness, vis-a-vis the far larger hub of civilisation that is Greater London, appears reinforced by a landscape that

45 Land of Limestone and Levels – Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells also ‘looks’ west (the Cotswolds and Mendips create a west-facing bowl) and hence away from the metropolis that otherwise dominates southern England.

A Land of Limestone and Levels The distinctive contrast between the landscape of the West of England and neighbouring areas reinforces sense of place. The alternating carboniferous limestone ridges and broad clay vales prevailing across the Region’s heart contrast with the landscapes of the neighbouring Marlborough Downs (rolling chalk hills) to the east; the Somerset Levels to the south; the open low-lying Severn and Avon Vales to the north; and the Severn Estuary to the west (Natural England, 2014). The Mendip and Cotswold chains form the Region’s skeletal frame, although various other prominent ridgelines traverse the Region’s heart including Worlebury Hill, Broadfield Down (on which sits Bristol Airport), Dundry Ridge, Tickenham- Failand Hills, Walton–Portishead Down, and Bristol Downs. All of these ridgelines provide splendid panoramic views across the Region and lend a sense of enclosure at a more local level to the denizens of the intervening valleys. The steep slopes of these hills have inhibited urban encroachment and intensive agricultural practices with the consequence that they incorporate most of the West of England’s biodiversity hotspots, primarily flower-rich calcareous grasslands and Ancient Woodlands. Notable calcareous grasslands include the Cliff component of Mendip Limestone Grasslands Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) (also in the Mendips); various locations on the Cotswold Scarp; the SAC; and SSSI overlooking . The conservation charity Buglife and the Avon Wildlife Trust have teamed-up to implement a landscape-scale conservation project aimed at creating a network of ‘B-Lines’ linking these and other wildflower-rich areas across the West of England, providing corridors for pollinating insects. Ancient Woodlands can be found clinging to the northern Mendip edge, the Cotswold Scarp, Avon Gorge (Leigh Woods), Tickenham Ridge, and the western margins of Broadfield Down (King’s Wood–Brockley Wood). The undisturbed soils of these woodlands produce spectacular and much venerated displays of Wild Garlic Allium ursinum and Bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta each spring. Rare Greater Horseshoe Rhinolophus ferrumequinum and Lesser Horseshoe Rhinolophus hipposideros bats particularly favour the combination of extensively grazed grasslands and Ancient Woodland in which to forage, and also roost within the dense network of limestone caves and mines that are scattered across the Mendips, Cotswolds and elsewhere. The Region’s skeletal ridges protect a softer ‘underbelly’ consisting of expansive clay vales, perhaps most notable of which are the Yeo and Chew Valleys adjoining

46 Land of Limestone and Levels – Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells the northern Mendip scarp, with their recreationally popular Blagdon and Chew Valley lakes. Both lakes are designated as SSSIs primarily on account of their wintering waterfowl populations. has the added protection of SPA status. These two valleys are amongst the most scenic in the West of England and consequently are included (in part) within the Mendip Hills AONB. Food and drink manufacturers with headquarters in the Yeo Valley (and adjoining Vale of Wrington), including Thatchers, Yeo Valley Farms and Butcombe Brewery, all celebrate the natural beauty of these valleys when marketing their products promoting a ‘back to nature’ quality. The Frome Valley, which covers much of the northern half of the West of England, is a more low-lying landscape with shallow winding valleys bounded by the Cotswolds scarp to the east and the Severn Ridges to the west. Although sparsely wooded this area includes the Region’s woodland ‘jewel in the crown’ - SSSI near Wickwar. At 300ha in size Lower Woods is the largest Ancient Woodland in the Region and the only one to our knowledge that still supports breeding Nightingales Luscinia megarhynchos. Juxtaposed with the West of England’s dominant alternating ridge and vale terrain are the flatlands of the North Somerset Levels, Gordano Valley and Severnside Levels, which prevail across the Region’s south-western and north-western sides. These former swamps and marshes are now open, relatively treeless landscapes, consisting mostly of wet pasture that is divided and drained by a vast network of rhynes. Although mostly intensively farmed, pockets of biological richness remain, most notably Gordano Valley and SSSIs, which include mosaics of richly vegetated wet-meadow, reedbed, carr and rhyne habitat.

Rural Setting of the Bath World Heritage Site Special emphasis is given here to Bath’s UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Although the designation is based on cultural criteria, the picturesque extensively farmed rural setting, founded around a complex system of plateau-tops and incised combes, aptly referred to by Evans (2000) as the Broken Cotswolds, is considered ‘inextricably linked’ to the protective conservation status of this unique Georgian city (B&NES, 2009). The encircling hill-top plateaus consist of the honey-coloured Greater Oolitic Limestone, the much celebrated building material so evident in local farmsteads, villages and indeed much of Bath itself. This locally occurring building material has been used from time immemorial, ‘making man-made structures appear to be part of the land itself’ (Cotswolds Conservation Board, 2006).

The Avon Catchment The River Valley particularly affects the Region’s landscape character, given that the catchment covers a large portion of Bristol, B&NES and South Gloucestershire, and also the north-eastern corner of North Somerset. The River Avon, on which

47 Land of Limestone and Levels – Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells Bristol and Bath were founded, meanders its way for 75 miles from its source in South Gloucestershire to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth. The river flows through land of varying topography ranging from Limpley Stoke Valley, the dramatic steep- sided vale immediately upstream of Bath, to wide flood-plain between Bristol and Bath. Towards the end of its journey the river cuts through the spectacular Avon Gorge, which extends for over 2km and is over 90m deep in places (Plate 3). The Gorge and Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge that spans the ravine, have become the iconic images of Bristol, and indeed the entire West of England.

Plate 3: Avon Gorge with Clifton Suspension Bridge and Bristol Balloon Festival in background (photograph by Matt Prosser)

The Role of Landscape-scale conservation Strategies Establishing coherent and robust green infrastructure on a landscape-scale not only creates a permeable landscape for wildlife and strengthens ecological integrity between important wildlife sites, it also provides a greater range of more effective and robust ‘ecosystem services’. This in turn helps establish links between communities and their environment, contributes to human wellbeing, and in turn invigorates people’s affection for landscape and associated wildlife. Various landscape-scale strategies are being implemented in the West of England, key amongst which is the Joint Ecosystem Service Evidence Project. This project is seeking to identify and map ecosystem services so that these can be protected in emerging development and growth strategies. The Severn Estuary and adjoining levels have formed the basis for the establishment of the Severnside Wetlands

48 Land of Limestone and Levels – Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells Nature Improvement Area that aims to create a vibrant, nature-rich landscape where people, business and wildlife thrive. Other key landscape-scale strategies include the B-Lines project discussed above and various city-scale projects in Bristol, most notably the My Wild City project that has the ambitious aim to transform gardens and open spaces into a city-wide nature reserve. Returning to the River Avon, the Bristol Avon Catchment Plan encourages a whole-system, integrated approach to water and land management, rather than relying on ‘end of pipe’ engineered solutions (Bristol Avon Catchment Partnership, 2016).

The West of England’s Special ‘Environmental Psyche’ Another factor shaping the West of England’s sense of place are the people. It would appear that there is a particularly strong link between the Region’s environment as described, the type of person choosing to live in it, and their areas of interest and endeavour. Certain personality traits may be good predictors of an individual’s level of concern about the environment (Milfont & Sibley, 2012). Specifically the trait ‘Openness’ (to experience and ideas) can be correlated with high levels of environmental engagement. Rentfrow et al. (2015) undertook a substantial UK-wide study of regional variations in personality and found the trait Openness to be disproportionately concentrated in Bristolians. Bristol, which sits at the centre of the West of England and is often referred to as the UK’s ‘Green Capital’, is the ‘beating heart’ of the Region’s distinctive eco-consciousness (Sawday, 2012; Douglas, 2016). Bristol includes numerous pockets of bohemian leftfield green awareness, including Montpelier, St Werburghs, Easton, Totterdown, Southville and St Andrews, and the City has a long history of community environmental action. The Forum for the Future’s Sustainable Cities Index, which tracked progress on sustainability in Britain’s 20 largest cities between 2007 and 2010, placed Bristol in the top four each year and in first position in 2008. Bristol was also the first UK city to be awarded European Green Capital status in 2015 (Plate 4) and is home to various celebrations of biodiversity and sustainable living, including the annual Festival of Nature, Wildscreen Festival and Big Green Week. Bristol and the wider West of England appear to be a magnet for attracting environmentally-aware individuals and sustainable/green technologies and organisations (Sawday, 2012; Douglas, 2016). The celebrated creative artists, Banksy and Aardman Animations, have emerged out of Bristol, both of which have expressed strong environmental messages in their artwork. Sustrans, the Soil Association, City Farms, Forum for the Future, the Schumacher Institute, Avon Wildlife Trust, Natural England’s Wildlife Licensing Unit, the Environment Agency and the BBC’s Natural History Unit, are all based in Bristol and attract well educated environmentally-minded people. Bristol has also been called the ‘world capital of the wildlife and environmental film industry’, as it produces 25% of this sector’s global output (Centre for Cities, 2014).

49 Land of Limestone and Levels – Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells

Plate 4: Former Mayor of Bristol, George Ferguson, with European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potočnik, at the award of Bristol as European Green Capital 2015

Variance in the spatial distribution of personality traits can have far-ranging political outcomes. Bristol’s first ever directly elected mayor George Ferguson (independent) was elected on a ticket of urban renewal and environmental sustainability, and the City has one of the UK’s highest concentrations of Green Party councillors (eleven). In the Bristol West constituency the Green Party also came close to gaining its second MP in the 2015 general election, coming second with 26.8% of the vote. Although not at the same scale and perhaps lacking the same socially activist dynamic as Bristol, the people of Bath show many similar traits to Bristolians. There is also a distinctive green consciousness evident in a number of the Region’s satellite towns, perhaps most notably Stroud, Frome and Glastonbury. Stroud (and neighbouring Nailsworth) is home to Forest Green Rovers (owned by Dale Vince of Ecotricity fame), the environmentally conscious and vegan football club that has just been promoted to the Football League; while Glastonbury is home to a fairly substantial ‘New Age’ community and of course the world renowned music festival, both of which are associated with eco-inspired philosophies. It is also interesting to note that the West of England’s eastern boundary approximately accords with the Roman constructed Fosse Way, which in early Roman times delineated the boundary between the Empire’s ‘pacified heartland’ to the east and a ‘militarised zone’ to the west (Crane, 2016). Once again the West of

50 Land of Limestone and Levels – Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells England is associated with a rebellious tendency, although this is now reflected through a propensity for peaceful eco-activism. Whatever the reasons are, the Region does appear to have a ‘go west’ pioneering spirit and lure, attracting people towards a greener, better future.

Conclusions While definitions of ‘place’ have historically focussed on cultural influences, we contend that landscape underpins place-based attachment and belonging. Although the concept of the ‘West of England’ was envisioned primarily for strategic planning purposes, it also has real geographical integrity as described. This ‘Land of Limestone and Levels’ also contrasts with neighbouring landscapes, reinforcing a sense of identity and belonging among its inhabitants. ‘Place-making’, or Place revealing, should seek not only to draw major inspiration from the natural environment and landscape but also to build on any progressive environmental traits within the population. Strategic progress is being made in this regard through various landscape-scale conservation projects. When the contrasting landscape qualities of natural beauty and historic culture, enclosure and expansiveness, refuge and connectivity all combine, the result can be a powerful magnet for people with above average ecological awareness and creativity. The West of England is a unique example of this phenomenon, and this makes the Region a very special place in which to live.

References B&NES (2009). Bath World Heritage Site Setting Study. B&NES, Bath. Bristol Avon Catchment Partnership (2016). Bristol Avon Catchment Plan. Bristol Avon Catchment Partnership, Bristol. Centre for Cities (2014). Future Story: Bristol and the South West. Centre for Cities, London. Crane, N. (2016). The Making of the British Landscape: From the Ice Age to the Present. London, W&N. Douglas, L. (2016, 26th April). Booming eco startup scene cements Bristol’s credentials as green city. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/apr/26/ booming-eco-startup-scene-cements-bristols-credentials-as-green-city Evans (2000). Historic landscape characterisation: South Gloucestershire historic landscape characterisation technical note. Garland, L. (2016). The Vale of Winscombe: An unsung natural history. Mendip Times, 12, 48-49.

51 Land of Limestone and Levels – Lincoln Garland & Mike Wells Milfont, T.L. & Sibley, C.G. (2012). The big five personality traits and environmental engagement: Associations at the individual and societal level. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 32, 187-195. Natural England (2014). National Character Area profile: Bristol, Avon Valleys and Ridges. Natural England, Peterborough. Rentfrow, P.J., Jokela, M., Lamb, M.E. (2015). Regional Personality Differences in Great Britain. PLOS ONE, 10(3): e0122245. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122245 Sawday, A. (2012, 7th June). What makes Bristol the UK’s green capital? The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/ bristol-uk-green-capital Toulson, S. (1983). The Mendip Hills: A Threatened Landscape. Victor Gollancz, London.

A more detailed version of this article is available at: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/201708.0100/v1

52 Phenology Report 2016 and 2017 Richard Bland

2016 December 2015 was the warmest December in Bristol since 1853, with a mean maximum temperature of 13.3°C. This is 5.5°C warmer than the long-term average and one degree warmer than the next warmest December, in 1918. Before the year’s end Daffodil buds were being picked, a Sycamore in the Gully came into leaf, Forsythia came into flower, and a single bud of Wild Cherry was in flower by the Suspension Bridge. As a result it was the earliest spring I have recorded since 2000. I measure this by first flowering dates of 18 common species that come into flower between January and May. The average date of all 18 was day 63, March 3rd, 12 days earlier than 2008, the next earliest spring, and 33 days earlier than the very late spring of 2010. First flowering dates are a very good way of measuring the impact of the weather in the course of any year. Chart 1 shows the weekly difference between the first flowering dates in 2016 for 160 species monitored on the Downs on a standard transect, and the average date of the previous 14 years for the same species. It has been smoothed by a three-week running average. Positive results indicate that plants are coming into flower earlier than average, negative figures show that they are later. January was a warmer month than usual, but from February through to late April temperatures were below average, despite a brief hot weekend in early April. The result was that first flower dates became later than average through April and May. The end of May saw a hot spell, and there was another in the third week of June. This gave a boost to the late flowering summer plants. The variation from average of the first flowering dates follows the temperature variation by between two and three weeks.

2017 The pattern of first flowering dates in 2017 was very different from 2016 as Chart 2 demonstrates. For the first two months spring events were a little later than usual, and the temperature was below average. In early March there was a week of warm weather, reaching 15°C on 9th, and there was a rapid response by plants during April (weeks 13-16). But from mid-March to Mid-April temperatures were cooler and first flowering dates began to become more normal. A new burst of hot weather in mid-May and early June produced a new surge of earlier than normal dates. Indeed, ten species came into bloom at an earlier date than previously recorded since 2003. These included Knapweed, Hedge Convolvulus, Great Mullein, Common Lime, Creeping Thistle and Wood Sage. On average they were coming into flower a fortnight earlier than normal.

53 Phenology Report, 2016 and 2017 – Richard Bland Days 10 10 Diff. 5 5

0 0 1Week No. 6 11 16 21 26 -5 -5 -10 -10 Chart 1: The weekly difference in days between the first flowering date of species in 2016 and the average for the same species since 2003.

Days 20 Diff. 16 12 8 4

0 Week No. 1 6 11 16 21 26 -4 Chart 2: The weekly difference in days between the first flowering date of species in 2017 and the average for the same species since 2003.

Range of first flowering dates. Recording first flowering dates over 17 years demonstrates, for each species, the range between the earliest first recorded flowering date and the latest date. This varies very considerably from species to species. Perennial Wallflower has a range of 111 days, and there are five other species with a range of over three months. At the other end of the scale Wood Sage has a range of only 16 days; Pignut, Hemp Agrimony and Old Man’s Beard of only three weeks. The average range of 124 species is 47 days, almost seven weeks. 21 Species that come into flower before April 1st have an average range of 64 days, nine weeks. 35 species that come into flower during April have an average range of 47 days. 23 species that come into flower in May have an average of 44 days and the 42 late summer species that come into flower in June and July have an average range of 41 days. Every species responds to both temperature and the levels of sunlight, but knowing the size of the range in dates is also an indication of the susceptibility of a species to climate change. There are 21 species whose range is less than four weeks, and they have an average first flowering date of day 148, May 28th. In other words they are the later flowering species. 72 species, with ranges between four and eight weeks, have an average first flowering date of day 128, May 8th. The 29 species with a range of over eight weeks have an average first flower date of day 109, April 29th. These are the species that are most likely to respond to change in the climate.

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The Queen’s Hitchhikers Alex Morss [email protected] www.alexmorss.co.uk Yesterday, March 11th, at last I spotted this season’s first hungry queen bumblebee blundering about without luck in my Bristol front garden, making me feel guilty in the sudden mild weather. And she brought an intriguing surprise. Always one of the earliest bumblebees to emerge, the queen buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris was hunting haplessly for flowers, craving a feast of protein-rich pollen and sweet nectar after her long harsh winter. But I’d let her down! Even my seven-year-old was insisting we must do more, so we whizzed to a plant nursery and she helped me plant some of our bee’s favourite flowers. Today a bumblebee appeared again, this time happily busy in the early spring sunshine, all over our new blossoms of heather, lungwort and primrose. We felt rewarded just by seeing her.

55 The Queen’s Hitchhikers – Alex Morss

But looking more closely (see photos), she was carrying passengers – mites. I didn’t wish to disturb her to get a better view of these mites, but having confirmed with some helpful bee experts (see References) these are most likely to be one of several fascinating mite species in the genus Parasitellus14. They are specific to bumblebees and have their own incredible and secretive life stories. Interestingly, the mites pictured do not feed on the bee, they just hitchhike. Most bumblebee mite species are not thought to cause direct harm to their host, although we know a heavy parasite-load can weigh down the poor bee and hinder her flight. Cleverly, these nest squatters have learned to seek out the queen, shunning the workers or males, just before she pops off to over-winter, so they can travel with her to the hibernation burrow and onwards to the next colony. That is probably what I saw going on with this bee, who would have emerged in recent days. Bumblebee mites have extraordinary symbiotic relationships with bees. It may be a one-way parasitic association in some cases, but it can be a mutualism where both parties gain some benefit. For example, my queen’s mites live in bumblebee nests at all stages of their life cycle. Female mites and some of the nymphs feed on wax and pollen brought in by the bee and eat some of the waste in the nest.

14 Parasitellus bumblebee mites occur across North America, Europe, Northern Asia, China, Argentina, Mexico and some neo-tropical areas.

56 The Queen’s Hitchhikers – Alex Morss At other times, however, these mites prey on harmful parasites that invade the queen’s nest. In this way, they provide a mutually beneficial association with their host bee for some of their life cycle. Our declining bumblebees and honey bees must also contend with a whole range of other parasites and guests - viruses, protozoans, nematodes, bacteria, other mites, fungi, parasitoid wasps and flies. Their influence is fascinating but often little understood. In 2017, French scientists Tamara Gomez-Moracho, Philipp Heeb and Mathieu Lihoreau highlighted how parasites and other pathogens of bees can even change their host’s feeding behaviour, flight, sense of smell, metabolism, learning and memory (see References). As a result, infected bees may lose their way more, choose different flowers and even get confused about whether they should be nesting or hibernating. If a bee’s intelligence or feeding efficiency is impaired, the consequences may be dramatic for her brood. Bees rely heavily on their memory and being able to assess information about their surroundings to find food efficiently. It takes complex learning for a bee to forage successfully, using vision, smell, electric fields, communication and good spatial memory. My chance encounter has got me wondering what other hidden influences these little mites may have on pollination and pollinator decisions. For example, the Parasitellus mites spotted on my garden bumblebee also graze on the outer layer of pollen grains which they plunder from the queen’s nest, but otherwise leave the pollen intact. Do the mites prefer certain pollen types, I wonder, and can they influence what the bee collects? Some years ago - whilst pregnant - I had great fun doing a dissertation on a similar themed topic: how nectar quality and natural yeasts inside the flower influence bee foraging decisions. I didn’t have enough scope to dive into pollen as well, but it sparked endless unanswered questions, that could have warranted a PhD, or maybe several. But life took a different path. Now my daughters in my own brood are counting the bumblebees with pride. And our family’s planting decisions are having a small influence on bee foraging choices.

Acknowledgements Thanks to Professor Dave Goulson at the University of Sussex and Mr David Notton at the Natural History Museum, for further information on bumblebee mites.

57 The Queen’s Hitchhikers – Alex Morss References Bumblebee Conservation Trust (2018) Most bumblebee mites are harmless. Available at www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bee-faqs/bumblebee-mites/ Gomez-Moracho T., Heeb P. & Lihoreau M. (2017) Effects of parasites and pathogens on bee cognition. Ecological Entomology. Available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/een.12434/abstract Goulson D., Nicholls E., Botías C. & Rotheray E.L. (2015) Bee declines driven by combined stress from parasites, pesticides, and lack of flowers. Science. Available at http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6229/1255957 Piiroinen S. & Goulson D. (2016) Chronic neonicotinoid pesticide exposure and parasite stress differentially affects learning in honey-bees and bumblebees. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences. Available at http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1828/20160246 Urban Pollinators, Reading (2014) Identifying early spring bumblebee queens. Available at http://urbanpollinators.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/identifying-common- bumblebee-queens.html

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A Slime Flux Jean Oliver

Have you ever observed this alien looking life form? This specimen of a slime flux was seen in April 2017 hanging from a Willow branch on the banks of the Avon near Hanham. A slime flux can often be colourful as in this case, a beautiful egg yolk yellow producing droplets of liquid. They are usually seen in the spring when the sap starts to rise in the trees and can become very large and may cover an entire branch or stump. Slime fluxes are thought to be composed of a mix of elements including bacteria and fungi. It seems that bacteria can penetrate small cracks in the tree bark where they can ferment the sap causing pressure to build up in the tree causing a visible wound to open up. Fluxes on cut Birch stumps in Germany were found to contain several types of bacteria and fungi (Weber et al. 2006). Present in the slime flux can be rod-shaped bacteria, basidio-yeasts, asco-yeasts, Mucor, Fusarium spp and Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous - this latter basidio-yeast producing pinkish tints.

59 A Slime-flux – Jean Oliver In Britain slime fluxes have been found to contain Fusarium sp. (cf F. merismoides) which if present in sufficient quantities could account for the orange/yellow hue as seen in this specimen. As yet these colourful exudations are not well understood and should not be confused with slime moulds which are myxomycetes.

References Weber, R.W.S., Davoli, P. and Anke, H. (2006) A microbial consortium involving the astaxanthin producer Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous on freshly cut birch stumps in Germany. Mycologist 20: 57-61

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Slimbridge 72 Years Ago Richard Bland & Martin Davis

Printed below is an account of a momentous trip to Slimbridge, made on December 15th and 16th 1945 by Howard Davis, Peter Scott and two of Peter’s ornithologist friends. Howard was then Secretary of the Ornithological Section of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society and editor of the notes on birds in its Proceedings. He had written, a few weeks earlier, to Peter Scott, inviting him to view the wild geese at Slimbridge. Before the war, Peter Scott had owned a small collection of wildfowl at his Norfolk lighthouse home. Following service as a naval commander in WW2, he had moved to Edwardes Square in London. Here, he was contemplating creating a new much larger collection of wildfowl – but where? This visit to Slimbridge became the defining moment, setting in train a sequence of events, culminating in the present Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. The document reproduced below is Peter’s detailed, vivid account of the Slimbridge visit. He went on to write a joint article, based on the account, with Howard for British Birds - see Vol 39 for 1946, pp 77-79. The editor then was Peter’s friend, Bernard Tucker. On page 80 there is a brief note by Bernard which included detailed photographs of Lesser Whitefronts taken by Peter and his friend Gavin Maxwell, who had brought some young geese to Britain in 1939. The events described below by Peter Scott took place on the Dumbles, the large expanse of saltmarsh foreshore beyond the sea wall at Slimbridge. It was owned by the Berkeley family, and reserved for shooting wildfowl. The reclaimed land between the sea wall and the Gloucester to Sharpness Canal, the New Grounds, was also part of the Berkeley Estate. Ornithologists and other trespassers were not normally welcome on either, but Howard Davis had an arrangement with the Berkeleys to gain access. He had visited the site with Peter Scott in 1937 (the photograph on p.115 in Martin Davis’ book, “The Farmer and the Goose with the Golden Eyes” published in 2009, is actually of the 1937, not the 1945 visit). Peter had visited Bristol in February that year to give a lecture at Clifton College to BNS members on European geese, squeezing in a brief visit to see what turned out to be a rather small number (200-250) of Whitefronted geese. Howard knew the site was a winter feeding site for a large flock of the species, and his notes in the Proceedings regularly reported on them. The consequences of the 1945 visit were that Peter decided to acquire the use of the site, end the shooting, and establish a Trust to conserve wildfowl of all kinds. On November 10th 1946 a meeting was held at the Patch Bridge Guest House, Slimbridge. Among the six people attending were Peter Scott, Howard Davis and the owner of the New Grounds and Dumbles, Captain Berkeley. To quote from the

61 Slimbridge 72 Years Ago – Richard Bland & Martin Davis brief minutes – ‘After a short discussion the following Resolution was put to the meeting: That a Society be formed with the name “The Severn Wildfowl Trust” and that the draft Rules produced to the meeting be adopted as the Rules of the Trust. The Resolution was carried nem. con. and the proceedings then terminated.’ The question, ‘but where?’ had its answer. In British Birds for 1947, Peter published details of three individual Lesser Whitefronts that he recorded at “The Severn Wildfowl Trust site at the New Grounds” during the winter of 1946-7. He also wrote an account of his 1945 visit in his autobiography “The Eye of the Wind”. Howard Davis’ son, Martin (co-author of this paper), also summarised the trip in his book. Later, as the Trust expanded into other areas in the country and gained international recognition as a centre for conservation research, its name was changed to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. The account of the visit, reproduced below in full, looks as if it was a typed-up copy on foolscap of a handwritten manuscript. It was sent by Peter to Howard Davis, who, in pencil, noted the fact that it was from Peter Scott, as it is unsigned. Martin Davis immediately recognised his father’s writing. Peter had, in fact, seen the third and fourth Lesser Whitefronts on the British list. Martin Davis has a contemporary drawing of the key features of the bird, made by Peter Scott during the 1945 visit, and which is reproduced in his book; Peter Scott describes these features in precise detail in the script below. First he created, at Slimbridge, a collection of almost all the ducks and geese in the world; then set out to save the Hawaiian Goose, the Nene, from extinction, and later began the detailed study of the wintering flock of Bewick Swans which continues to this day. One of the very first assistants was Hugh Boyd, a lifelong BNS member from the Bristol area who died in Canada in 2016. Hugh was responsible for transforming the conservation of wetlands in North America, and was involved in creating the Ramsar Convention for the conservation of estuaries. The original typescript was discovered by R L Bland while clearing out a lot of old records and bird notes that he had accumulated over the years. It has since been returned to a folder of early Slimbridge documents inherited by Martin from his father, Howard Davis.

Wild Geese of the Severn by Peter Scott Yesterday, Sunday December 16th [1945], was the best day’s goose watching that ever I had. Late on Saturday afternoon we visited the New Grounds near Berkeley on the Severn, John Winter, Clive Wilson, Howard Davis (who lives nearby) and myself. Upon the sea-wall which stretches for about a mile along the 200 acres of

62 Slimbridge 72 Years Ago – Richard Bland & Martin Davis saltmarsh favoured by the geese are now perched four pillboxes which can be approached unseen from the rear, and close to which the geese regularly feed. There was not much light remaining on the Saturday when the four of us crept into the middle pillbox and saw before us some 2000 geese, but there was still enough to identify an immature Bean Goose feeding with a family of Whitefronts within about 40 yards. At the lower pillbox the geese were within about 15 yards but by this time the light had almost gone. On the following morning we crept once more into the central pillbox. We got there at 11.00am and remained inside until 2.00pm and during these three hours we made some somewhat startling observations. At first we could see nothing but Whitefronts with the exception of two or three small parties of Pinkfeet. We estimated that there were probably some 60 or 70 Pinkfeet among the 2000 geese which covered the salting. When we had been there a short time a party of geese flew over the pillbox and settled within 40 yards and it was the same family of Whitefronts with the young Bean. Light conditions were now excellent, with occasional bursts of sunshine and we were able to take a number of photographs using telephoto lenses. The Bean Goose had a typical segetum bill with narrow orange band and a curved rami of the lower mandible and was very dark, with a visible redness at the base of the neck, and a visible dividing line between the dark of the crown and upper part of the neck and the slightly paler lower part. Soon after this we picked out a single Barnacle Goose feeding amongst the Whitefronts. It was a bird of the year and did not look so handsome and striking as a Barnacle should, as it gradually fed towards us until it was less than a hundred yards away. The bird was no surprise to us as Davis had observed it here a few weeks ago, but it was remarkable that it did not immediately catch the eye as one might have expected a Barnacle amongst Grey Geese to do. Running his eye over a party of geese about 200 yards away with a telescope, Davis called my attention to one particular bird and as soon as I saw it I realised that we were looking at a female Lesser Whitefronted Goose. This bird fed steadily towards us to a range of less than 100 yards and in the bright sunshine it was possible to see the golden eyelids shining, as Davis said, like a golden sovereign. I am sufficiently familiar with Lesser Whitefronts in captivity to say that there is no doubt whatsoever of the identity of this bird. It may however be interesting to describe some of the characteristics we particularly noticed in this individual. It was noticeably darker than the Whitefronts around it and the base of the neck was noticeably more chestnut. The bill was most strikingly brighter pink, almost a coral pink and the whole effect of the plumage was smoother because the pale edges of the feathers are narrower. The white blaze on the forehead did not go so far on to the crown as is sometimes the case with Lesser Whitefronts but it was much narrower in shape when looked at from the front than the typical blaze of albifrons. This little bird did not seem to be keeping company with any particular group of Whitefronts but wandered amongst the flock indiscriminately. We had it under observation for

63 Slimbridge 72 Years Ago – Richard Bland & Martin Davis almost two hours. During this time I found myself remarking on the difference between the Lesser Whitefront and a neighbouring Greylag, before it dawned on me that we had observed yet another species of Goose, completing the series of all the British Grey Geese. This single Greylag, again an immature bird, was no more than 50 yards away, its bright orange bill shining in the sun, and most conveniently it spread its left wing to show us the characteristically pale shoulder. (On one of the puddles close in front of the pillbox was a Common Sandpiper which we thought was rather unusual for so late a date). At about 2 o’clock we moved to the upstream pillbox, but here unfortunately the geese had been feeding in the fields inside the seawall and when they moved they cleared the area around the pillbox so that no birds remained very close to us. (We had a good view of a Peregrine sitting on the marsh). There was one flock of geese at the downstream end of the marsh which had been there all day and we thought that we ought to look it over and see if there were any more unusual birds in it, so we made our way to the downstream pillbox. This flock of about 300 birds was at the outer edge of the saltmarsh some four or five hundred yards from us, but as I ran the glasses along the line of birds I came upon a familiar figure and realised at once that here was another Lesser Whitefronted Goose. This was unquestionably a different bird from the one we had observed in the forenoon, and appeared to be an adult gander. It was very little smaller than the surrounding Whitefronts, but showed once again the characteristic carriage and shape which is perhaps one of the best features in the identification of this rare goose. The white blaze went right up to the top of the head between the eyes and the tiny bill was most noticeable amongst the large Whitefronts. As the light was not failing it was very difficult to see the golden eyelids at that range, but when the bird was carefully watched it was just possible to observe this character. This bird was more noticeably darker than the other had been when compared with the ordinary Whiteftonts, and was easily picked out from the remainder of the flock. Whilst Davis was looking at it though one of the slits of the pillbox I ran the glasses over another thick bunch of geese feeding close to the sea wall and immediately sighted an immature Brent Goose of the dark- bellied form. It was showing no white neck marking whatever. We had now seen seven species of wild geese on this one marsh and of those the third most numerous species was the Lesser Whitefront!! The Handbook of British Birds allows only one previous record for this species to be entirely substantiated, that is the immature bird shot by Abel Chapman’s brother on Sept 16th 1886. The single adult bird that visited Mr William Tinsley’s tame birds during January 1943 makes a second reliable report, and the two birds we had seen were therefore the third and fourth records for this country. Witherby mentions four other occasions upon which the birds have been seen or taken and comments “these specimens are not above reproach”. I have for some time had a theory that the Lesser Whitefront probably occurred much more often than was generally supposed, and was commonly overlooked.

64 Slimbridge 72 Years Ago – Richard Bland & Martin Davis Indeed I had enlarged upon this theory to Howard Davis on the evening before. Two interesting aspects of this may be worth recording. The first is that there cannot be any other winter haunt of geese which is a quarter so well suited for detailed observation as the New Grounds, and, therefore, that no other comparable flock of Whitefronted Geese can be so carefully scrutinised. The second is that three weeks ago there were only some three or four hundred geese on the marsh and that the recent influx has been unusually rapid and possible affected by the cold snap that has come early this year. This might or might not account for the rather exceptional incidence of “ab-migration” in which single individuals of five species had taken up with the great flock of Whitefronted Geese. With the last of the light we emerged from the pillbox and disturbed the geese in order to obtain some flight photographs. The great flock went out onto the mudbanks and we walked to the edge of the marsh. Whilst we were there they began to come back and flight past and over us in the dusk so that we were treated to the peculiar thrill of geese flighting in the half light as we walked back to the car. It was surely the most exciting day that any of us spent in the company of Wild Geese. PS

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Seeds Of Change: A Floating Ballast Seed Garden Nicholas Wray # ballastseed Located on Bristol’s historic harbour, just off Castle Park, the Ballast Garden created by Brazillain Maria Thereza Alves is brought to life each year by Arnolfini, the University of Bristol Botanic Garden and Bristol City Council. So far our work on and around the garden has reached over 6000 people across the city. Over 500 school pupils, teachers, community group members and community workers have benefitted from the project, coming together – many for the first time – to learn about ballast seeds, plant life, Bristol’s history and to share stories and ideas about heritage and diversity. This unique project, that has inspired so many to pick up a spade for the first time, has given rise to 16 new garden spaces across the city.

Seeds of Change: About the Project “… at the end of the last Ice Age, the British Isles were home to only a handful of plants… The majority of these introductions (the plants that came later) occurred over two centuries between 1735 – 1935” Sue Shepard, Seeds of Fortune Seeds of Change is the overall title of an ongoing Ballast Seed Garden project created by Brazilian artist Maria Thereza Alves. Alves was originally invited to come to Bristol in 2007 to develop a project for the group show Port City at Arnolfini. During this period, Alves researched the sites where ballast – the earth, stone and gravel that was used to weigh down trading vessels when they docked and was carried all over the world – would have been offloaded around the Floating Harbour. She dug up small samples of earth from these sites, in which seeds were buried. With the help of local individuals and groups (many of whom have family links to the port cities Bristol traded with), these seeds were germinated. The resulting array of plants, which were grown from these original sites, became a living embodiment of the port’s trading history, and reflected the different global routes travelled by Bristol merchants. Alves says “Seeds of Change: A Floating Ballast Seed Garden is an attempt to re-establish the complex histories of ballast flora.” Working with the University of Bristol Botanic Garden, Arnolfini and Bristol City Council, Maria Thereza Alves created the Floating Ballast Seed Garden in June 2012. Constructed from a disused grain barge, the garden is populated with a variety of non-native plants, creating a living history of the city’s trade and maritime past. The garden was originally commissioned as part of the London 2012 Festival, a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration, bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.

66 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray

The Ballast Garden barge (24m × 9m) being manoeuvred into place by the harbour master (photo: Max Maclure)

Guided tours were very popular (photo: Anolfini)

67 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray Since launching the Floating Ballast Seed Garden, Arnolfini has run a large public engagement programme, working closely with project partners University of Bristol Botanic Garden and University of Bristol Centre for Public Engagement, including school visits, family planting days and boat tours led by botanists, historians, curators, performers, local chefs, and storytellers.

Ballast Flora “I’m always amazed at the variety of people that are engaged by the complexities of plants, how they arrived, and how they contribute to the landscape. I thought that by being able to access a garden made up of ballast flora, visitors would be pleasantly surprised by how many of the plants are actually very much part of their everyday lives... I hope my project allows the viewer to consider how human activity has affected the landscape, from economic policies to river and land trade routes, and subsequently, how this has influenced the ‘look’ of the English landscape.” Maria Thereza Alves Ballast flora is a category of plants that has become part of the English landscape. It refers to the product of seeds which were brought to this country in the ballast on ships, particularly between the 18th and early 20th century when it was commonly used in mercantile shipping. Ballast generally consisted of sand, stone, earth, pebbles, shells or other cheap materials that came to hand, which was used to balance ships if their cargo was too lightweight. Arriving in port the ballast was unloaded (often clandestinely to avoid taxes), and with it came seeds from all around the world. These ‘ballast seeds’ can sometimes lie dormant for hundreds of years in the port. The following text by the artist explains the inspiration for the project.

Seeds of Change: Bristol 2007 by Maria Thereza Alves The Atlantic triangular trade route involved manufactured goods from England being shipped to Africa in exchange for enslaved Africans who were then traded in the Americas for colonial goods. Bristol was one of two leading English ports in the transatlantic (and therefore slave) trade. Later Liverpool would be the world’s leading slave trading port. Ships therefore frequently returned with ballast to their homeport. According to Kenneth Morgan in “Shipping Patterns and the Atlantic Trade of Bristol, 1749–1770”, by the mid-19th Century, sugar production, which had been the main cargo exchanged for slaves in the West Indies, had so diminished or was so monopolized that it was common for ships to “trade in ballast” and return to Bristol. “Slave Cargoes were more valuable than colonial goods cargo. A single slave cargo required four to six direct trade operations with the West Indies to remit its income

68 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray in colonial goods.” It appears that the slave trade resulted in a great deal of ballast crossing the Atlantic to homeports in Europe. The formation of the English Landscape therefore coincided with a time in English mercantile shipping when ballast was used frequently as a direct result of the slave trade. Through the work in Reposaari, Bristol and to some extent, Liverpool, it has become evident to me (once again) the importance of involving community groups in research of their own locale. They have important knowledge and approach the research from productive perspectives beyond those of academia. Because the English landscape was formed during England’s intensive slave trade, which resulted in much ballast and therefore seeds arriving in English ports, it is necessary to create an “English” Landscape Research Institute. It would function to promote active investigations and participation in the history of Bristol between its residents and scientists and academics. Maria Thereza Alves

Floating Garden Design The Floating Ballast Seed Garden was designed by German designer Gitta Gschwendtner and aims to give the visitor an opportunity to experience the garden from various levels and perspectives. The raised bed structure, with its sunken paths and seating areas, immerses the visitor into the garden, while the elevated central pathway allows an overview of the entire garden emphasising its water-based location. The architecture of the garden works with the structural constraints of the concrete grain barge, with an elevated planting bed that conceals the barge’s large hold space where grain was loaded onto the vessel for transport. Sustainability is an important aspect of the project, and both the garden’s irrigation system – using water pumped straight from the floating harbour – and its lighting system, are powered by solar panels. The construction materials used are also sustainable, including pine that was treated with an environmentally friendly oil stain to soften its appearance and preserve it from weathering.

Planting Design Most of the Floating Ballast Seed Garden species have been grown by human agricultural systems for thousands of years. The planting design, conceived by University of Bristol Botanic Garden Curator Nicholas Wray, serves to reflect this. Each plant species is grouped in informal swathes across the barge in natural flowing shapes interleaved with neighbouring plantings. The result is a semi-natural display that nevertheless places the plants in a domesticated context. Bold plantings of each species are used so individual plant shape, colour and texture can be appreciated by visitors viewing the barge from Castle Park some 10m above.

69 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray

Planting with Botanic Garden volunteers (photo: Nick Wray)

Nick Wray discussing the plants and horticulture of the Ballast Seed Garden (photo: Alice Maltby)

70 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray By grouping plants in this way visitors to the barge can feel they are in a traditional agricultural field full of wild flowers. This is particularly evident when sitting in the barge’s two sunken wells surrounded by plants at eye level. Visitors experience the planting’s movement as plants sway and move in the wind. With the onset of late summer, many plant species dry out and greens and vibrant colours change to shades of brown. These brittle, dry stems develop an acoustic quality that can be heard when sitting on the barge. The backdrop of the large stone south-facing retaining wall soaks up the sun’s energy, promoting early growth and allowing some Mediterranean species, like squirting cucumber Ecballium elaterium, to survive the cool wet Bristol winters. Each species has been chosen to add interest to the display. Known aggressive weeds and highly toxic plants, whilst documented as ballast species, have been omitted to reduce the risk to the environment and public safety. The established plants were joined in 2015 by a series of guest plant species. These have been documented as growing on ballast dumps in South Wales ports during the 20th Century. As Bristol received guests during its 2015 European Green Capital Year the ‘plant guest species’ appeared on the barge for people to meet and enjoy.

Port City [Text by Maria Thereza Alves, reproduced from the publication Port City: On Mobility and Exchange, Arnolfini, 2007.] Salsola kali from Africa was found on ballast in Avonmouth. Amaranthus albus from North America was found on a ballast tip on Grove Quay. The people of the Susu, Gola, Limba, Mende and Yalunka tribes were among those enslaved on Bance Island in Sierra Leone and taken by Bristol slave ships to Jamaica to be sold in order to replace the indigenous Arawaks (who had been traders and travelled long distances from island to island in their canoes) none of whom survived contact with the Spanish (or the English, who came just a little later). These ships would then continue onto the Carolinas to bring slaves to replace the indigenous work force there, the Cherokees, two-thirds of whom were also not able to survive contact with the English. Ballast taken from Jamaica (with seeds which could have come from any of the islands with which the Arawaks had traded) or the Carolinas, and therefore from anywhere along the east coast where Cherokees traded, could mix with seeds accidentally coming from any of the villages which were attacked by slavers in Sierra Leone. Among the villagers were the Sasu who were originally from Guinea and were also traders, nomads and farmers. The Limba are autochthonous to Sierra Leone. The Gola are from Liberia. The Mende, who were originally from the , were traders with neighbouring countries such as Liberia, Ivory Coast and Guinea. Seeds from any of these places could have arrived in Bristol and been unloaded in the ballast dumps at the Wapping Quay, which is now the site of M Shed.

71 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray Slavery was not abolished in Sierra Leone until 1928 but it remained widespread until the 1970s. It has the world’s highest maternal mortality rate. Life expectancy for men is 42 years old. The UN has declared Sierra Leone today the most inhospitable country in the world, based on poverty and poor quality of life endured by its citizens. Senebiera pinnatifida from Argentina was found growing on ballast in Bristol. Pisum arvense from was found on a ballast heap in Wapping Quay. Sebastian Cabot, possibly a Venetian but who considered himself to be an Englishman from Bristol, was a good friend of the mayor of Bristol, Robert Thorne, who had a soap factory in Seville, and a business of trading Africans and Canary Islanders who had been made into slaves. Thorne invested in Cabot’s trip to La Plata River in Argentina where, with African slaves, he enslaved some Amerindians; most probably the Guarani, whose territory also includes parts of Brazil, which the Portuguese colonized. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to have a monopoly on the slave trade. Maybe these plants arrived in Bristol because of Cabot? Colonization forced the Guarani on a migration movement in search of “a place without the Bad” to settle in. The Guarani did not find it. Some of them ended up in Mato Grosso where Marçal de Souza, a Guarani who fought for land and indigenous rights, was assassinated in 1983. Brazil abolished slavery in 1888 but in 1984 Maria Thereza Alves’ Uncle Antonio was still afraid to travel outside of his village in the state of Parana for fear of being made into a slave. An incomplete list of some of the indigenous languages which no longer exist in Argentina includes: Chané, Güenoa, Chaná, Abipón, Payaguá, Mbeguá, Lule, Manek’enk or Haush, Teushen, Allentiac or Alyentiyak, Toconoté, Millcayac or Milykayak, Omaguaca, Cacán, Kunza or Likanantaí, Comechingon or Henia- camiare, Sanavirón, Het, Yagan, Yámana or Háusi-kúta. In Brazil 75% of the languages became extinct after colonization and in 2007 at least 133 languages were endangered. Maria Thereza Alves

Ballast Seed Garden and the University of Bristol Botanic Garden Rich in plant species, the University of Bristol Botanic Garden is home to a sister display of Ballast Flora. Smaller, more difficult to grow species are nurtured at the garden. Some like Dicksonia antarctica require specialist cool, moist conditions and are grown in a sunken evolutionary dell. Each year staff at the Botanic Garden modify the design and add to the plant composition of the Ballast Seed Garden as research identifies further Ballast flora species. Some like Thorn Apple Datura stamonium are poisonous and are never grown on the floating Ballast Seed Garden, but are cultivated at the Botanic Garden.

72 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray The 3.2 acre Botanic Garden is designed as a series of themed displays growing four core collections with an overriding theme of evolutionary biology. Tender plants are grown in a large heated glasshouse where temperature controlled zones allow tropical, sub-tropical and warm temperate plants to thrive. 4500 plant species are cultivated, many of them medicinal. The traditional Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden is unique in the UK. Home to over 280 different herbs, the display has a strong oriental theme. Seasonal vegetable displays, fruit and spice plants are grown both outdoors and under glass. Local plants are a strong theme growing in specially created habitats illustrating the ecology of the Avon Gorge, Leigh Woods and Mendip Hills. Many rare plants are grown and interpretation aids the understanding of their ecological context. Students and volunteers from the garden plant up the Ballast Seed Garden each year and carefully tend it through the seasons. This work is an important part of their training and gives then a unique opportunity to work on this unusual garden. The award winning Botanic Garden, which was first founded in 1882, is the fourth incarnation of a Botanic Garden for the University of Bristol. The garden, located at the Holmes in Stoke Bishop, is open to the public all year and from Easter to November seven days a week (www.bristol.ac.uk/botanic-garden).

Plant Species Plant species used for A Floating Ballast Seed Garden display: Amaranthus caudatus, Love Lies Bleeding Family: Amaranthaceae. Origin: Africa, India and South America (probably originated from S America (Andes)). Habitat: Old fields and waste land. Some are invasive pests. Description: An annual which is in flower from July to September. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by wind. The plant has some medicinal properties. Other: The plant seeds and leaves are edible, and yellow and green dyes can be obtained from the whole plant. Asphodeline liburnica, Jacob’s Rod Family: Xanthorrhoeaceae. Origin: Italy, Southern and Aegean. Habitat: Amongst rocks, in scrub land and by roadsides. Description: A clump forming perennial with narrow, triangular, grass-like, blue- green leaves and in summer slender racemes of star-shaped, bright yellow flowers, striped green on the back of each petal. Other: The narrow leaves help it survive the long hot dry Mediterranean summer.

73 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray Avena sativa, Oat Family: . Origin: N. Europe. A non-persistent relic of cultivation in Britain. Habitat: Dry wasteland, cultivated ground and meadows. Description: An annual plant, it is in flower from June to July. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by wind. The plant is self-fertile and has medicinal uses however, it is largely used for edible purposes. Other: Grown since antiquity the plant is used as a staple food crop and is best known as the breakfast cereal, porridge. Calendula officinalis, Marigold Family: . Origin: Native to S. Europe, but exact origin is unknown. Habitat: Waste land, cultivated and arable land and along roadsides. Description: An annual which is in flower from June to November. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by bees. It is noted for attracting wildlife. The plant is well known for its herbal medicines. Other: A yellow dye is obtained from the boiled flowers as well as an essential oil from the plant. Ecballium elaterium, Squirting Cucumber Family: Cucurbitaceae. Origin: Mediterranean, temperate areas of Asia and occasionally naturalized in coastal districts of Southern Britain. Habitat: Hot dry places on waste ground and roadsides. Description: A trailing to slightly bushy perennial that has wet, messy, exploding seed pods. Leaves are palmately lobed and bristly, both male & female flowers appear on one plant. The flowers are funnel-shaped, and deep yellow. Other: Used as a medicinal plant for over 2,000 years – poisonous in large quantities, the plant has a violent purgative effect upon the body – it has little use in modern herbalism. Eruca sativa, Rocket or Arugula Family: Brassicaceae. Origin: Europe (Mediterranean), a frequent casual in Britain. Habitat: Waste ground, fields, olive groves and stony hills. Description: An annual plant that is in flower from March to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by insects. Grown as an edible herb since Roman times, it is now grown around the world as a salad herb. Other: Rocket is edible raw or cooked, with a distinct strongly spicy flavour. The seeds yield oil which is edible if stored for six months.

74 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray Ficus carica, Fig Family: Moraceae. Origin: West Asia. Habitat: Amongst rocks, in woods and scrub land. Description: A deciduous tree, flowering from June to September, the fruits ripen from August to September. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant). The plant is self-fertile and the fruit is edible raw or cooked and is often dried for later use. Other: The latex from the stems is used as medicinal aid. It also has an analgesic effect against insect stings and bites. Linum usitatissimum, Flax Family: Linaceae. Origin: Eurasia, cultivated by man since 8000BC. Description: A hardy annual with thin wiry erect stems bearing pale blue flowers in summer. Uses: Flax fibres have been used to make linen and cloth since Neolithic times. Sails for ships were often made from Flax and coated in Linseed oil to make them waterproof. The plant fibres were used to make rope which again was dipped in Linseed oil to make it waterproof. Flax is also grown for its use as an edible oil, as a nutritional supplement, and as an ingredient in many wood finishing products such as Linoleum or Lino flooring. Nigella damascena, Nigella, Love in a Mist, Devil in the Bush Family: Ranunculaceae. Origin: Southern Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. Habitat: Neglected stony damp patches of land. Description: An upright, bushy annual with finely dissected leaves and solitary flowers with five blue or white, petal-like sepals and feathery bracts, followed by ornamental seed pods. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by bees. The seed and oil can be eaten as a condiment which has a nutmeg flavour. Other: The related Nigella sativa is the source of the spice variously known as black cumin. Papaver rhoeas, Field Poppy Family: Papaveraceae. Description: A short lived annual with wiry erect stems bearing large papery red flowers in summer. Origin: Europe. Uses: As one of the most ancient plants, Poppies have been used by humans since the Neolithic period. According to archaeological studies, remains of Poppies have been found in prehistoric settlements in central Europe, Switzerland, Southern Germany and Southern England which date to at least 4000BC.

75 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray Poppies often grow wild in corn fields and are popular with gardeners. Their seeds can remain dormant in the earth for many years. They are a symbol of fallen soldiers. Securigera varia, Crown Vetch Family: Leguminosae. Origin: North Africa, Asia and Europe. Habitat: Amongst rocks, in scrub land and field margins. Description: A semi evergreen perennial producing mounds of deep green foliage which cover the soil and crowd out other plants. Small pink and white flowers appear from early summer to late autumn and are rich in nectar. Seeds have a long germination period of around six months. Naturalised and even an invasive species in many parts of the world it is used in the USA as erosion control, roadside planting and soil rehabilitation. Other: Crown Vetch is toxic to horses and other non-ruminants but is fed as hay mixes to ruminants. Setaria viridis, Green Bristle Grass Family: Poaceae. Origin: Europe to E. Asia. It is a casual weed in Britain. Habitat: Mountain slopes, roadsides and grassy waste lands. Description: An annual which is in flower from August to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by wind. The plant has some medicinal properties when crushed and mixed with water and used as an external application to treat bruises. Other: The plant is edible and is used in the same ways as rice or millet. Verbascum nigrum, Dark Mullein Family: Scrophulariaceae. Origin: Native to most of central and northern Europe and the Mediterranean region. Description: A biennial or short lived perennial plant producing rosettes of hairy broad leaves before producing an erect spike bearing hundreds of bright yellow, each with a dark red centre. Flowers rich in nectar, they are attractive to bees. Other: It is found growing on rocky ground, open dry places, field edges, road sides and embankments. The flowers and leaves have medical properties (internal and external use). The plant is harvested when in flower and dried quickly in order to prevent it loosing its medicinal qualities.

Guest Species originally planted in 2015 Bristol’s European Green Capital Year Anagallis arvensis var. caerulea, Blue Pimpernel, Poor Man’s Weatherglass Family: Primulaceae. Origin: Northern Africa, , Islands, , Europe, western Asia.

76 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray Description: A low, spreading herbaceous plant, short-lived, with soft, square stems and small, egg-shaped, stalkless leaves. The flowers have five petals and are dark blue or purple in colour. Other: The botanical name comes from the Greek ana meaning ‘again’ and agallein ‘to delight in’, and refers to the flowers’ habit of opening in full sunshine and closing with the approach of bad weather. This is also how it attained the common name ‘poor man’s weatherglass’. Recorded in ballast in Barry Dock, and a frequent introduction in grain. Chrysanthemum segetum, Corn Marigold Family: Asteraceae. Origin: Eastern Mediterranean. Description: This annual grows to 45cm with large, bright yellow daisy-like compound flower heads. The fleshy leaves are covered with a waxy layer that gives them a bluish colour. It has a preference for light, moderately acid soils. Once a common weed of cornfields, it is now described as a vulnerable species. Other: Recently renamed Glebionis segetum, but also listed as Xantophthalmum segetum. It is a good nectar plant and valuable for insects. Recorded growing in ballast near Swansea as well as on tips and wasteland around Britain as a bird seed alien. Echium italicum, Italian Vipers Bugloss Family: Boraginaceae. Origin: Mediterranean Region. Description: A hairy biennial plant producing a rosette of hairy grey-green leaves in its first year followed by a pyramidal inflorescence bearing hundreds of small pale mauve-pink to white flowers, rich in nectar. Other: Found growing in the wild by roadsides, field edges and in olive groves throughout the Mediterranean region. After flowing the plant dies, but each inflorescence produces thousands of seeds ensuring the next generation. Now found growing as a weed in North America and many other countries. Erysimum cheiranthoides, Treacle-Mustard or Wormseed Wallflower Family: Brassicaceae. Origin: Native to most of central and northern Europe and northern and central Asia. It is now naturalised in western and southern Europe and North America. Description: A short lived, leafy perennial, it produces an abundance of orange flowers from late winter to spring. Being rich in nectar they are attractive to bees. Other: It is found growing on rocky ground, on cliff faces and locally can be found growing in the Avon Gorge and on old walls in the City. Saponaria vaccaria, Cowherb, Cowcockle, Cow Basil, Cow Soapwort, or Prairie Carnation Family: . Origin: A common cornfield weed in eastern and central Europe.

77 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray Description: Part of the same family as pinks and carnations, Saponaria vaccaria is an annual, growing to about 1m with a branching habit. It has blue-green, waxy oblong leaves and a profusion of pale rose-pink flowers. Other: Found growing in dredged soil near Bristol and in ballast around Cardiff and Penarth Docks. The seeds are used in Chinese medicine. It is rich in saponins, a soap-like substance capable of bonding oil and water and is currently being investigated as an anti-cancer drug.

Garden Location and Access The Floating Ballast Seed Garden is located on the North side of Bristol’s Floating Harbour, between Bristol Bridge and Castle Park water taxi stop. The garden is visible from Castle Park and may be accessed by the public by boat, or by one of the specially programmed boat trips and talks organised by Arnolfini and booked in advance. The garden is partially accessible to wheelchairs, with a ramp from the pontoon landing station adjacent.

Further Information Commissioner and Funding Seeds of Change: A Floating Ballast Seed Garden was commissioned by Bristol City Council as part of its public art programme. The project was funded by the Ashley, Easton & Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Partnership, with the kind support of Bristol Harbour Authority, Arnolfini, Ramboll, University of Bristol Botanic Garden and Avon and Somerset Probation Trust Community Payback team.

Art and the Public Realm Bristol Bristol is one of the leading cities in the UK for public art commissioning and for its programme of projects with artists of local, national and international significance. Its programme focuses on the development of visionary public art works across the city, outside of the conventional gallery and museum setting. To date over 100 commissions have been produced within a diverse range of contexts. www.aprb.co.uk

Ballast Seed Garden Future Seeds of Change was a five-year project which culminated in 2016. As part of the future of the project the University of Bristol Botanic Garden is looking for funding to transform the Ballast Seed Garden into a Floating Pollination Planting, which when complete will be relocated to further up the floating harbour beyond Temple Meads where the University is building a new Temple Quarter campus. For further details, contact the University of Bristol Botanic Garden, phone: 0117 4282041, email: [email protected]

78 Seeds of Change – Nicholas Wray Maria Thereza Alves

Artist Maria Thereza Alves (photo: Nick Wray)

Maria Thereza Alves was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1961. She researches social and cultural phenomena and was one of the co-founders of the Green Party in Brazil. Alves focuses on concepts that question social circumstances; concerning what we think we know, who we think we are and to look instead at where and how we actually are at this time. She attended the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City and in 2006 she was awarded a DAAD scholarship (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdients/German Academic Exchange Service). Her work has been exhibited widely across Europe and North America. Exhibitions include: the Paris Triennial, Guangzhou Triennial, Document 13 in Kassel, the Sao Paulo Biennial, the Taipei Biennial, Manifesta in Trento, the Prague Biennial, the Athens biennial and the Lyon biennial where she received the Prix de la Francophonie.

Gitta Gschwendtner Born in Germany in 1972, Gitta Gschwendtner moved to London in the early nineties to study design at Central Saint Martins, Kingston University and the Royal College of Art. Following graduation from the RCA furniture MA in 1998 she set up her independent design studio in London, working on a diverse range of projects ranging from product, interior and exhibition design to public art installations for arts, cultural and corporate clients. Gitta’s studio focuses on conceptually rigorous, visually intriguing, functional design across several disciplines. Her clients include British Council, Crafts Council, Design Museum, DuPont Corian, Geffrye Museum, Habitat, Innermost, Mathmos, Peugeot, Purves & Purves, Royal College of Art, Science Museum, Sony, Twenty Twenty One, Victoria and Albert Museum and the Wellcome Trust.

79

The Geology and Landscape of the Bristol Region Richard Arthur [email protected] A new internet resource aids understanding of the relationship between geology and landscape. This paper is intended to help the non-specialist naturalist understand the local landscape in three dimensions. Bristol and its surrounding district has an attractive very varied landscape of uplands (curiously often referred to as ‘downs’), modest rolling hills, plateaus bounded by steep escarpments with intervening vales. This landscape is a direct result of how

Fig. 1: Simplified Geology Map expanded from the special sheet by the author ©2016 Contains British Geological Survey materials © NERC 1967 Detail of rocks of Silurian and Devonian age beneath, and Triassic age above the Carboniferous are depicted, but have been faded for clarity.

80 Geology and Landscape of the Bristol Region – Richard Arthur weathering and erosion have acted upon the relative strengths and weaknesses of the rock types present. However, the way geological structures (folds and faults etc.) that deform, or not, these rocks influences the position and orientation of this topography. A moment’s glance at the geology map of the Bristol District (Fig. 1) reveals groupings of similar colours. These colours represent the rock outcrops – places where rocks of a particular age can be found exposed at the surface or lie just below it. The outcrops occur in distinct patterns, and one pattern that stands out is formed by parallel stripes of blue. Often in curving ‘U’ shaped bands, these ‘U’ shapes are seen in various orientations or join up to form ovals. The rock types defined by these outcrops are Limestones of Carboniferous age. Many non-specialists will quickly be able to correlate these outcrops with the resistant strata of upland areas such as the Clifton Downs or the Hills of Mendip. Less obvious perhaps is the correlation of other sinuous outcrops of Carboniferous Limestone which correspond to long narrow ridges. It was only when the the author started to interact with a new internet web-based tool, that a way of illustrating these less distinct landscapes and the corresponding geology became ‘crystal clear’.

Fig. 2: Extract taken from http://floodmap.net/ Developed by Sameer Burle. Map data © 2018 Google, INEGI

81 Geology and Landscape of the Bristol Region – Richard Arthur The map depicted above (Fig. 2) is from the ‘floodmap’ web page with sea level set at some 70m above ‘normal’. This draws attention to many of the relevant features but it is recommended that some time is spent ‘online’ interacting with ‘floodmap’; inputting different settings of virtual sea level and thus reproducing the effects of inundation from a variety of sea levels. This will, as the levels rise and fall, isolate many different topographic features, such as , Middle Hope and the Cotswold escarpment. Comparing the geology map with these floodmaps, the correlation between the outcrops of Carboniferous Limestone and the region’s high ground is remarkably good. These hard marine Limestones are part of a group of strata – the Upper Palaeozoic – consisting of younger overlying Carboniferous Coal Measure rocks, mainly mud, sandstone and coal (these overlying strata are far less resistant to erosion and only survive where they have been protected in depressions). The remainder of the lower Palaeozoic are older hard Devonian rocks (mainly fluvial sandstones and conglomerates, exposed on the up dip side of the Carboniferous), and Silurian rocks (marine sediments and volcanics which underline the area but are only seen in the far north and in the far southeast of the area). These originally horizontal Palaeozoic layers were folded by a mountain-building event (the Variscan Orogeny). Rocks were crumpled and up lifted during a plate tectonic collision at the end of the Carboniferous, some 290 million years ago. Describing the detail of these folds or why the orientation of these structures sometimes deviates from the usual Variscan east-west trend (seen in much of the region) is not the purpose of this article; rather the intention is to introduce the non specialist to an understanding of how these folds influence the landscape. There is not scope to cover this in detail or how outcrop patterns can be used to determine dip or the structure of folds or faults etc. Suffice it to say the linear outcrops run along the strike (at right angles to the dip) while, with the exception of Dundry Hill, the majority of oval-shaped patterns are the result of periclines (up folds which plunge in opposite directions so the dip is radial). The Mendip folds are a series of such periclines arranged en echelon (domes stacked upon one another in a staggered line) with the intervening synclinal structures muted or absent due to thrust faulting. Most but not all of the high ground is produced by these up folds. In mid and eastern Mendip this is certainly the case; whereas in West Mendip fractures which develop during stretching over the crests of the anticlinal folds have allowed erosion to cut down into the core of the fold. Counter intuitively, in the core of this anticline there is now a wide deep valley instead of the high crest such as the one on adjacent Black Down. Here erosion leaves two isolated limbs running as ridges east-west to either side of the fold axis. All of these fold and landscape relationships are well seen in miniature in the folded rocks exposed on the foreshore at Portishead.

82 Geology and Landscape of the Bristol Region – Richard Arthur During arid terrestrial Permian and Triassic times extensive removal of material lowered the land surface considerably but, unlike erosion by the sea, created an undulating rocky landscape. This closely resembled much of the present-day surface, although it was red, barren and much drier. A major marine transgression followed, creating a level wave-cut platform (this peneplane can be seen in many Carboniferous Limestone locations). In some places high ground survived as islands before the whole area became inundated. This sea deposited Jurassic sediments, laid down as a thick layer of weakly resistant sands, clays, shelly limestones and oolites over the whole area and resting with unconformity on the folded rocks below. Some 60 million years ago the region was slightly affected by the distant reaches of the Alpine Orogeny. Today erosion has pretty much worn away this mainly unfolded layer back to the the hard rocks, exhuming the old Triassic landscape. Patches of this unconformable layer survive as a number of level Lower Jurassic (White and Blue lias) plateaus which end in steep escarpments. Jurassic strata also survive forming the high ground of Dundry Hill and the Cotswolds. These hills are the result of slightly more resistant oolitic limestone (the orange/yellow outcrops) acting as a cap rock. The small isolated hill of Dundry is an outlier (younger yellow outcrops of Jurassic rock are completely surrounded by older rocks); it lies testament to this layer once being continuous across the area (at least up to, and including the Oolitic Limestones). There is good correlation with this high ground delineated on the ‘floodmap’ but some interaction will be required with the web page using various sea levels before the remarkable Cotswold Escarpment stands out clearly, especially south of the city of Bath where the scarp slope becomes sinuous and less well defined.

Fig. 3: A stylised three dimensional cross section made by the author ©2016 showing the geology of the Bristol Region from Portishead to Mendip.

83 Geology and Landscape of the Bristol Region – Richard Arthur Clearly this is a very simplistic and far from complete description of local geology and landscape, but it is hoped that it will give the non-specialist and others a clearer insight into understanding the landscape. Of course there is no need to restrict the use of this application to the local area. Hopefully many other similar relationships of topography and underlying geological structure will be found, and feedback about such examples would be appreciated.

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Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 Ray Barnett [email protected]

Introduction The first insect reports for 2017 on the Bristol Wildlife E-group were for the hoverfly Meliscaeva auricollis seen by Des Bowring on 2 January in St Andrews Park, North Bristol and the Ephydrid fly Limnellia quadrata on the same day at Uphill recorded by Paul Bowyer. Unfortunately this was not the precursor to a wonderful year for insects but rather one of concern for what appeared to be the relatively low numbers of common species. A considerable contribution to this year’s list resulted from Bob Fleetwood’s use of flight interception traps used as part of a monitoring programme of insects of dead wood, intercepted when emerging from their larval habitat in trees. Many of these species are difficult to record other than through methods like these. Bob also contributed many moth records from moth trapping but was surprised to find an Emperor Dragonfly in his garden light trap on 26 May. Other considerable contributions of records include those from Paul Bowyer, especially with regard to Diptera from the Weston-super-Mare, and from Rupert Higgins, John Martin and Jon Mortin. 2017 was not a great year for migrant species but there was a smattering of Humming-bird Hawk Moth sightings across the region and the autumn was notable for good numbers of Red Admiral, one being seen on the wing in Bath as late as 20 December (Wendy Lambson) when the mild weather also saw that day a Common Quaker appear in Richard Pooley’s moth trap in Bath (normally on the wing just in March and April). October into November did give up some migrant moths including Vestal, Kent Black Arches, Scarce Bordered Straw, Dark Swordgrass, Rusty Dot Pearl and Gem, all recorded by Mike Challenger at Frampton Cotterell. The best record was Antigastra catalaunalis photographed by Dave Nevitt, a Mediterranean species which is now an occasional visitor to the UK. Species which are consolidating their recent arrival include Jersey Tiger with more sightings and Scarlet Tiger larvae apparently prepared to eat even the very hairy Onosma alborosea as witnessed by Darrel Watts. The abundance of the latter moth was remarked on by Ted Poulson who counted 24 larvae in one garden in Bath. Perhaps most exciting however, is the possibility that Clifden Nonpareil may becoming established, such an impressive species. As some species seem to be increasing, especially invasive species such as the Lily Beetle seen by the author for the first time in the middle of woodland rather than a garden, others including many common native species seem to be in sharp decline. Although there is little data to prove this, the impression gathered from the

85 Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 – Ray Barnett many field surveys conducted would seem to suggest that insect numbers are not healthy at present. The finger of blame is often pointed to a combination of climate change and intensive agricultural techniques, the latter making use of new generations of pesticides such as neonicotinoids. Whatever the reason it also comes at a time when society has recognised a need for considerable increases in house building; with understandable reluctance to build on the Green Belt, focus turns to the so called Brown Field sites – however these can often be refuges for rare invertebrates. Insects seem under attack from all sides. Scientific nomenclature follows that used by the National Biodiversity Network website (www.nbn.org.uk). My thanks to all who have submitted records directly to the Society, particularly to Jon Mortin, Bob Fleetwood, Rupert Higgins, Mary Wood, Andy Pym, John Martin, John Aldridge, Jean Oliver, Dave Nevitt, Paul Bowyer, Richard Pooley, Rich Andrews, Robert Kelsh, Darrel Watts, Mike Challenger, David Hawkins, Michelle Fowler, the Bristol Regional Environmental Records Centre (BRERC), Bristol & District Moth Group and the Bristol Wildlife E-group, and everyone who has sent in records. In terms of monitoring the ever-changing status of the invertebrate fauna the importance of receiving, not just the records picked out here, but those of perhaps less noteworthy species cannot be understated.

Species of note in 2017

INSECTA (Insects) Archaeognatha Dilta hibernica (Carp.) Bristletail The Gully, Avon Gorge, Bristol (vice county 34) ST563 745, 22 April 2017 Ray Barnett, one found under stones. Troopers Hill, Bristol (vice county 34) ST628 731, 29 April 2017 Ray Barnett, under stones. A group of insects rarely recorded.

Dictyoptera (cockroaches) Supella longipalpa (Fabr.) Brown-banded Cockroach Bishopston, Bristol (vice county 34) ST589 754, 26 October 2017 Rupert Higgins, one in moth trap. An introduced pest species.

Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets) Metrioptera roeselii (Hagenbach) Roesel’s Bush-cricket Eastwood Farm, Bristol (vice county 6) ST632 715, 21 June 2017 Ray Barnett, several larvae swept. Combe Hay, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST730 606, 22 June 2017 Rupert Higgins, about 15 adults. Bedminster, Bristol (vice county 6) ST587 715, 04 August 2017 Rich Andrews, song heard. Elm Farm, Burnet, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST653 647, 27 August 2017 John Aldridge, two

86 Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 – Ray Barnett individuals. Chew Valley School, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST569 623, 22 September 2018 Jon Mortin. Becoming well established now in the region.

Dermaptera (earwigs) Forficula lesnei (Finot) Lesne's Earwig Hengrove Park, Bristol (vice county 6) ST589 685, 22 May 2017 Rupert Higgins, one adult. Well established in the region but poorly recorded.

Hemiptera (true bugs) Podops inuncta (Fabr.) Turtle Bug Bishopsworth, Bristol (vice county 6) ST569 689, 24 May 2017 Rupert Higgins, two adults. A localised shield bug. Sciocoris cursitans (Fabr.) Sandrunner Sand Bay, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST330 638, 16 July 2017 Jon Mortin. A very localised species. Anthocoris minki (Dohrn) Clevedon south, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST40 69, 05 August 2017 Bob Fleetwood, from beating Poplar, identification confirmed by Jim Flanagan. First record for the region. Buchananiella continua (White) Leigh Woods south west, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST55 73, 07 September 2017 Bob Fleetwood, from beating Ash. Temnostethus pusillus (Herrich-Schäffer) Clevedon, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST398 708, 03 June 2017 Bob Fleetwood, on vegetation. Tyntesfield Estate, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST50 71, 16 June 2017 Bob Fleetwood, from beating Lime. tipularius (L.) Trooper’s Hill, Bristol (vice county 34) ST628 731, 12 August 2017 Rupert Higgins, one adult. Much rarer than the similar Metatropis rufescens. Megalonotus emarginatus (Rey) Clevedon, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST398 708, 31 July 2017 Bob Fleetwood, from washing drying on line. First record for the region. Orsillus depressus (Mulsant & Rey) Hanham, Bristol (vice county 34) ST655 705, 14 June 2017 Rupert Higgins. First record for the region, a Mediterranean species which first colonised the UK in the late 1980s, associated with Lawson’s Cypress in particular. Atractotomus magnicornis (Fallén) Tyntesfield Estate, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST506 712, 14 June 2017 Bob Fleetwood, two collected from a Spruce tree. First record for the region. Atractotomus mali (Meyer-Dür) Bishopston, Bristol (vice county 34) ST585 759, 02 June 2017 Rupert Higgins, one adult. Three Brooks LNR, Bristol (vice county 34) ST626 817, Rupert Higgins, one adult.

87 Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 – Ray Barnett Macrotylus paykulli (Fall.) Sand Bay south, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST32 63, 16 July 2017 Bob Fleetwood, sweeping vegetation between dunes and coast road. molliculus (Fall.) Sand Bay south, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST32 63, 16 July 2017 Bob Fleetwood, sweeping vegetation between dunes and coast road. Derephysia foliacea (Fall.) Leigh Woods south west, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST556 732, 10 July 2017 and 17 August 2017, Bob Fleetwood, on tree trunk of Ash, flight interception trap, rotting Ash. Saldula palustris (Douglas) Battery Point, Portishead, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST46 77, 06 September 2017, Bob Fleetwood, vacuum sampling of saltmarsh. Coccus hesperidum (L.) Brown Soft-scale Bishopston, Bristol (vice county 34) ST585 759, 22 March 2017, Rupert Higgins, on Ivy.

Lepidoptera (butterflies) Euphydryas aurinia (Rottemburg) Marsh Fritillary Near Bath (vice county 6) ST76 61, 19 July 2017 Mike Williams, nest of larvae discovered. The first record of this butterfly in the Bristol region for several years.

Lepidoptera (micro-moths) Opostega salaciella (Treitschke) Bathford Hill, Compton Dando, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST647 645, 8 July 2017 Paul Wilkins, two at light trap. morosa (Zell.) Patchway, South Gloucestershire (vice county 34) ST606 816, 02 May 2017 Rupert Higgins, one adult around Dog Rose on railway cutting. Only one previous record locally but possibly overlooked. Metalampra italica (Baldizzone) Wild Place, South Gloucestershire (vice county 34) ST574 817, 13 June 2017 Rupert Higgins, one seen and photographed. First recorded in 2015 in the region, gradually increasing. Cosmopterix scribaiella (Zell.) Walton Moor, Walton-in-Gordano, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST436 728, 21 June 2017 Paul Bowyer and Dave Nevitt. First recorded in 2016 in the region. Aproaerema anthyllidella (Hb.) Keynsham, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 34) ST651 683, 05 August 2017 John Aldridge. Although widely distributed across England where Kidney Vetch grows, there are few records locally. ustulana (Haw.) Clevedon, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST398 708, 27 June 2017 Bob Fleetwood, male dissected and confirmed by David Agassiz. Two previous records in the region.

88 Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 – Ray Barnett Bactra furfurana (Haw.) Clevedon, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST398 708, 24 July 2017 Bob Fleetwood, confirmed by David Agassiz. Crocidosema plebejana (Zell.) Clevedon, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST398 708, 13 October 2017 Bob Fleetwood, one in garden light trap. An increasing migrant. Dioryctria abietella (D. & S.) Elm Farm, Burnet, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST665 653, 01 June 2017 Richard Pooley et al. A local species. Antigastra catalaunalis (Dup.) Dundry, Bristol (vice county 6) ST557 670, 15 October 2017 Dave Nevitt, one in garden light trap. A new species for the region of this unusual migrant. Cydalima perspectalis (Walk.) Box Tree Moth Clevedon, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST398 708, 02 September 2017 Bob Fleetwood, one in garden light trap. Bishopston, Bristol (vice county 34) ST588 755, 06 October 2017 Jean Oliver, one in garden light trap. Bishopston, Bristol (vice county 34) ST589 754, 08 October 2017 Rupert Higgins, one in garden light trap. Becoming established in the region, a potential pest of Box plants.

Lepidoptera (macro-moths) Sesia apiformis (Clerck) Hornet Moth University of Bath campus, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 34) ST77 64, 12 June 2017 Chris Iles, freshly-emerged adult at the base of a Poplar tree bearing numerous past emergence holes, the emergence holes have been present for many years. A very localised species in the region. (Also reported from same locality on 13 and 16 by Robert Kelsh.) Rhodometra sacraria (L.) Vestal Frampton Cotterell, South Gloucestershire (vice county 34) ST665 812, 4 October 2017 Mike Challenger, four at garden light trap. Pilning, South Gloucestershire (vice county 34) ST557 849, 14 September and 18 October 2017 John Martin, singles at garden light trap. Regular migrant. Pseudopanthera macularia (L.) Speckled Yellow Dolebury, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST458 587 and ST446 588, 05 May 2017 Rupert Higgins, several adults. Very localised. Cleorodes lichenaria (Hufn.) Brussels Lace Gordano National Nature Reserve, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST438 731, 06 May 2017 Ray Barnett, larva beaten from Hawthorn with lichen. A species which seems to be increasing. Nycterosea obstipata (Fabr.) Gem Frampton Cotterell, South Gloucestershire (vice county 34) ST665 812, 14 November 2017 Mike Challenger, at light trap. Regular migrant. Lithosia quadra (L.) Four-spotted Footman Stockwood, Bristol (vice county 6) ST626 687, 29 July 2017 Ted Poulson. An occasional migrant.

89 Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 – Ray Barnett Catocala fraxini (L.) Clifden Nonpareil Portishead, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST469 772, 30 August 2017 David Hawkins, one in garden light trap. Combe Down, Bath, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST747 628, 23 September 2017 Robert Kelsh, one in garden light trap. Is this splendid species becoming established in southern England and even in our region? Craniophora ligustri (D. & S.) Coronet Bishopston, Bristol (vice county 34) ST588 755, 22 April 2017 Jean Oliver. A very early record in the year for this species normally seen in June and July. Calophasia lunula (Hufn.) Toadflax Brocade Bradley Stoke, South Gloucestershire (vice county 34) ST6 8, June 2017 Ali Bourne (via Facebook). Clevedon, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST4 7, 03 July 2017 Ben Barnes, at light. First records from the region. Established along the south east and southern English coasts, these could be from those resident populations or represent immigration from the continent. Xestia ditrapezium (D. & S.) Triple-spotted Clay Langford, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST46 60, 20 June 2017 Jacky Tonkin, in light trap. A local species in the region. Euplagia quadripunctaria (Poda) Jersey Tiger Frampton Cotterell, South Gloucestershire (vice county 34) ST665 812, 10 August 2017 Mike Challenger. Keynsham, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 34) ST651 683, 21 August 2017 John Aldridge. Still gradually increasing in the region. Meganola albula (D. & S.) Kent Black Arches Frampton Cotterell, South Gloucestershire (vice county 34) ST665 812, 9 July 2017 Mike Challenger. An unusual migrant.

Coleoptera (beetles) Hypocaccus maritimus (Herbst) Sand Bay south, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST32 63, 16 July 2017 Bob Fleetwood, hand searching seaweed buried in sand near high water tide line. Identification confirmed by Steve Lane. Nationally Scarce. Margarinotus striola (Sahlb.) Tyntesfield Estate, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST50 71, 04 July 2017 Bob Fleetwood, unbaited pitfall trap by log pile. Third Somerset record. Omaloplia ruricola (Fabr) Combe Down, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST755 625, 13 June 2017 Jon Mortin. Nationally Scarce. Hoplia philanthus (Füessly) Welsh Chafer Combe Down, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST755 625, 13 June 2017 Jon Mortin, confirmed by Darren Mann. Stenagostus rhombeus (Oliv.) St Anne’s Park, Bristol (vice county 6) ST619 721, 08 July 2017 Michele Fowler, one at moth light. Usually a species of well- established woodland.

90 Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 – Ray Barnett Hedobia imperialis (L.) Bullock's Lakes, Kingston Seymour, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST403 678, 09 June 2017 Bob Fleetwood, flight interception trap. Nationally Scarce. Ernobius mollis (L.) Clevedon, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST398 708, 19 June 2017 Bob Fleetwood, at actinic light. First Somerset record since 1954. Anthocomus fasciatus (L.) The Gully, Avon Gorge, Bristol (vice county 34) ST563 745, 22 April 2017 Ray Barnett, swept. Localised. Carpophilus marginellus (Motschulsky) Clevedon, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST398 708, 24 May 2017 Bob Fleetwood, in a compost heap. An introduced synanthropic species from south east Asia, third Somerset record. Diplocoelus fagi (Chevrolat in Guérin-Méneville) Tyntesfield Estate, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST50 71, 07 September 2017 Bob Fleetwood, flight interception trap by log pile. Nationally Scarce. Symbiotes latus (Redtenbacher) Bullock's Lakes, Kingston Seymour, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST403 678, 02 September 2017 Bob Fleetwood, flight interception trap. Nationally Scarce. Lycoperdina bovistae (Fabricius) Tyntesfield Estate, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST50 71, 01 February 2017 Bob Fleetwood, extracted from retained puffball on 13 July 2017. 53 National records in NBN Atlas, second Tyntesfield record following from one in Sept 2015. Nationally Rare. Osphya bipunctata (Fabr.) , near Wellow, Bath (vice county 6) ST756 575, 13 May 2017 Ray Barnett, swept. Confirmation that this rare species still occurs at this site. Nationally Rare. Aderus populneus (Creutzer in Panz.) Bullock's Lakes, Kingston Seymour, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST403 678, 21 May 2017 Bob Fleetwood, flight interception trap. Nationally Scarce. Tetropium fuscum (Fabr.) Lords Wood, Pensford, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST63 63, 05 July 2017 Ray Barnett, on cut timber. Second English site. (See: The Coleopterist (2017) Vol. 26 pt 3 p146.) A species associated with Spruce trees. Agapanthia villosoviridescens (DeGeer) Chew Valley Lake, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST578 608, 14 June 2017 Jon Mortin. Gradually becoming commoner in the region. Phymatodes testaceus (L.) Tanbark Borer Tyntesfield Estate, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST50 71, 14 June 2017 Bob Fleetwood, all yellow form, from beating an Oak in Toggles Field. Phytoecia cylindrica (L.) Hartcliffe Way, Bristol (vice county 6) ST581 692, 15 May 2017 Rupert Higgins. Localised.

91 Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 – Ray Barnett Bruchidius villosus (Fabr.) Troopers Hill, Bristol (vice county 34) ST628 731, 29 April 2017 Ray Barnett. First record for region. Chrysolina americana (L.) Rosemary Beetle Windmill Hill City Farm, Bristol (vice county 6) ST589 715, 15 March 2017 Rupert Higgins, one adult. Established at low densities. Chrysolina banksi (Fabr.) Sand Point, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST331 659, 19 September 2017 Paul Bowyer, one adult potted. A species of the southern coastal areas of England and Wales. Aphthona nigriceps (Redtenbacher) Tyntesfield Estate, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST50 71, 01 February 2017 Bob Fleetwood, found in leaf litter at base of Ash tree. Identification confirmed by Dave Hubble as female A. pallida but currently considered a synonym of A. nigriceps although some consider them separate species. NBN Atlas only has records for nigriceps (41, one of which is in the south west on the South Devon coast). Nationally Scarce. Chaetocnema sahlbergii (Gyll.) Dowlais, Clevedon, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST38 69, 29 March 2017 Bob Fleetwood, vacuum sampling of vegetation between seawall and seabank and identification confirmed by Dave Hubble. 35 records in NBN Atlas, one previous record in Beetles of Somerset15. Nationally Scarce. Mecinus collaris (Germar) Battery Point, Portishead, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST46 77, 06 September 2017 Bob Fleetwood, vacuum sampling of saltmarsh. Nationally Scarce. Orchestes alni (L.) Bullock's Lakes, Kingston Seymour, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST403 678, 21 May 2017 Bob Fleetwood, flight interception trap. Two previous Somerset records since 2000. Scolytus mali (Bechstein & Scharfenberg) Large Fruit Bark Beetle Bullock's Lakes, Kingston Seymour, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST403 678, 17 June 2017 and 22 July 2017 Bob Fleetwood, flight interception vane trap on Hawthorn in hedge by lake. Nationally Scarce.

Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants) Tenthredo notha (Klug) , North Somerset (vice county 6) ST47 57, 26 August 2017 Paul Bowyer, one female netted. A species very similar to T. arcuata and T. brevicornis. antennata (Klug) Troopers Hill, Bristol (vice county 34) ST628 731, 29 April 2017 Ray Barnett. First record for region.

15 Duff A.G. (1993) Beetles of Somerset. Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society.

92 Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 – Ray Barnett Heteropelma amictum (Fabr.) Sand Point, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST325 659, 28 August 2017 Paul Bowyer, one female netted, identification confirmed by Andris Piterans. Few records across the UK. Coelioxys elongata (Lepeletier) Bishopston, Bristol (vice county 34) ST589 754, 13 July 2017 Rupert Higgins, one adult. Few records locally. Andricus aries f. agamic (Giraud) Ramshorn Gall Causer Kingsweston Lane, Bristol (vice county 34) ST532 789, 11 December 2017 Jon Mortin, gall on Oak. First BRERC record but under-recorded.

Diptera (true flies) Mycetophila deflexa (Chandler) Sandford Hill, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST426 589, 29 July 2017 Paul Bowyer, one male netted, identified by Peter Chandler. Only two other records on the NBN website for the UK. Stratiomys singularior (Harris) Villice, Chew Valley Lake, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST556 602, 25 June 2017 Rupert Higgins, one adult. A good population across the Somerset Levels especially. Odontomyia ornata (Meig.) Chew Valley Lake, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST580 606, 14 June 2017 Jon Mortin. A species with a concentration on the Somerset Levels. Odontomyia tigrina (Fabr.) Chew Valley Lake, Bath & NE Somerset (vice county 6) ST581 605, 16 June 2017 Jon Mortin. A species with a concentration on the Somerset Levels. modesta (Meigen) Dune Villa Sand Bay, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST329 634, 13 August 2017 Paul Bowyer, four recorded. A rare species of sand dunes around the UK coast line. Bombylius discolor (Mikan) Dotted Bee-fly Tytheringon, South Gloucestershire (vice county 34) ST662 888 and ST667 887, 04 April 2017 Rupert Higgins, ten plus. Apparently increasing locally. Medetera petrophiloides (Parent) , North Somerset (vice county 6) ST458 653, 19 August 2017 Paul Bowyer, one female netted. Thinly scattered records from across the UK. Anevrina thoracica (Meigen) Tyntesfield Estate, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST503 720, 23 August 2017 Paul Bowyer, one female netted. Thinly scattered records from across the UK. Myopites inulaedyssenterica (Blot) Three Brooks LNR, Bristol (vice county 34) ST628 815, 12 March 2017 Rupert Higgins, vacated galls on Pulicaria dysenterica. Poorly recorded across England.

93 Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 – Ray Barnett malaris (Séguy) Weston Moor, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST44 73, 25 July 2017 Dave Nevitt and Paul Bowyer, at a light trap. Identification confirmed by Laurence Clemons. Second record for region, after one in 2013. Tephritis matricariae (Loew) Sandford Hill, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST426 589, 29 July 2017 Paul Bowyer, one female netted, identification confirmed by Laurence Clemons. Thinly scattered records from across the UK. Volucella inanis (L.) Bishopston, Bristol (vice county 34) ST589 754, 13 July 2017 Rupert Higgins, one adult. Now well established. nasica (Haliday) Sand Point, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST330 659, 31 May 2017 Paul Bowyer, one netted. Thinly scattered around the Welsh and English coastline. Scathophaga calida (Haliday in Curtis) Sand Bay, Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST33 64, 14 March 2017 Paul Bowyer, on seaweed, identification confirmed by Stuart Ball. A species mainly of Scotland and Wales. Pierretia nigriventris (Meigen) Uphill, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST305 584, 01 August 2017 Paul Bowyer, one male netted. Thinly scattered records from across the UK. Phyto discrepans (Pandellé) Milton, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST338 615, 07 June 2017 Paul Bowyer, one netted. A poorly recorded endo-parasitoid of woodlice. Melanophora roralis (L.) Milton, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST338 615, 27 August 2017 Paul Bowyer, one male at actinic light. A poorly recorded endo- parasitoid of woodlice. Lispe caesia (Meigen) Sand Bay, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST325 659, 28 August 2017 Paul Bowyer, one male netted. Mainly known from the coasts of South Wales and eastern England. Helina sexmaculata (Preyssler) Milton, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST338 615, 18 July 2017 Paul Bowyer, one male at actinic light, identification confirmed by Stephane Lebrun. Only six other records on the NBN website for the UK. Drosophila hydei (Sturtevant) Milton, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST338 615, 27 October 2017 Paul Bowyer, one potted. Very poorly recorded across the UK. Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) Milton, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST338 615, 27 September 2017 Paul Bowyer, one at actinic light. Portishead, North Somerset (vice county 6) ST469 772, 19 December 2017 David Hawkins. Originally from south east Asia, this is a serious pest of fruit in some countries, now becoming established across the UK. Nationally Scarce – Occurring in 16-100 hectads in Great Britain. Nationally Rare – Occurring in 15 or less hectads in Great Britain

94

Weather Report for 2017 Richard Bland

The Bristol Naturalists’ Society (BNS) began publishing weather data in 1872 with G. F. Burder’s paper on rainfall in Clifton since 1853, and this led me to search for temperature data back to that date. From 1920, until its closure in 2002, the BNS was able to use the data gathered by the Long Ashton Research Station. From 2003 I have made use of the temperature data from the website www.bristolweather.org which is based in Totterdown (Bristol). It has also traced records from some other sources back to 1853, and I have used these to fill in historical gaps. The official Met. Office Bristol temperature data is taken at Lulsgate, and overall this is two degrees colder than that recorded at the Totterdown site. This suggests that the figures after 2002 cannot be directly compared with the earlier ones. Since 2002 I have used my own rain gauge situated in the Clifton/Stoke Bishop area, as Burder measured rainfall in Clifton. Rainfall figures vary considerably with location, and a long series is crucial to any understanding of the continuous processes of climate change. I use the term ‘long-term average’ below to mean the average back to 1853. Most meteorologists use the mean daily temperature as the basic unit, but many sources only quote daily maxima, and so I have used that figure throughout.

Summary for 2017 The year had an average maximum temperature of 15.3º C, warmer than 2016, and well above the average, since 1853, of 13.7ºC. It was the fourth successive year with an average over 15.0ºC. Prior to 2011 there had only been four years that had reached that figure. It was a very dry year; the annual total of 744mm was the lowest since 1978. Eight months had below average rainfall. April only had 1mm of rain, whereas in 1854 it had none. May, with a mean maximum of 19.1°C, was the third hottest on record, beaten by 1901 at 19.6°C and 1896 at 19.3°C. Chart 1 shows the weekly difference in temperature from the average of the past 15 years. It was a warm spring, there was a dip in late April and early May, then a warm summer, cooler late July, early August and September, warmer October, and average November and December. Chart 3 shows the percentage difference in monthly temperature between 2017 and the thirty-year average. Table 1 shows the annual average temperature and rainfall for the past decade, and the thirty-year average, as that is the normally accepted definition of climate.

95 Weather Report for 2017 – Richard Bland

C° 3

2

1

0 Week No. 1 5 9 13172125293337414549 -1

-2 Chart 1: Weekly rolling average difference in degrees between 2017 and the weekly average of the past 15 years.

% 50

0 Month 123456789101112

-50

-100 Chart 2: The percentage difference in mm between 2017 monthly rainfall and the average since 1853

% 20 15 10 5 0 Month 123456789101112 Chart 3: The percentage difference in monthly temperature between 2017 and the thirty-year average.

Year 2008 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 2017 Ann. Av. Max. ºC 13.7 14.6 13.7 15.5 14.7 14.8 16.1 15.4 15.0 15.3 30-year av. ºC 13.9 13.9 13.9 14.0 14.0 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.3 Rainfall mm 1150 986 747 847 1424 801 1056 870 855 744 30-year av. mm 958 959 953 946 961 959 964 962 971 974

Table 1: Annual average maximum temperature and rainfall. The second and fourth rows give the average for the thirty years up to and including the year referred to.

96 Weather Report for 2017 – Richard Bland Seasons Winter (December 2016 to February 2017) Average maximum temperature was 9.1ºC, a degree and a half colder than in 2016 but still half a degree above the ten-year average. Rainfall averaged 50mm per month, half the figure for 2016, and December 2016 only had a third of its normal rainfall. There were 23 frost nights (October to April), compared with an average 32 in the past decade. No snow fell, but there were 15 days when ponds were frozen.

Spring (March to May) Average temperature was 15.8ºC, the second warmest since 1853 and only beaten by 2011. This was almost three degrees warmer than the long-term average. The 30-year average is now 13.7ºC, just higher than the previous peak in 1960. It was a dry spring because of the April drought.

Summer (June to August) Average temperature at 21.4ºC a degree above the long-term figure, and the same as 2016. The thirty-year average, 20.5ºC, was the same as in 1880 and 1955. Rainfall was close to average as July was one of the three wettest months of the year.

Autumn (September to November) Average temperature at 15.5°C made it the fourth autumn in a row to exceed 15.0ºC. Both October and November were two degrees above average. September was a wet month, and had more rain than October and November together.

Seasonal Comparisons To put the 2017 seasonal average temperatures into perspective, Table 2 shows the seasonal temperature extremes, with their year, the average since 1853, and the differences between 2017 and the long-term average, and in Table 3 the same figures for rainfall.

°C 2017 Minimum Maximum Av. since 1853 Diff. Winter 9.1 1917 - 2.5 1920 - 10.6 7.5° +1.6 Spring 15.8 1887 - 10.4 1893 - 16.6 13.0° +2.8 Summer 21.4 1883 - 18.0 1976 - 23.9 20.3° +1.1 Autumn 15.6 1915 - 10.6 1959 - 16.8 14.0° +1.6 Annual 15.4 1892 - 12.1 2014 - 16.1 13.7° + 1.7

Table 2: 2017 seasonal average temperature compared with minimum, maximum and the difference between 2017 and the average since 1853.

97 Weather Report for 2017 – Richard Bland

mm 2017 Min. Max. Av. since 1853 Diff. Winter 50 1964 – 21 1995 – 154 79 -29 Spring 38 1893 – 17 1981 – 107 60 -22 Summer 68 1995 – 11 2012 – 149 74 -6 Autumn 58 1978 – 26 1935 – 173 87 -29 Annual 62 1864 – 49 2012 – 118 75 -13

Table 3: 2017 seasonal average rainfall per month compared with the maximum, minimum and average figures.

Monthly summaries for 2017

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Av. Temp. °C 8.2 9.4 12.9 15.2 19.2 21.5 21.9 20.8 18.6 16.3 11.3 8.8 15.3 Rain mm 60 52 61 1 52 46 104 53 105 30 51 129 62

Table 4: 2017 monthly average temperatures and total rainfall. The average for the year in the last column.

For each month I have stated the monthly average maximum temperature, and the range of this figure over the past decade. This helps to put the 2016 figures into perspective, and emphasizes the very large range of temperatures that wildlife has to cope with annually, a range that is many times the size of any climate change. This issue is dealt with at the end of the report. January (Average 8.2ºC Decadal range 4.1ºC to 9.8ºC. Rain 60mm, range 60-169). Began with a cold snap, northerly winds and ice on ponds, but winds turned S on the 5th and temperatures reached 11ºC on 8th and 13th. On 19th winds swung to the east and ponds froze again, and temperatures remained low until the very end of the month, reaching 13ºC on 31st. It rained on only 8 days of the month, and the total, was the lowest since 2010. February (Average 9.4ºC. Decadal range 6.7ºC to 10.1ºC. Rain 52mm, range 27 to 127). The first week had southerly winds, but temperatures fell from 11ºC to 3ºC from 8th to 12th, but climbed back to 11ºC on 15th and stayed there for the rest of the month, with west winds, cloudy skies, but no rain at all on 18 days. It was a gloomy month with half normal sunshine.

98 Weather Report for 2017 – Richard Bland March (Average 12.9ºC. Decadal range 7.6ºC to 14.9ºC Rain 61mm, range15-118). Low pressure and southerly winds saw temperatures rise to 16ºC on 10th and 11th and it remained warm to the 17th, then cool and wet to 22nd when easterly winds took charge and temperatures rose to 18ºC on 26th. The last week saw bright sunshine with over 11 hours on three days and temperatures staying high. April (Average 15.2ºC. Decadal range 12.3ºC to 18.7ºC. Rain 1mm, range 1-156). The warm bright weather continued for the first week with 12 hours of sunshine on 8th when temperatures reached 22ºC, dominated by high pressure and southerly winds. The second week was cooler and duller, but no rain fell, and the third week was also dry with temperatures round 16ºC. Finally, on 25th a single millimeter of rain fell, and temperatures dropped to 11ºC with North winds until the end of the month. May (Average 19.2ºC. Decadal range 16.2ºC to 19.2ºC. Rain 52mm, range 36-102). The first ten days were dominated by NE winds and bright sunshine, and no rain. Temperatures averaged 16ºC, and 18ºCin the second week. On 12th the wind switched to SW, temperatures rose, and rain fell for the next six days. By 22nd the temperature reached 25ºC and 28ºC on 26th with over twelve hours of sunshine, and it remained warm and bright until the end. June (Average 21.5ºC. Decadal range 18.6ºC to 22.6ºC. Rain 46mm, range 37-190). June was dominated by SW winds and temperatures of around 20ºC, but with cloudy conditions until 14th. From the 16th there were six days of full sunshine and high pressure and temperatures reached 34ºC on 21st, the warmest day of the year. The last week saw more normal conditions and cloudy skies. It was the sunniest month of the year with 6.4 hours a day, and the sunniest month since June 2015. July (Average 21.9ºC. Decadal range 20.3ºC to 26.2ºC. Rain 104mm, range 19- 193). The first ten days saw a lot of sunshine, temperatures reaching 29ºC on 5th and 6th, and no rain. The second week was cloudier but dry and the temperature reached 28ºC again on 18th. Much needed rain began to fall on 18th, and continued for the rest of the month, with SW winds and cooler conditions. It was the third wettest month of the year. August (Average 20.9ºC. Decadal range 19.2ºC to 22.5ºC. Rain 53mm, range 25- 189). The temperature remained around 20ºC throughout the month. Although it rained on and off for the first 18 days, total rainfall was a third below average. Winds tended to be light westerlies. From the 19th it was dry and in the last week there were three days with more than 12 hours of sunshine. It proved to be the sunniest august since 2007. September (Average 19.3ºC. Decadal range 17.2ºC to 22.1ºC. Rain 105mm, range 16-130). South winds kept temperatures up for the first two weeks, but north winds pushed it down to 16ºC on the 19th, though it recovered to around 20ºC for the last

99 Weather Report for 2017 – Richard Bland ten days. There were no gales, and, though it was the wettest month since March, there was no rain at all on half the days. October (Average16.3ºC. Decadal range 13.7º to 17.3ºC. Rain 30mm, range 30- 159). An unusually dry month, dominated for the first two weeks by high pressure over the Baltic, and light easterly winds. These produced a spectacular bird migration on the east coast, but Bristol saw nothing of it. There were some bright days and sunshine totals were greater than any year back to 2008. There was no rain until 15th, and autumn colour was dramatic, despite the lack of frost. Total rainfall was a third of normal. Temperatures remained high for the first two weeks before falling to around 14ºC by the end of the month. November (Average 11.3ºC. Decadal range 8.7ºC to 13.5ºC. Rain 51mm, range 51- 252). North winds on 5th brought the first frost of the winter, earlier than the previous three years, and the temperature fell to 8ºC on 8th before recovering to 14ºC on 15th. Low pressure brought a week of rain between 16th and 22nd, producing 30mm, and the temperature fell to 7ºC for three days. Two very windy days on 21st and 22nd swept most of the remaining leaves off trees. Cooler conditions with North winds began on 24th bringing bright sunlight and three frosts. December (Average 8.8ºC. Decadal range 3.4ºC to 13.3ºC. Rain 129mm, range 37- 185). The first week was warm, but temperatures fell abruptly on 8th, and there was a dusting of snow on 10th, the first since March 2014, and three frost nights. Westerly winds brought warmer weather to the 25th when it reached 12ºC, followed by a second cold spell with snow on the night of 26th, but it was all gone by the end of the month. It was the wettest month of the year.

Weather Extremes Table 5 below gives figures for the extreme annual events over the past decade, enabling the events of 2017 to be put into perspective. It is often claimed that extreme weather events are becoming more common, but without a clear definition of an ‘extreme event’ this is very hard to demonstrate. Flooding is often caused by human factors, such as house building on former flood meadows, or draining of upland moors for sheep rearing, and storm fatalities are often more an indication of population density and poverty rather than the scale of the storm. There is little evidence of a trend in these figures. I have added a column for the maximum ‘extreme’, and another for the average ‘extreme’ since 2000. I have removed the row formerly labelled “Storms” because the data I was using, which was wind speeds in the Irish Sea, are of little relevance to what is experienced in Bristol.

100 Weather Report for 2017 – Richard Bland

2008 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 2017 Max Avg Hottest day (°C) 28 28 26 29 30 32 31 32 34 34 34 30 Coldest day (°C) 2 -1 -5 1 1 0 4 5 5 3 5 2 Wettest day (mm) 35 36 36 40 72 33 42 28 30 34 72 39 Sunniest day (hrs) 14.9 14.715.6 14.7 15.0 15.0 13.3 13.7 12.8 14.8 15.6 14 Longest dry (days) 16 20 24 23 17 20 17 14 15 24 24 19 Longest wet (days) 8 8 7 5 15 9 7 6 7 10 15 8 Frost, nights (days) 44 42 76 22 41 67 15 12 25 29 76 37 Snow (days) 1 19 33 0 1 8 1 0 0 3 33 7 Hotter than 25C (days) 7 5 3 14 19 32 27 5 13 22 32 15 Colder than 5C (days) 14 37 60 13 16 29 2 5 5 7 60 19 More than 10hr sun (days) 29 49 46 44 38 44 39 25 16 33 49 36 No sun (days) 95 95 106 104 93 95 82 84 74 85 106 91 No Rain (days) 228 265269 253 205 238 203 227 230 223 269234

Table 5: Summary of weather extremes for the past decade

A note on climate Climate is defined as the normal weather measurements over time, usually taken to be thirty years. Because it is an average it changes slightly every year. The general pattern of climate in Bristol since 1853 is that the average maximum annual temperature fell to about 1900 when it was 13.2ºC. It rose to 1960, when it was 14.0ºC, fell to 1992 to 13.6ºC, and it has risen since to 14.3ºC today. Rainfall fell from 73mm a month in 1880 to 71mm in 1910, then rose to 80mm in 1938, fell back to the 1880 level in 1992 before increasing to the 1938 level today. The variation in temperature in the past century is 8% and in rainfall 11% Weather varies much more widely from year to year than climate does in centuries, and all wildlife responds to the changing conditions they experience daily. Data gathered over the last 15 years on the Downs in Bristol suggest that, normally, a change of one degree in average temperature will lead to a ten day change in the average timing of events for both plants and birds, although individual species vary in their response. The climate changes that have occurred since the peak of the last ice age 18,000 years ago, have led to continual change in the wildlife that can thrive here, and this process continues. Seasonal change, especially cold winters and cold

101 Weather Report for 2017 – Richard Bland or wet breeding seasons, can have a dramatic effect on bird populations. The table below shows the climate figures for each season a century ago, 50 years ago, and over the past decade. The most striking feature is that the roughly one degree of warming took place between 1917 and 1967, and the past 50 years has seen little change. However, looking at the overall pattern, temperatures fell after 1960 and have recovered in the past decade. The rainfall figures show an increase in autumn and winter in the past fifty years. Table 6 below shows seasonal thirty-year average temperature and average monthly rainfall for the years 1917, 1967, and for the decade 2008 to 2017. The final column shows the change between the 2017 figure and 100 years earlier. All the figures, except for summer rainfall show an increase, but one that is below 10%, except for winter temperature and rainfall, and autumn rainfall.

1917 1967 2008 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 2017 Diff Temperature Winter ºC 7.2 7.6 7.8 7.9 7.9 7.8 7.9 7.9 8 8 8.2 8.2 +1.0 Spring ºC 12.6 12.6 13.4 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 +1.1 Summer ºC 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.4 20.4 20.5 20.5 20.4 20.5 20.6 +0.6 Autumn ºC 13.4 14.5 14.4 14.4 14.4 14.5 14.5 14.5 14.6 14.6 14.7 14.7 +1.3 Annual ºC 13.3 13.9 13.9 13.9 13.9 14 14 14.1 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.3 +1.0 Rainfall Winter, mm 78 75 89 88 86 87 87 87 89 89 89 89 +11 Spring, mm 61 58 68 68 67 64 65 63 64 63 63 62 +1 Summer, mm 75 75 68 70 70 72 74 74 76 75 74 75 0 Autumn, mm 79 85 91 95 95 93 94 94 93 94 93 92 +13 Annual, mm 74 73 79 80 80 80 80 80 81 81 81 81 +7

Table 6: Thirty-year seasonal average figures over the past century, fifty years and decade.

References Burder G.F., PBNS 1872

102

Society Annual Report 2017

1. Organisation The AGM was held on Wednesday, 15 March 2017 at Westbury Methodist Church in Westbury-on-Trym which continues to be a popular venue for our meetings. Our thanks go to all at the Church and especially to Mavis Lane for her unstinting kindness and efficiency. The meeting was followed by a presentation by Dr. Jens Holtvoeth of Bristol University on Ancient Lake Ohrid, an exceptional hotspot of biodiversity and archive of environmental history. David Hill (President) retired from office and gave a short address outlining the enjoyment that he had gained from working with members whilst in post and highlighting the importance of mutual support. In returning the Presidential badge of office, he wished the soon to be announced new President well. Elected: Secretary: Lesley Cox, Treasurer: Michael Butterfield, Membership Secretary: Margaret Fay, Bulletin Editor: David Davies, Librarian: Jim Webster, Archivist: Clive Lovatt, Circulation Secretary: Brian Frost, Webmaster: Mark Pajak and Receiving Editor for the Proceedings: Dee Holladay. The Publicity Secretary’s position remained vacant. Richard Ashley, Tony Smith and Giles Morris had been put forward to represent the Sections whilst Ray Barnett, Tim Corner, Robert Muston, Mandy Leivers, and Richard Bland were elected as ordinary members of Council. The regular commitments of The Society, i.e. our diverse field meetings held across the BNS area (once designated as Avon) and its neighbouring Shires, plus our winter lecture programme and a variety of focused surveys, continued unabated during 2017 making it a busy year. Previous commitments, such as the joint programmes run in conjunction with the University were consolidated and further augmented by other imaginatively formulated innovations and co-operative ventures.

2. Co-operative Ventures As in other years, the Society responded to the Bristol Natural History Consortium’s request to provide expertise for the BioBlitz in Bristol, which this year experimented with a schools’ venture in Stoke Park. Subsequently, in June, at the associated Festival of Nature Weekend held in Millennium Square, the BNS shared a large display area with the University of Bristol (as in 2016), which framed an effective glimpse into a range of study fields through illustrative or interactive examples.

103 Society Annual Report 2017 The Joint BNS/University Biodiversity Programme is an on-going collaboration utilising BNS expertise to showcase the flora and fauna of University estates. Diverse events seek to attract University staff, students, alumni, the general public and reserves places for BNS members. It is proving to be increasingly popular with some events regularly oversubscribed. In addition, the Society was honoured to receive an invitation from the staff at Westonbirt Arboretum to help with a two-day survey being planned to celebrate the restoration of the site’s calcareous grassland. A team of around a dozen BNS members was organised to travel up for this new collaboration, the success of which ensured that it is likely to be repeated in the future. Diverse specialist surveyors, predominantly from the BNS, worked uninterrupted in the heat to find as many species as possible with an impressive result of 737 species found, excluding the Lichen records, verification of which had not been received at the time the Master List was passed to the Society.

3. BNS Harper Bursary Fund The generous bequest of Barry Harper reported on in previous years led to the creation of the BNS Harper Bursary Fund, which entered its third year of operation in 2017. Formulated as a means to address the perceived species identification skills gap amongst the young, it enables small grants to be given to undergraduates to attend recognised courses, such as those run by the Field Studies Council and similar organisations, to gain specialist fieldwork experience. • 25 undergraduates attended a Field Studies Council Course or equivalent in 2017. • 10 different types of courses were selected, viz., Butterflies and Moths, Cetacean Survey Training, Discovering and Identifying Wild Flowers, Finding and Identifying Beetles, Flora and Fauna for Hill Walkers, Identifying Marine Species and Habitat, Mammal Identification, Marine Mammal and Bird Surveys, Marine Microbiology and Rocky Shore Invertebrates. • £9171.06 was awarded in total. The limit set for any individual grant within the scheme is £500. The average grant awarded this year was £366.84. The demonstrable success of the Bursary scheme will enable the University to obtain an alternative funding source when the BNS Bursary scheme eventually closes. The precedent that the scheme embodies is one of which the Society and Barry Harper can be immensely proud.

104 Society Annual Report 2017 4. Grants and Legacy Awards Grants: The Society gave out £2,750 in grants during 2017 comprising: a. £500 towards the creation of The Castle Park Tree Trail initiated by Ann Freeman, devised by Richard Bland, both BNS members, and officially opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Bristol. b. £500 to Simon Carpenter to restore the Writhlington Batch ‘Rock Store’ that provides an exposure of fossil rich coal measure mudrock. c. £250 to Ed Drewitt to attend the Peregrine Falcon Conference in Poland, which brought together the latest news and research on the subject. d. £1,000 to BRERC in support of their latest volume to be published in a series of books on the Bristol region, viz., The Geology of the Bristol Region. e. £500 to Simon Carpenter (awarded in 2016 but not received) in support of his month-long excavation at Welton Hill to expose Lower Jurassic clays (Charmouth Mudstone Formation) noted for its well-preserved fossils and remarkable biodiversity.

5. Library The Society is extremely fortunate to have this remarkable asset. Its value is inherent and intrinsic rather than pecuniary and it is worth pointing out that many similar Societies are without the benefits that we enjoy through it. It is currently also proving to be extremely useful as a private meeting venue when not officially open to members. The post-1960 Catalogue is on the Website. In addition, there is a searchable index of articles published within the BNS Proceedings (Nature in Avon), since 1863 on the Website, (the Society was inaugurated in 1862). It is available to use or download in Excel or PDF formats with direct links to the Biodiversity Heritage Library included. Digitisation of the Proceedings of the Society (Nature in Avon) is now complete up to and including 2015. Some issues remain with the Avon Bird Report.

6. Annual Section Reports for 2017 i. Botany Section Six indoor meetings (2016, five) were held in the year under the auspices of the Botany Section. The meetings with guest speakers were popular, with an average audience of over 30, generally including members of other sections and guests from outside the Society. Particularly well-attended was Matthew Oates’ talk on the Natural History of the Purple Emperor – a butterfly of course, but one benefitting from appropriate

105 Society Annual Report 2017 management of woody plants. Graham Avery from Oxford, in a delightful presentation, expanded our knowledge of three of our earlier members and their botanical tours of the Continent and meetings with Clarence Bicknell over a hundred years ago. Tim Rich gave a lecture on seed collection of difficult-to- identify species for the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew Gardens. On the other hand, for workshops and seminars where the members of the Section took the lead, including the now regular October session on plant identification (this year on botanical look-alikes), attendance fell to fewer than a dozen ‘regulars’. There were botanical field meetings each month from April to September inclusive, equally distributed north and south of the Avon, and by type of location – urban, rural and on nature reserves. The significant reduction from the sixteen meetings in 2016 was due to rebranding joint field meetings as advertised meetings of other groups also open to our members on request. All field meetings were within twenty miles of Bristol. Most meetings resulted in good records, but average attendance was a disappointing six. Notices and accounts of all meetings can be found in the BNS monthly Bulletin, Bristol Naturalist News, together with photographs and various notes on plant finds and anecdotes from the history of Bristol botany. Three of its covers had botanical subjects, one (in advance of his talk) showing Tim Rich near Portishead collecting type material of the new Whitebeam, Sorbus richii, named after him by our member Libby Houston. The Somerset Rare Plants Group (SRPG) and the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society (GNS) continue to publish the most important plant records from their respective sides of the Bristol Avon. The Secretary wishes to thank the Sectional Committee for their organisational support throughout the year, and the leaders of the field meetings for taking us to such interesting places. Specific thanks go to David Hawkins who is taking over as Botanical Secretary. Clive Lovatt, Hon. Sec. Botany Section ii. Geology Section The Geology Section AGM was held on 25 January 2017 when the following Officers were elected: President - David Clegg, Secretary - Richard Ashley, Field Secretary - Richard Ashley. The AGM was followed by members’ talks. The following Lecture meetings took place during the year: 15 February Has all the Geology of the Bristol Area been discovered? A stimulating talk and discussion lead by Mark Howson. 29 March The Origins of Dolomites by Professor Maurice Tucker. 29 November The Origins of Starfish and Brittle Stars by Dr. Aaron Hunter.

106 Society Annual Report 2017 Field meetings arranged by BNS Geology Section were: 22 April West Tanpit Wood, Lower Failand, lead by Richard Kefford. 31 May Clevedon, lead by Richard Ashley. 21 June Middle Hope, lead by Professor Susan Marriott and Dr. David Case. Members also took part in Field Meetings run by Bath Geological Society visiting Lulworth Cove to Mupe Bay on 8 April, Deadmaids Quarry, Mere on 2 September and Ogmore and Southerndown on 7 October. A special feature of 2017 was the Pliosaurus Exhibition at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery showcasing the huge fossil specimen Pliosaurus carpenteri named after its finder BNS member and ex-President Simon Carpenter. Also of note was the establishment of a Geology degree course at the University of the West of England lead by Professor Susan Marriott and it is hoped that there will be a continuing relationship with the UWE course. The Section would like to record its thanks and appreciation to Bristol University’s Department of Earth Sciences for allowing the use of Room G8 for its winter meetings and other support. Richard Ashley, Geology Section Secretary iii. Invertebrate Section The AGM was held on 13 February 2017 at BAWA. Robert Muston continued in the post of President but Tony Smith, the Section’s long-standing Secretary, who followed the meeting with a presentation entitled Insects of the Region, stepped down with Moth Broyles taking over. Meetings during the summer were listed at Bennett’s Patch and White’s Paddock, Leigh Woods (×2), Badock’s Wood (×2), Golden Valley Meadows, Meadowsweet, Thornbury Leisure Centre, Butterfly Field, The Bommie, Glyn Vale and Novers Hill, Sand Bay, Hanham Hall and Old Sneed Park. Thanks must go to Ray Barnett who, as usual, kept all in the Society updated on invertebrate matters through his monthly Bulletin Entry, Invertebrate Notes. Sec. iv. Ornithology Section The Section AGM was held on Wednesday, 13 January 2017 at which the existing Ornithology Committee was returned to office, viz. Giles Morris (President), Lesley Cox (Secretary) and Members Mike Johnson, Richard Bland and Mary Hill. As always, the Ornithology Section had a busy year. The details of our main activities are included below but, in summary, members benefitted from 16 field meetings across Bristol, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, South Glos and Gloucestershire

107 Society Annual Report 2017 itself, and six superb diverse talks. Members also participated in a range of standard surveys, as listed, as well as other less usual events, such as, the hugely successful survey at Westonbirt. Ornithology members manned the stand at the University’s Bee Festival and hosted the most popular events within the Joint BNS/University Biodiversity Programme of events. We are already looking forward to 2018, which will mark the 90th Anniversary of our local Heronry, include the BTO Conference in March, plus the National Nest Box Week and another full programme of events. Highlights of 2017 have been, for example, the success of the joint coach trip with BOC to Arne in June where the diverse number of habitats encountered in one day, including marine, estuary, heath and woodland produced an extremely wide variety of species, including great views of Dartford Warbler and, from a general naturalist’s point of view, it was extremely interesting to have a guided tour by a warden of parts of the reserve not normally accessible to the public where we had a superb view of the rare Sand Lizard. Another highlight came in July with the evening visit to the Forest of Dean, which produced brilliant views of at least four different Nightjars with the male's purring song "churring" and wing clapping clearly seen. One was also seen in classic silhouette pose lying across a horizontal branch. July also gave a third example; the survey at Westonbirt with an incredible range of taxa listed. Field Meetings (16) January: Somerset Levels/Ham Wall. February: 1) Clevedon Yeo. 2) Exe Estuary -Coach Trip. Jointly with the BOC. March: Severn Beach and New Passage. April: 1) Wain’s Hill. 2) The Downs. May: 1) Frome Valley. 2) The Somerset Levels. June: 1) Blagdon. 2) Portbury Wharf. 3) RSPB Arne. Coach Trip with BOC. July: Forest of Dean. September: Chew Valley Lake. October: Migration Watch at Aust. November: Sand Point and Middle Hope. December: Slimbridge. Lecture Meetings (6) January: Bewick Swans: Julia Newth. February: The Birds of Kazakhstan: John Martin. March: Wild Ethiopia: John Sparks. October: The Peregrine Falcon -Latest News: Ed Drewitt.

108 Society Annual Report 2017 November: Life in a Noisy World: Professor Andy Radford. December: The Nightjar: Rod Leslie. Surveys Breeding Bird Survey (25th Anniversary) Local Breeding Bird Survey Avon Winter Bird Survey Local Garden Bird Watch WeBBs House Martin Nest Survey RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch Other: Individual work. Other Activities and Engagements Members of the Section participated in or contributed to: Biodiversity Events in association with Bristol University, BioBlitz Events, The Bristol Walking Festival, Regular radio broadcasts, The Avon Ornithological Group, Collaborations with: The RSPB, BTO, AWT, BOC, The Forestry Commission and Friends of The Downs & Avon Gorge. I would like to thank the members of the Ornithology Committee for their on-going dedication and all the members of the Society who support our Section. Their help, support and good-humour which is so freely given, whether leading field events, counting birds, putting out chairs or making the tea and their presence at all our events (which are always well attended), are the foundations upon which our achievements are based. Lesley Cox, Hon. Sec. Ornithology Section v. Walking Group: Society Mid-Week Walks As last year, the group undertook twelve walks on the first Thursday of the month in very different locations. Closest to Bristol and north and south of it were, Frenchay and Abbots Leigh. Increasing distance took the group to Iron Acton and Oldbury- on-Severn, whilst furthest away were two valley walks (Slad plus Frampton Mansell and Sapperton Valley), two hill walks, (Bleadon and Collard Hill), a warren (Dolebury), a circuit (Cheddar) and two other walks without designated geographical features attached, i.e. Lacock and Nunney. Accounts of each walk were published in the Bulletin. Walk leaders do not need to be experts in natural history. All that is required is that they know of an interesting area that they would like to share with other like-minded people. The guiding principle is that everyone should keep a look out for anything

109 Society Annual Report 2017 of interest and any specialists amongst the group can enjoy sharing their knowledge to the benefit of all. Of course, the other guiding principle is that the walks end with a convivial meal seated around a table in a convenient hostelry enjoying a choice of refreshments. On behalf of Tony Smith vi. Reading Group The Reading Group is a wide-ranging natural history book club that welcomes new members. It is recognised by the Bristol Libraries Service, which enables the group to borrow a set of the title it chooses to read and discuss. The latest book under discussion is, Simon Cooper’s Life of a Chalk Stream, published by Collins in 2015. On behalf of Tony Smith. vii. Society Talks Society talks cross boundaries and feature topics and their specialists from any aspect of the natural world. As usual, six talks were presented with a broad spread of attractions within the Society Winter Lecture Programme. January: Kiri Green – British Bats This was an extremely popular talk in which Kiri, assisted by her partner Stuart, outlined the types of bats in Britain, their habitat, habits and a great deal of first hand information derived from years of experience. Stealing the limelight were the live bats, rescued from injury that cannot be released in to the wild. February: Peter Smithers – Spiders; Silk, Sex and Subterfuge Spiders exhibit a range of bizarre and fascinating morphologies, almost unbelievable behaviours and are master engineers. The audience was captivated as Peter wove the web of his knowledge around them. March: Jens Holtvoeth – Ancient Lake Ohrid This presentation on Palaeolimnology explained how research into one of the oldest extant lakes in the world had uncovered the pattern of development over millennia and explained how and why in this exceptional hotspot of biodiversity and archive of environmental history there are over 300 endemic taxa. October: Richard Bland – Bristol’s Greatest Trees A personal selection of species, locations and histories relating to Bristol’s trees, delivered by an exceptional enthusiast, renowned for his encyclopaedic knowledge. November: Matt Brierley – Myth, Moths and Butterflies A very popular and enjoyable presentation in which Matt showcased his work as Butterfly Conservation’s Education Officer and questioned everyday thinking.

110 Society Annual Report 2017 December: Ray Barnett – More Than Just a Dead Zoo Ray’s presentation brought to the fore some of the hidden highlights and stories from the biology collections within Bristol Museum that continue to provide insight into the workings of our planet, contribute to conservation programmes, aid current research and throw light on changing cultural mores. Many thanks to all our speakers who educated, entertained and enlightened us in 2017. Lesley Cox, Hon. Sec.

7. Links with Other Organisations Many of the links with other organisations have been detailed elsewhere in this report. Joint ventures with the University, survey work with the BTO, RSPB, BSBI, etc., are standard. In addition, the Friends of The Downs and Avon Gorge, BRERC, The Bristol Ornithological Club, Bath Naturalist History Society, The West of England Geologists’ Association, Bath Geological Society and Gloucestershire Naturalists Society, etc., are all groups with which we are increasingly holding joint meetings or interacting more frequently in some other meaningful way. 2017 also saw the foundations being laid of a much deeper and mutually beneficial relationship with the Avon Wildlife Trust that will strengthen both organisations to maximize their individual and joint effectiveness in a modern world which, at best, too often considers the importance of the natural world last and at worst, considers it not at all. More detail of this alliance will appear in Bristol Naturalist News and next year’s report. There are also special and enduring links that the Society is especially honoured to have and without which it would be very significantly lessened; the relationship with the Bristol Museum is one such.

8. Membership Membership fell during 2017, which is a matter of considerable concern. It perhaps reflects a modern trend to avoid commitment, an issue that presents a difficult problem to a Society such as ours. The Society openly welcome guests, of whom there are many, and trust that some will become members. Greater publicity in 2018 will, we hope, address the issue and, ideally, current members will encourage friends, relatives and neighbours of like mind to join us. In contrast, we were also privileged to gain some very notable specialists and national experts. As always, some old friends have left for reasons beyond their control. The Society will be the poorer for their loss.

111 Society Annual Report 2017 9. Thanks As always, the Society is grateful for the help and support it receives from the Earth Sciences Department, University of Bristol and our grateful thanks also go to Ms. Laura Pye, Head of Culture, Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives, Bristol City Council, for the Museum’s continued support of the Society Library, located within the City Museum and Art Gallery. Finally, our thanks go to all those members of The Society who give so willing of their time and energy in the course of the year to support the aims and aspirations of The Society. Lesley Cox, Hon. Sec.

112

Treasurer’s Report – Accounts for 2017 Accounts for the Year ended 31 December 2017

PROFIT & LOSS 2017 2016 (Year to date) (Full year) £ £ INCOME Membership Fees 7,872 9,117 Advance payments -395 Gift Aid 1,568 1,764 Donations 373 564 Trading 40 133 Interest 623 610 Misc 41 615 TOTAL 10,119 12,802

EXPENDITURE Administration Printing & stationery 99 83 Post & telephone 55 57 Council meetings 300 180 Insurance 140 137 Capital Items 0 48 Other 307 38 TOTAL 900 543

SURPLUS of Income over Running Costs 9,219 12,259

Charitable Activities Meetings (Speakers' Fees & Room hire) 697 1,328 Bulletin Production 3,240 3,716 Avon Bird Report Printing 1,897 1,710 Proceedings (Nature in Avon) Printing 1,652 1,207 Publicity 1,002 1,296 Library (books & periodicals) 1,077 531 Prepayments 310 TOTAL 9,566 10,098

SURPLUS of Income over Running Costs and Charitable Activities -347 2,161

GRANTS from Capital Grants Awarded 2,750 18,450 Quartet Community Grant (Swift Project) 3,610 1,962 TOTAL 6,360 20,412

CASHFLOW FOR 2017 -6,707 -18,251

113 Treasurer’s Report for 2017 BALANCE SHEET as at 31st December 2017 2017 2016 (for full year) (for full year) £ £ ASSETS Lloyds Bank 4,254 11,188 Skipton Building Society 75,220 74,597 Gift Aid Prepayments 0 0 Creditors -395 0 79,078 85,785

LIABILITIES 50,000 50,000

NET ASSETS 29,078 35,785

RECONCILIATION 2016 Final Balance 35,785 104,036 2017 Cashflow -6,707 -18,251 Gift Aid 0 Liabilities 0 -50,000 2017 Final Balance 29,078 35,785

DESIGNATED FUNDS The Quartet Community Fund 2016 Final Balance 3,610 5,572 2017 Cashflow -3,610 -1,962 2017 Final Balance 0 3,610

Barry Harper Memorial Fund 2016 Final Balance 60,000 75,000 2017 Cashflow 0 -15,000 2017 Final Balance 60,000 60,000

Funds Committed 50,000 50,000 Balance Uncommitted 10,000 10,000

GENERAL FUND Assets 29,078 35,785 Quartet Fund 0 -3,610 Harper Memorial Fund -10,000 -10,000 General Fund 19,078 22,175

MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS 2017 2016 2015 Received in 2016 285 Received in 2017 7,872 Pre-payments for 2018 -395 Total 7,762 8,265 7,200

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Instructions for authors

The editor welcomes original papers or short notes on the natural history of the greater Bristol region for consideration for publication in Nature in Avon. Text should be submitted by email in Word. The data for graphs should be sent in Excel, separately from the graph, as graphs may have to be recreated to fit the page size of the journal. Illustrations should be submitted separately in .jpg format by email. Deadline dates for submitting copy will be published in the BNS Bulletin. The copyright of all newly published material will belong to the Bristol Naturalists’ Society, whose Council may authorise reproduction.

VOLUME 77 (2017) CONTENTS Page Editorial . 1 Winter Hoverflies of the Bristol Region Jon Mortin 2

Peregrines Ten Years On Ed Drewitt 8 J W White’s Racy Botanical Articles Graham Avery 13 Lower Writhlington Tip, Radstock Simon Carpenter 20 Chills and Thrills of Plant Sex Alex Morss 29 New Moth Records to the Bristol Region Ray Barnett 35 Land of Limestone and Levels: Lincoln Garland Defining the West of England & MikeWells 42 Phenology Report, 2016 and 2017 Richard Bland 53 The Queen's Hitchhikers Alex Morss 55 A Slime Flux Jean Oliver 59 Slimbridge 72 Years Ago Richard Bland & Martin Davis 61 Seeds of Change Nicholas Wray 66 Geology and Landscape of the Bristol Region Richard Arthur 80 Bristol & District Invertebrate Report, 2017 Ray Barnett 85

Weather Report for 2017 Richard Bland 95 Society Annual Report 2017 103 Treasurer's Report for 2017 113

Rerum cognoscere causas – Virgil Cover: Bumblebee – Alex Morss Printed by Direct Offset, Glastonbury ISSN 0068-1040