Contents / Diary of events SEPTEMBER 2017 Bristol Naturalist News Photo © Steve Hale Discover Your Natural World Bristol Naturalists’ Society BULLETIN NO. 563 SEPTEMBER 2017 BULLETIN NO. 563 SEPTEMBER 2017 Bristol Naturalists’ Society Discover Your Natural World Registered Charity No: 235494 www.bristolnats.org.uk HON. PRESIDENT: David Hill, CONTENTS BSc (Sheff), DPhil (Oxon). 3 Diary of Events ACTING CHAIRMAN: Stephen Fay HON. PROCEEDINGS RECEIVING EDITOR: 4 Society Walk Dee Holladay, 15 Lower Linden Rd., Clevedon, Lesley’s “Natty News…” BS21 7SU [email protected] 5 Joint BNS/University programme HON. SEC.: Lesley Cox 07786 437 528 Bat Walk, Meeting report. [email protected] 6 Phenology ; New Avon Flora ; HON. MEMBERSHIP SEC: Mrs. Margaret Fay Purple Sycamore Trees; Book Club 81 Cumberland Rd., BS1 6UG. 0117 921 4280 [email protected] 7 LIBRARY Holiday reading HON. TREASURER: Michael Butterfield Mystery Mammal in Westbury on Trym 14 Southdown Road, Bristol, BS9 3NL (0117) 909 2503 [email protected] 8 BOTANY SECTION BULLETIN DISTRIBUTION ‘Other’ Field meetings; Botanical notes: Hand deliveries save about £800 a year, so help Mtg Reports; PJM Nethercott papers; is much appreciated. Offers please to: Plant Records HON. CIRCULATION SEC.: Brian Frost, 60 Purdy 11 Westonbirt Survey Report Court, New Station Rd, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3RT. 0117 9651242. [email protected] He will 12 GEOLOGY SECTION be pleased to supply further details. Also Sea Dragons of Street; Mendip Rocks; contact him about problems with (non-)delivery. Pliosaurus! BULLETIN COPY DEADLINE: 7th of month before publication to the editor: David B Davies, 14 INVERTEBRATE SECTION Notes for this month; Meeting reports The Summer House, 51a Dial Hill Rd., Clevedon, BS21 7EW. 01275 873167 [email protected] This month’s Poem Grants: BNS typically makes grants of around 16 ORNITHOLOGY SECTION £500 for projects that meet the Society’s Field Meeting Report; Forward Dates; charitable aims of promoting research & Recent News. education in natural history & its conservation in the Bristol region. Information and an application 18 MISCELLANY Botanic Garden – Bee form can be downloaded from bristolnats.org.uk & Pollination Festival; Gorge & Downs Email completed applications to Wildlife Project; [email protected]. 19 Badock’s Wood ; Health & Safety on walks: Members Ed Drewitt/Bristol Ferry participate at their own risk. They are Tony’s POEM for the month responsible for being properly clothed and shod. Dogs may only be brought on a walk with prior 20 Pictures of the month agreement of the leader. Steve Hale sent this picture Cover picture: of a juvenile Cuckoo at Litton Reservoir. It was feeding voraciously on caterpillars at a nearby nettle-bed. Bristol Naturalists’ Society Discover Your Natural World 2 Registered Charity No: 235494 www.bristolnats.org.uk Diary of events Back to contents Council usually meets on the first Wednesday of each month. If you plan to attend please check date & time with the Hon. Sec. (from whom minutes are available to members). Any member can attend, but must give advance notice if wishing to speak. Visitors & guests are welcome at any of our meetings. If contact details are given, please contact the leader beforehand, and make yourself known on arrival. We hope you will enjoy the meeting, and consider joining the Society. To join, visit https://bristolnats.org.uk and click on membership. Members are members of ALL the sections. SEPTEMBER 2017 Sat/Sun 2/3 BNS at Bee & Pollination Festival Botanic Garden 10:00 page 18 Thu 7 Midweek Walk: Lacock Society 10:00 page 4 Sat 9 Chew Valley Lake Ornithology 10:00 page 16 Thu 21 Yate – urban ‘pot luck’ Botany 11:00 page 10 Fri 29 Bat Walk BNS/University 19:15 page 5 OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST Pliosaurus! at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery until 7 Jan page 13 Sat 2 Sep Cheddar Gorge SRPG 11:00 page 8 Sat 2 Sep Ed Drewitt down the Gorge Bristol Ferry 14:25 page 17 Sat 2 Sep Deadmaids Quarry Bath Geol. Soc. page 12 Thu 7-Sun 10 Sep: Sea Dragons of Street Free Exhibition page 13 Sat 9 Sep Workshop: Study/Paint the Solitary Bee Botanic Garden 10:00 page 18 Tue 12 Sep Upper Lode Lock, Tewkesbury GlosNats 11:00 page 8 Fri 15 Sep Music with Mummy Gorge & Downs 10:00 page 18 Fri 15 Bat Talk & Walk Badock’s Wood 19:00 page 19 Thu 21 Sep Friends’ Lecture Botanic Garden 19:30 page 18 Sat. 23 Sep Workshop: Introduction to plant propagation Botanic Garden 10:00 page 18 Sat 30 Tree Gazing along the Promenade Gorge & Downs 14:00 page 18 Sat 30 Sep – Tue 31 Oct.: Mendip Rocks Festival page 13 Fri 6 Oct Owl Prowl Badock’s Wood 19:00 page 19 Sat 7 Oct Ogmore & Southerndown Bath Geol. Soc. page 12 Sun 8 Oct 20th Anniversary Conference, Taunton SRPG 10:00 page 8 3 SOCIETY ITEMS SOCIETY MID-WEEK WALK Contents / Diary Thursday, 7th September Lacock, Red Lion, about 2½ miles As one gets towards Lacock, there is signing to the free car park on the corner of Hither Way at ST918682. This is the start of the walk, about two minutes’ walk from the Red Lion (SN15 2LQ). The route is fairly level, following part of the meandering River Avon. Meet at this car park at 10am. After the walk we expect to enjoy refreshments at the Red Lion. Please let me know by phone or email if you are expecting to come on the walk. Car- sharing is advisable. Tony Smith: tel. 0117 965 6566. Email: [email protected] LESLEY’S NATTY NEWS (& Dapper Updates) Contents / Diary Any member thinking of relaxing into the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ with pipe and slippers or cups of cocoa might be revitalised by this crop of news items and updates. New President of the BNS: We are delighted to be able to announce that Professor Andy Radford (Professor of Behavioural Ecology at Bristol University) has honoured us by accepting the Society’s invitation to become our next President. He will be taking over the reins from Dr. David Hill, whose term of office came to an end this year. Prof Radford is looking forward to working with us and to meeting as many members as possible over the next few months and I have no doubt that members will be equally keen to hear details of the extremely interesting and highly pertinent research in which he is engaged. Winter Lecture Programme: The opportunity to meet our new President might be an added incentive to make sure that you make a note of the dates within the forthcoming Winter Lecture Programme, which starts next month in October. Bristol: The Sunday Times this year cited Bristol as the best place to live in the country quoting the opportunities the City offers to its inhabitants plus its friendliness and easy access to the beauty of countryside and coast. However, native Bristolians and long-term residents recognise that the City and County of Bristol itself and the surrounding Greater Bristol Area is undergoing rapid change. Lack of public money for our parks and funding cuts for important, iconic institutions such as the Museum and other important organisations, stands in stark contrast to the vast public millions being spent on new transport routes that cut through our fields and wildlife sites and the private millions financing vast housing estates on our historic airfield and green belt areas. Messages to be read from this are varied but one is; make sure that you get out to enjoy your favourite sites, sounds and species and, if you can, record the species that you see - while they are still there! If this news is depressing, perhaps you can take heart from the next news item. Michael Gove was appointed Secretary of State for the Environment and Rural Affairs in June. His keynote speech in July was called The Unfrozen Moment – Delivering a Green Brexit in which he talks about protecting our natural world and halting its decline. You can read the speech here. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-unfrozen-moment-delivering-a-green-brexit 4 Some Recent Research News: Researchers at Bristol University have discovered that microorganisms living on the Pacific seabed can produce molecules with antibiotic properties and these may hold the key to a new wave of anti-bacterial medicines. Meanwhile, the UK Government has just published UK Biodiversity Indicators 2017 using data collected by BTO volunteers (which include many of our members) as well as data from other organisations such as the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Butterfly Conservation, to provide a broad overview of the status of important habitats and species, conservation activities, threats and pressures. They include a re-release of the wild bird indicators and updated indicators for butterflies, bats and plants. Dutch eggs found containing the insecticide Fipronil: Its use is illegal in food production as it damages human kidneys, liver and thyroid. It doesn’t do much for the insects either. Finally, research carried out in Switzerland and reported on in Nature found that the most common nocturnal pollinating group was, unsurprisingly, moths (Lepidoptera), followed by beetles (Coleoptera) and bugs (Hemiptera) but another key finding was that the existence of artificial light, reduced their pollinating activities by 62%. Perhaps, in reverse, a similar situation would be like humans trying to sleep with the light on! Lesley Cox, Hon. Sec. JOINT BNS/UNIVERSITY BIODIVERSITY EVENTS Contents / Diary All members are welcome but booking is essential. Contact Lesley Cox on 07786 437528 or e-mail: [email protected] FIELD MEETING BAT WALK Friday, 29th September At a Secure University Site 19:15 All members are welcome but booking is essential.