march 2018 bristol naturalist news · pollinators, such as bumblebees and solitary bees. in this...
TRANSCRIPT
Contents / Diary of events
MARCH 2018
Bristol Naturalist News
Discover Your Natural World
Bristol Naturalists’ Society
BULLETIN NO. 568 MARCH 2018
Photo © Martyn Pratt
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CONTENTS
3 Diary of Events; Nature in Avon
4 Society Talk/AGM; Society Walks; Subs reminder
5 Society AGM ; Flora 2020 ;
6 Natty News
8 Phenology ;
Welcome to new members; Book Club; ‘Food for Thought’! R Symes’ picture
9 BOTANY SECTION 10 Botanical notes: Meeting Reports ;
N Sandwith; Clifford C Townsend obit; Plant Records ;
12 GEOLOGY SECTION Bristol Rocks!
13 INVERTEBRATE SECTION
Notes for this month ; Urban Buzz
14 Library New books in BNS Library.
15 Poems for the month
16 ORNITHOLOGY SECTION Meeting Report; BTO SW Conference; BBS +Training Day ; Recent News
19 Miscellany Botanic Garden;
Avon Organic Group; Steep Holm – booking clerk wanted; Hawk & Owl Trust – ‘Why Save Vultures?
20 Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project; Buglife – Urban Buzz; St George’s Flower Bank – fundraising Quiz
Cover picture: Male Blackcap in Willow
(with thanks to Martyn Pratt)
HON. PRESIDENT: Andrew Radford, Professor
of Behavioural Ecology, Bristol University
ACTING CHAIRMAN: Stephen Fay
HON. PROCEEDINGS RECEIVING EDITOR:
Dee Holladay, 15 Lower Linden Rd., Clevedon,
BS21 7SU [email protected]
HON. SEC.: Lesley Cox 07786 437 528
HON. MEMBERSHIP SEC: Mrs. Margaret Fay
81 Cumberland Rd., BS1 6UG. 0117 921 4280
HON. TREASURER: Michael Butterfield
14 Southdown Road, Bristol, BS9 3NL (0117) 909 2503 [email protected]
BULLETIN DISTRIBUTION Hand deliveries save about £800 a year, so help
is much appreciated. Offers please to:
HON. CIRCULATION SEC.: Brian Frost, 60 Purdy
Court, New Station Rd, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16
3RT. 0117 9651242. [email protected] He will
be pleased to supply further details. Also
contact him about problems with (non-)delivery.
BULLETIN COPY DEADLINE: 7th of month before
publication to the editor: David B Davies, The Summer House, 51a Dial Hill Rd., Clevedon,
BS21 7EW. 01275 873167 [email protected]
Grants: BNS typically makes grants of around
£500 for projects that meet the Society’s
charitable aims of promoting research &
education in natural history & its conservation in
the Bristol region. Information and an application
form can be downloaded from bristolnats.org.uk
Email completed applications to
Health & Safety on walks: Members
participate at their own risk. They are
responsible for being properly clothed and shod.
Dogs may only be brought on a walk with prior
agreement of the leader.
BULLETIN NO. 568 MARCH 2018
Bristol Naturalists’ Society Discover Your Natural World
Registered Charity No: 235494
www.bristolnats.org.uk
Bristol Naturalists’ Society Discover Your Natural World
Registered Charity No: 235494
www.bristolnats.org.uk
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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.
MARCH 2018 Sat 10 Sea Mills walk Ornithology 10:00 page 16 Wed 14 Namibia Ornithology 19:30 page 17 Wed 21 Talk by RSPB President, + Society AGM Society 19:30 pages 4/5 Sun 25 Know your Conifers (Field meeting) Botany 11:00 page 9 Sun 25 BNS Geology stall at BRISTOL ROCKS! Geology 11-4 page 12 Wed 28 AWT B-lines Botany 19:30 page 9
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST Sat 3 Mar. Lichens on the Downs Gorge & Downs 10:30 page 20 Sun 4 Mar. Curator’s Tour Botanic Garden 10:30 page 19 Thu 8 Mar. ‘Why Save Vultures’ Hawk & Owl Trust 19:30 page 19 Sun 18 Mar. BTO Conference Ornithology 09:30 page 17 Thu 22 Mar. Polytunnels & Greenhouses Avon Organic Gp. 19:00 page 19 Thu 22 Mar. Friends’ Lecture (following 7pm. AGM) Botanic Garden 19:45 page 19 Fri 30 Mar. – Mon. 2 Apr. Sculpture Festival Botanic Garden 10-5 page 19 Tue 1 May St George’s QUIZ NB Date change St G. Flower Bank 20:00 page 20
Nature in Avon – Last chance to submit! A reminder to everyone to consider writing up 2017 recording efforts, projects or observations for publication in vol. 77 of Nature in Avon. Short accounts and papers are both welcome, with illustrations.
The deadline is March 31, 2018.
Please send to [email protected]
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SOCIETY ITEMS
BNS Subscriptions 2018 A big thank you to all our members who have renewed their subs to date. We are extremely grateful for your continuing support.
To those members who have not yet got round to renewing, or may have decided not to do so this year, it will be very helpful to let me know if you don’t intend to continue with your membership. You can email ([email protected]) - or call on 0117 921 4280.
Many thanks,
Margaret Fay (Membership Secretary)
Need a reminder? Subs were due 1 Jan.
Rates: Single Member £25; ‘Household’ £35; Student £10.
Payment options:
By cheque (“Bristol Naturalists’ Society”) to the Membership Secretary (81 Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6UG).
Bank Transfer / Standing Order: Lloyds TSB: Account number: 00697372: Sort code: 30-92-13
please quote your name as a reference, or I won’t know it’s you!
TALK, preceded by the AGM (see next page) Contents / Diary
“A WHISTLE-STOP TOUR AROUND THE COAST” Wed., 21 March
A presentation by MIRANDA KRESTOVNIKOFF 7:30 pm (Naturalist, Marine Conservationist and President of the RSPB)
Miranda will take the audience around the coastline of the British Isles, starting from our
home in Bristol and travelling around the Welsh coast, across to Northern and Southern
Ireland, past the Western Isles and Scotland, down the east coast and back along the
south coast, before returning back home safe and dry! The tour will take in some of the
best stories she has filmed for the BBC series COAST, The One Show and Channel
Four's Wreck Detectives. She will give a behind the scenes view on how some of the
items are filmed and what happens when it all goes wrong!
SOCIETY WALKS – Tony Smith
Tony Smith being indisposed, there will be no Society Walk on the first Thursday in
March. In later months it may be possible to arrange something. Meanwhile, we wish
Tony a speedy return to his normal full vigour.
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Flora 2020 There are about 40 one-km squares that need to be surveyed this year, as they have not
been visited since 2000. I will send a list to anyone interested; a two-hour visit will cover
much of the habitat in a square, and it is an interesting challenge to see how many species
can be found. Contact [email protected]
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Contents / Diary
Wednesday, 21st March 2018, 7:30 pm
Westbury-on-Trym Methodist Church, BS9 3AA (There is a large car park adjacent to the Church and several buses stop nearby)
Election of Council
The President, Professor Andy Radford, will be in post for three years.
Dr. David Hill remains on Council as the retiring President.
Most other Council Officers and Members are required to stand for re-election
annually.
Council Nominations are:
Lesley Cox: Hon Secretary
Vacant: Hon. Treasurer
Margaret Fay: Hon. Membership
Secretary
Jim Webster: Hon. Librarian
Dee Holladay: Hon. Proceedings
Receiving Editor
David Davies: Hon. Bulletin Editor
Clive Lovatt: Hon. Archivist
Mark Pajak: Hon. Webmaster
Brian Frost: Hon. Circulation Secretary
Vacancy: Publicity Secretary
Ray Barnett (Member) Richard Bland (Member)
Tim Corner (Member) Steve Nicholls (Member)
Section Representatives:
Richard Ashley: Geology
Robert Muston: Invertebrates
Giles Morris: Ornithology
Any member of the Society wishing to nominate a fellow member for election should
inform the Hon. Secretary as soon as possible.
Lesley Cox (Hon. Sec.)
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NATTY NEWS Contents / Diary
Hedgehogs emerging from their winter hibernation will be unaware of a new report
published by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) and The People’s Trust
for Endangered Species (PTES) which gives a mixed picture of the species’ fortune in
Britain. Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) numbers have been a matter of concern with
reports of the population in Britain having crashed from an estimated 30,000,000
individuals in the 1950’s to a mere 1,000,000 in current times and the new report highlights
the continued decline in rural areas with a halving of the population since the year 2000.
Changing agricultural practices involving the loss of hedgerows and copses, for example,
and increased use of pesticides have taken away habitat and food. The authors, Wilson
and Wembridge, also note the reduction in the number of urban or suburban sites in which
hedgehogs are known to exist but offer a glimmer of hope in that, where hedgehogs are
known to be active in these areas, the population has risen. The reduction in urban site
numbers has also leveled off. The report suggests that, ‘Hedgehogs continue to face
pressures in the rural landscape and from urban development but monitoring numbers, and
actions such as ‘Hedgehog Street’ and public efforts to improve garden habitats and
connectivity, might be giving them a chance’. [I am fortunate to have several Hedgehogs
using my garden to feed and at least one hibernates there. (S)he woke up in one of the
mild spells to feast on dried mealworms. It was a pleasure to see my resident in such good
condition and still with a healthy body weight.] The Hedgehog might also benefit from the
Long strips of bright wildflowers that have been planted within crop fields to boost
the natural predators of pests that attack cereal crops and to potentially reduce the amount
of pesticide spraying. The strips were planted on 15 large arable farms in central and
eastern England last autumn and will be monitored for five years as part of a trial being run
by the Centre of Hydrology and Ecology as concern increasingly rises over the
environmental damage caused by powerful insecticides. The success of wild flower
margins, where they have been utilised, has been to show how they support insects,
including hoverflies, parasitic wasps and ground beetles which slash the number of pests
in fields with a consequent rise in yields. However, until now wildflower strips were only
planted around the edges of fields, meaning that many natural predator species are unable
to reach the centre of the increasingly large crop fields. As Prof Pywell says, ‘If you
imagine the size of a [ground beetle], it’s a b****y long walk to the middle of a field,’ but
with equipment such as harvesters now being guided by GPS technology, wildflower strips
planted within crops can be avoided and left as refuges all year round. Professor Pywell is
from the CEH and his initial tests show that planting strips 100m apart means that the
predators are able to attack aphids and other pests throughout the field. The flowers
planted include oxeye daisy, red clover, common knapweed and wild carrot and are
designed to provide early season pollen and nectar resources for important crop
pollinators, such as bumblebees and solitary bees. In this respect they should provide dual
benefits – enhanced natural pest control and crop pollination. Whilst on the subject of
bees, two researchers fro the University of Cambridge suggest that we should consider
Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera) as livestock.
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Contents / Diary
In their paper, ‘Conserving Honey Bees Does Not Help Conservation’ published in
Science, (26/1/18), authors Geldmann and Gonzáles-Varo argue that domesticated honey
bees actually contribute to wild bee declines through resource competition and the spread
of disease, with the so-called environmental initiatives that promote honey bee-keeping in
cities, or worse, in protected areas far from agriculture, exacerbating the loss of wild
pollinators. Major flowering crops such as fruits and oilseed rape bloom for a period of
days or weeks, whereas honeybees are active for nine to twelve months and travel up to
10km from their hives. This results in massive "spillover" from farmed honeybees into the
landscape, potentially out-competing wild pollinators and, as with other intensively farmed
animals, overcrowding and homogenous diets have depressed bee immune systems and
sent pathogen rates soaring in commercial hives. "Honey bee colony die-offs are likely to
be a 'canary in the coalmine' that is mirrored by many wild pollinator species. The attention
on Honey Bees may help raise awareness, but action must also be directed towards our
threatened species," said Geldmann.
Ozone Levels are still causing concern according to a large collaborative team of
scientists led by Dr. William Ball from ETH Zürich (a science, technology, engineering and
mathematics university in Zürich). They report that the ozone layer, which protects us from
harmful ultraviolet radiation, is recovering at the poles but unexpected decreases in part of
the atmosphere may be preventing recovery at lower latitudes. ‘Evidence for a
continuous decline in lower stratospheric ozone, offsetting ozone layer recovery’, by
Ball, et al, is published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 2018 (2) and it finds that
the bottom part of the ozone layer at more populated latitudes, between 60° north and 60°
south is not recovering and has continued to decline since 1998. The cause is currently
unknown; models do not reproduce these trends and thus the causes now urgently need to
be established. London sits at 51° 30’ and Bristol at 51° 27’.
Lesley Cox, Hon. Sec.
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PHENOLOGY Contents / Diary January was an interesting and varied mix of cold and stormy spells and warm The
Average maximum was 9.1°, half a degree above the thirty year average, but below the
very warm Januaries of 2014 and 2016. Rainfall, at 86 mm, was spot on the January
average, well below the three wet Januaries of 2014, 15 and 16. But the twelve month
figure is still 150 mm below normal, and the driest since 1996. Water companies have
begun to make murmurs about potential problems ahead. One storm blew over one of the
four magnificent Erman’s Birches at the top of Stoke Hill, and a ring count showed it had
been planted just after the last war. As far as spring events went, Hazel and Snowdrop
were a day or two late, Crocus and Celandine a day or two early, barren Strarberry three
weeks early, and one new Cow Parsley plant was in flower two months early. But writing
on February 7th with ice on the pond, anything can happen.
Richard Bland
Welcome to new members of BNS:
Ms. Gill Clayton (Interests: General Mammals Ornithology); Ms. Carole Doyle-Roberts; Ms. Jennifer Greenwood (Botany); Mrs. Pat Rogers (Ornithology).
FOOD FOR THOUGHT? Seen in the Grand Canyon, (US) last October. The squirrel was almost certainly ingesting plastic by gnawing through the discarded bottle to drink the water remaining inside. Thanks to Robert Muston for this thought provoking shot.
READING GROUP / BOOK CLUB
The Reading Group is a wide-ranging natural history book club
and welcomes new members. You don’t have to be a member
of the Society to join us. We are recognised as a book club by the Bristol
libraries service and so we are able to borrow a set of the book we want to read.
Members have not yet met to decide on our next book.
Contact: Tony Smith 0117 965 6566 [email protected], for details of meeting places and times.
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BOTANY SECTION PRESIDENT:- Clive Lovatt 07 851 433 920 ([email protected]) Contents / Diary HON. SEC:- David Hawkins [email protected]
INDOOR MEETING Indoor meetings are held from October to March on the 4th Wednesday in the month at 7.30pm - 9.30pm in the Westbury-on-Trym Methodist Church, Westbury Hill, BS9 3AA. The church is on a bus route and has a free public car park beside it.
B-LINES Avon Wildlife Trust Wednesday 28 March Eric Heath, AWT Head of Land Management & Advice 7.30 pm From a Buglife leaflet: “B-Lines will create a network of wildflower-rich routes, providing important habitat for bees, butterflies and other insect pollinators, enabling wildlife to move across the landscape, and making local areas more attractive for people to live & work in.” For further details please refer to the Diary entry on the BNS website or contact David Hawkins by email ([email protected]). See also the Urban Buzz entry on page 19.
FIELD MEETING The BNS Botany Section will organise at least one field meeting a month relatively close to Bristol. The programme will be advertised in the BNS Bulletin as soon as details are available. More extensive programmes throughout botanical vice-counties 6 and 34 (North Somerset and West Gloucestershire respectively) are organised by the Somerset Rare Plants Group and the Plant Group of the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society. A few of these meetings will be joint meetings or will be advertised as open to BNS members by invitation.
KNOW YOUR CONIFERS: CYRIL HART ARBORETUM, FOREST OF DEAN
Clare and Mark Kitchen (01453 810958) 11 am, Sunday 25 March A joint meeting for BNS and Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society members on the identification of conifers. Meet in the car park just south of Speech House Hotel (GL16 7EL for Satnav users) on the road to New Fancy viewpoint at SO 621118. Bring lunch and suitable footwear, and your favourite tree book.
The conifers key in Poland & Clement’s Vegetative Key to the British Flora will be used throughout the meeting – please bring a copy or contact [email protected] in advance for a PDF copy of the relevant 9 pages.
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BOTANICAL NOTES Contents / Diary Indoor meeting report THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRISTOL UNIVERSITY BOTANIC GARDEN, Nick Wray, Wednesday 24 January (Report by Helena Crouch) Nick Wray, Curator, delivered a fascinating talk on the University of Bristol Botanic Garden to the thirty members of the Society present. The research and plant collection at Bristol is all important: university botanic gardens across the UK and Europe have been closing at a disturbing rate over the last two decades. At Bristol, all Biology undergraduates (263 this year) visit the Botanic Garden on their first day and use it regularly during their course.
The former site at Bracken Hill, Leighwoods, was never laid out as a botanic garden: the move to The Holmes, Stoke Park Road, gave an opportunity to create a botanic garden from scratch. The new garden has four core collections: Evolution, Mediterranean Climate, Local Flora and Useful Plants. Nick explained how the layout of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Display reflects plant genetics. Our understanding of evolutionary relationships was substantially overhauled by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group: the display is laid out to represent APG III, published in 2009, meaning that Bristol is one of the most up-to-date places to envision the botanical ‘tree of life’. Nick likened the history and evolution of plant genetics to trying to solve a 100,000-piece jigsaw when you only have 100 pieces, and no edges or corners!
He and his colleagues moved 12,500 plants in 470 taxa and faced the challenge of planting species with differing soil requirements in adjacent places within the evolutionary tree. More ancient plants are arranged in the Evolutionary Dell, where the imported rocks, including sandstone mud from 110 million years ago, also reflect the passage of time. Here, as elsewhere in the garden, Nick and his team are doing an excellent job of communicating the wonder and importance of plants to the public.
The display of Mediterranean Climate Regions is still being developed and will include plants from five Mediterranean Regions of the world: Europe and North Africa, South Africa, Western Australia, Chile and California. Some tender plants have to be grown in the greenhouses. Although regions of Mediterranean Climate are small in area, they are extremely rich in diversity.
The Useful Plants collection is in two parts: the Western Herb Garden, influenced by the physic garden at Padua, and the Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden, used for teaching and research, which ranges from investigating medicinal uses of plants to trialling different varieties of tea for growth in the UK. The importance of such collections is widely recognised in China, where 3,800 herbs are used in medicine. At Bristol University, 8% of students are Chinese and every year enthusiastic Chinese botanists and students visit the Botanic Garden, which is forging important partnerships with botanic gardens in China. Nick noted that at the South China Botanical Garden in Guangzhou there are 350 permanent academic staff! Clearly, we should look east for future botanical breakthroughs.
In contrast to the Victorian style of ‘stamp collection’ botanic gardens, Bristol and many others around the globe are now focusing on exhibiting and conserving local and endemic plants. The Local Flora and Rare Native Collection is in a prominent position near the entrance to the gardens and features rare natives from the Avon Gorge and the Mendips, including Spiked Speedwell (Veronica spicata) and Bloody Crane’s-bill (Geranium sanguineum). The Botanic Garden is also engaged in projects to bolster the populations of local rarities through propagation and planting, including Brown Galingale (Cyperus fuscus) in the Gordano Valley and Honewort (Trinia glauca) in the Avon Gorge. We came away
assured that our botanic garden is a dynamic place, of global reach but with its feet in the local landscape.
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Noel Sandwith: a botanical education 1904-1920 Contents / Diary After the death of his father, the young Noel Sandwith (b. 1901) was brought to Bristol by his mother Mrs Cecil Sandwith in 1909 and in 1911 he found Carum carvi, Caraway, and showed it to JW White (Flora of Bristol 1912: 336). The Sandwiths had a lifelong interest in botany: Noel worked at Kew and his mother wrote the Adventive Flora of the Port of Bristol (1933), and they wrote the annual Bristol Botany reports in our Proceedings for a quarter of a century. His and his mother’s Wild Flower Society Diaries 1913-1919, various annotated Floras, and correspondence with H Stuart Thomson tell us something of his botanical education.
Noel’s first plant record seems to have been the daisy, when he was three or four. He found Impatiens parviflora, Small Balsam at his school, Clifton College in 1910, a year when he also listed plants from the Lizard in Cornwall, Cheddar Gorge, and a dozen different places in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.
In 1916 he was given a day off school to show George Claridge Druce, the pre-eminent British Botanist of the period, a native plant, Scorzonera humilis, Viper’s-grass, that he and his mother had discovered in Dorset, new to Britain. Druce gave him a copy of Joseph Hooker’s Student’s Flora of the British Isles “in grateful recognition”. By 1917 “Master Noel”, as Druce referred to him in the Report for 1916 of the Botanical Society and Exchange Club of the British Isles, had recorded (and probably collected too) plants in a dozen English counties. He was forming opinions of the status, native or otherwise, of various species, and in several cases disagreed with published authorities. “You old idiot Watson” he wrote of one.
In 1920 he sent Thompson a letter about his dread of going up to Oxford University, where he read Classics. “I must learn to wear smart clothes…a felt hat, to shave (!) etc. I simply hate it all.” Three months later he had settled in and all was well: “I have seen Mr Druce [again; he was a pharmacist in Oxford] of course and had a long evening seeing his Shetland gatherings. Also Mr Riddelsdell [by then Vicar of Bloxham in Oxfordshire, who was 12 years into his work on the Flora of Gloucestershire 1948] came to tea with me one day, I had always longed to meet him…quite one of the nicest botanists I have met.”
Clifford Charles Townsend 1926 - 2018 Cliff Townsend died on 8
th January 2018 and with his death, we believe, the last living link
with recording for the Flora of Gloucestershire (1948) is lost. At page clxii, WR Price (the third author of the book) indicated that Townsend had recorded widely for the Flora over the last few years and that he was one of the Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club’s most active members and was embarking on a triennial survey of Gloucestershire rare plants. Educated in Cheltenham, he was one of the founder members of what grew into the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society. In 1959 he joined the Oriental and North African Section at Kew, so he would have known Noel Sandwith there. He was involved with the Floras of Iraq, Tropical East Africa, Ceylon and of the countries in the Zambezi area, later specialising in Amaranths and Umbellifers. His moss herbarium has been given to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. His last publication (2009) was to name a moss from Zaire after his late wife (nee Dorothy Moss). [CML, who met him at Kew briefly in 1980 is indebted to a biography and list of publications prepared by his son, Bruce Townsend.]
PLANT RECORDS If you’ve found any interesting plants, please let me know.
Clive Lovatt, Shirehampton, 7 February 2018
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GEOLOGY SECTION
PRESIDENT: David Clegg [email protected] HON. SEC.: Richard Ashley, [email protected] Tel: 01934 838850
LECTURE MEETINGS Contents / diary Lecture meetings take place in room G8, Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, BS8 1RJ. For those unfamiliar with this venue: Enter the Wills Building via main entrance and walk ahead between the two staircases. Turn left when you reach some display cases and follow the corridor round. Room G8 is on your right.
VISIT TO UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL GEOLOGY COLLECTION
Claudia Hildebrandt Wednesday 28 February, 7.30 p.m. Booking essential
Claudia Hildebrandt has kindly offered to show members of the BNS round the Geology
Collection of the School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol.
It will be a very interesting evening. Please meet in the area behind the double glass doors
at the entrance to the School of Earth Sciences. As the number of people who can be
accommodated on the tour is limited members wishing to attend are asked to contact the
Section Secretary beforehand.
BRISTOL ROCKS! Sunday 25th March 2018 This year’s Bristol Rocks! will be taking place on Sunday 25
th March at Bristol Museum &
Art Gallery. The Museum will be welcoming stalls from the University of Bristol, running
tours to the geology stores, fossil handling tables run by the University of Bristol’s Dinosaur
Society and running craft activities amongst other things.
This family focused day of celebrating geology is now in its 5th
year and seems to be ever
popular! The day is focused on encouraging people to engage with geology through the
collections cared for at the museum, meeting local experts and through local specialist
groups such as the BNS.
The BNS Geology Section will be running a stall at this event. It will feature among
things Coal Measures plant fossils from the Lower Writhlington Colliery tip at Radstock,
which is one of the premier sites for these fossils in the country. Radstock Museum
recently arranged for the tip to be turned over to expose fresh material. This was financed
by grants from BNS, a local regeneration fund and Wessex Water. It is intended to
encourage people to attend a fossil hunt at the Tip on Saturday 7th
April at 12 noon
meeting in the car park opposite Radstock Museum (Waterloo Rd, Radstock, BA3 3EP).
The stall will need to be manned throughout the day and to achieve this we will need the
support of BNS members. If you can help please contact the Section Secretary.
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INVERTEBRATE SECTION PRESIDENT: Robert Muston 0117 924 3352 Contents / Diary Hon. SECRETARY: Moth Broyles [email protected] 07809 281421
INVERTEBRATE NOTES FOR MARCH 2018 BBC Radio 4 carried an interesting programme on 7 February 2018 – Inside the Killing Jar looked at whether entomologists can justify killing insects as part of their research. Examining what species of insect live in any particular habitat and what this means for their own and other species’ conservation relies upon accurate identification to species level but unfortunately this is not possible to do from just living specimens. Being small and, to us, remarkably similar in outward appearance, often means that we need to examine samples to be sure we know which species are actually present. It is perhaps ironic that the revelation of the recent dramatic declines in insect fauna within Europe has only been possible thanks to programmes of insect sampling which have included killing individual insects. In Germany studies were undertaken by using malaise traps (insect flight interception traps) which funnel flying insects into a jar of alcohol for preservation. In the UK, the Rothamsted moth monitoring programme has also involved killing of samples from light traps, for examination and interpretation. The sacrifice of those individual insects has to be considered against the knowledge gained and the potential conservation of whole species threatened by extinction at a local or even global level. Somehow though, the purposeful killing to preserve an insect for study is often seen as perverse by people who may think nothing of swatting a fly, spider or wasp, just because it had the temerity to be living in the same space as ourselves. As mentioned last month, the latest New Naturalist volume – Beetles – by Richard Jones has now been published. Despite certain reservations over the artwork on the cover, the volume is packed full of information on beetle ecology, life cycles, taxonomy, the origins and diversity of the British fauna, well worth a read. Cold weather into mid-February has apparently deterred much insect life from emerging from winter diapause too early with hopefully a positive impact for insect recording this year.
Ray Barnett 11/02/18
Also of interest… For Urban Buzz/Buglife events see page 20.
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LIBRARY
BNS Library at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, BS8 1RL. HON. LIBRARIAN: Jim Webster [email protected].
Open: Wed. 1.15pm-2.15pm, Sat. 10.15am-12.15pm. Contents / Diary N.B. The Library will be closed Easter Saturday 31st March.
Committee member on duty: 0117 922 3651 (library opening hours).
Access to the Society’s Proceedings and Nature in Avon online We are grateful to the Biodiversity Heritage Library and its participating institutions (Harvard and the Natural History Museum in particular) for digitising our Proceedings and Nature in Avon without charge and making them publicly available. To access them you can google “Biodiversity Heritage Library” and use the search facilities, or you can go direct to our own index pages at: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/98898#/summary (for the Proceedings, i.e. up to 1993); and http://biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/99328#/summary (for Nature in Avon, from 1994 to date)
New books in the BNS Library The Library Committee welcome suggestions what books the library should buy. The general focus is on relevant technical and popular identification handbooks, accounts of the flora and fauna and geology of places within a few hours’ drive of the Bristol area, and popular natural history writing expected to stand the test of time. Donations can be considered. This report covers the period October 2017 - February 2018 following on from my report in the October 2017 Bulletin. Further details of many of the books referred to can be found on Amazon. Do come and borrow them!
New Naturalists are always considered for purchase and we buy hardbacks. Beetles may be available by the time this report is published. Look out for Pat Morris’s Hedgehogs mid-year. After filling gaps in the BNS Library collection and advertising them as available to other BNS members last year, the Library Committee gave Bristol Museum a dozen duplicate New Naturalists which had been donated by a member.
The final volume (Volume 1) of Sell & Murrell’s Flora of Great Britain and Ireland should be out at the end of March and will include important new accounts of conifers, ferns, docks and knotweeds and Goldilocks buttercups. We should also by then have a copy of George Peterken and Edward Mountford’s bound-to-be-a-classic Woodland Development: A Long-term Study of Lady Park Wood. This Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire Wye Valley wood, set aside by the Forestry Commission in 1945 for ecological study, has some similarities with Bristol’s Leigh Woods and the Mendip woodlands. It is worth a look if only for the “30 years on” photo of two ecologists measuring the girth at breast height of the same tree, and also considers the desirability and practicalities of re-wilding woodlands.
Less grand but very practical is I spy with my little loupe (hand lens) by Mol Smith, a well-known and respected amateur microscopist. Recommended to us by Robert Muston, it includes a section on how a loupe may be used with a smart phone camera to record magnified images.
Saltmarsh by Chris Chatters (British Wildlife Collection no 5) is the latest in a series with similar scope to the New Naturalists, but perhaps more readable and with colour plates on most pages. The first half of the book surveys the variation in saltmarsh vegetation and management. There is a chapter on the saltmarshes of the Severn Estuary and another on the more complex than usually told history of Spartina (Cord-grass) hybridisation and spread. The other half of the book covers the history and future of
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saltmarsh conservation. There is an interesting inventory of inland salt marshes, including two in Gloucestershire.
The Orchid Hunter by Leif Bersweden describes the author’s efforts to see all the British Orchids in one year. We have a personally signed copy in the library with the inscription for Bristol Naturalists past and present. An extract: “Mum, this flower looks just like a bee, I said. I was seven years old and had just found my first orchid. My life would
never be the same”. Leif is still in his early 20’s and writes as is his manner: a charming book.
The Library Committee has been finding that donations are a helpful way of keeping the library up to date and to fill in gaps in the series. Roger Symes has given Mammal Society Journals and newsletters and Richard Ashley has done the same for the Geology shelves. The Society’s set of the 21 Avon Gorge project reports has been completed in the same way.
Clive Lovatt, 4 February 2018
Contents / Diary
From Tony Smith and Sharon Bennett, 2 seasonal poems
From ‘Common Ground’ by Rob Cowen (2016) You showed me eyebright in the hedgerow, Speedwell and travellers joy. You showed me how to use my eyes When I was just a boy; And you taught me how to love a song And all you knew of nature’s ways: The greatest gifts I have ever known , And I use them every day. Martin Simpson, ‘Never Any Good’, Prodigal Son, Topic Records, 2007. (Thanks to Tony)
LOVELIEST OF TREES
By A. E. Housman (1859-1936)
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough, And stands about the woodland ride Wearing white for Eastertide. Now, of my threescore years and ten, Twenty will not come again, And take from seventy springs a score, It only leaves me fifty more. And since to look at things in bloom Fifty springs are little room, About the woodlands I will go To see the cherry hung with snow.
(Thanks to Sharon)
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ORNITHOLOGY SECTION PRESIDENT:- Giles Morris, 01275 373917 [email protected] HON SEC.:- Lesley Cox 07786 437528 [email protected] Contents / Diary
It’s March and the ebb and flow of migration begins as winter and summer visitors begin to
leave or arrive with exciting sightings being encountered almost anywhere. Examples of
the owner of the quintessential sound of an English summer, the Cuckoo (Cuculus
canorus), had already begun their journey north in February from the countries of West
Africa but the route they take back to Africa after breeding in Britain could dramatically
affect the probability of a safe return to Britain in the following spring. Research by
Hewson, et al, has shown that birds choosing to depart using the ‘Western Route’ via
Spain and Morocco to the bulge of Africa and the Congo Basin leave 8 days later and are
also much more likely to suffer fatality in Europe, before crossing the Sahara, than those
following the Eastern Route (through Italy or the Balkans) despite the western route being
shorter. This suggests that degraded conditions in the stop off points might be
responsible. General habitat change, droughts and wildfires in Spain and the decline in
large moths and their larvae at their breeding grounds (hairy caterpillars are a favourite
food source) particularly on the western route, offer likely explanations. These are not only
serious problems in themselves but have a cumulative effect. However, since the western
route is still being used despite these issues it would appear that they are relatively recent
in origin; our already declining population of cuckoos has halved in the last 20 years.
Meanwhile, average arrival dates on the south coast for more numerous summer visitors,
such as Chiffchaff, Swallow, Willow Warbler and Blackcap (see cover) are the 12th/ 29
th/
31st /and 31st respectively.
FIELD MEETING SEA MILLS Saturday, 10th March
Leader: Richard Bland 10:00 a.m. Meet at Sea Mills station (ST 5498 7587) at 10.00. Please register your intention to attend the walk via [email protected]. The train is regular and interesting but there is parking on the road approach. The walk will cross the Trym, and go north up the River Avon. This is a section of the 360-mile Severn Way that starts at the source of the River Severn on Plynlimon. The path is rough and ready crossing the saltmarsh, so please be well clothed and shod. A variety of waders should be present on the Avon mud and wintering Stonechats have been recorded. At the end we will explore Crabtree Slip, a fascinating site for trees and plants. A swift return along the Portway should complete the walk by 12.00.
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LECTURE MEETING Contents / Diary NAMIBIA: ETOSHA to the NAMIB Wednesday, 14th March Speaker: John Martin 7:30 p.m. Namibia is generally a very dry country dominated by the ancient Namib Desert down its western half and part of the Kalahari within it borders to the east. In the north, the famous Etosha National Park has a spectacular array of big mammals. Much of the country is quite flat but there are a few higher areas too; Brandberg Mountain, for example, reaches 8000 feet plus. The birds are not as diverse as South Africa’s but include a number of near endemics, some shared only with southern Angola and just one endemic - Dune Lark. The cold current up the west coast makes the seas productive and rich in wildlife whilst just a few miles inland it is barren desert where rain is very rare.
FIELD MEETING REPORT
Greylake and Catcott – Sunday, 21st
January.
This was a joint meeting of Bristol Naturalists’ Society Ornithology Section and the BOC.
Five of us met in the car park at RSPB Greylake on a morning of heavy rain. Visibility
was fairly restricted due to mist and the rain, however, eight Snipe gave really close views
from the hide. It was good to see a Water Rail fully out in the open strutting amongst the
many loafing Teal and Wigeon. As with other wetland areas, however, the number of
migratory wildfowl seemed to be fewer this winter, perhaps due to less severe conditions in
Europe. A sign of the times was that there were more sightings of Great White Egret than
Little Egret; perhaps an indication of the breeding success of the larger bird on the
Somerset Levels last year. More than once the flocks of wildfowl and Lapwing took to the
air, successively, indicating the probable presence of a raptor but, frustratingly, nothing
was seen in the gloom. On the bird tables in the car park three Reed Buntings appeared
with the more common species of tit and finch. We then drove through flood water pouring
off the fields to the Somerset Wildlife Trust reserve at Catcott. The sight of a number of
elegant Pintail was the highlight of the afternoon. Conditions were far from ideal for the
Starling roost and therefore the meeting was cut short on a day when birding, to say the
least, was rather challenging.
Mike Johnson
Reminder BTO South West conference Book now to ensure a place. Full details are now available on the BTO website.
Sunday 18th March 2018, 09:30 – 17:00, Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford-on-Avon,
BA15 1DZ Tickets £20 per person, including refreshments and a buffet lunch. Book
online at www.bto.org/news-events/events , phone 01842 750050.
Chair, Stephen Moss, naturalist, writer, TV producer and broadcaster
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Breeding Bird Survey - 25th Anniversary Contents / Diary This year will be the 25th anniversary of the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). BBS is the main
scheme for monitoring population changes of our common breeding birds both nationally
and within Avon. It is organised by the BTO and involves just two early morning visits in
the breeding season to an allocated 1km square. Visits typically take about two hours
each plus an extra visit in the first year to set up/check the route. We also have a local
'Avon BBS' scheme which is similar but a little simpler and which adds considerably to our
local knowledge. Observers can select their own squares in the Avon scheme. Anyone
can participate who can identify our common birds by sight and sound - and the emphasis
really is on our common birds. If you are interested in participating in the Survey, or would
like any further information about BBS, please contact Dave Stoddard -
[email protected] (0117 9246968).
Breeding Bird Survey Free training day. Saturday 24 March. This is the key national
common bird monitoring system begun in 1994. It now covers over 12% of the surface
area of the region, and is always seeking new observers. If you can recognise common
birds by sight and preferably sound you are skilled enough to be involved. Contact Dave
Stoddard at [email protected]
ORNITHOLOGY RECENT NEWS Contents / Diary The reservoirs held a nice selection of scarce birds at the start of the year with Lesser
Scaup, a Cattle and 2 Great White egrets, and Firecrest at Chew; Black-necked Grebe at
Blagdon and the handsome drake Long-tailed Duck at Barrow on 1st. Other nice year list
starters on 1st included six Hawfinches at Oldland, another Firecrest in Weston-super-
Mare, 3 Short-eared Owls at Aust and an adult Mediterranean Gull at New Passage. On
2nd a record flock of 17 Hawfinches were at Newton St Loe continuing the excellent winter
for this species. If there's a churchyard near you with some Yew trees then it is well worth a
look (and listen) for this marvellous chunky finch. Storm Eleanor produced a magic minute
at Severn Beach with 1st winter Glaucous Gull and Leach's passing in rapid succession.
Otherwise there was a scatter of Kittiwakes plus a Fulmar at Oldbury. On 7th two adult
Whooper Swans dropped in to Northwick Warth and at least 2 White-fronted Geese flew
through but none lingered. Oldland also produced up to 4 Ring-necked Parakeets, which is
our biggest gathering so far of this increasing species. Although not universally popular
they certainly add a splash of the exotic and so far I am unaware of any convincing
evidence of negative impacts on native species. Please report all sightings so we can
document their expected increase in our area. Otherwise there was a scatter of regular but
scarce winter species such as Black Redstarts (perhaps most notably on the MShed roof in
the city centre), Marsh Harriers (2 reported at CVL), Bearded Tits (CVL and Weston STW),
Water PIpits, Spotted Redshank (Clevedon-Yeo) and the like. In a winter where 'white-
winged' gulls seem to be abounding elsewhere we have only had a brief and frustrating
probable Iceland at Aust, which disappeared into the gloom before it could be identified
with certainty. Watch out for them as they pass back through to the north over the next
month or two - we may yet a get a few.
John Martin
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MISCELLANY
Contents / Diary
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL BOTANIC GARDEN The Holmes, Stoke Park Rd, Stoke Bishop, BS9 1JG.
Booking: 0117 331 4906. www.bristol.ac.uk/botanic-garden Email: [email protected]
Sun. 4 March 10.30am-12pm EARLY SPRING CURATOR’S TOUR Admission: Free to Friends. Visitors: £7. Please meet at the Welcome Lodge Thu. 22 March, 7pm AGM; 7.45-9 pm FRIENDS’ LECTURE: Genetic fingerprinting of fruit varieties at Brogdale. Dr Matthew Ordidge, Scientific Curator, National Fruit
Collection, Brogdale. There will be a short break around 7.30pm before the talk at 7.45. Venue: Frank Theatre, Wills Physics Laboratory, Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TL Free to Friends (show membership). Visitors: donation (suggested £5).
Fri. 30 March –Mon. 2 April 10am-5pm EASTER SCULPTURE FESTIVAL Including
demonstrations of chainsaw sculpting & willow weaving. Refreshments, Tours of the garden, plants & book sales. Adults £6. Free to Friends, university staff & students, children under 18.
AVON ORGANIC GROUP http://www.groworganicbristol.org/
The venue for our meetings is The Station (the old fire station) on Silver St., Bristol BS1 2AG in the Dance Studio on the 2nd Floor. All welcome. 7pm - 9pm
Thu 22 Mar. Tim Foster, Local Author & Lecturer on Organic Horticulture: Polytunnels & Greenhouses.
Book trips to Steep Holm – please volunteer! The Kenneth Allsop Memorial Trust (www.steepholm.org.uk) is seeking applicants for the post of booking clerk to take bookings for trips to the island of Steep Holm in the Bristol Channel from March to September. The post is voluntary and the work can be done from home. Telephone equipment will be supplied and expenses paid. For further information please contact Joy Wilson on:
01934 522125 or [email protected]
Why Save Vultures?! Thursday 8th March, 7.30pm, The Concorde Room, BAWA Club, 589 Southmead Rd, Filton, BS34 7RG. An evening with Jemima Parry-Jones MBE, Director, International
Centre for Birds of Prey, voted Animal Heroes Conservationist of the Year 2017. Tickets £10 online: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/why-save-vultures-a-talk-by-jemina-parry-jones-mbe-tickets-42048664688?aff=ehomecard . Limited tickets at the door
Proceeds help fund our work at the Hawk & Owl Trust Shapwick Moor Nature Reserve
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Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project Contents / Diary Booking and further information: Contact the Project on 0117 903 0609 or e-mail [email protected] . Pre-booking essential for all events.
Details of meeting points are given on booking.
Sat. 3 March (Walk) Identifying lichens on the Downs.
Explore wonderful lichens growing on trees on the Downs with local enthusiast Sheila Quin, who will help you learn to identify these strange and beautiful organisms. 10.30am - 12.30pm, £5.
Tue. 6 March. Introduction to wildlife gardening. As wildlife comes under increasing
pressure, our gardens become valuable habitats. Ian McGuire will show you how to create a back garden nature reserve to attract, conserve and enjoy insects, birds, amphibians and mammals. 7 - 8pm, £4. Sun. 25 March. Birdsong on the Downs (Course) Learn to identify birds from their song
with Ed Drewitt. After a multimedia introduction to the birds you’re likely to see and hear, Ed will lead you on a walk to identify birds ‘in the field’. 10am - 3.30pm, £25.
URBAN BUZZ Volunteering BUGLIFE - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust W:
www.buglife.org.uk 01733 201 210 Urban Buzz has a number of volunteering opportunities
for people to get stuck into creating habitat for pollinators.
Activities include plug planting, various ground
preparation tasks, building bee banks, tree planting,
sowing wildflower seeds and many more!
Visit the Urban Buzz Hub online to find out how you can help insect pollinators.
EVENTS
12/03/18 Meadow sowing @Feed Bristol TBC
22/03/18 NHS Sustainability Day @Southmead Hospital TBC Connect with us on social media: @buzz_dont_tweet #UrbanBuzz
Join us in saving the small things that run the planet.
QUIZ KINGS HEAD, Pill, BS20 0HT
8pm, Tuesday 1st May
£1/person : Raffle
FUNdraising for New Trailer fund
Local Nature Reserve QUIZMASTER – Don Davies
Contents / Diary