july-august 2016 bristol naturalist news · 2016-06-19 · 81 cumberland rd., bs1 6ug. 0117 921...
TRANSCRIPT
Contents / Diary of events
JULY-AUGUST 2016
Bristol Naturalist News
Photo © Gill Brown
Discover Your Natural World
Bristol Naturalists’ Society
BULLETIN NO. 552 JULY-AUGUST 2016
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CONTENTS
3 Diary of Events
4 Walks: ‘Mid-week’; R Bland’s walks;
BNS mtg with N Som. Fungus Group
5 University/BNS Biodiversity events
Welcome to new members
6 Roger’s Notes; Phenology ;
RBland walks report
7 BOTANY SECTION
9 Other events of Botanical interest;
Indoor meetings – venue change;
10 Botanical notes; Meeting Reports
12 GEOLOGY SECTION Sept/Oct meetings; Meeting reports;
Section Blog; RIGS Group need
14 INVERTEBRATE SECTION
Items of Interest; Notes for July/Aug.
16 MAMMAL SECTION
Meeting Report; New Recorder wanted
Facebook group
18 MISCELLANY
Botanic Garden;
Badock’s Wood
Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project
20 ORNITHOLOGY SECTION Meeting Reports; August Closedown;
Recent News; Fieldwork
23 LIBRARY
Reading Group
24 A visit to Goldney
Cover picture: Female flower crab spider
(Misumena vatia) with Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). Thanks to Gill Brown for
another fine shot.
HON. PRESIDENT: David Hill,
BSc (Sheff), DPhil (Oxon).
HON. CHAIRMAN: VACANT
HON. PROCEEDINGS RECEIVING EDITOR:
Dee Holladay, 15 Lower Linden Rd., Clevedon,
BS21 7SU [email protected]
HON. SEC.: Lesley Cox 07786 437 528
HON. MEM'SHIP SEC.: Mrs. Margaret Fay
81 Cumberland Rd., BS1 6UG. 0117 921 4280
HON. TREASURER: Mr Stephen Fay,
81 Cumberland Rd., BS1 6UG. 0117 921 4280
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: The society 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:
http://bns.myspecies.info/search/site/Grants
(and bristolnats.org.uk) Email completed
applications to [email protected].
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. 552 JULY-AUGUST 2016
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 (please confirm the date with the Hon. Sec. if you plan to attend). Any member can attend, but must give advance notice if wishing to speak.
Visitors & guests are very welcome at any of our meetings. If contact details are given, please contact the leader beforehand, and make yourself known on arrival. We hope that you will enjoy the meeting, and consider joining the Society. To find out how to join, visit http://bns.myspecies.info and click on membership.
JULY 2016 Sat 2 BNS at Dyrham BioBlitz Botany/Invertebrate 12:00 page 7
Thu 7 Soc. Walk – Collard Hill (Butterflies) Society/Invert. 10.30 page 4 Sat 9 Pollinators & food sources (BNS & Univ) Society 14:00 page 5 Sun 10 Severn Beach Invertebrate 11:00 page 14 Thu 14 Glos. Pot Luck Botanical Recording Botany 11:00 page 7 Sat 16 Avonmouth Saltmarsh Invertebrate 11:00 page 14 Sun 17 Slimbridge & Water Voles Mammal Book page 16
Sun 17 Long Ashton Botany 11:00 page 8 Wed 20 Marshfield (Farmland Birds) Ornithology 18:15 page 20 Thu 21 RBland walk – The Ash Wood Society 19:00 page 4 Thu 28 Plants, Shrubs & Trees (BNS & Univ) Society 11:00 page 5 Sun 31 Highridge Common Botany 10:00 page 8
AUGUST 2016 Thu 4 Soc. Walk – Ham & Little Avon Society 10.00 page 4 Sun 7 Treegazing in Clifton – Canynge Square Botany 14:30 page 8 Thu 18 Summer Walk of Discovery (BNS & Univ.) Society 10:30 page 5 Thu 18 Glos. Pot Luck Botanical Recording Botany 11:00 page 8 Thu 18 RBland walk – St Vincent’s Rocks Society 19:00 page 4
Sat 20 Paradise Bottom (Fungus walk) Society 10:30 page 4 Sun 21 Urban Bristol … Botanising on the Edge Botany 14:30 page 9
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST:
… are listed under Botany page 9 Invertebrates page 14 Miscellany page 18
Botanic Garden page 18 Badock’s Wood page 19 Gorge & Downs Project page 19
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SOCIETY ITEMS Back to contents / Back to Diary
SOCIETY MID-WEEK WALKS Thursday 7th July COLLARD HILL Leader: Clive Possett. Joint meeting with Invertebrate section. Meet at YHA, BA16 0TX, ST480345 at 10.30 am. This is a site where Large Blue
butterflies have been established since 2000. We walk through meadows and across a
road junction at Marshall’s Elm then enter National Trust property via a kissing gate on to
steep-sided Collard Hill. Blue-topped posts direct one to the butterfly hot-spots on Collard
Hill itself. Details can be found on NT website. Lunch at Ring-o-Bells, Ashcott.
Thursday 4th August THE SALUTATION INN, HAM near Berkeley, and the River Little Avon
Leaders: Steve and Jane Gilliard. Distance about 5 miles. Meet 10am, at the Salutation Inn, GL13 9QH. The route includes the climb up onto the deer park with its many contorted trees and magical white hart but the rest is on flood plain by the river and along lanes. Lunch at the Salutation Inn, which has a very well deserved reputation.
For Thursday 1st September our walk is North-east of Stroud in the Cotswolds at Slad,
where we may enjoy hospitality at the famous Woolpack Inn.
Tony Smith, 0117 965 6566
DOWNS WALKS WITH RICHARD BLAND Back to contents / Back to Diary
Booking essential: via 0117 968 1061 or [email protected]
These two evening walks are joint with the Friends of the Downs.
THE ASH WOOD: Thursday 21st July, 7-9pm The Ash Wood is little visited, in
parts inaccessible. Meet at the Sea Walls, ST560 746, for an exploration of this area.
ST VINCENT’S ROCKS: Thursday 18th August, 7-9pm The Observatory is
one of the most famous botanical sites in Britain, and we will explore the plants of this area, as well as looking at Clifton Camp. Meet at the Observatory entrance, ST565 742.
SOCIETY FIELD MEETING
PARADISE BOTTOM, LEIGH WOODS Saturday, 20th August 10:30 Joint Meeting with the North Somerset and Bristol Fungus Group
OS Map 172: ST553740. Leader Roy Betts Meet in main car park at this map reference for a morning foray in Paradise Bottom. The North Somerset and Bristol Fungus Group have very kindly invited us to join them for this field meeting. The meeting represents a rare opportunity to improve one’s identification skills and knowledge base of this vast kingdom.
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UNIVERSITY/BNS BIODIVERSITY EVENTS Back to contents / Back to Diary
Although each event within this new collaborative programme between the University and
the BNS has a theme, any other items of interest spotted along the way will also be noted.
The events are all located in ‘hidden gem’ venues within the University’s grounds or
estates that are not usually open to the public and a BNS expert leads each meeting.
FIVE free places are available for BNS members on each of the events.
BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL to claim a free place. Contact Lesley (Hon. Sec.) on 07786
437528 or on [email protected]
Saturday, 9th July. Flowers, Nectar, Pollen and Pollinators.
Stoke Bishop. 2:00 p.m. This event will take place across various sites in the Stoke Bishop area including part of
the Botanic Garden and will be looking to identify the many different species of plants
to be found there. We will also examine the techniques developed to attract pollinators
and the way in which pollinators respond and interact with their food sources.
Thursday, 28th July. Plants Shrubs and Trees.
Stoke Bishop. 11:00 a.m. You will be surprised by the range of plants, shrubs and trees that can be found here,
partly as a result of Victorian interests and fashion, partly through current collectors
and partly due to a changing climate.
Further details of the events in August (below) will be posted on the Website.
August – Date to be confirmed. Bees and Butterflies. Please contact me if you are interested in attending. It has become necessary to re-
arrange this, as the venue originally agreed is no longer available for reasons beyond
the organiser’s control.
Thursday, 18th August. A Summer Walk of Discovery. 10:30 a.m.
------<<<<<>>>>>-----
Reports of Previous Meetings: Space is at a premium in the July/August Bulletin so
reports of previous Biodiversity events not yet posted will appear in September. However,
this edition must record the pleasure attendees had at the Bugs and Beasties event on
the 5th
June in finding a Nationally Notable Species, (Chrysolina oricalcia) in some
numbers, netted and identified by Ray Barnett as we strolled through fields of billowing
grass punctuated by patches of wild flowers and bordered by woodland on a beautiful,
sunny day.
Welcome to membership of BNS to those who’ve joined recently: Miss Emily Coyte (Interests: General, Botany, Invertebrates); Mr. Roger Mellors & Mrs. Joanna Mellors (Botany, Ornithology)
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ROGER’S NOTES
Back to contents / Back to Diary
ver the last few weeks I have noticed something that should have been obvious. Nature is variable and sometimes that variability or difference is significant, sometimes not.
On a visit to a garden I noticed an Acer. It was in full bloom with long tassels of flowers dangling. It had soft green palmate leaves with short lobes. It was a fine specimen. I asked a colleague what it was. He looked puzzled and said that it was a Sycamore (he didn’t say ‘Of course’, but I knew that he meant it). A few days later in Cirencester I noticed similar trees. This increased my confusion, as they didn’t look like what I knew to be a Sycamore. A week or two later and I was in North Wales, and looking again at Sycamores. These had the longer lobes that I was used to, and the hard leaves had red stems. It was then that I realised that there is a variation in this species, both in the particular trees and in the time of year that you see them. What is familiar can look very odd at a particular time of year – The soft translucence of soft new Beech leaves contrasts with the hard green opacity of the mature leaves as their tannins develop. What is familiar can look unfamiliar.
Some time ago at Slimbridge, I saw a Goldcrest on the ground. It was in an unfamiliar position, on the ground, pecking around grain scattered for the wildfowl – obviously there were some sort of grubs feeding on the rotting seed, and it was feeding on them. The other day I was doing one of my bird counts and watched a Goldcrest. It was a male and very smart. It was also on the ground, pecking around the edge of a mud-puddle – looking again for grubs, or taking a drink – who knows? The next day I was in the Forest of Dean and thought that I saw another Goldcrest. This time it was in the standard position, in a tree. The thing that struck me was that it was brighter than your average Goldcrest, and the face clearly had facial markings that a Goldcrest does not have. It was a Firecrest (actually a pair, as I saw the female a little later). Familiar birds doing unfamiliar things – A bird that looked familiar that turned out to be something altogether more interesting!
Keep your eyes open this summer, and don’t miss the unusual. Have a wonderful summer! Roger Steer
PHENOLOGY pring - March, April, and May - had an average maximum temperature of 14C, a degree warmer than the long term average since 1853, but one degree colder than last year, and half a degree colder than the average of the past ten years, which is
14.5C. This is a whole degree warmer than the decadal average in 2006, and this is despite the spring of 2013 being the coldest in fifteen years. The warmest spring since 1853 was in 1893, with an average of 16.6C. and the coldest at 10.4C was in 1891. The result on plants’ first flowering dates was that by the end of February there had been 18 record early spring events since 2000 on my standard walk, thereafter there were almost none. Indeed the average date of 130 events during the three months was nine days later than normal, largely because April was 1.6C colder than the ten year average.
RICHARD BLAND’S WALKS REPORT During May I took three more walks covering the Zoo banks, the Tramway and the Mousehole, which completed a scheme to cover most of the Downs for the Bristol Walking Festival much of the surface area of the Downs, and looking at the history and natural history of the area. They attracted up to 15 people each, and took a little over an hour, and I hope helped to introduce people to the fascinating past of the area. Richard Bland
O
S
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BOTANY SECTION PRESIDENT:- Vacant
HON. SEC:- Clive Lovatt 07 851 433 920 ([email protected]) Back to contents / Back to Diary
FIELD MEETINGS – Discovering the wild plants of the Bristol Region On average, we hold two field meetings of our own each month in the Bristol region from April to September. Our meetings concentrate on Bristol’s green spaces and with an occasional foray into urban botany. We also hold meetings in conjunction with the Somerset Rare Plants Group and the
Plant Group of the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society and those meetings are more likely to include botanical recording for Atlas 2020, organised by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland.
For the sake of completeness, the list below includes in diary format a list of meetings of various
groups at which BNS members will be welcome. The committee have made every effort to avoid clashes with meetings organised by other BNS sections and the other main local botanical groups. Please email the Secretary if there is any primarily botanical event or an event where BNS botanists
would be welcome, as we may be able to volunteer our expertise. Events organised other than by the Botany Section Committee or by its Secretary are headed up in italics.
Send me an email with BNS Botany in the subject line if you would like to be on a mailing list
about BNS Botany meetings (advance notices, reports etc).
DYRHAM PARK MEADOWS (NT BIOBLITZ) Sat. 2 July, 12 midday Clive Lovatt For the National Meadows Weekend, the National Trust at Dyrham Park (see their website) are having a BioBlitz at Whitefield, their Wild Flower Meadow. Their advertising invites you to “celebrate all things meadow!” adding “Get your face painted and take part in our bioblitz with lots of experts on hand”. BNS members (botany with Clive and invertebrates with Tony Smith) will be amongst the experts, rather than those having their faces painted! Tony describes the meadow as a level plateau of about ten acres with rather uniform neutral/calcareous grassland vegetation and thought it should not take a long time to name all the flowering plants. The event is open from 11 but we should reckon on working on the list from 12 midday to about 2.30 pm. Bring a picnic.
BNS members should park in the NT car park as normal and let the staff in the information building know they are part of the BioBlitz team. In return for our plant list (or the promise of it soon after) and a bit of public engagement, we will get free entrance to the house and gardens. It would be helpful but not necessary to know who wants to go (email [email protected]) and some lift-sharing may be possible.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE POT LUCK BOTANICAL RECORDING, SW of Doynton near Wick
Clive Lovatt Thursday 14 July, 11.00 am These full day ‘Pot Luck’ meetings will be held monthly on a Thursday, normally the 3
rd
Thursday in the month but on the second Thursday on this occasion. A parking place will be given and we will move on to under-recorded or otherwise interesting botanical areas. Car sharing/lifts may be possible. The meetings will be open to BNS and GNS members and any other botanists with an interest in exploring West Gloucestershire this side of the Severn Estuary.
The recent publication of a complete set of vice-county ‘heat maps’ by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland has revealed a surprising number of tetrads (2 x 2 km squares) with less than 50 (yellow squares) or no records (white squares) since 2000. The
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ST7272 tetrad, east of the frequently visited Wick Rocks, has only one record on MapMate (Catmint, 1986!) but about 120 species per 1km square on the BRERC database.
Meet at the ample parking on Gorse Lane where it turns off from the A420 2km east of Wick (GR ST732727). Bring lunch. Contact Clive Lovatt for lift sharing from Bristol and any updates during the week before. Back to contents / Back to Diary
LONG ASHTON Sunday 17July, 11.00 am Pam Millman and Dee Holladay This is a joint meeting with the Somerset Rare Plants Group for a plant recording day in two 1 km squares in an under-recorded area. Habitats will include deciduous woodland (good for ferns), several field edges, limestone grassland on the edge of the golf course and odd village corners where ‘weeds’ have spread from residents’ gardens. The Miners Arms is a possibility for tea at the end of the day.
Meet at the Community Centre car park at BS41 9DX (ST536703) at the bottom of Keedwell Hill at the western end of Long Ashton. Contact Pam Millman on 01275 392929 with any enquiries.
HIGHRIDGE COMMON Sunday 31 July, 10am -12.00 Ellie Phillips Highridge Common is on the fringe of urban south-west Bristol and has a diverse range of grasses including Meadow Barley and Quaking Grass, as well as some nice herbs.
For this short Sunday morning walk, meet on the southern side of Highridge Common on Highridge Road, opposite the turning for Four Acres Road at ST56486829. Parking is available on Highridge Road or in the nearby residential streets. For further details, please contact Ellie Phillips on 07701 084 367.
TREEGAZING IN CLIFTON – CANYNGE SQUARE Sunday 7 August Tony Titchen 2.30 pm Meet at the entrance to Canynge Square BS8 3LA for a leisurely stroll of about two hours. Tony refers to plenty of old trees planted through the 19th Century so expect the usual generous flow of information and anecdote from him.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE POT LUCK BOTANICAL RECORDING, Rangeworthy, N of Yate
Clive Lovatt Thursday 18 August, 11.00 am See info under 14 July ‘Pot Luck’ meeting. This meeting is on the 3
rd Thursday, as normal,
and you don’t need to bring lunch if you join others in the pub! On the vice-county ‘heat maps’ by the BSBI, north-west of Yate there are four
contiguous white squares. Meet in the car park of the Rose and Crown Rangeworthy, ST689862, on the B4058
north of Iron Acton, from where we should be able to dip into two tetrads and enjoy a pub lunch (good beer and a warm welcome promised). Contact Clive Lovatt for lift sharing from Bristol and any updates during the week before.
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URBAN BRISTOL AROUND THE VC6/VC34 BOUNDARY: Back to contents / Back to Diary Botanising on the Edge
Helena Crouch and Clive Lovatt Sunday 21st August, 2.30 pm The vice county boundary between Somerset and Gloucestershire in the Bristol area has always caused naturalists difficulty. It doesn’t run down the New Cut of the River Avon but loops around Bedminster and Windmill Hill, and passes through the sports stadium at Ashton Gate.
During this meeting (also open to Somerset Rare Plants Group members) the two BSBI vice county recorders will ‘meet on the edge’ and look at squares ST5870 (75% in VC6) and ST5971 (75% in VC34) which have only 68 records currently on MapMate between them, all but two in 2001! We will walk, not necessarily quickly or in a straight line, from Novers Common to Victoria Park which has old (wild type) Black Poplars.
Meet at ST 583703 at the junction of Parson Street, Lynton Road and Novers Hill at the entrance to the footpath onto Novers Common. For parking, try the residential street Somermead BS3 5QS.
Other items of Botanical interest to which BNS members are invited: SOMERSET RARE PLANTS GROUP (SRPG) NB: Any BNS members who are not also members of SRPG should contact Liz McDonnell on 07732 689703 or [email protected] for an invitation. Saturday 30 July BRENT KNOLL, 11am. Liz McDonnell and Helena Crouch SRPG are visiting Brent Knoll, a prominent hill visible from M5 just south of the Mendips. Saturday 13 August GET TO GRIPS WITH DAISIES 10.30 for 11am. Need help with Hawkbits, Hawkbeards, Cat’s-ears & Mayweeds? This identification workshop will afford an informal opportunity to learn about the useful features which separate these similar species. Bring specimens. Tea & coffee will be provided, but bring a packed lunch. Meet at the Earth Science Centre, Moon’s Hill Quarry, Stoke St Michael BA3 5JU (ST661457).
BOTANIC GARDEN – Floating Ballast Seed Garden etc. See under ‘Miscellany’
BADOCK’S WOOD – Sun. 3 July Tony Smith. See under ‘Miscellany’
Sunday 3 July Tony Smith 2 - 3.30 pm Summer meadow flowers in Badock’s Wood.
RICHARD BLAND’s walks on The Downs (Booking essential) – see entry on page 4 Thu. 21 July Sea Walls & the Ash Wood, 7-9pm Thu. 18 Aug. Observatory Hill, 7-9pm
INDOOR MEETINGS Indoor meetings are normally held from October to March, traditionally on the 4th Monday in the month at 7.30pm -9.30 pm. As the Guide Hall is in the process of being sold, we will have a new venue for the 2016-7 indoor meetings. We will be using the Westbury-on-Trym Methodist Church hall, which is on a bus route and has an adjacent car park. This will require a change of meeting date to a Wednesday.
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BOTANICAL NOTES Back to contents / Back to Diary
Field meeting reports Rodway Hill and the Bristol and Bath Railway Path Clive Lovatt, Thursday 19 May The three of us were soon rewarded with Spergularia rubra, Sand Spurrey, on the bare and rocky path leading across the common from the roadside car park. This seems to have been last on (formal) record in 1993, and I had missed it on several visits to the site. In 1992 the Kitchens recorded it as quite plentiful over 100m x 100m, but currently it seems only to be on the pathways, in three separate places.
For the BSBI’s ‘white tetrad’ (a 2 km square with no post-2000 records on their database) we looked at ST6575, along the railway path and on nearby roadsides and made about 170 records. As tends to be the case in urban botany, disturbed ground and plants derived from horticulture (variously throw-outs and old plantings now absorbed into the wild or naturalised) added to the list. One, a large-leaved Ivy scrambling along the banks and up trees, Hedera colchica seems to be new on the Gloucestershire list, though it is regularly recorded in similar situations in the more recent English county floras to the north. A surprise was an old ditch or culvert beside the railway with Ranunculus lingua,
Greater Spearwort and masses of Water Starwort (in this case Callitriche stagnalis).
Two of us then looked at a marshy field below Rodway Hill and added a number of species to the list made last year. Further exploration by Clive revealed Silene flos-cuculi, Ragged Robin nearby by the streamside, now in the less-managed corner of an amenity area by a new housing estate. The few plants remaining here (see photo) seem to be all there is in this 10km square.
Claverham, Cleeve, Margaret Webster & Helena Crouch, Sunday 15 May This was a recording meeting in association with the Somerset Rare Plants Group. With about 15 botanists present, two groups were formed and came back with a total of over 350 records from their particular squares. Highlights for the group I was with included a single gutter rosette of Torilis nodosa, Knotted Hedge-parsley, new I think to the 10km square, some Small-leaved Lime in an old field hedge and a small churchyard with relict grassland species which the church organist was pleased to hear about. These included Plantago media, Hoary Plantain and Briza media, Quaking grass, or more attractively, Doddering Dillies.
The other group had several fields being grazed and one arable, but in the field surrounding Littlewood Pool there was much more diversity with lots of nice meadow plants such as Centaurea nigra, Common Knapweed, Cardamine pratensis, Cuckooflower, and Lotus corniculatus, Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil, throughout the field. In the wet margins of the pool was Alopecurus geniculatus, Marsh Foxtail, and on the barer edges some Juncus bufonius, Toad Rush. Two species of Glyceria were found in the water, the very common
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Glyceria fluitans Floating Sweet-grass and the greyer leaved Glyceria declinata, Small Sweet-grass. On the surface but out of reach were large patches of a Water Starwort Callitriche sp. Most of the pond was barren, being shaded by trees – Margaret thought perhaps the name Littlewood Pool should have given a clue.
Both groups and a later arrival identified the fast increasing Balkan Spurge, Euphorbia oblongata. As promised, the meeting ended with refreshments and cake – at least for those of us who weren’t waiting outside for the others! Back to contents / Back to Diary
Minchinhampton Common & Nailsworth Hill, Stroud. Clare & Mark Kitchen, Sunday 29 May Three BNS Members from Bristol car-shared and joined a party of about ten of the Plant Group of the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society on a gloriously sunny day. We failed to re-find Purple Milk-vetch Astragalus danicus, but thanks to David Hawkins’ keen eyes and enquiring manner, we came away with a new vice country record for VC34, a patch of Euphorbia dulcis, Sweet Spurge, above but far out of sight of, an old garden centre.
Plant records In response to last month’s notes, David Hawkins let me know that he too had found Cerastium pumilum, Dwarf Mouse-ear, at Portishead Point this year, about a week earlier than my visit. Well done David! As for Selsey Common, Stroud, Liz McDonnell and I failed to find it there. We found the spot from the description and the 8-figure grid reference recorded by the Kitchens in 1993 and it looked distinctly feasible, with open vegetation just below the lip of an old quarry, with Hippocrepis comosa, Horseshoe Vetch growing there. Hopefully it will re-appear after the next summer droughts.
When I sent to check up on the Fumaria bastardii, Tall Ramping-fumitory in Avonmouth beside the Bristow Parkway (still there at apparently its only current Gloucestershire site) I was struck by a large-flowered Mouse-ear Hawkweed on the central reservation at the road crossing with more shaggy heads than I expected. Having tried to make it into a species different from Pilosella officinarum and been duly corrected by Tim Rich and Paul Green – we think it is just one of the six described subspecies –Tim offers the name tricholepia. Having said I “hadn't seen one like that before” I soon found similar plants – both on acid soil – at Horseshoe Bend above the Portway and on Rodway Hill.
If you've found some interesting plants in the Bristol area, let me know.
Clive Lovatt, Shirehampton, 7 June 2016
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GEOLOGY SECTION
Back to contents / Back to Diary
PRESIDENT: David Clegg [email protected]
HON. SEC.: Richard Ashley [email protected] 01934 838850
FIELD MEETINGS (ADVANCE NOTICE) FROME MUSEUM AND BROWNE’S HOLE Saturday 24 September
Leader: Simon Carpenter Meeting to visit Frome Museum to look at Pleistocene Mammal fossils from Browne’s Hole
near Frome and visit the cave where they were found. Full details in September Bulletin.
WEGA FIELD MEETING
Alfred Gillett Trust collection of Ichthyosaura and the new extension
to Wookey Hole Show Cave Weekday September 2016
Leader: Dr Doug Robinson [email protected] The ichthyosaurs are housed in the Grange on the Clarks Village retail site, and although
not on formal display, arrangement can be made for groups to visit. Details of the collection
are posted at https://alfredgilletttrust.wordpress.com/collections/geological-collection/
A morning visit will be made to the Gillett Ichthyosaurs with an afternoon visit to Wookey Hole where recently dug tunnels have opened up new chambers to the public.
Date TBA following confirmation with the collection archivist. The Alfred Gillett Trust holds an internationally significant geology collection, including
Ichthyosaurs that were collected during the late 19th century, and collated and curated by Alfred Gillett. The collection rivals those at the Natural History Museum and the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. The fossils are from the Lower Lias of the Street area and were collected from many small quarries in the Street area that no longer exist.
Please contact Dr Doug Robinson direct if you are interested in attending
BATH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY FIELD MEETING
Clevedon and Portishead Saturday 16 October
Leader: Prof Maurice Tucker Full details in September Naturalists’ News.
PROPOSED EXCAVATION of Temporary Exposure in the Lower Lias Simon Carpenter has plans to excavate a temporary section through the rarely exposed Charmouth Mudstone Formation during the month of September. It is hoped to arrange a visit for BNS members to the excavation but if anyone is interested in helping practically or financially please contact Simon. Tel: 01373 474086, email [email protected]
FIELD MEETING REPORTS Trendlewood Woods & Badgers Wood, Nailsea and Backwell, Sat 14 May; Rocks, fossils, a cave, orchids, bird song and sunshine – what more could we have asked for?
Nowhere Wood is an old quarry, now a small nature reserve providing an oasis of calm in the middle of Nailsea. It ceased being worked about 100 years ago and now has a good stand of mature trees which are home to a wide variety of birds which were singing loudly. The best sighting was a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
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The Pennant Sandstone rock exposure shows good examples of river bed dune structures (cross bedding), some small faults and some fossil wood. This rock bed is over 600m deep and stretches all across Southern England. It was formed from material eroding from Volcanoes somewhere to the South East, some volcanoes!! The rock was quarried for use in buildings and paving in Bristol and Nailsea. This is the best surviving exposure of the Pennant Sandstone in the Nailsea Coalfield. Further details may be found on the relevant page on the Avon RIGS blog:- http://avonrigsoutcrop.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/trendlewood-quarry-nailsea.html
We then moved on to Badgers Wood in Backwell, managed by Backwell Environmental Trust, www.backwellenvironmenttrust.org. This has been the site of small and large scale quarrying of Clifton Down Limestone and the reserve is now a wooded area with many small rock outcrops. There is a small cave, opened up during quarrying, with very unusual formations of crystals in the walls. We postulated that these were probably formed by Hydro-Thermal action and subsequently surface water has entered and dissolved some of the limestone. Adjacent was a fantastic face of limestone which had formed by a blue-green algal colony, the stromatolites growing through each succeeding layer of limestone, giving a very fine laminated appearance. The visible exposure is around 2 metres high, so consider how many thousand (million?) years that a stromatolite colony lived for. And there are still living examples in tropical seas today.
We also discovered a fantastic specimen of fossil colonial coral, Siphonodendron martini. These corals have daily growth bands, interestingly indicating that a year was 391 days long in Carboniferous times, so we are slowing down.
Walking up to the rim of a large quarry which ceased operating only in 1999 we passed Early Purple Orchids and Lords and Ladies, and happened upon a white tailed bumblebee.
We then decamped to a pub for a late lunch and a drink, so all round a very interesting, varied and enjoyable field trip, enjoyed by 8 BNS members and 2 WEGA guests. Thanks to Richard for leading us on the right paths (most of the time) and for his depth of knowledge and clear explanations.
Report on Geology Field Trip to Sully Island. Sat 23 April. This trip was laid on by Bath Geological Society. There was a great turnout of 28 people of whom 10 were BNS members. The trip was led by Professor Maurice Tucker (Bristol Uni. and BGS) who extensively studied this area when he was a Professor at Cardiff Uni. some years ago. He in fact first identified the dinosaur footprints which are found at Bendrick Rock, which we visited. The best specimens were lifted and are now in Cardiff Museum, to protect them from “collectors” and the ravages of the sea. We even had on the trip, one of the guys involved in removing them, he said his back still hurt!
Most of the rocks we looked at were deposited when this was the edge of an inland sea which stretched to south of Paris. There is a lot to study in a small area and we saw some great examples of faulting, conglomerates, and of course the dinosaur footprints.
Geology Section Blog: The Geology Section blog has moved. You will now find it at: http://bristolnats.org.uk/geology/geology-blog/
Avon RIGS Group seeks Minutes Taker The Avon RIGS Group are looking for a Minutes Taker for their quarterly full afternoon meetings. For more details please contact David Moore, member of the Avon RIGS Group... at [email protected] ....or on 07742 299443 ..if no email contacting is possible.
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INVERTEBRATE SECTION Back to contents / Back to Diary
PRESIDENT: Robert Muston 0117 924 3352
SECRETARY: Tony Smith 0117 965 6566 [email protected]
FIELD MEETINGS Sat. 2 July Dyrham Park BioBlitz, Anytime but esp. between 12noon & 4pm.
Coordinators: Beth Weston and Tony Smith. This is a meadow area (actually outside the area for which one pays at the turnstile) at the A46 entrance ST749758. As an encouragement to carry out this scientific work on National Meadows Day for the National Trust we will be given a stick-on badge and access to the grounds and House.
Thur. 7 July, COLLARD HILL for Butterflies, especially the Large Blue, etc. Leader
Tony Smith. This mid-week meeting involves 1 mile walk to the site, nearly 2 miles if we
include the Hood Monument. More details on page 4, under Mid-week walks.
Sun. 10 July SEVERN BEACH, 11am to 4.30 pm, bring lunch & a flask. Leader:
Jon Mortin. Tel. 934 9833/ [email protected] Meet at Station Road, Severn
Beach, ST540847
Sat. 16 July Avonmouth Salt Marsh, 11am-4.30pm (NB Security, see below)
Leader: John Martin. The site has salt marsh, pools, scrub and broken ballast-covered ground and may interest others besides just butterfly and bug specialists. For security purposes it is necessary to give names and car registrations to the Port Authority beforehand. Ray Barnett will coordinate this, so please ring him on 0117 352 5896 or email [email protected] by 5th July if you intend coming.
ITEMS OF INTEREST: 2 July BioBlitz at Dyrham Park NT. 23 July: Moth trapping at Badock’s Wood (Friends of Badock’s Wood), details from Ray Barnett 0117 352 5896 / [email protected] 6 August: Moth trapping at Sneyd Park NR (Friends of Sneyd Park), details from Ray Barnett
21 August: As an extra field trip, the friends of Callington Road LNR, ST610701 are
holding a Family Fun Day on Sunday, 21st August, from 11am to 3.30pm and we would be
very welcome to support this with our identification skills and friendly, helpful attitude to
interested members of the public.
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INVERTEBRATE NOTES FOR JULY/AUGUST 2016 Back to contents / Back to Diary
o the first week of June is warm and humid, summer finally has arrived. Looking back a few months what a strange period we have had, but perhaps not that surprising in the light of climate change reality.
The extremely mild December of 2015 threw some members of the insect world into confusion, not knowing whether it was a very late summer or a very early spring. Or conversely, depending on how you look at it, our amazingly adaptable natural world reacted opportunistically to variation in local weather with some individual insects (but not the whole population) chancing their arm and emerging late (or early) to take advantage of a possible opportunity to breed. (It’s that sort of reaction which saw the mammals come to dominate after the dinosaurs messed up.) January through to late May has been a long and often cold spring (especially at night) which has supressed both insects and those who record them.
In fact I would go as far as to say that this spring has seen worryingly low numbers of our native insect populations. The only butterfly that seems to have done reasonably well is perhaps the Holly Blue. But now at the start of June there has been a remarkable appearance of tens of thousands (probably millions) of a diminutive little insect known as the Diamond-back Moth Plutella xylostella. Moth trappers have reported night time catches of 500+ and, extrapolated across the country, there must be an awful lot of them. You may have not noticed them but if you have a garden you are quite likely to have disturbed them from foliage during the week I am writing this.
So that’s alright then, nature fights back. However, I think we do still need to be concerned. The Diamond-back is a migrant moth and the hordes of imagines we have seen have flown here from the continent. That concern should not be about immigrant moths arriving to take over our native moths’ jobs, certainly not. It is that we should not allow the plenty from an immigration of splendid little moths disguise the fact that our native populations of insects are declining in abundance. Last December insect enthusiasts were enraptured by the number of new immigrant species arriving on our shores and the thrill of finding something new or rare in the UK was evident from the reporting. Let us celebrate the increasing diversity of species in the British Isles but work to ensure that we have the habitats to maintain healthy insect populations across the board, a key part of so many foodwebs. As climate change impacts more these new arrivals may become our new native species but they will also struggle to survive if we do not ensure we keep a place for wildlife.
(Apologies for any oblique references to any national referendum taking place in late June, any similarity is entirely coincidental or due to subliminal forces.)
Having said things have been poor so far this year, do look out for the Garden Chafer beetle Phyllopertha horticola, it seems to be having one of those years when it is pretty common, as evidenced by those who attended the BNS Invertebrate meeting at Walton Common on 30 May or those who walked around Wills Hall, Stoke Bishop on 5 June. The latter also produced the quite scarce leaf beetle Chrysolina oricalcea a species associated with umbels which has only been recorded in a few places locally before such as the Avon Gorge and in Nailsea.
Ray Barnett 07/06/16
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MAMMAL SECTION Back to contents / Back to Diary
PRESIDENT: Gill Brown [email protected] 01275 810420
SECRETARY: Mike Meechem [email protected]
MAMMAL RECORDER: VACANT
FIELD MEETING SLIMBRIDGE & WATER VOLES Sunday 17th July, full day visit We are planning to spend the morning at Slimbridge then make an afternoon visit to a site close by where there is a good chance of observing and photographing water voles (home to last month’s cover star).
Although Slimbridge is best known for birds, the ‘Back from the Brink’ exhibit features water voles, otters, harvest mice and beavers.
Booking for this trip is essential. Please contact Gill by Monday 11th July if you would
like to come so she can finalise times and organise car sharing if necessary. There will be no field meeting in August In September we are invited to join the Geology Section on their visit to Frome Museum
and Browne’s Hole, which has a mammal related theme.
FIELD MEETING REPORT Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve – Sunday 22
nd May
Five of us met at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre and had a very pleasant walk round the reserve. We passed through woods and meadows and saw plenty of evidence of badgers, and several rabbits. It’s always good to see actual mammals on a field trip as well as tracks and signs! The otters that frequent the brooks were not so obliging; we couldn’t find a trace of their presence at the waters edge despite careful searching.
Our number included Hannah Watts, a reserve volunteer who has served on the committee for ten years, and Martin Davis who grew up In Little Stoke Farm, and knew the area before the development of Bradley Stoke. Both Hannah and Martin are Members of Bristol Naturalists’ Society. It was a real pleasure to talk to both of them and learn about how things used to be, as well as the work that is being done now to maintain a home for wildlife amidst the urban development.
Martin’s father, Howard Davis, was President of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society twice, the second time in its Centenary year. He kept records of the wildlife at Little Stoke Farm, which included Savages Wood, now part of the reserve. The list of mammal species included red squirrel!
Martin showed us a copy of a book he has written about his father which includes maps and photographs of the Bradley Stoke area before it was developed. Called ‘The Farmer and the Goose with the Golden Eyes’ it is a celebration of this part of South Gloucestershire in times past, and tells the story of his father’s involvement in the founding of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge. I have since bought a copy for myself which I am happy to lend to anyone who would like to borrow it. (Available on Amazon at prices from £23.96 to £1,001.91! Ed.!)
Many thanks to Hannah for organising the meeting and showing us round, and to Martin for bringing an extra dimension to our visit.
Gill Brown
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Mammal Recording Changes Roger Symes writes:- I have produced a report on Mammals in the Bristol District in 2015 which is being published in Nature in Avon, but I am now standing down as BNS Mammal Recorder. The surge in interest in mammals inevitably means that there will be an increase in numbers of records for 2016. I struggled to process and review the 1000+ records for 2015 and it is unrealistic to think I would be able to produce a report in future in the timescale allowed. It is important that information on our wild mammals continues to be collected, analysed & reported so I ask all who have contributed records to continue to do so but to send them to BRERC ( www.brerc.org.uk ) or the National Biodiversity Network (NBN - http://nbn.org.uk/ ), or specialist survey groups. I hope that others will come forward to take on the task of reporting on mammals sighted during each year. My special thanks to everyone who has contributed records over the last three years. I am now collating all information I have so that the Mammal Society’s distribution maps due to be published in 2016 will be as up to date as possible.
FACEBOOK GROUP The Mammal Section has a Facebook Group where members can post useful
information, or anything relevant they would like to share. We hope BNS
members interested in mammals will join and suggest ideas for field meetings,
talks and other initiatives. To join the group you need a Facebook account. Once
logged in, type 'Mammal Section, Bristol Naturalists' Society' into the search bar
and you should find it.
Image©Philippa Foster
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MISCELLANY Back to contents / Back to 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]
Sat. 23 July 7pm BLUE NOTES JAZZ BAND + Hannah Wedlock. Tour Botanic Garden 4.30pm. Bar opens 6pm, bring picnic, rug, umbrella. Tickets: £10 from John Leach, 17 Ashton Cres., Nailsea, BS48 2JR. 01275 854992. (£12 at the gate). Children free.
Sun. 3 July 10am-5pm National Gardens Scheme OPEN DAY. Tours through the day and refreshments. Buy plants from nurseries who will be on site all day. Admission: £4.50 (incl. Friends). Ticket includes tours. Children free. Proceeds to NGS & Bot. Garden.
Sat. 2 July, 10am-3.45pm Drawn to Nature with Sheena Vallely: EVOLUTION COLLECTION All abilities. Materials provided. Meet at Welcome Lodge. £45
Sun. 10 July, 10am-3.45pm. Drawn to Nature with Sheena Vallely: MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE COLLECTION. (As above.)
Wed. 10 Aug. 10am-3.45pm Drawn to Nature with Sheena Vallely: CHINESE MEDICINAL HERB GARDEN. (As above.) Further workshops on photography and batik are planned to be added to the choice of other art-based courses.
Floating Ballast Seed Garden July & August events. NB Book in advance
with Arnolfini. Box office: 0117 917 2300. [email protected]. www.arnolfini.org.uk
Wed. 6 July, 18:45 to 20:15. Floating Ballast Seed Garden Boat Tour with Dr Andy Radford Reader in Behavioural Ecology, University of Bristol. Ever wondered what impact Floating Harbour water traffic has on aquatic residents? Awareness is increasing of how human activities (fishing, pollution, global warming…) are damaging this environment and even how far noise pollution might affect aquatic animals. Dr Radford will speak about his research. £8/£6 concessions. Meet at Arnolfini Box Office (16 Narrow Quay, BS1 4QA)
Wed. 20 July, 18:45 to 20:15 Floating Ballast Seed Garden Boat Tour with Nick Wray, Curator of the Botanic Garden; in-depth look at the design and planting of the Ballast Seed Garden. £8/£6 concessions. Meet as above.
Wed. 3 Aug., 18:45 to 20:15 Floating Ballast Seed Boat Tour. Jekka McVicar of The Modern Herbal Apothecary will talk about the plants growing on the Ballast Seed Garden, how they have been used traditionally, their use today, and how the home gardener can grow and use fresh herbs. £8/£6 concessions. Meet as above.
Wed. 17 Aug., 18:45 to 20:15. Floating Ballast Seed Boat Tour with Ed Drewitt Explore wildlife of the Floating Harbour - focus on bird life including key species such as Peregrines and Kingfishers. Ed will talk about migration, resident populations, aspects of behaviour, conservation methods. £8/£6 concessions. Meet as above.
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Friends of Badock’s Wood (FOBW) www.fobw.org.uk We meet quarterly and all our meetings are free and open to all. For info visit website. Back to contents / Back to Diary
Sun July 3rd 2.00 - 3:30 p.m. MIDSUMMER WILDFLOWER WALK (National Meadows
weekend). Led by Tony Smith. Learn about the summer meadow flowers in Badock’s
Wood. Meet at Northern Gateway, Doncaster Rd.
Tue July 19th 7–8.30pm. HISTORY WALK led by Alan Aburrow. Part of the Festival of Archaeology. Meet at Lakewood Rd entrance, BS10 5HW Sun August 7th 2-3:30pm. TREE WALK led by Richard Bland of BNS. An introduction to some of the trees that grow in Badock’s Wood. Meet at Northern Gateway, Doncaster Rd.
Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project 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.
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Fri. 22 July. Music with Mummy on the Downs (Event for 15 months to 4-yr-olds) Music in the meadow on the Downs. Decorate and play a shaker, sing, dance, do action songs, meet wildlife puppets. £4 per child. Thu. 28 July Mammal detectives (Event for 8 – 12 year olds). Discover which furry animals live on the Downs by following clues they leave behind. Later, create a clay hedgehog sculpture. Drop off children 10am, pick them up at 3.30. £15 per child. Children need to bring their own packed lunch. Thu. 4 August. Feathered friends (Event for 8 – 12 year olds). The Downs are a brilliant place for birds. Have fun discovering more about our feathered friends and make an amazing bird mask to take home. Drop off children 10am and pick them up at 3.30. £15 per child. Children need to bring their own packed lunch. Thu. 11 August. Animal athletes (Event for 8 – 12 year olds). Celebrate Rio Olympics by seeing if you’re fast as a peregrine, can jump high as a grasshopper or carry as much as an ant. In the afternoon create your own peregrine glider toy. Drop off children 10am, pick them up at 3.30. £15 per child. Children need to bring their own packed lunch. Sat. 20 August. Postcard promenade on Durdham Down. Step back in time with Francis Greenacre. Using photos, paintings and drawings, we’ll compare current views and activities with those from the past; kites with bi-planes, goats with sheep, football with cricket, cycle paths with Roman roads - and a great deal more. 10.30am - 12.30pm. £5
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ORNITHOLOGY SECTION PRESIDENT:- Giles Morris, 01275 373917 [email protected]
HON SEC.:- Lesley Cox 07786 437528 [email protected] Back to contents / Back to Diary
FIELD MEETINGS
Field meetings take place at regular intervals throughout the whole of the year with one or
two typically being held each month, except in August, (see further details below). They
offer varied locations, optimum opportunities for seeing the best range of avian life and
some fun and good company along the way. We look forward to giving a warm welcome to
all our fellow members and visitors are always welcome.
Please let the specified leader know of your intention to attend.
MARSHFIELD Wednesday, 20 July
Leader: Paul Farmer - Tel: 0117 977 9799 18.15 hours Please park in or near Tanners Walk, which is off/adjoining the A420 as it passes the
outskirts of Marshfield. Map ref ST 775739.
We shall be on high ground here and will be viewing arable farmland from good lanes,
bordered by stone walls. The walk will be on firm ground, so suitable footwear please.
The weather conditions always play a big part in what will be seen or heard, however, I
hope for Buntings and particularly Corn Buntings, Finches and Larks, which are often
accompanied by raptors, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk. Other species regularly seen in this
vicinity include Red Legged Partridge, Stonechat and Thrushes, etc. With luck, we will be
able to hear Quail calling.
Should the weather be particularly adverse, please contact the leader, who will attend
regardless, prior to the meeting.
New members are always welcome. The meeting is expected to conclude at around
21.00 hours.
FIELD MEETING REPORT VELVET BOTTOM ST505557 (Ornithology) - Saturday 14 May 2016 Leader: Giles Morris. 27 Species seen. 4 miles walked. Overcast and cold northerly wind initially. Bright sun later.
The walk took in the old mine workings in Velvet Bottom. The Romans mined the area for lead and there is evidence of a substantial Roman settlement in adjacent fields. The Victorians reprocessed the Roman mine tailings using kilns recovering more lead. This turned the mine waste into a black, glassy slag.
Lead contamination restricts plant species in the mine area. Rabbits proliferate but grazing animals are removed in wet weather to avoid the leaching lead. Grazing creates a grassy sward over the mine workings fringed by woodland and hedgerow shrubs.
The Victorians created settling ponds down the valley with stone dams. These now form a series of terraces.
The woodland and valley edge is carpeted with bluebells with clusters of purple orchids, cowslips, cuckoo flower and stitchwort.
From the car park we had a good view of a soaring Buzzard that flew higher where it was joined by three others. A Mistle Thrush was singing in a distant copse. We heard a Garden Warbler in the scrub at the first gate. The woodland along the valley had several singing Willow Warbler with some good views of a couple of birds. Common Whitethroat
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and Blackcap were seen and heard and a Tree Creeper made a brief appearance. We heard just the one Chiffchaff on the return journey. Towards the bottom of the valley we found one of our target species; Redstart. This bird initially confused me as it appeared to have a white head. But this was probably a combination of bright sun and viewing the bird from below. One the way back we spotted a Kestrel sat on a fence post and later hovering over the rough grassland.
We then walked round the nearby Nether Wood. The old lead kilns are located here. The woodland includes boggy areas and there are reed fringed ponds (full of Roach) down the hill. A Cuckoo called from the woodland edge and then flew across a field above us. Shortly after it returned to the woodland edge and called again. A couple of Ravens flew over the field. We could hear Redstart, Blackcap and Goldcrest in the woodland but sightings proved elusive. The most compliant wildlife was a frog sat calmly on the edge of the path.
Thanks to Giles for organising a lovely day out. Alastair Fraser
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AUGUST riginally the sixth month of the year and named after a Roman Emperor (Augustus),
August is allegedly the month of the lazy, hazy days of summer and of
grasshoppers, browned grass and summer vacations when, historically, factories
shut down for ‘Wakes Week’ (thanks to Pope Gregory 1 and St Augustine in the early 7th
Century) and families of all classes still disappear to the coast, camping site, overseas
hotel or package holiday destination.
Birds also ‘disappear’ in August. Gardens,
hedgerows, fields - in the main - and woodlands
become quiet and apparently empty as the still
present birds hide from predators (and ornithologists)
during a period of vulnerability whilst old feathers that
have become worn and battered during the breeding
season are shed in readiness for the new, warm, flight
efficient feathers that will prepare them for migration
or the coming winter. Of course, there are always
exceptions; Corn Buntings, for example, arrive late
to the party and are still rearing chicks in August and
we shall be looking for these during our field meeting
in July.
What this means, as you will have guessed by
now, is that there will be no Ornithology Section field
meetings in August as, like the birds, the Section members will ‘disappear’ to take the only
break in what is always a very busy annual programme. The on-going surveys, e.g., of
Swifts and House Martin Nests will, of course, continue. Furthermore, an opportunity will
consequently arise for members to join other Sections’ field meetings whose activities are,
inevitably, even more seasonally based – for example, those looking for summer flowering
meadows … or bees ... or butterflies … or bugs and moths … or fungi. The opportunities
are (almost) endless - ish! Please note: The Society Field meeting on August 20th
in
Paradise Bottom. Lesley Cox
Forward Dates:
24th September 16
th October 20
th November 28
th December
O
Goldfinch in moult, Autumn 2015 © Lnc
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RECENT BIRD NEWS Back to contents / Back to Diary
ay is usually the best month of the spring for rarities and it was certainly eventful,
although the most amazing bird just missed us. Just a few of the highlights
included reports of 2 Whiskered Terns at OPS briefly on 8th in the murk, the
second Temminck's Stint for Severnside at Northwick from 8th to 10th; two Caspian Terns
at Portbury Wharf on 11th; a Turtle Dove at New Passage (all too rare these days) from
11th to 13th; a singing Corncrake at Portbury Nature Reserve on 12th and a singing
Golden Oriole heard briefly at Northwick on 26th. The Caspian Terns are the most notable,
being the first in our area for many years. Arguably of more significance was the generally
good spring passage of small waders on the estuary with decent flocks of Dunlin and
Ringed Plover in mid-month along with a smatter of beautiful spring plumaged Curlew
Sandpipers and Little Stints. The persistent easterly winds around this time were no doubt
responsible rather than any hoped for increase in their overall populations. Indeed the
numbers are sadly but a shadow of those I remember from the late 1970s on the Welsh
side of the estuary.
The most amazing record was surely that of the young Lammergeier, filmed on rocks
on the edge of the Severn Estuary at Sudbrook on 15th then seen to fly high to the west. It
appears to be an individual seen in Belgium shortly beforehand. The rocks where it was
filmed are actually visible from New Passage but if it entered Avon airspace it went
unnoticed and subsequently appeared on Dartmoor where it led would-be-observers a
merry dance for the rest of the month. Although thought not to be a re-introduced individual
it seems highly likely to be connected with one of several such schemes in Europe. As
such it's debatable whether it will ever be accepted onto the national list - nonetheless it's a
bird that nearly all birders would love to see. Maybe it will come back this way... John Martin
FIELDWORK Bristol Swift Conservation Group. Details of this year’s Swift Survey are on the website “Bristol Swifts”. Essentially any evidence of Swifts nesting in a building, normally Swifts entering or leaving a roof space should be noted, with as exact a reference, preferably address of the building, as possible.
House Martin Survey 2016 This survey involves volunteers making regular observations at individual nests to
collect information about nesting activity. You can select your own study site anywhere
where House Martins are nesting. So the study will be ideal for observers who have nests
on their home or place of work – including those who contributed to the 2009-13 survey.
How can I help? We need volunteers who are able to observe one or more nests regularly through the
whole breeding season, i.e. from April to September, or exceptionally into early October.
You do not need to be able to climb ladders to look inside the nests. Your observations
made from ground level (or from a window) will enable us to compare factors such as egg
laying dates and breeding success at different sites across the UK. Ideally nests should be
monitored once a week. Sign-up today to stay informed about the House Martin Nest Study
in 2016 by visiting www.bto.org.uk
Gordon Youdale, BTO Regional rep. [email protected]
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LIBRARY
Back to contents / Back to Diary
HON. LIBRARIAN: Jim Webster [email protected].
BNS Library at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, BS8 1RL.
Open: Wed. 1.15pm-2.15pm, Sat. 10.15am-12.15pm.
Committee member on duty: 0117 922 3651 (library opening hours).
Access to the Society’s Proceedings and Nature in Avon online We are very 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)
READING GROUP / BOOK CLUB The Reading Group welcomes new members
The reading group welcomes new members Contact: Tony Smith 0117 965 6566 [email protected]
The reading group normally meets in the evening at 4 to 6 week intervals; please contact the above for dates, places and times. Our current book is The Shepherd’s Life, a tale of the Lake District, by James Rebanks, Penguin (2015).
The library service issues sets of books for the use of book clubs and we are availing ourselves of this free facility.
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REPORT ON COUNCIL’S VISIT TO GOLDNEY HALL GARDENS: 16TH MAY
Monday mornings don’t always inspire a sense of joy
but this Monday was a halcyon day of late spring; a
gin clear sky was overhead, there was heat without
humidity and a cooling breeze created perfect
conditions as we entered the small walled garden,
where Honey Bees were busying themselves, at the
start of our meander around this many faceted site.
Goldney is deceptively big and even those who had
visited the house before were shocked to discover
the size of the accompanying grounds.
We passed the tennis courts, traversed the small
meadow where an early Skipper was a delight to see
amongst the industrious B. lapidarius and entered
the orchard. Many of the trees were moved here
from the old Long Ashton Research Station and the
orchard contains varieties unknown to modern supermarkets and their customers plus
some that were more commonly found in the recent past such Worcester Pearmain.
We rounded the corner into the main part of this
end of the site where the soon to be renovated
Victorian looking glasshouse looks out over the
gently terraced mixed grassland and woodland that
shields views of old Bristol. A London Plane with a
HUGE girth (7 metres+) was inspected; the Manna
Ash was majestic in full flower; a magnolia was still
blooming in what has been an extraordinarily good
year for them and a very wise vixen had chosen this
area in which to set up her den.
We moved on through a lower terrace area
reminiscent of a small woodland ride and came back
up the hill to enter the famous Goldney Grotto, an area of underground chambers and
tunnels decorated with minerals and shells from across the world. Sadly, we had neither
the time nor the expertise to record all of the species – but it would be worth doing.
Leaving the Grotto behind, we moved back
into the more formal area of the site and crossed
the carpet of lawns to the “canal” where red and
blue bodied damselflies daintily employed
repeated low level flight techniques before
coming back to rest on favoured lily pads; we
checked out the Jay’s nest spotted by the Sec.
on an earlier visit before letting ourselves out to
find a very pleasant light lunch after a splendid
visit that was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
We would like to thank the University of
Bristol for their very kind invitation to the private
space that is Goldney and for giving Council the
opportunity to get a flavour of the Biodiversity events in which we are jointly engaged.
Back to contents / Back to Diary Lnc
Watching damselflies Photo © Lnc
Fox cub Photo © Lnc
Goat-like shape in the Grotto Photo © Lnc