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Diary / Contents
DECEMBER 2021 – JANUARY 2022
Bristol Naturalist News
Photo ©. Martyn Pratt
Photo ©. Maico Weites
Discover Your Natural World
Bristol Naturalists’ Society
BULLETIN NO. 606 DEC. 2021 – JAN. 2022
BULLETIN NO. 606 DECEMBER 2021 – JANUARY 2022
Bristol Naturalists’ Society
Discover Your Natural World
Registered Charity No: 235494
www.bristolnats.org.uk
HON. PRESIDENT: Ray Barnett CONTENTS
3 DIARY
4 SOCIETY TALKS
HON. PROCEEDINGS RECEIVING EDITOR:
Dee Holladay, dee.holladay@tiscali.co.uk 5 Nature in Avon; Bristol Weather;
6 NATTY NEWS : The Black Bee;
HON. SEC.: Lesley Cox Greenland Ice Shelf; migrant Dragonfly;
secretary@bristolnats.org.uk Orangutans
7 St George’s Flower Bank
HON. MEMBERSHIP SEC: Margaret Fay
membership@bristolnats.org.uk 8 BOTANY SECTION
Field Meeting Report
HON. TREASURER: Mary Jane Steer 10 Botanical notes
treasurerbns@winpenny.org.uk
12 GEOLOGY SECTION
HON. PUBLICITY SECRETARY: Alex Morss A new project with fossils
14 INVERTEBRATE SECTION
Notes for Dec./Jan.; New fly; Wildlife
BULLETIN COPY DEADLINE: 7th of month before Photographer of 2021; Fungus eaters
publication to the editor: David B Davies, 17 LIBRARY Open dates; From Archives
51a Dial Hill Rd., Clevedon, BS21 7EW. Palaeontology book review
01275 873167 daviddavies512@gmail.com
19 ORNITHOLOGY SECTION
Meeting report;
22 Exe Estuary trip;
Avon Bird Report;
23 Bird Notes
Health & Safety on walks: Members 24 MISCELLANY Botanic Garden;
participate at their own risk. They are Organic Group; New Fly
responsible for being properly clothed and shod.
Dogs may only be brought on a walk with prior
agreement of the leader.
Cover picture: 1. Redshank. Just one
of the species expected on the 2 January
Field meeting – page 19. 2. For this
ferocious looking monster see Maico’s
article under Invertebrates.
2
Diary of events Contents
Council usually meets on the first Wednesday of each month. Please contact the Hon.
Sec. (secretary@bristolnats.org.uk) at least a week in advance If you have any matters you
wish to be discussed by Council.
Visitors & guests are welcome, free, at our lectures and field 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
sections.
NOVEMBER 2021
Sun 28 Avon Gorge Mosses Botany 13:30 page 8
DECEMBER 2021
Wed 8 A Shropshire Birder’s Year Ornithology 19:30 page 20
Sat 11 Oldbury Power Station Ornithology 10:00 page 19
Sun 12 Observatory Hill, Clifton Geology 11:00 page 12
Wed 15 Society Talk: Sir Joseph Banks / Thomas Cook Society 19:30 page 4
BNS LIBRARY opening times for December & January are given on page 16
JANUARY 2022
Sun 2 RSPB Greylake Ornithology 10:00 page 19
Mon 3 Observatory Hill, Clifton Botany 10:30 page 8
Wed 12 Birds of Poland Ornithology 19:30 page 20
Wed 19 Society Talk: “The Private Life of Bees” Society 19:30 page 4
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
27 Nov. Wildlife Photographer of 2021 opens M Shed page 14
Thu 20 Jan DNA of Plants Botanic Garden 19:00 page 24
Thu 27 Jan Woodchip uses AOG 19:00 page 24
Sun 6 Feb Exe Estuary Coach trip (Book now!) BOC page 22
SUBSCRIPTIONS for 2022…
...are due on 1 January. Rates: Single: £25 ‘Household’: £35 Student: £10
Payment options:
Bank Transfer/Standing Order to:
Lloyds TSB: A/c no: 00697372: Sort code: 30-92-13. Please quote your name as
reference otherwise there is no way to link the payment with your membership.
Cheque: to: ‘Bristol Naturalists’ Society’ (posted to Membership Secretary)
N.B.: If you don’t wish to renew your membership, it’s helpful if you let me know
Many thanks to all members for your continuing support.
Margaret Fay, Membership Secretary, 81 Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6UG
Email: mmfay@btinternet.com
3
SOCIETY ITEMS
SOCIETY TALKS IN DECEMBER / JANUARY Diary / Contents
Wednesday 15th December @ 19:30
Sir Joseph Banks and the Fine Art of Exploration 1768-1803
on the voyage of James Cook
Speaker: Dr. James Taylor
This talk by Dr James Taylor, a former curator of pictures at the National Maritime
Museum, Greenwich, features a selection of striking artworks of the people and
places, and flora and fauna from the voyages of Captains James Cook and
Matthew Flinders to New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific by Alexander
Buchan, Sydney Parkinson, William Hodges, John Webber, Ferdinand Bauer and
William Westall. Banks popularised the placement of artists on British voyages of
discovery, and he was passionate about art beyond 'accuracy of drawing'. He was
part of an extensive network who utilised neoclassical art for promotional and
political purposes.
This should be an interesting talk. I had lots of compliments after his last visit to
the Bristol Naturalists’ Society.
To join this talk on Zoom, please email bnszoommeetings@gmail.com
Wednesday 19th January @ 19:30
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF BEES
Speaker: Phil Savoie
Phil Savoie is a field biologist, filmmaker and photographer with a passion for
capturing animal behaviour. He started his career as a picture editor in New York
before shooting for National Geographic and producing nature programming at
Discovery. Headhunted as a staff producer/director/cameraman by the BBC
Natural History Unit Phil has worked on numerous projects from award winning
self-authored films to large global series for over 11 years. His photography has
been widely published and his motion camerawork can be seen across BBC
output including Planet Earth, Life of Mammals, Congo, Life in the Undergrowth,
Deep Jungle and Wild Africa. Phil has EMMY and BAFTA nods as well as being
recognised by the British Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards.
To join this talk on Zoom, please email bnszoommeetings@gmail.com
4
Nature in Avon 2021 Diary / Contents
Articles and short notes are invited for this year’s journal - deadline March 31
2022. Members will be glad to read about meetings, individual surveys or
sightings. Please send all contributions from now onwards (don’t wait for the
deadline!) to: dee.holladay@tiscali.co.uk
Bristol Weather Diary / Contents
August and the summer of 2021
It seems there were several notable periods with this summer’s weather. We have had very
high temperatures, albeit short lived, torrential downpours and relatively prolonged dry spells
but what do the averages tell us of the overall picture?
Well, the summer of 2021 was the 17th warmest in 131 years of complete data for the
city of Bristol without feeling spectacular. With an average temperature of 18.1°C it was
0.4°C above the 30-year average (1991-2020). The warmest summer was 1995 with an
average temperature of 19.4°C. The coolest was the summer of 1954 when the average
temperature on reached 14.4°C.
It was the 26th warmest summer with respect to maximum temperatures at 22.0°C out
of 116 complete years of data. With respect to average minimum temperatures, the
summer of 2021 was the equal 4th warmest (with 1983) at 14.4°
The summer rainfall total was 222.1 mm which is 10 mm above the 30-year average.
Both July’s and August’s rainfall were above average but June’s was below.
As for August the average temperature was -0.8°C the 30-year average for Bristol and
was equal coolest at 17.3°C with 2017 since 2015 with 17.2°C. The average maximum
temperatures were 1.2°C below the 30-year average (1991-2020) but average minimum
temperatures were only 0.2°C below. The highest daily maximum temperature of 24.1°C
on the 14th was the lowest maximum for an August since 21.4°C in 1993.
It was the dullest August since 2015. The maximum percentage of sunshine in 2021
was 43.7%, 5% below the average 2005-21. There was a large range of pressure as the
maximum pressure at 09:00 GMT of 1030mb on the 31st was the highest in August since
2012, and the lowest pressure for the month of 994mb was the lowest since 992mb in
August 2014. There were an unusually high number of NE winds for the month.
The total monthly rainfall for August was 86.3mm which is 104% of the average for the
month. This is perhaps surprising after very wet start to the month. During the first week in
August 2021 there were 4 spells of rain, totalling 7 hours, that delivered 44.8 mm of out of
a total of 64.6 mm of rain for the week. This is very unusual for this site in urban Bristol at
any time of the year. The first spell was 14.6 mm between 15:20 & 17:20 on the 2nd of
August. The second spell was 12.4 mm between 18:50 & 20:50 on the 5th. The third spell
was 7.4 mm between 13:40 & 14:40 and finally the fourth spell was 10.4 mm between
03:20 & 04:20 all falling on the 7th.
The 28.9mm of rain recorded in the 24-hour period on the 7th August was the highest
of any month since December 2020 when 29.5 mm was recorded.
Barry Horton
5
NATTY NEWS Diary / Contents
The British Black Bee has been found in 400 acres of forest in Blenheim Palace. The
wild, forest bees are descendants of wild bees native to our country. Scientists thought
they had been wiped out by disease and competition from imported species. There was
no evidence that native, tree-nesting bees still existed in England. Filipe Salbany a bee
conservationist, who found 50 colonies (that is 800,000 bees) living on the 400-acre estate
said, ‘These bees are unique as they live in nests in very small cavities, as bees have
done for millions of years and have the ability to live with disease. They have no treatment
for the varroa mite – yet they are not dying off.’ They are happy to be nesting next to
wasp’s nests. Unusually, the bees swarm with multiple queens to ensure the colony’s
survival and have been recorded foraging for honeydew in temperatures as low as low as
4ºC. As a result, the bees are extremely relaxed and he does not use protective
equipment around them. Dr. Rob Stoneman, a director at the Wildlife Trusts said, it was
extraordinary and demonstrated the value of Ancient Woodlands. They are slightly smaller
than the traditional, imported bee and are furrier with smaller wings and more distinct
veins. They nest in trees 15–20 metres up. Watch: https://youtu.be/gvZ7EeZSKSE
Greenland Ice Shelf: A team from Leeds University and Exeter University have written a
paper called, Increased variability in Greenland Ice Sheet Runoff from Satellite
Observations, by Thomas Slater, et al. They write, Runoff from the Greenland Ice Sheet
has increased over recent decades affecting global sea level, regional ocean circulation,
and coastal marine ecosystems and it now accounts for most of the contemporary mass
imbalance. Estimates of runoff are typically derived from regional climate models because
satellite records have been limited to assessments of melting extent. Here, we use
CryoSat-2 satellite altimetry to produce direct measurements of Greenland’s runoff
variability, based on seasonal changes in the ice sheet’s surface elevation. Between 2011
and 2020, Greenland’s ablation zone thinned on average by 1.4 ± 0.4 m each summer and
thickened by 0.9 ± 0.4m each winter. By adjusting for the steady-state divergence of ice,
we estimate that runoff was 357 ± 58 Gt/yr on average – in close agreement with regional
climate model simulations (root mean square difference of 47 to 60 Gt/yr). As well as being
21 % higher between 2011 and 2020 than over the preceding three decades, runoff is now
also 60 % more variable from year-to-year as a consequence of large-scale fluctuations in
atmospheric circulation. Because this variability is not captured in global climate model
simulations, our satellite record of runoff should help to refine them and improve
confidence in their projections. Read more in: Nature Communications, published 1st
Nov. 2021.
Global Skimmer Dragonfly: Insect migration redistributes enormous quantities of
biomass and nutrients globally. A subset of insect migrants perform extreme long-distance
migration requiring specialised morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptions.
The migratory Globe Skimmer Dragonfly (Pantala flavescens) is hypothesised to migrate
across the Indian Ocean to East Africa in the autumn, with a subsequent generation from
India to East Africa in the following spring. Using an energetic and wind trajectory analysis
of this proposed transoceanic migration when accounting, which is wind trajectory analysis
reveals intra- and inter-seasonal differences in availability of favourable tailwinds, with only
15.2% of simulated migration trajectories successfully reaching land in autumn but 40.9%
in spring, taking on average 127 and 55 h respectively. Thus, there is a pronounced
requirement on dragonflies to be able to select favourable winds which is considered to be
the longest regular non-stop migratory flight when accounting for body size. The energetic
flight model suggests that a mixed strategy of gliding and active flapping would allow a
6
globe skimmer to stay airborne for up to 230–286 h, assuming that the metabolic rate of
gliding flight is close to that of resting. If engaged in continuous active flapping flight only,
the flight time is severely reduced to ∼4 h. Relying only on self-powered flight (combining
active flapping and gliding), a globe skimmer could cross the Indian Ocean, but the
migration would have to occur where the ocean crossing is shortest, at an exceptionally
fast gliding speed and with little headwind. Consequently, we deem this scenario unlikely
and suggest that wind assistance is essential for the crossing. In conclusion, a multi-
generational, migratory circuit of the Indian Ocean by the globe skimmer is shown to be
achievable, provided that advanced adaptations in physiological endurance, behaviour and
wind selection ability are present. Given that migration over the Indian Ocean would be
heavily dependent on the assistance of favourable winds, occurring during a relatively
narrow time window, the proposed flyway is potentially susceptible to disruption, if wind
system patterns were to be affected by climatic change. Read more in: Hedland, et al,
Unravelling the World’s Longest Non-stop Migration: The Indian Ocean of the Globe
Skimmer Dragonfly in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 19th August 2021.
Diary / Contents
Orangutans: A world-wide team headed by Warwick University write, the origin of
language is one of the most significant evolutionary milestones of life on Earth but one of
the most persevering scientific unknowns. Two decades ago, game theorists and
mathematicians predicted that the first words and grammar emerged as a response to
transmission errors and information loss in language’s precursor system, however,
empirical proof is lacking. Here, we assessed information loss in proto-consonants and
proto-vowels in human pre-linguistic ancestors as proxied by orangutan consonant-like
and vowel-like calls that compose syllable-like combinations. We played back and re-
recorded calls at increasing distances across a structurally complex habitat (i.e. adverse to
sound transmission). Consonant-like and vowel-like calls degraded acoustically over
distance, but no information loss was detected regarding three distinct classes of
information (viz. individual ID, context and population ID). Our results refute prevailing
mathematical predictions and herald a turning point in language evolution theory and
heuristics. Namely, explaining how the vocal–verbal continuum was crossed in the hominid
family will benefit from future mathematical and computational models that, in order to
enjoy empirical validity and superior explanatory power, will be informed by great ape
behaviour and repertoire. Read more in: Biology Letters, by Lameira,
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0302.
Lesley Cox, 10th November
St. George’s Flower Bank Diary / Contents
Founded 30 years ago by BNS member Bob Buck, St. George’s Flower
Bank has again been recognised for its record of creating and maintaining
an exceptional habitat. Concentrating on lowland meadow management
the volunteers on this Local Nature Reserve on the A369 at Easton-in-Gordano have
recorded an extraordinary list of all sorts of wildlife (full details http://flowerbank.org.uk/)
After a Millennium Commission award in 2000 and other accolades since, they have
again been judged “Outstanding” in the RHS ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ scheme – as every
year since entering in 2017. This year another prestigious award has been added – the
RHS ‘South West in Bloom’ Monk Perpetual Trophy for ‘the best use of native plants’.
“It’s wonderful to receive such recognition” says Bob, “the support and encouragement
we get from all quarters is fantastic.”
For further information and to offer support
contact stgeorgesflowerbank@gmail.com or ring Bob – 0788 4400221
7
BOTANY SECTION
PRESIDENT:- Clive Lovatt Diary / Contents
HON. SEC:- David Hawkins
FIELD MEETINGS
All field meetings require pre-booking. Numbers may be limited by the availability of
parking, and any voluntary social distancing rules.
REMINDER – CHARISMATIC MOSSES OF THE GULLY (Avon Gorge)
David Hawkins 1.30pm, Sunday 28 November
A chance to see some of the beautiful bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) growing right on the
doorstep of Bristol. The Gully has remarkable diversity for such a small site, featuring many
specialists of the limestone as well as woodland species and some nationally important rarities.
Learn to tell your Comb-moss Ctenidium molluscum from your Yellow Feather-moss
Homalothecium lutescens and your Crisped Neckera Neckera crispa from your Greater
Featherwort Plagiochila asplenioides.
This is the third in a series of meetings aimed at delivering an introduction to the field
identification of bryophytes, following on from the meetings in Leigh Woods in 2019 and on
Dundry slopes in 2020. This meeting was originally planned for November 2020 but had to be
cancelled due to the unexpected lockdown. Email the leader David Hawkins at
ecoteric@googlemail.com for confirmation of your place.
Bring a hand lens and please be prepared for steep slopes and slippery, uneven ground.
Convene on the flat grassy area at the top of the Gully (through the gate) at ST56337464,
nearest postcode BS9 1NE.
Useful tools of the trade are a good hand lens (ideally x 20 achromatic, about £30,
NHBS/Summerfield Books of Penrith) and the excellent Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and
Ireland: A Field Guide, published by the British Bryological Society in 2010. Copies £30 from
https://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/publications/field-guide/.
December 2021 meeting
We will not have a meeting in December. Happy Christmas one and all!
OBSERVATORY HILL, CLIFTON Monday 3 January 2022
Clive Lovatt 10.30am
Join in the BSBI New Year Plant Hunt, starting on Observatory Hill, one of the warmest
accessible parts of the Avon Gorge and therefore quite good for unseasonal flowering. We
will probably then proceed down the Zigzag to the Cumberland Basin and, based on
previous experience, we should find over 50 plants in flower. We should be back by
1.00pm. Please allow good time for local parking.
Booking requests and enquiries to the leader please
FIELD MEETING REPORT Diary / Contents
LICHENS OF LOWER WOODS, WICKWAR Sunday 24
October (report by Clive Lovatt)
As David Hill, our leader, explained to the six naturalists
who joined him (Plate 1), the lichen flora of Lower Woods
has been under-estimated. There are 70 species recorded
in the site Guide and Species Plate 1. David Hill introducing the
List (2004) but more than twice lichen flora of Lower Woods to the
party of naturalists. © CM Lovatt
as many after his recording
8
efforts (see The Gloucestershire Naturalist for 2021, 36: 45-58). David brought with him a
lichen-covered branch from outside the woods and explained that we would not see all of
these yellow lichens inside the wood because of the effect of the canopy as a shield from
nitrogen deposition. Additionally a living coppice wood does not generally allow time for
the lichen flora to diversify, so he was delighted and surprised just how good the woods
were for lichens, even if not as rich as the Atlantic Hazel Woods that Brian and Sandy
Coppins had talked about to BNS in 2014. Diary / Contents
Much as it is interesting to look at the variety of
species on fallen shoots of oaks, the trouble is that
once on the ground they can become atypical –
pale, soggy, and out of shape, but even then, a
lichen novice could easily see half a dozen sorts.
We spent a good while looking at the lichens
covering the bark of hazel coppice and here was
what David had been looking for (Plate 2). In
amongst the lichen that looked as if it had writing on
it was one that had been a new county record when
David found it. When asked how it seemed always
to be shaped like a little Isle of Wight, with a dark
fringe, David explained that we could see
colonisation events, with little patches coalescing
and forming a zone of conflict where they met. We
also looked at different coloured ‘dots’, white,
brown, and black; and they were duly named.
We had been joined by Juliet Bailey, lichen
recorder for the Gloucestershire Naturalists’
Society, who is steadily mapping lichen distribution Plate 2. Two lichens on a hazel stem, the
in the traditional Gloucestershire (thus right down to central one at its only known site in
Bristol). Clive was interested to see how Gloucestershire. © CM Lovatt.
lichenologists worked in the field. Firstly the right
lens is required. It should have illumination because you cannot hold tree bark species up
to the light. X10 is quite enough: the x20 lens favoured by bryologists and those insistent
on determining plants by the direction taken by hairs is of little use when you need to see
the big picture of a lichen surface and margin. Even a small kit bag will do, and David
spirited out a little bottle of bleach from one and which turned the lichen not bleached, but
red. The current Lichen Flora is too heavy to be a field guide, but one of the several
waterproof Field Studies Council fold-outs for the right habitat can be useful in the field.
Back home a variety of chemical tests can usefully be carried out to distinguish certain
lichens, and microscopy might be needed to tell if that structure is a lichen or a fungus.
David explained that the fungal partner in the lichen symbiosis controls both the growth
form and the mechanisms of reproduction. It seems rather obvious that the fungus might
adopt new and varied shapes to expose the algae to as much light as possible.
Occasionally structures permit vegetative reproduction with both partners dispersing
together, but more often a typical ascomycete reproduction sends off a fungal spore which
‘has to find’ an algal partner. It used to be said that some algal partners were never found
on their own, but that simply wasn’t true. Some, for instance found a secure home in the
dead epidermis cells of young twigs. And just as in flowering plants, when it comes to
sexual reproduction, some lichen fungi can effectively ‘self’ so there is no need for two
different mating types to be involved. Having taken this short-cut, the related lichens might
9
be more frequent. DNA work too has been revolutionary, with different morphotypes
proving to be more closely related than hitherto thought. Diary / Contents
Lichenologists too find it difficult to travel far or fast, but at the ‘point of no return’ we
pressed on down to the Little Avon River to see a lichen with blue-green algae (technically
bacteria rather than properly nucleated algae) as its photosynthetic partner. As David
explained, these lack the chemical ability to absorb and retain moisture, and so the lichen
is confined to damp places.
Thankfully the afternoon was dry and as we parted with thanks for a marvellously
instructive ‘lecture in the field’, our leader recalled the moment he first became hooked on
the subject and became a Lichen Hunter. On his first meeting of the British Lichen Society
(BLS) he had been greatly impressed at the skills of the experts. One might pore over a
specimen and give an opinion as to its identity, and then another would do so as well, and
often agree. Hopefully one or two of the party might follow his lead. There is plenty of
introductory material issued by the BLS on their website.
https://www.britishlichensociety.org.uk/learning/learn-the-language is a good place to start.
BOTANICAL NOTES Diary / Contents
Red Bartsia rust (Clive Lovatt)
As well as reports of interesting finds, I get a trickle of plant
ID queries, which sometimes prove to be quite testing
because the images show material with a rather different
aspect from what I might focus on in the field. Pauline
Wilson from near Chipping Sodbury sent me this (Plate 3)
thinking it might have been Red Bartsia Odontites verna.
‘Might have been’ is a pertinent phrase because Pauline is
a long-time member of the Wild Flower Society, and
Plate 3. Red Bartsia Odontites verna
indeed sits on its Executive Committee. Without flowers I
and its rust fungus Coleosporium tend to turn to the architecture, and yes, Red Bartsia does
tussilaginis. Warmley Forest Park have occasional bracts in the long inflorescence, and a
ST6773, VC34. © Pauline Wilson bristly elliptical calyx, which is dissected to half-way by four
similar narrow teeth.
I was then intrigued to see that there were spots of fungal rust visible. Knowing that the
rusts are sometimes species-specific, I looked the host up in the encyclopaedic Microfungi
on Land Plants (Ellis & Ellis 1997). The rust must be Coleosporium tussilaginis, which as
you can tell from its name was described from Coltsfoot Tussilago farfara. Rather
extraordinarily, it also grows on Pines, Scots Pine P. sylvestris and Austrian and Corsican
Pines Pinus nigra. ‘Very common’ says the book.
Blunt-flowered Rush Juncus subnodulosus
at Lawrence Weston Moor (Clive Lovatt)
It is at least the third time this year that I have
had reports of rare plants not often seen from
two independent observers in quick
succession, in this instance Rupert Higgins
(who knew it there already) and David
Hawkins, (who, in effect, stumbled on it).
White’s Flora of Bristol (1912) records it in just
two places in the Gloucestershire half of his
flora area, and one had long since gone (the
Plate 4. Blunt-flowered Rush Juncus subnodulosus at
delightfully named Boiling Wells). The other Lawrence Weston Moor 8 October 2021. © CM Lovatt
10was ‘Near Hallen, in [a] swampy pasture formerly known as “Hallen Bog” ‘, and Lawrence
Weston Moor is what remains of that. The Flora of the Bristol Region (2000) also has it in
two places north of the Avon, but neither matches White’s records and there are none in
the BSBI database. Diary / Contents
David led a small group of us to see the rush. It has distinctive pale tepals and
roundish capsules. There is, in fact, plenty of it, in the dampest part of a field; a lot had
been mown in the traditional way by Avon Wildlife Trust, but it was still standing by the
water. There is more in another field though that had been cut earlier and we didn’t try to
identify the shoots. There are other local rarities which knows here, and others which have
disappeared. We will be going back in season next year and Rupert has kindly agreed to
co-lead the meeting.
Toothed Medick Medicago polymorpha in Somerset (Helena Crouch)
On Saturday 30 October, a dozen Somerset Rare Plants
Group members met in Weston-super-Mare for the last
field meeting of the year in VC6. The focus of the day
was supposed to be a search for plants in flower, for the
Wild Flower Society’s Last Week Hunt, but with no WFS
members amongst us, we concentrated on recording all
species in two areas with relatively few recent records.
At the north end of the Beach Lawns, we were pleased
to find a few plants of Toothed Medick (Medicago
polymorpha) in flower. It has the same spiralled seed
pods as Spotted Medick (M. arabica), with which it was
growing, but lacks the spots on the leaves and has finely
Plate 5. Toothed Medick Medicago dissected (fimbriate) stipules.
polymorpha at Weston-super-Mare, This annual species is considered to be a Nationally
30 October 2021. © Helena Crouch
Scarce native in short open grassland around the coast of
southern England, including sites at Minehead Warren and near the sea front at Weston-
super-Mare. Here, it has been recorded in Ellenborough Park as well as on the Beach
Lawns, where it was first found in 1980. In 2020 a single plant was found in flower at New
Year in Portishead, over a century after it was first recorded in that area.
Inland it is regarded as an introduction; there have been several casual records in
Somerset, but it has persisted at some inland sites for decades. In 1970, it was one of
many interesting species found on Glastonbury Tip, used for dumping wool waste. It
reappeared in 2008 when the Morlands Factory site was levelled for development. In Bath
Medicago polymorpha was found on a bank by the River Avon towpath in 2000: it still
persists there. This year, it turned up in a car park in Wedmore. The spirally curved, spiny
fruits (legumes) catch in clothing or fur, facilitating seed dispersal (hence its former
association with wool tips). In parts of the world, it has become an invasive weed.
Clive Lovatt, Stroud, 7 November 2021
Diary / Contents
11GEOLOGY SECTION
PRESIDENT: Richard Arthur Diary / Contents
HON. SEC: Richard Ashley
FIELD MEETING
New discoveries of the Geology of
CLIFTON DOWNS near the Observatory Sunday 12th December
Leader: Richard Arthur (ukgeologist@gmail.com) 11.00am
A disabled-friendly, festive field trip, for those willing to venture out in the winter air
Recently I wrote a short piece for the GA magazine and for GeolSoc’s
Geoscientist to show just how much detailed and varied geology is present within
a very small area of the city and how this geology lies within arms reach or less of
anyone unfortunate enough to conduct their field work from a wheelchair. I aim to
address the issue of improving inclusivity and diversity in geology, and in these
articles I challenge GeolSoc to produce a database of sites with Wheel Chair
friendly access and also to look at funding to improve disabled access at other
key geology teaching sites.
So please, join me on a rocky treasure hunt where participants amble along
just 250 metres of the footpath leading up to Brunel’s Suspension Bridge, (plus a
small adjacent level grassy playground) and try to see how many things I have
listed on a provided question sheet of clues / mainly photographs of geological
features. Then after a short while of working in small groups we will discuss the
results over a mulled wine and a mince pie (please bring your own cup) and then
we will see who has found the most items of specific interest by walking back
over the same route to discuss the fascinating detailed geology.
Meet 11am at the toll booth on the Clifton end of the bridge. Wear warm
clothes or come as Santa and blow away a few winter cobwebs. Given the time
of year, this trip may have to be postponed at short notice due to adverse
weather etc., so
please register with the leader and provide contact details
Richard Arthur ukgeologist@gmail.com
BOOK REVIEW
See page 18 for Richard Ashley’s in-depth review of a new book on Palaeontology – an
accessible and enjoyable read!
12An exciting new project at Somerset Earth Science Centre
Simon Carpenter writes: Diary / Contents
I have recently started volunteering at Somerset Earth Science Centre
(www.earthsciencecentre.org.uk) to help them repurpose an old geological
collection formerly belonging to Kingswood School, Bath. This is an exciting
opportunity to examine an important historic collection, containing some
exceptional fossils and minerals, many found over a century ago.
Kingswood School, Bath was founded in 1748 by John Wesley, who with his
brother Charles, started the Methodist movement in the Church of England.
Sir Arthur Dixon (1867- 1955), an accomplished mathematician and Fellow of
the Royal Society as well as a former pupil of the school, donated a substantial
geological collection to Kingswood School. His collection, as well as many other
fossils and minerals added by former pupils and staff, were used by generations
of children studying GCSE and A level geology. With the introduction of the
National Curriculum in the late 1980s, a steady decline in the teaching of geology
in schools began. These collections, once an important teaching and learning
resource, were now no longer needed and often abandoned. Some like the
Kingswood School Collection were rescued early on, before serious neglect took
hold, but many other teaching collections faced a much bleaker future and were
simply discarded.
The Kingswood School Collection is an important, relatively intact, early
example of a school fossil and mineral reference collection. It includes many fine
examples of invertebrates and some vertebrate fossils. These were collected at a
time when there were many more active quarries to collect from, with fewer
access restrictions and without the intensity of fossil collecting we see today.
The collection is also associated with a number of prominent and famous
geologists including William Jocelyn Arkell (1904 – 1958) who was regarded as
the leading authority on the Jurassic Period during the middle part of the 20th
century and was friends with Alfred Barrett Sackett (1895 – 1977), the
headmaster of Kingswood School between 1928 – 1959. Towards the end of
Arkell’s short life he had been working on Bathonian ammonites discovered
during the excavation of a new hockey pitch on land below Kingswood School.
Somerset Earth Science Centre is rescuing as much of the collection as
possible to repurpose it as a reference collection for the Centre, with some of the
more interesting and important fossils and minerals put on display for
visitors. An immediate priority has been the careful cleaning of fossils, the rescue
of specimen labels and tackling conservation issues such as pyrite decay. At the
time of writing, only about 5% of the fossil collection has been processed. The
Centre have approached the Russell Society to help sort through the minerals.
It has been immensely satisfying to see this old collection rescued and
revitalised and a real delight to handle so many fascinating fossils. I hope to bring
you updates as the project progresses.
13INVERTEBRATE SECTION
PRESIDENT: Maico Weites
Hon. SECRETARY: Vacant Diary / Contents
INVERTEBRATE NOTES FOR DECEMBER 2021 – JANUARY 2022
The latest edition of the Entomologists’ Monthly Magazine (copies are held in the BNS
Library of this journal) includes an obituary to David Michael Ackland (1927-2021).
Michael Ackland was the country’s leading expert on the Anthomyiid family of flies for very
many years. He was born in Sheffield but his family moved to Bristol when he was very
young and he attended Bristol Grammar School and the Royal West of England Academy
of Art before National Service. Following that he started a career in theatre stage design
and returned to Bristol as Head of Design at the Old Vic Theatre School. The obituary
relates how an initial interest as a teenager was in ants and how being a member of the
Bristol Naturalists’ Society and the access to its Library was very important. He collected
micro lepidoptera in local woodlands in the 1940s but by the 1950s was focussed on
diptera. Here in Bristol he was influenced by the late dipterist E.C.M. d’Assis-Fonseca, a
resident of Redland, and in 1961 obtained a post at the Oxford University Museum from
where he developed his career as one of the country’s foremost fly experts.
The virtual meeting launching the annual (online this year) exhibition of the British
Entomological & Natural History took place on Saturday 6 November. As part of that,
Stuart Ball of the Hoverfly Recording Scheme reported how 55% of hoverfly species
appear to be in decline, 33% are showing no change and the remaining 12% increasing.
This is further supporting evidence, to that already shown by moth data nationally, of how
insect populations are in considerable trouble in this country. In recording insects it can be
easy to be seduced by the appearance of new species in a region or those clearly
increasing and not to notice how once common species are declining in abundance.
Continued recording by as many people as possible is needed to continue to provide this
sort of evidence which can then help persuade others to act.
In 2022, we hope that we can return to a more normal, pre-Covid type situation, which
will mean a fuller programme of walks and talks. This may include collaboration with other
groups such as the Bristol Moth Group, the British Entomological & Natural History Society
and the Royal Entomological Society. The latter coordinates National Insect Week which
is scheduled for 20 – 26 June. Look out for future notices. In the meantime, do spend the
leaner winter months for insects by writing up your sightings, I would be very pleased to
receive any records, of common or rare species.
Ray Barnett
08/11/21
…and here is one new
record! Wildlife
We thank Jon Mortin for his photo of Photographer
a conopid fly Leopoldius signatus
seen on Ivy on 20/10/2021 near St
of 2021
Werburghs City Farm. Jon says this opens at M Shed on
seems to be only the fourth record for 27 November 2021
the Bristol Region and seemingly the and closes on 5
first for Bristol. June 2022.
Photo ©Jon Mortin
14Let them eat cake! Maico Weites writes: Diary / Contents
In the 9th century King Alfred of Wessex was on the run from Viking invaders and in doing
so took shelter in a peasant family’s Somerset home. The wife had to pop out and asked
the King, not knowing who he was, to look after the cakes she was baking. Having other
things on his mind he didn’t pay attention and the cakes ended up burnt which angered the
wife who beat him with a broomstick. Whether this really happened or not, the legend lives
on in the name of a common fungus that grows on (mainly) Ash: King Alfred’s Cakes
(Daldinia concentrica). Shaped and coloured like round burnt cakes and even having a
charcoal-like centre, one can see how they got their name!
A fungus that looks like a burnt cake mightn’t exactly sound like a delicacy but that does
not stop a whole range of invertebrates feasting on these goods. Fungi are generally a
good source of inverts, with entire families of flies
and beetles developing and feeding on fungal
matter. King Alfred’s Cakes are no different and
even house a few highly selective beetle species.
One of the country’s most impressive weevil
species, the Scarce
Fungus Weevil
(Platyrhinus resinosus), is
dependent on King
Alfred’s Cakes. The
larvae of this weevil develop inside the fungus
and deadwood with nice amounts of King Alfred’s
Cakes is a good location to look for adults too. The
beetles are big for a weevil (up to 15mm) and
covered in greyish blue, white, and dirty yellow
hairs and scales, giving it a very distinctive appearance. However, some may say they just
look like bird shit. That may also be a useful survival strategy! Despite its common name
the beetle is not that scarce in the Bristol area and can be found wherever the host fungus
is present. Oldbury Court Estate and the Gulley are two of the places where I have
encountered them. Their peak time is in June-July.
Scarce Fungus Weevil (Platyrhinus resinosus)
Another species that is dependent on King Alfred’s Cakes is the small beetle going by the
name of Biphyllus lunatus. This species is a member of the family Biphyllidae, a small
family represented by only two species in the UK. B. lunatus is readily recognised by the
crescent-shaped mark of light hairs on its otherwise dark elytra. I have found this to be a
very common species in the Bristol area, finding it in many
different places including Ashton Court and the Avon Valley
woodlands.
These are by no account the only invertebrates, or even
the only beetles, one can find in this fungus and I am
surprised at the diversity every time I crack open a half-
decayed cake.
Biphyllus lunatus
We don’t yet know how Ash die-back will affect many of
the species dependent on ash and the species dependent on the species dependent on
Ash. In the short term I would imagine that an increase in Ash deadwood would be
beneficial to the fungus and the beetles that feed on it. The long term picture is likely to be
less rosy. Let’s hope the Scarce Fungus Weevil won’t become the Super Rare Fungus
Weevil!
Photos ©Maico Weites
15LIBRARY
BNS Library at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, BS8 1RL. Diary / Contents
LIBRARY COMMITTEE CHAIR: - Clive Lovatt
HON. LIBRARIAN:- Jim Webster
The Library is open: Wednesdays 1.15pm-2.15pm, Saturdays 10.15am-12.15pm.
Tel. (opening hours only): 0117 922 3651. CLOSED on Saturdays connected with Bank Holiday
Mondays, and New Year, Christmas and Easter.
News from the Library –
Library opening
The Library is currently open on to BNS members on a bookings-only basis. Normal
opening times are given above, but until demand picks up, the Library will be open for
bookings only once a week, alternating between Saturdays and Wednesdays, with a break
over Christmas. The available dates for December are Wednesday 1st December;
Saturday, 11th December; and Wednesday 15th December. The available dates for
January are Saturday 8th January, Wednesday 12th January, Saturday 22nd January and
Wednesday 26th January. Alternative dates and times may be possible on request.
The library will only be staffed by a Duty Librarian from the Library Committee on dates
when a member has booked in, so visitors without appointments may find that nobody is
on hand. Bona fide researchers may also book visits through the Hon Librarian and Chair.
There are standing arrangements for staff of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery to access
our Library.
If you wish to visit the Library to borrow books, please contact the Hon Librarian and Chair
by e-mail at least a week in advance. Because our Library is housed in the Museum, you
should also book an entry slot through their website in order to guarantee access
(https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/plan-your-visit/ ).
As the Museum is doing, “we’re still asking all our visitors to continue social
distancing and wearing face coverings to keep everyone safe”. The Duty Librarian will
be wearing a face covering in your presence.
We look forward to seeing some of you again.
Return of books on loan at the time of lockdown in March 2020
Thanks to all the borrowers for returning books originally taken out ‘before all this
happened’.
Jim Webster and Clive Lovatt, 7 November 2021
FROM THE ARCHIVES Diary / Contents
Climbing Corydalis Ceratocapnos claviculata, a rare plant in the Bristol Region
(Clive Lovatt and Mark Kitchen)
When Professor AJ Willis retired from writing ‘Bristol Botany’ for Nature in Avon, he
donated his files covering the period 1965 to 2002 to the Bristol Naturalists’ Society. Some
years ago CML tidied up these ‘Archives of Bristol Botany’ and separated out into a card
index box all the loose record slips that had come with covering letters. One of those slips
tells the tale of how Climbing Corydalis Ceratocapnos claviculata (formerly Corydalis
16claviculata) was refound during a BNS Botany field meeting in 1991 near Iron Acton at the
site where it had been discovered in 1908 by JW White and his ‘constant companion’,
Cedric Bucknall. Diary / Contents
This is how Mark Kitchen described the occasion. ‘Local
botanists in recent years have only known Ivor Evans’ site of
1942 [ST67608303, close by the Frome Valley Walkway] but
many of us have searched fruitlessly for White & Bucknall’s
bushy sandstone rock outcrop locality of 1908. In early 1991
Clare and I whilst recording species in the potential opencast
coal site found a small rocky outcrop by a shrubby thicket
several hundred yards beyond Evans’ site. This was rich in
bryophytes. On 11 June 1991 whilst on an AL [Adrian] Grenfell-
led BNS botanical section meeting and standing admiring
Evans’ Corydalis patch it suddenly hit me that our mossy
outcrop matched White’s description of his locality exactly. I
hijacked the Nats and diverted them to that spot and lo and
Plate. Climbing Corydalis behold there it was, about a half metre square in full flower
Ceratocapnos (Corydalis)
claviculata from a hand-coloured dropping off the outcrop [ST67858280]. Paul Smith & I got
copy of Coste’s Flore de France, there first, hotly pursued by Clare, Adrian with the rest of the
rather too yellow. © CM Lovatt Nats (the few that had attended the meeting) bringing up the
rear.’
Published in Bristol Botany in 1991 (‘BB1991’), the account was necessarily shortened: ‘A
small patch flowering on rocky outcrop by scrubby thicket, near Iron Acton, G. Mark
Kitchen, Clare Kitchen, Paul Smith & Adrian Grenfell. This appears to be the site
discovered in 1908 by White & Bucknall. It is several hundred yards from the locality for
this Corydalis found by IW Evans (BB1942, BB1990)’.
The re-discovery seems to be all the more interesting when the account in White’s Flora of
Bristol (1912: 138-139) is read. ‘On a bushy sandstone bank where the bare rock outcrops
within a mile or so of the village of Iron Acton. The plant appears to extend over a very
small area. Discovered by C. Bucknall and the author in June 1908. This is the only locality
known in the county of Gloucester’. [It is also now known elsewhere in Gloucestershire on
the upper slopes of the Wye Valley between Redbrook and Bigsweir, SO5307, our most
recent record, 2011]. White went on to describe its sole site known to him in the Somerset
side of the area of the Bristol Coal-fields near Temple Cloud, ‘From some unknown cause
it gradually diminished in quantity until 1890 when very few of the fragile stems were
produced. On subsequent visits, neither Mr Sherring nor I could find any … The habitats
described above are both secluded spots in the open country that show no signs of
interference. I cannot guess the reason why this plant should be what it evidently is,
unfortunately, a dying-out species in our district’. I expect White’s manuscripts and
perhaps a note in his herbarium would add further detail to the account.
I went to look for it at Iron Acton a few years ago and could not find any, and there are no
databased records after 1991. As for the Temple Cloud area, it is still there and being
monitored by Helena Crouch and others. The BSBI database has records from two
monads there in 2019, and a third in an allotment in 1996. White would have been
pleasantly surprised.
Clive Lovatt, 7 November 2021
17BOOK REVIEW Diary / Contents
Hands-on Palaeontology. Author: Stephen K. Donovan.
Publisher: Dunedin Academic Press. ISBN: 978-1-78046-097-0
Even for a person keenly interested in fossils some books on Palaeontology can
be hard reading, with their use of ancient Greek terminology and detailed
measurements of anatomical parts of individual fossils. It is very much a
language to be learned; essential for the specialist but guaranteed to send the
average naturalist to sleep after a Christmas lunch.
This book by Stephen Donovan is not like that at all. For a start it leaves the
business of the description and classification of different fossil taxa to other
publications. It comprises fifty-three short easily readable chapters that cover all
aspects of the collection, recording, study, conservation and curating of fossils.
In short the book covers all the practical aspects of collecting fossils and their
aftercare. The collection of fossils is a controversial subject with some people
objecting to the practice altogether but I think that the author’s approach to the
subject is moderate and sensible. He is very much against shoebox collections
with unlabelled specimens all jumbled together. Collection should be done with
moderation and good reason. Recording accurately where a fossil came from is
absolutely essential and thereafter fossil should be treated with respect with due
concern to their curating and preservation.
The scope of the book is much wider than just collection and covers the more
theoretical aspects of Palaeontology such as the processes of fossilisation and
preservation. There is a group of chapters that cover the wider field of the study
of Palaeontology such as joining societies, the use of scientific journals and
papers and finally advice on how to publish findings. There is really too much in
this book for me to do it justice in a short review.
I will, in due course, have to pass on the review copy to the BNS Library but I
will definitely be buying my own copy. It is too good a book not to have on one’s
own bookshelves.
At the very modest price of £18 it would make a very good Christmas present
for anyone interested in fossils. I thoroughly recommend it.
Richard Ashley
18ORNITHOLOGY SECTION
PRESIDENT:- Giles Morris
HON SEC.:- Lesley Cox Diary / Contents
FIELD MEETINGS
OLDBURY POWER STATION Saturday, 11th December
Leader: Alastair Fraser 10:00am
Meet for 10:00 a.m. in the car park of Oldbury Power Station (Grid Ref: ST608
943, Satnav: 51.6462554, -2.5683443). We shall be looking for winter migrants
along the coast of the Severn. The habitat is a mix of woodland, scrub, ponds
and estuary. We will look for ducks, waders and winter migrants. Rarities can
pop up here at any time. One or two stiles, otherwise largely flat but uneven
underfoot and can be muddy.
NB Confirm your attendance with Alastair Fraser frasera2013@gmail.com
The meeting may be cancelled if the weather is as bad as last time.
RSPB GREYLAKE 10:00am-1pm (+possible pm extension)
Leader: Giles Morris (0771 239 8903) Sunday, 2nd January
Meet at 10am in the car park of the RSPB reserve at Greylake, ST 399346. The
reserve is on the A361, which runs from the A39 towards Burrow Bridge &
Taunton. Travelling from M5 junction 23 on A39 towards Street, after 5.8 miles
turn right to Moorlinch. At T-junction with A361, turn right; the reserve is on the
right after 2 miles.
Located in the heart of the Somerset Levels
and Moors, Greylake shows what the Levels
must have been like before extensive agricultural
drainage. Thanks to all the water, the hides
usually provide excellent close views of vast
flocks of wintering ducks and waders. These are
hunted by birds of prey, typically Marsh Harrier
and Peregrine. If conditions are right, the reserve Redshank ©Martyn Pratt
should hold a considerable number of birds.
We will visit the hides and walk the visitor trail and though using prepared
paths, it can often be wet underfoot. If you want to stay for the afternoon (bring a
packed lunch), we could move on to Aller Moor (for the Cranes), Shapwick and/or
RSPB Ham Wall. This part of the trip will remain flexible to allow us to respond to
recent sightings.
Please contact the leader if you plan to attend
19ORNITHOLOGY TALKS Diary / Contents
A SHROPSHIRE BIRDER’S YEAR Wednesday, 8th December
Speaker: Jim Almond 19:30 via Zoom
This is a fabulous talk with clear photographs and varied habitat. Following up on
the popularity of 'A Shropshire Birder's Year' this is another look at birds and
birding within the County of Shropshire. The same seasonal approach but with a
different range of birds commonly found including yet more rarities and
excitement! Geese and Winter wildfowl start the year off before Spring arrivals
and another breeding season. More local rarities including Dotterel and Wryneck
plus an engaging pair of Blue-headed Wagtails. Terns featured strongly in 2010
and seven species will be on show including the infamous Venus Pool Whiskered
Tern. A spectacular finale will feature the December Waxwing invasion! Birding in
Shropshire can be hard work but it can certainly produce some really good birds!
To join this talk on Zoom, please email bnszoommeetings@gmail.com
BIRDS OF POLAND Wednesday, January 12th via Zoom
Speaker: Richard Bashford 19:30
Join Richard on a virtual tour of Poland’s best-known wildlife locations. Richard
has made many trips to Poland over the last twenty years and this talk will firstly
illustrate the breath- taking world-famous Biebrza National Park Marshes – home
to terns dancing over the wetlands and waders galore, including the bizarre Great
Snipe and multi-coloured Ruffs. The fields and meadows here are also home to
iconic species such as Corncrakes and Cranes. Richard will then show you the
atmospheric primeval forests of Białoweiza, where most of the European
woodpeckers can be found, alongside Nutcrackers, Pygmy Owl and the star of
the show – European Bison.
FIELD MEETING REPORT Contents
Clevedon 9th October 2021
Mel Parker led this walk and we thank her for this report:
It was slightly misty when nine of us gathered outside St Andrew’s church in
Clevedon. We watched a large number of Carrion Crows, Woodpigeons, Herring
gulls and Black headed gulls squabble over some food that had been put out in
the churchyard by a regular visitor. Several squirrels and a solitary Collared dove
joined in the fray.
By the time we set off along the Poet’s walk path, the mist had disappeared
and it was a beautiful calm sunny day. We heard Robins and Dunnocks, along
with some Long tailed tits, in the undergrowth as we climbed the first part of the
walk. There was some excitement when Lois spotted a Spotted flycatcher high in
the branches. Most of us just saw a flitting brown bird, but enough pairs of eyes
had a good view to confirm this rather late sighting.
Looking out over the millpond still sea, we saw various gulls and some
Shelduck on the water. A group of about 20 Lapwing flapped past. A flock of
20wheeling small birds on the opposite shore was identified as Dunlin, almost
invisible when they were showing their backs, and flashing white when they
turned in unison. A few more Dunnock were seen and a Robin sang a brief
melody. We had a good view of a Chiffchaff as well, then our attention was drawn
to a flock of finches in a bush in the meadow on the right. We were all delighted
to see that they were Greenfinches and they entertained us for several minutes
before flitting off en masse. As we continued round Poet’s walk, we added
Goldfinches and more Dunnock to our list. Diary / Contents
Coming down behind the churchyard we heard more tits and a Blackbird’s
alarm call.
We then walked along the path to the slipway, but the bright sun hampered
identification of the birds we could see, so we continued on. High above, a
characteristic croak alerted us to the sight of a Raven being pursued by a group
of Corvids.
At the other side of the sluice gates we identified a couple of Rock pipits. We
had an excellent view of several Chiffchaffs against the green fencing behind the
sluice gate.
As we came to the other side of the Small Harbour, a large flock of Redshanks
was sighted on the rocks to the right of the bay. We had a better view of the
Shelduck, including a juvenile, and a couple of Lesser black backed gulls
amongst the Herring and Black headed gulls. In the grass along the shore,
several Stonechat popped up and a couple of Little egret hunted for prey. Some
Meadow pipits appeared briefly.
We continued along past the Blind Yeo sluice gate, where numerous House
Sparrows were heard.
As we came round to the other side of Gullhouse point, tradition was cast
aside as we had a coffee break, while the scope was set up to look out for
waders on Blackstone Rocks.
We were able to identify another Little egret and three Oystercatchers. Two
small brown birds on the island were identified as Ringed plovers. A Grey heron
was added to the list.
After he coffee break, we followed a faint path to the left, climbing a gentle
incline to the boundary fence. There were a couple of birds in silhouette perched
on the wires, and when we looked over the fence, we had some excellent views
of a Wheatear, demonstrating its ‘white arse’ for everyone to see. A flock of
Jackdaws ‘chacked’ in the distance. A couple of Skylark were heard and seen
above the golf course. Some more Stonechats were seen perching on fence and
bush. For those above a certain height (me on tiptoes, just) another Little Egret
was seen in the scrubby marshland.
Turning back to the sea, a couple of Curlew were seen flying towards
Blackstone Rock.
On our return walk, a Moorhen and some Mallards paddled about on the Blind
Yeo. A flock of more than 20 Starlings soared over the dog walking field and this
was the last addition to the species list.
21A total of 42 species was seen, as well as a couple of Red Admiral butterflies,
a Spotted wood and a few small white butterflies. There were still quite a number
of Dragonflies about, locked in the throes of passion, and one which settled long
enough to be identified as a Common Darter.
Exe Estuary (Coach Trip) – Sunday 06 February 2022 Diary / Contents
Joint trip with the BOC
We need to know whether it is worthwhile to book a coach for this annual trip in
2022, so please let Judy Copeland (judycopeland19@gmail.com) know by 31
December if you would like to book for this all-day visit.
The coach leaves from the Water Tower on the Downs. We usually walk
beside canal and river from Exminster to Powderham and then park at Dawlish
Warren.
The Exe estuary is usually full of waders and wildfowl at this time of year,
including big flocks of Avocets and Brent geese. At Dawlish there is a chance of
seeing wintering divers and grebes on the sea.
Avon Bird Report Diary / Contents
All members should have received their copies of
the 2020 Avon Bird Report in the post at the end of
October.
Due to an IT glitch, some copies have been
addressed to the wrong house number. If you have
not received your copy, try asking your neighbour
(your house number +1) to see whether they have
it. Failing that, contact Giles Morris - you'll find my
email in the Ornithology Section of the printed
Bulletin.
Non-members can buy a copy from the BNS or
BOC.
22You can also read
