The Lyons Share

Excuse the poor quality photo but I had to share this one. Last Sunday was our third Ditchling Beacon Conservation Super Squad and as my back is anything other than super, I was on light duties. Which involved finding wildlife to show the team on a freezing cold day. I had a go with the suction sampler in the quarry at Ditchling and picked up a tiny (1.5 mm) spider. It wasn't until I got home and looked down the microscope that I saw this...

I am still terrified of ET as a 40 year old 'man'. I've gone all jittery looking through photos just to write this post. Anyway, money spiders with freaky heads are pretty cool but this one is really weird. What looks like nostrils are actually one of the four pairs of eyes. The palps (External Testicles) were pretty weird too. This is Panamomops sulcifrons (my 373rd arachnid). It's a bit of a chalk-grassland specialist but what's strange is that I didn't pick it up at all last year during a survey there, in fact there were only three species of spider with conservation status that went into the management plan. Even though I was using a suction sampler in that exact same spot. It just shows that ongoing casual recording is also a great way to add to our knowledge of sites. The only other record on a Trust reserve is from Malling in 2009.

This is the second Nationally Scarce species we have added to the site list whilst scrub bashing up at Ditchling. A great way to do practical conservation and learn about wildlife at the same time. Have a look here if you want to sign up. It's always the last Sunday of the month and involves some steep and challenging work but is really rewarding. We also found three other species new to the site. Yellow Archangel, Moschatel and Palmate Newt!

Yesterday was the first meeting of the Ditchling Beacon Conservation Super Squad. A conservation task force aimed at tackling this difficult site with it's seemingly inaccessible steep slopes and back-breaking scrub removal; it's not for the fainthearted. We started gently on the slope above though and had a great day. We used the new Tree Poppers for pulling up the invasive Wall Cotoneaster that has invaded large areas of the quarry (along with smaller amounts of native Hawthorn and Wayfaring-tree) and it was really successful. We covered pretty much the whole of the slope above and the plateau beyond that which will make way for all sorts of chalk-grassland plants, bryophytes and invertebrates. I personally loved getting my hands dirty again after all these years and it was a great feeling doing it as a volunteer.

By the end of the day, the slope looked great! I can't wait to see this in the summer. The Tree Poppers are so much better than just cutting and coppicing the scrub as they pull up the whole plant roots and all. They also create some bare ground in the process. The drawback is it takes much longer and they are quite hard work on the slopes. Manageable though.

What was a real surprise (considering we only surveyed it last year) was that Carole Mortimer found an insect new to the site. This is the Nb Agonopterix pallorella which is restricted to the eastern Downs and feeds on Knapweed. As we mention all species with conservation status in the management plans and Ditchling is just about to be submitted, this moth just scrapes it into the plan! It's the 181st moth we have recorded at Ditchling and the 1233rd species over all. I really like being able to tie the management together with some worthwhile species recording as we go, it really completes the circle.

Next month we will try some larger scrub and maybe put some spuds on the fire. If you're interested, please message me on graemelyons@sussexwt.org.uk. It's always on the last Sunday of the month so the next one will be 25th February.