The Lyons Share

Last weekend I headed up to Ken Hill for the last visit of 2019, this time to complete the woodland part of the NVC map with plenty of casual recording too. The birds were really good, with the highlight being a trilling Waxwing over the Plain and this really confiding Black Redstart on the barn, guarding the harvest (could this be John Barleycorn? You'll have to read right to the end to know what I'm going on about here). I don't often take many bird photos (this is just shoving my camera against my 30 year old scope). It's great when you get that close to a bird you see new features. Never noticed the pale base to the lower mandible before.

There were also loads of winter thrushes, Bramblings, Golden Plovers, Woodcock and Pink-footed Geese about. But the highlight of the trip was meeting up with my childhood mentor who I had not seen for 15 years! Was really good to see Ewart Gardner again, last time we saw each other we went for the 'Slender-billed Curlew' in Suffolk in 2004. We will definitely not be leaving it for another 15 years, it was so good showing Ewart my bird diaries from 30 years ago which he had never seen before. We spent the day birding around Norfolk at Titchwell and Cley. I picked up four Velvet Scoters at Titchwell and we heard a Bearded Tit at Cley but I think bird of the day was the Black Redstart! It was really important to me to say thank you, for without him I really don't believe I would be doing what I am doing now.

Fungi were really good, with plenty of nice common charismatic species about, such as this Fly Agaric.

Some of the brightest Scarlet Waxcaps I've ever seen! Growing only on one area of the Plain that had been scraped. In time, when this area is well grazed, these sort of fungi should increase in range. They can't compete with the ungrazed tussocks of Wavy Hair-grass though.

Very few inverts around but new for the site was a lovely little Winter Semi-slug. I recorded a little video of it too, showing the mantle coming out and moving around on top of the shell. Such a strange little creature.

I had a quick look in the sand dunes before I cam home and picked up two lifers! The coastal tenebrionid Phaleria cadaverina and the very cool money spider Walckenaeria monoceros (both nationally scarce species). Here is a shot of the money spider under the microscope, it has a quiff!!! Spiders with haircuts, whatever next? 

I have just got back from a slightly abbreviated visit to Ken Hill where I started the NVC map and finished the invertebrate field visits. I have so far this year recorded 747 species of invertebrates there. Definitely the biggest list for any site I have carried out a six-visit survey on, with 662 species recorded alone so far from the six standardised visits. There are dozens of tubes of specimens yet to process too. Will we get to a 1000 species? I was pleased to find Pogonocherus hispidulus by beating twigs and this proved a hit under the microscope. So I took some time today to get a good sequence of photos and I'm pretty pleased with them. This little longhorn beetle is a thing of exquisite complexity and beauty up close. Yet looks like a stinky old bird turd from a few feet away. A great tactic to avoid being eaten. Only works if you're really small though.

Not had enough Pogonocherus? OK, here's the other common one. Pogonocherus hispidus. Possibly the two most confusingly named species I know of. It's literally just missing the 'lu' at the end. A smaller less-contrasting beetle that didn't want to pose.

And the two together. Pogonocherus hispidus is a smaller beetle and has a smaller name than hispidulus. That's how I remember these two.

And Cassida vittata is always a pleasure to see.

Elsewhere on the site, a late flush of Corn Marigold (with Corn Spurrey it makes up the NVC community OV4) was growing after the Spring Barley had been harvested. Really didn't feel like late September at this point!

And Night-flowering Catchfly (on the left) identifiable long after flowering from the similar White Campion (right).

Birds were very quiet. Hardly any passerines about. Hobby and a Tree Pipit over were the highlights. One more visit to go though so maybe October will produce some rarities? Can't wait!

This photo has made me realise I need to keep my iPhone 6 in my pocket and start getting the Coolpix 4500 out of my bag more often! This is the Top Snail Trochoidea elegans, a naturalised snail that, in Sussex, is only found on the Downs near Denton. Most likely it arrived via Newhaven. There are hundreds up there and as a non-threatening accidental introduction, they are quite a pleasant addition to our local molluscan fauna. They are unusual among terrestrial snails in their wide conical form, quite similar to the top shells you get on the coast. Smaller than I though but very variable and quite odd looking from underneath. Thanks to Steve Teale for the gen and Mark Telfer (who couldn't make it today) for the inspiration. 

I walked a little further down the hill and realised I was right next to one of the farms I surveyed for Natural England back in 2010/11, very close to the fence line in this post. I went into Stump Bottom where I found many more Top Snails, though much smaller ones this time. This patch of the NVC community CG7 (dominated by Wild Thyme, Mouse-ear Hawkweed and the moss Homalothecium lutescens) but all I found was Sitona humeralis and Galeruca tanaceti. Any day now I'm gonna hit 1000 beetles but it's not today! 

Yesterday I carried out a reccy for an NVC survey I have planned at Castle Water this year, just north of Rye Harbour. Chris Bentley gave us the guided tour and we made good progress understanding what NVC communities are present and how they fit together. U1 acid grassland is present on top of many of the old shingle ridges as well as areas where sand was left behind after being washed from gravel. In one such area there is an abundance of Common Stork's-bill and Bearded Fescue and Chris told us to look under the leaves of the former to find a rare weevil called Limobius mixtus.

I found one within 10 seconds of searching and it wasn't long before Chris and Adrian spotted one too. This is one rare beetle and Chris tells me that this is the only known location for this in the UK!

However, what happened next was really surprising and resulted in two new species for the reserve, one of which might even be a county first! It just goes to show what happens if you stop and look with keen eyes. Adrian spotted an unusual bug which I was able to identify as Fallén's Leatherbug Arenocoris falleni. There is only one record in the SxBRC data base for this species and as I am now the county recorder for bugs, I believe this record is actually a mistake. This could therefore be a county first, it's certainly a new on for Castle Water. It doesn't have a conservation status but it certainly doesn't seem to be common. Guess what it feeds on? Stork's-bill.

Whilst I was bending down taking a photo of the above leather bug, I spotted this ground bug running around on the sand which I didn't recognise. This turned out to be the Nb Megalonotus praetextatus, a ground bug that feed on...stork's-bill! Only 10 records for this in Sussex.

Then Chris made a characteristic 'Ooo!' and became very animated. Soon we were looking at this Lesser-streaked Shieldbug Odonotoscelis lineola. Another new species for the reserve and with only two records for Sussex! I have only ever seen the nymphs in the car park at Lakenheath in the Brecks. And you've guessed it, it feeds on stork's-bill! And it's nationally scarce (Nb).

For the last five years I have looked for the mythical Burnt Orchids that Steve found around ten years ago at Southerham but no one has seen since. Until now that is! Yesterday I started mapping and/or counting the rarer plants of our chalk grassland site Southerham. I was concentrating on mapping Chalk Milkwort and White Horehound. I was going to attempt my annual search for the Burnt Orchids when I met up with Steve at Bible Bottom, I really didn't think we would find them. 

Independently, Steve and I both came to the conclusion that Chalk Milkwort seems to grow only on the very best parts of the chalk and could maybe be an indicator for other interesting plants. The Chalk Milkwort is by no means ubiquitous at Southerham like Common Milkwort is, in fact it grows in discrete but diffuse patches that lend themselves well to mapping. In fact the area where the Bastard Toadflax is, is in a Chalk Milkwort area too (but that is too hard to find until it's in flower). I did see some yesterday but only by getting on my hands and knees, I'll go back to do this in a month. Anyway, we were surprised at how little Chalk Milkwort there was compared to what are memories were telling us, I believe this is the fault of our memories though and not a decline in the plant and demonstrates the importance of detailed monitoring. Memories change the more you access them, Excel files don't.

Right at the top of the slope, way further up than I would have thought to search, we found the first patch of Chalk Milkwort we had seen in all the huge area of Bible Bottom and ten metres beyond this I walked right up to a single Burnt Orchid. Suddenly there were four more and then Steve found another seven. Despite a thorough search, we didn't find any more. Twelve specimens tallies with what Steve recorded all that time ago. Another point this illustrates is the importance of taking accurate grid references, we only ever had a six figure grid reference for the old record. Now we can monitor these plants and keep an eye on them. A brilliant and unexpected end to the week! Not the best photo in the world but I don't care as this is evidence that we have our own Burnt Orchids!

Almost ten years ago I carried out an NVC survey of Cliffe Pools reserve in north Kent when I worked in the ecology department of the RSPB. Now I am off sick today and found myself looking through some old photos hanging around on CDs. The most striking of which is this grass, Annual Beard-grass. This strange looking grass is listed as nationally scarce but I saw more of this in this one place than I have seen since and before combined!

I believe the centre photo to be the hybrid between Annual Beard-grass (left) and Creeping Bent (right).

In fact, I notched up masses of new species there. Lots of rare coastal plants such as Borrer's Saltmarsh Grass (below), Curved Hard-grass, Sea Clover and Toothed Medick.

I stumbled across the nationally scarce b Rosy Wave which I have not seen since.

Birds were good too. I found my only ever Blue-headed Wagtail.  A Terek Sandpiper turned up within hours of me being on site and there was a nice twitchable Trumpeter Finch a few miles down the road.

I also saw the Shrill Carder Bee Bombus sylvarum which again I have not seen since. I have not been back to Cliffe since 2005 and I really should. It is a cracking nature reserve with dynamic communities. I do hope the rare early successional habitats there a still thriving. If only I was more switched on to beetles when I was there!

...she would probably look like this. I've been at Rye Harbour carrying on with the NVC I'm doing there this year where I bumped into a species I have not seen for 12 years. It's a female Red-veined Darter and it was by far the most well behaved dragonfly I saw today (there were dozens of pairs of Common Darters ovipositing today as well as Ruddy Darter and Migrant Hawker but they were all very lively). I don't think I have ever seen the females of this species before and did wonder whether this was a teneral animal due to its reluctance to fly. I love the blue and red eyes, which along with the black-bordered yellow pterostigma and the yellow veins are ID features. Here are some more shots...

I saw one Clouded Yellow today, I am hoping it was a female of the form helice but it was so fast and it appeared to come straight in off the sea heading north west faster than I could run, and I can run pretty quick! I wonder if the best way to find Pale or Berger's Clouded Yellows is to catch and check closely every helice type Clouded Yellow you see? It's the only one I have seen this year though and I didn't get a chance.

But perhaps the scarcest thing I found today was a new one for me. A nice scarce (Na) carabid called Cymindis axillaris. Not a bad day!