The Lyons Share

I'm afraid I have unearthed a whole load of old records I have for bryophytes whilst searching through my old computer, adding another 18 species to my list but that is it for the old records. I went on a bryophytes masterclass course in September 2005 and we went to the Long Myndd and Whixall Moss. Long Myndd first. The above liverwort is a strange fern-like thing with a ridiculous English name; Handsome Woollywort Trichocolea tomentella. I saw this in the same gully as I saw Wilson's Filmy-fern in too. This is a really nice moss, Urn Haircap Pogonatum urnigerum and is very distinctive being so glaucous (I love glaucous plants, don't  know why). The photo is a little blurred, I had only owned the Coolpix 4500 for a few months at the time and hadn't figured out I was supposed to keep it still when taking photos.

We also went to Whixall Moss where I got to grips with most of the common Sphagnum but I forgot I saw this beauty, which just so happens to be quite a local one. This is Golden Bog-moss Sphagnum pulchrum (with a little Round-leaved Sundew).

So that puts me on 3053 and I can promise no more retrospective ticks (I was a little eager to put my list together in the summer and didn't quite collate all my older sightings). Finally though I leave you with the best photo I took that day, the larvae of the Broom Moth curled up on a path and one of my all time favourite shots.

Another farm survey completed. Highlights included a Peregrine, two Ravens and a Reed Bunting. This is the view from the top of Truleigh Hill to the stream restoration project at Woods Mill. The camera is on full zoom, a bigger lens or a super zoom would do this justice. Today has been the first day that the visibility has been good enough to bother to take this shot. Woods Mill itself is just visible through the trees, the car park being just behind the Leylandii hedge.

I had two ticks today, both woodlice. Jo and I went to Shoreham Beach/Harbour and I resorted to poking around under drift wood in the salt marsh. I struggled to get good shots as they were very mobile. I have definitely seen this first one before but did not realise that there was only one species, it's Common Sea Slater Ligia oceanica. This is a big woodlouse, this one was well over 2 cm long but it was really quick and hard to photo before it shot under some Sea Purslane.

 

This species is much smaller (c5 mm) and prettier. It's the Rosy Woodlouse Androniscus dentiger and although I found it under an old piece of plywood on the saltmarsh, it's not in anyway restricted to the coast. Another common species I have somehow managed to overlook for years! That puts me on 3035.

It still seems easier at this time of year to dig out old records of species I have missed for my all-taxa list than it does to get out there and find new ones! I added another 10 lichens after a trip to Kingley Vale in 2009 and a trip to Eridge Rocks in 2010 with people who really know their stuff and found the records and photos on my old computer. This puts me on 3033 but I think that is it for the retrospective additions.

Here is the beautiful Bunodophoron melanocarpum at Eridge Rocks which might be the only site for it in East Sussex. I think is my favourite lichen, really coral like.

This one is the far commoner Evernia prunastri which I recognise from the sand dunes at Frensham Great Pond too, in fact I think I have seen a lot of this throughout my life. The literature states it has a wealth of uses by man, testament to how abundant it is. I struggle with lichens, I think I need to spend more time in the field with those that know them. As with bryophytes, and many fungi, I feel like I have reached almost as far as I can go without a high powered microscope. One thing I like about these two species though (as far as I can tell) is they are the only ones in their respective genera. These were taken with the Coolpix 4500.

I just heard about this film, The Moon and the Sledgehammer. Set in 1971 in a rural part of Sussex (not sure where but I would love to find out). Apparently it's a documentary about a family who live in comparative isolation but it's from a period of cinema/era (the 70s) that I love and I would like to find out more about this film. Has anyone out there seen this and/or know where it's filmed? It's being shown at a night in Brighton called The Hedgerow Society at The Basement on the 21st January at 8.00 pm and I think I will go and look.

OK, the upper of the two feathers shown above is one of the feathers I displayed yesterday and assumed to be a wing feather. Mark Telfer pointed out that they looked like tail feathers so I compared it to some Mallard tail feathers that I collected and mounted as a kid (there wasn't much to do in Staffordshire). Look what I was doing when I was 15!

Anyway, it looks a pretty good match in terms of the proportions. The pointed tip is different (more worn perhaps?) and the feather is clearly darker but roughly similar. I think that this bird could well have been a dark farmyard Mallard brought, in part, from a neighbouring farm by a Fox. The pointed feathers possibly suggesting the tail of a bird kept in captivity? Alternatively, a duck perhaps a little smaller than a Mallard. I am convinced now that they are tail feathers though. Any more thoughts anyone?

I promised to include a photograph of Bittern and Green Woodpecker feathers too as these were  species you suggested, here you go:

I found these feathers in the valley field at Woods Mill today. I can usually ID birds from primary feathers if it's a non-passerine but this was all I could find of the kill and it stumped me. The wing feathers (I'm not sure even what wing feathers they are, secondaries?) look to me like a duck or a wader, I'm not certain on that either. The wing feathers are about 9 cm long but have had the shafts cut off suggesting a Fox or some other mammal killed the bird. Is there anyone out there that recognises this bird as it's doing my head in? I bet it turns out to be something really obvious, I have tried to eliminate the birds I see at Woods Mill but have failed to come up with anything realistic. 'Tracks and Signs of the Birds of Britain and Europe' didn't help much either.

Jo and I went up to Old Lodge to play with our new cameras. I finally bit the bullet and bought the Canon PowerShot G12, which I have no idea how to use yet so I think it is going to take me a while to get used to it and start getting the quality of macro shots I am so used to with the Coolpix 4500. Anyway, first off is a moss known as Dicranum scoparium, it's very common but I'm really pleased how bright this came out despite it being such an overcast and lifeless feeling day (the only bird I saw all day was a Crow, although I did hear a Redpoll and a Raven). This next one is Hypnum andoi that grows on tree trunks and the shoots always grow vertically downwards.

I think I have exhausted the potential for many bryophyte ticks on heathland/woodland without a bit of help so I resorted to turning over logs and looking for invertebrates instead. I saw these two woodlice, the first being  Common Shiny Woodlouse Oniscus asellus, believe it or not, one of the commonest five woodlice and a tick for me. I know I have seen this before many times but I have never keyed it out to species. The second is the Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber which I have bothered to key out before. The camera certainly picks up the textures of the two species.

After that I stumbled on a beetle which was quite unexpected. I keyed it out to be the tenebrionid Cylindrinotus laevioctostriatus. It's listed as developing in deadwood and also in peaty soils on heathland so not a strict SQI species. Either way, I have seen it before so I ended the day only two species up (I added another retrospective moss tick whilst I was trying to identify them in the field today). 3023 it is then! Anyway, I'm pleased with the new camera, taking a bit of getting used to after six years with the same trusty Coolpix but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

I just found this male Early Moth in the door way of the local bookies at Fiveways as I was walking past. Got some funny looks and comments from a couple of blokes as I was taking the shot, reminded me of the time I chased a moth into a shop doorway, by the time I identified it as a humble Cabbage Moth, the door opened and I realised I was standing in the doorway of a strip club and the bouncer didn't look too impressed as I muttered something about moths and cabbages before running off. Anyway, I think Early Moth has so much more hope in its name than Winter Moth, before you know it there will be moth traps full of quakers and drabs and spring will be here. Bring it on!

I need 979 species to get to 4000 by next year. This works out at a mean of 2.68 species per day! So far this year, nothing. I think I need to get organised. So, for the the first month of the year I am going to concentrate on bryophytes (and maybe lichens). I will also twitch any bird I need within about 100 miles but that does not happen very often! I still have not had chance to play with my new camera but I will be off to see what mosses I can add to my list tomorrow!

As for today's farm survey, good numbers of Skylarks and a flock of 600 Wood Pigeon were of note but as for the oddities, there were three Brambling, a Snipe (flushed from a stubble field complete with a big blob of clay on the end of its beak - looked pretty odd in flight!) and best of all, a Waxwing! It was bound to happen eventually but I only heard it. It called twice but I find birds quite hard to pick up against big blue skies and I couldn't see it. Frustrating. Anyway, it's on the site list now! I think Bohemian Waxwing is a pretty cool name and I might start using it.

I was amazed at how much Common Field Speedwell there was in flower. I know this plant flowers all year round but I would have thought the snow would have really knocked it back. It's nice to see some flowering plants already. Oh yeah, there was also a Skylark singing today and a drum-off between two Great Spotted Woodpeckers. In recent years I usually hear my first one before Christmas but these are the first ones I've heard this winter. It was nice to see the Sun again!