An Alternative Natural History of Sussex.
This blog shows the highlights of my day to day findings as a naturalist and ecologist living and working in Sussex. Delivered with a pinch of nihilism, a dash of sarcasm and absolutely no tweeness, here is my attempt to show natural history as it really is: Brutal, beautiful, uncompromising and fascinating...and occasionally ridiculous.
I have been studying natural history for some thirty years, nineteen in a professional capacity. I currently work in Sussex as a freelance entomologist, ecologist and botanist and specialise in nature reserve and rewilding management advice based on the interpretation of the surveys I carry out. I also run a number of identification courses. An advocate of the pan-species listing approach. My main areas of interest are birds, plants and invertebrates and a lot of my spare time is spent in the field. I am the county recorder for spiders and bugs.
The Butt-tip (Phalera nicotina), or Greater Snout as it is colloquially known, is a common urban moth. It has evolved to hide in plain sight among discarded cigarette butts. It can therefore be found in pub gardens, high-streets and (in abundance) in lay-bys. Attracted to lighters. Occasionally they will drink from water-filled ash trays. Anyone expecting to get one last drag from this 'cigarette' will get a nasty surprise though as the moth will emit a hot, foul liquid from its back end. The adults find their only food-plant, broom, when they are swept up after last orders.
The Atomic Kitten (Furcula katonaii) is a recently described species new to science in the family Notodontinae. The larvae are reported to feed only on enriched uranium and the adult is readily attracted to limelight. If threatened, the moth can emit an ear-shattering screech on three frequencies simultaneously. It was particularly abundant in the late nineties/early naughties but is now much scarcer, probably extinct.
Last week when I was up at Ken Hill I went and met fellow top-ten pan-lister Steve Lane at Holme Dunes with the warden Gary Hibberd. Steve has rocketed up to 7th place in recent years and I have not met him before this point. Three years ago there was a PSL event at Holme that at the last minute I was not able to attend due to freelance commitments down here in Sussex. So when everyone up there was ticking Natterjack Toads and Clanoptilius barnevillei beetles, I was stuck in Sussex slumming it with the first Calosoma sycophanta in Britain in over 25 years. Gutting. So there is some catharsis for me here. And I wonder who gets the post title reference?
Anyway. I think this might be my first time at Holme since I was a kid. So, I raided my childhood notes and bring you a blast from the past in the from Little Graeme's notebook entry from 22nd October 1990 when I was 12!!! This is taken directly from my notes, anything in square brackets are my comments now. It's here in its raw form, spelling mistake and grammatical errors left in for your pleasure.
"We pulled along the drive all hoping to see the juvenile Pied Wheatear, but as we paid the man he said 'the Pied Wheater whent overnight, but the Great-grey Shrike, Jack snipe and the Parrot Crossbill are still here'. he also said 'The shrikes still here showing well and there are four crossbills (3m's and 1f) and, luckily there not with other crossbill's of different species
[I wonder, was 'the man' Gary Hibberd?! Gary were you there then? That would be bonkers if it was you!]
We drove along the drive hoping we would catch a glimpse of the shrike, but only Mr Berry and .Mr. Gardner saw it from the care (because it flew behind a sand bank), quickly we pulled into the car park and I ran out and asked a man and woman where it had gone [nice work Little Graeme, I can imagine the panic in my voice]. They said 'It flew from that bush, to that bush to that bush but now its gone down that bank". Me, Mr Gardner and Paul climbed the bank and looked around the bushes and saw a glimpse of white, there it was showing well, extremely conspicuous because of the white underparts showing up on the dark vegetation. it had a slightly buffy breast, less black than I expected and smaller as well (I was expecting it about Magpie size. Overall a very unelusive bird with prominent wing markings. [I was often very keen to start brackets as a child but then would forget to close them afterwards! Fortunately I grew out of that habit.
We went past a bush on the way back and saw a mass of Goldcrests in it. I walked close to them until I was about three foot from them, I could see see white wing markings and black around the gold crest. Very tame.
Then we went into the hides and in the first one two Jack Snipes and four Snipes, they were very well camouflaged against the reeds and I noticed some important differences between the two snipes which I'd never seen before [no surprise there Little Graeme as you had never seen Jack Snipe before this day!!!]. I've listed them below:-
1) Overall smaller body, much more stocky
2) Shorter bill
3) Bobs up and down (hole body not tail, like sandpiper) 4) Has central black crown stripe and black eyebrow. 5) It has four gold stripes down back (golder than Snipes) and two glossy green Stripes down neck. Then as we walked down the track we noticed a bird with it's head ripped of probably done by a Sparrow Hawk then we saw some large Horse Mushrooms. Then I got a head ache. We went looking for Parrot Crossbill's, my head ache build up and I felt sick we did not see the crossbills [I remember that head ache. Nothing could stop me bird watching but this was the time in my life when I was suffering from severe migraines that would totally knock me sideways, they stopped when I was 17]. Then I threw up and couldn't stop, I had to stay in the car when they went round Titchwell. We also saw a Robin's Pin-cushion (a kind of oak gall [almost spot on Little G but I'll give you that]).
Fast forward 29 years an I am back at Holme. Steve Lane is an absolute legend in the field. I got 10 beetle ticks in an incredibly short time. The highlight for me was however catching up with Natterjack Toad, a bogey of mine for many years. We only saw toadlets but I was very happy with this!
We saw some good spiders in the dunes but no year ticks for my spider list. Possible Clubionia frisia were all immature. Here is a lovely Marpissa nivoyi, the biggest I have seen.
Steve showed me these striking Chrysopa dorsalis by beating the pines.
Gary showed me this gall caused by the mite Aceria hippophaenus on Sea Buckthorn, another lifer!
Nice to see some Marsh Helleborines too.
And Coranus woodroffei too!
It was great to meet Steve and Gary and I do hope to do some more natural history up there on my next visit, a massive thank you to both of you for you time. I dare say Steve will be overtaking me in the next few years with the rate he is shooting up the rankings and rightly so, he's a brilliant entomologist!
I was just looking for a blog title when I saw that the actor who played my favourite character in my favourite film has just passed away. So the title is a quote that many of you will get but still kinda works for this post. I think some Vangelis is needed at this point and it has to be this one from the soundtrack.
I just got back from Ken Hill again and it was another amazing week. I'll start with the vegetation structure and composition plots. The good news is I only have 28 left to complete. The woods are much harder going than the arable and grassland plots but have some interesting surprises. The biggest tree I have found so far is the Horse Chestnut shown above with a Girth at Breast Height (GBH) of 4.37 metres! Them conkers are bonkers! It was however the arable plants that were the most interesting again. Here is a quick recap on last month, we got to an index of 79 (which is already of international significance according to Plantlife's index). Here is a quick recap on the species recorded so far. Those in bold have conservation status.
This time, I found a few more goodies. First up only a single plant of Gold-of-pleasure, a plant I had never actually heard of before. Thanks to Richard Carter (vice county recorder) for his help with the identification of this one. I only found one plant of this. This is listed as nationally scarce and scores 5. That's 84.
The big surprise though was finding a lens of sand in a field I thought was dominated by Yorkshire-fog. It was dominated by Smooth Cat's-ear! I have only ever seen it as small plants before, never dominated the sward. This is listed as Vulnerable and scores 7, that's 91.
But in among this mass of pappus, there were scattered plants of Annual Knawel. Listed as Endangered (the highest scoring so far), this scores 8 bring the site up to 99. It's not much to look at.
Green Field Speedwell - scores 1, that's 100.
Grey Field Speedwell - scores 2, 102.
Common Broomrape - scores 2, 104.
Slender Parsley-piert - scores 1, so that's an incredible 105. I did have a look for Red-tipped Cudweed but didn't find it on site. I may have found it nearby though but the jury's still out on this one.
And with it, some Small-flowered Catchfly! My first on the mainland. Anyway back on to the Estate. A large patch of Harbells were present on the Plain.
And this veteran Holly, with a GBH of 2.37 m! It's definitely the biggest I have ever seen.
Birds were pretty quiet but the highlight was an Osprey flying overhead out to sea! If you've had enough of Vangelis, have a listen to this Woodlark (and Yellowhammer) singing at the south of the site.
Now for the invertebrates. After four visits I am up to 583 species and this is really just field dets, exciting species and the spiders, there are lots of specimens yet to identify over the winter and two more field sessions to add to this. On the last morning I spotted this female Pantaloon BeeDasypoda hirtipes. Couldn't get a good shot though so the second one is a stock photo.
Lots of males about too.
As I watched this female fly into her burrow, immediately two of these flies appeared and jostled for position. As far as I can tell they are Miltogramma germeri (rare). Thanks to Stephen Plummer for his help with these.
This Megalonotus antennatus was a new one for me and also means I have now seen the whole genus. I swept this from St John's-wort.
I swept this Chamomile Shark from some mayweed.
But the other larva I swept in the same net stumped me. A quick post on the UK caterpillars page and some suggested Heliothis. Which realistically for Norfolk means it could be Marbled Clover! I would be interested to see if this can be verified. Alas Tony Davis has just suggested it could also be Scarce Bordered Straw so it looks like I am stuck with Heliothis sp.. I have only ever seen Marbled Clover once when Mark Telfer showed me an amazing triangle of arable plants in the Brecks some 15 years ago. Whilst looking at Sand Catchfly, an adult came in to feed! Never seen one since.
Next month I will try again for Red-tipped Cudweed! I bet there are more arable plants yet to be discovered out there.
"All these moments will be lost in time like tears in rain."
Technically they'll live on in my notebooks, reference collection, blog and in the relevant records centres but it was the line in Bladerunner that got me hooked as a nihilistic teenager. It's still my favourite movie after all these years but here's a sobering thought. Bladerunner was released exactly halfway between now and the end of the 2nd World War.
OK so I am trying not to work at weekends anymore but if I don't get this done now it will drift. I spent a good few hours processing the specimens from the bioblitz yesterday so can now publish the full list that I produced yesterday. I recorded solidly for six hours from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm and was helped in the afternoon session by Sam and Glenn. In all we recorded 362 species and 37 of these were new to the site. One of these was new to the reserve network. The proportion of invertebrates with conservation status rose slightly from 12.3 to 12.4%, firmly cemented the site as a great site for invertebrates. Now, I'm going to start with the highlight and then go through the list.
With about an hour left, Glenn and I were in Hope Gap. I was poking around near the cliff edge (keeping a safe distance I would add) looking for Henbane. Glenn was sweeping Viper's Bugloss on the other side of the valley looking for a scarce weevil - with my net. So when I spotted what had to be a species of Marbled I was feeling a little lost without it. Fortunately it only flew about 30 cm after each bungled attempt to get it in a pot. This did at least mean I had a good chance to get a photo. I finally got it in custody where I initially identified it as Small Marbled until I got home. I think it's too big for this with a wing length of over 9 mm, I am now convinced this is Purple Marbled f. catharmi. In this form the purple colour is replaced by an almost entirely white moth. It was hanging around a big patch of thistles, which also adds up. Colin Pratt just confirmed this ID. My purple patch continues! Kind of.
Colin Pratt just told me that less than a dozen have ever been recorded in Sussex and I think it could well be the first one that has ever been caught in Sussex that wasn't in a moth trap or at sugar. So significantly scarcer than the Small Marbled. Awesome!!!
I might as well do the moths while I am here. We recorded 20 species and three were new to the reserve. Crescent Plume was also recorded by suction sampling a single patch of Rest-harrow which produced a mass of Rest-harrow feeding specialists. See the bug section. We also recorded two of the S41 Forester moths. Pleased with the shots of this male, you can see the antennae detail that splits it from Cistus Forester here. That and there is no Common Rock-rose on this area (Forester feeds on Common Sorrel).
Now for the remaining orders in no particular order. Two ants, nothing new there. Only six bees on this very well recorded bee site. Amazingly I did manage a new species in the form of a Wool Carder Bee in Hope Gap!
As for the beetles, 38 species in all with five new species. Podagrica fuscicornis and Orthochaetes setiger were new site records. well Glenn did get a couple of the impressive weevil Mogulones geographicus off the Viper's Bugloss but it took some work!
I picked up Cassida nobilis (known from the site) using the suction sampler on the tiny saltmarsh,
Birds. A mere 20 species. Highlights were a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Reed Warbler in sub-song in Hope Bottom!
Bugs. The most species-rich invert taxa this time with 44 species, a whopping nine of these were new to the site and one of these was new to the reserve network, that is never before seen on an Sussex Wildlife Trust reserve. This is the Nb Drymus latus. Suction-sampling that big patch of Restharrow that I found Berytinus clavipes on last year produced five species in the final five minutes that all feed on Restharrow that we hadn't seen all day.
Butterflies, 15 species. Three crustaceans, one earwig, one harvestman and one lacewing. Nothing exciting there.
Fifteen flies including the nationally scarce Machimus rusticus new to the site. I did find several of the massive Saltmarsh Horsefly Atylotus laistriatus on the saltmarsh again.
Mammals. Human, Rabbit and Fox. All recorded by their droppings. Oops, I meant just the latter two!
Mites. Three species in the genus Aceria. Aceria sanguisorba galling Salad Burnet was a new site record.
Six species of molluscs but nothing new. Two springtails with one new (bt very common) species.
Orthoptera were well represented with seven of the nine species ever recorded on the sote being recorded yesterday. Including this huge Great Green Bush-cricket that Glenn found.
And the plants. A total of 151 species were recorded and amazingly I picked up quite a few species new to the site. Highlights were Lesser Centaury.
But the huge patch of Hard-grass that has appeared on the saltmarsh was a real surprise. I can't believe that this has been overlooked. The whole of the saltmarsh looks completely different now but is looking good now that the EA are not dumping shingle on it anymore. It's recovering well with Yellow Horned-poppy and Sticky Groundsell (new to site) growing on the shingle. The saltmarsh itself has more Rock Sea-lavender than ever before (just sad that the amount of marsh is hugely reduced).
Last but not least the spiders. We recorded 25 species and eight of these were new to the site. The highlights was Sitticus inexpectus, a nationally scarce shingle specialist that is present on the eastern side of the river here but I have never managed to find on out bit of shingle before. It's also my 296th spider this year. Anyway, this is a great sign that this habitat is recovering after the abuse it suffered and is more evidence that absolutely no more shingle should ever be dumped here. This is an old photo from Rye Harbour by the way.
Another Diopena prona in the suction sampler made for a very happy Glenn. The third male I have recorded from this bank now.
And a nice male Xysticus erraticus new to the site.
So a really useful exercise. I do love a good bioblitz. Even on well recorded sites it typically produces about 10% of species new to the site. Yesterday we recorded 21% of everything that has ever been recorded at Seaford Head in a six hour period. Here is the full list with order in which it was seen and year of last record. Clearly grasses have been a bit under-recorded at the site. M=microscope ID, N=New to site and NN=new to network. I also recorded the time at each multiple of 50. Species with conservation in bold. Apologies for any typos, I did write this up very quickly last night. Enjoy!
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