The Lyons Share

Yesterday I co-lead a contingent of around 70 people around Stedham & Iping Commons for the Heathlands Reunited project. Everyone was happy when they got to see a Hornet Robber-fly up close. Bee Wolves are everywhere and I saw FIVE adult Alydus calcaratus. After the group left I wanted to use the time wisely so I had another search for Heath Tiger Beetles. None have been seen this year (they are know to have two year life cycles and this would be expected to be a poor year) but just one adult would have made me relax. There was lots of good habitat and one suitable looking scrape I spotted a solid looking grey-mottled jumping spider...

So this is the first time I have had the pleasure of photographing one with my new camera and I tried a bit of video too. You HAVE to watch this, I think it's the cutest thing I have ever seen. "She looked at me longingly with those beautiful green eyes and waved coquettishly." You get the idea. I am in love. I think if I get a little tripod I can generate some really good videos with this camera in microscope mode. Problem is it doesn't seem to let you change the focus once you have committed to filming (so you have to move in and out). I was doing so by trying to keep the hairs on her head in focus.

And a first not only for the reserve but the reserve network! And one that I am county recorder for too. I beat a single Alloeotomus gothicus off Scots Pine. Pines on heaths can be a valuable resource, especially ones with low growing branches you can reach! I then got back to Woods Mill to find out about the first new vertebrate added to the reserves species list since I compiled it earlier this year. I wonder if you can guess what it was?!

So a bit of a break from the 1000species business until I have pulled everything together. Off the success of the Graffham Common visit on Saturday though (adding four new spiders to the reserve list - bringing it to 115 species, including Dipoena tristis (Na) and Araneus angulatus (Na)), I decided to do the invertebrate survey. I was not dissapointed and added not one but two species new to the reserve network! Quite a surprise right at the end of the day, about 5.15 pm was noticing this tiny little plume moth in the sundew area. I knew instantly it was going to be the Sundew Plume. This is the first record in Sussex for 20 years and then it was only known from Ambersham Common. This is a Na species. It's fascinating to think the larvae can eat the leaves of Round-leaved Sundew without getting stuck in it. Unlike this Chrysopa perla.

In fact Round-leaved and Oblong-leaved Sundew are now present on the east side, with masses of Hare's-tail Cotton-grass too. Also, Marsh Club-moss has been refound on the west, I predict it's only a matter of time before this spreads to the east too.

I kicked a Scallop Shell up, the first time I have seen one of these for years.

And I found this Striped Ladybird larva, which reminded me of Wordy from Look and Read.

But before all this began, ten minutes after getting on site I netted a big green/purple beetle in flight. I struggled to ID this in the field then realised it's the dark colour form of Dune Chafer. Another species new to the reserve network and new for me too. It's quite the looker.

That brings the species seen on the reserves to 9856. However, that's just gone up to 9857 since i started writing this as Alice has found something VERY exciting at Flatropers today. So why is Graffham churning out rarity after rarity? Well it's connected to Ambersham by a bit of pretty good habitat, so there is a reservoir there. It's also been smashed about and opened up, but with about 30% of trees left to form glades and and provide shelter. So it's at just the right stage in succession but is also a great example of landscape scale conservation. Invertebrates that were only ever known in Sussex from Ambersham or few other places are now getting an opportunity to colonise/recolonise Graffham Common. It's a fantastic conservation success story. I can't wait to go back next month.

Until today I had only ever seen two earthstars, Collared and Sessile. Now I've seen four. Yet I'm not sure which four. So how did all this start? Well, with a sneeze of course. Tuesday morning I sneezed and put my back out so I've had a rough week with it. No training. Two walks to the GP's the only exercise in four days and then come Friday it got worse. Walking to the GP's, I got an email from Jim and Dawn Langiwicz asking about the Cedar Cups in Midhurst. He couldn't find them but had found what he thought was Arched Earthstar Geastrum fornicatum in a churchyard nearby. He was starting to think he had two species though and I agreed from his photos. So Tony, Heather and I went across this afternoon to have a look and it didn't take long to find the species on the right which we knew wasn't Arched Earthstar. We were pretty convinced it was Beaked Earthstar Geastrum pectinatum. We looked for the second (the left-hand one) which we were (and still are) convinced is Arched Earthstar Geastrum fornicatum. Here's a close up of that one.

Apart from the obvious colour differences, they seemed more upright, with a stouter collar, more 'blocky' spore capsule (Tony pointed out the two species had different spores too), they lacked a distinct beak and also lacked the raised rim around the beak of the other species.

Here is the other species showing a rounder spore capsule. Badgers have been so busy in the cemetery that they had dug a few of the Arched Earthstars up, so I took one over (the above photo) for direct comparison.

So I'm having an exciting night in identifying things when Tony chirps up saying he thinks we've got Rayed Earthstar Geastrum quadrifidum. I think he's right. The beak looks too short for beaked, which also lacks the raised pale area around the beak. The neck seams a little stouter too. We'll have to wait and see what the mycologists say. Either way, I've always wanted to see one of these cracking little things and was pretty stoked to see two within 20 metres of each other.

In the morning we had a walk around Ambersham. Nice to things like Brismtones and Green Tiger Beetles out but the highlight for me was seeing my first Sussex Uloborus walckenaerius. Ambersham is one of only two sites in West Sussex for this RDB3 spider and I beat three from heather along the side of a south-facing path.

I also saw the first new beetle I've seen in a while, I beat two Sphaeriestes castaneus off a pine tree. Lovely to get back out in the field and to feel like I'm on the mend again! A big thanks to Jim and Dawn too for the earthstars, the first real cool day out in the field in 2015!

It's a wonderful thing having a job that is also your hobby but it doesn't come without its problems. The botanical survey season is my busiest time of year and this building intensity of work can often make me feel less inclined to go out in my spare time looking for wildlife. It usually hits me by the end of August or September but it has come early this year. I felt it happen on the way back from Ireland. So, I need to press the reset button. Extra-curricular activities are going to be dropped back to a minimal level so I can concentrate on work and relaxing. Treating work as just a job for a while is in fact quite a healthy thing, especially during busy times, and I see this process as a natural part of being a naturalist and an ecologist. So, this blog is going to be a lot quieter over the next few months. I also found having no phone or Internet for a week in Ireland a huge release.

That said, I have had some new additions to my list at Iping and Stedham this week. I got buzzed by a large shiny black beetle whilst doing some quadrats there yesterday (5th July). Without a net, I managed to knock it to the ground with the palm of my hand. I suspected it would be a Minotaur but it was in fact the Na Heath Dumble Dor Trypocopris pyranaeus that James found a dead specimen of a few weeks ago. Nice!

This blood thirsty fly was also new to me being the fairly common Chrysops caecutiens. Mark caught it feeding on his arm in the car park and batted it off. The well aimed blow was a fatal one but I saw the poor beast twitch a couple of times, all I need to tick a species. But perhaps it was the breeze catching its hind tarsi? I didn't want to waist an opportunity to learn about a new species though, so I potted the dead specimen.

Finally, a really smart staph ran across the path in front of us, the highly distinctive Platydracus fulvipes. I just checked it out on the taxon designations spreadsheet and it's down as being nationally scarce (Nb). Even better though, I just called Peter Hodge (Sussex beetle recorder) and it seems this is only the 2nd Sussex record! Peter said he had only ever recorded it once anywhere in the UK and that was at Ambersham. Even the new key states the habitat as 'uncertain'.