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.
So, how DID I find myself staring at LARGE CONEHEADS at 10.30 pm at Dungeness last night? (this updated to include Dave Walker's amazing photo of the first animal we actually got a proper view of that he's kindly allowed me to use as you'll see my rubbish efforts below).
Rewind. I was meant to be in Wales this week but we had to reschedule due to awful weather. This meant I had a proper weekend off. Last week, chatting to Jake Everrit, I was reminded about the Sickle-bearing Bush-crickets etc at Dungeness, I had it in my mind to pop down but wasn't sure if and when. I had a great morning yesterday rock-pooling at Holywell (that's another story) and after a chilled out lunch, we said goodbye to Libby and Shaun Pryor and I headed to Dungeness to look for the new shieldbug that Dave Walker found last year...
After about an hour of searching I found two immatures, a dead one and then Shaun spotted an adult. Result! Geotomus petiti, indistinguishable externally from the rare Geotomus punctulatus. I love the demonic red eyes! Thanks to Dave and Tristan Bantock for the gen.
We had a few other nice things while searching, such as an immature Phlegra fasciata. And this lovely Grey Bush-cricket.
Shaun had to head off (we had been at it for nine hours by this stage and well done for him for spending that much time with me, something even I try to avoid!). However, it may have been the worst mistake of his life. I had a few hours to kill until dark and meeting up with Dave Walker to see the Sickle-bearers and Tree Crickets, so I did a bit of recording around the obs. I had barely started when Dave and Sam Perfect came over stating "we have a problem". Sam had photographed what he thought was Sickle-bearing Bush-cricket near the obs, in a new area, at about 1.00 pm (it was now about 6.30 pm), it was however a Large Conehead! We searched for an hour in the area he saw it but found nothing, we will come back to this spot after dark. I carried on poking around. Dungeness must be the only place where you can find Pellenes tripunctatus without looking for it.
This bug was a lifer for me. Ortholomus punctipennis. A really smart ground bug that I think was feeding here on Mouse-ear Hawkweed.
And then 8.00 pm came round and Dave took me out to look for the crickets. We had another look where the Large Conehead was spotted and nothing. It didn't take long before we were listening to thousands of Tree Crickets, a really magical sound! These are really odd looking crickets and hearing so many together was mind blowing. I heard the single animal on the edge of Brighton two years ago but didn't see it. This was an incredible experience.
Dave then carried on to the Sickle-bearing Bush-cricket area and soon found them. I didn't find a single one of the eight that we saw. A really leggy and long cricket that often reaches deep down into flower heads pushing the wings high up into the air or at a jaunty angle relative to the legs and/or line of the body.
This is a stunning cricket, really unlike any of our other crickets. Well, unless you count Large Conehead that is. I was convinced I could just about hear the Sickle-bearers but after listening to sound recordings I am not sure if that was what I was hearing. Here is a male with lots of Tree Crickets singing in the background.
Then ANOTHER orthopteroid lifer. Dave showed me several of the Ectobius montanus that he found new to Britain a few years ago and got to species earlier this year. A smart little cockroach, smaller than Tawny and Dusky but larger than Lesser. EDIT: Everything looks different in the light of a torch, I am pretty sure we got our wires crossed that night thanks to a comment on this post, I am pretty sure that all the roaches we saw that night were actually Lesser Cockroach Ectobius panzeri. I did think they were small, having saw some in daylight a few hours earlier, I should of looked more closely.
Wow, what a night! We were heading back to a new area that Sam had thought he had Sickle-bearings in earlier this week. He had an actinic out near there, and as we approached the trap, I did think it was odd that nearby was some kind of crackling battery, as mine is silent. It dawned on me that this was a cricket and nothing to do with the trap. As we rushed over it got even weirder. Imagine a really loud Roesel's Bush-cricket, at night, coming from scrub and you are nearly there. It was, however, so much louder and when I was close to this thing, it actually hurt my ears. The only other time I have experienced this was with cicadas in Oz. You can't hear it at all on my sound recordings though and Dave wasn't picking it up at all. It did a few little zips that Roesel's doesn't do too but was mostly just like Roesel's in terms of being just one long continuous note. I always think Roesel's sounds like a tattoo gun. This was more like a crackling pylon! It stopped and we couldn't locate it, then eventually, there was a big green cricket sitting on an upright stem, parallel to the stem and with a big pointy head. It was so hard to see in the scrub but we both got a definitive view but no photos, when I bungled an attempt to get it into a pot! Disaster! We walked a few more yards and I heard another, this time coming from utterly impenetrable bramble and while I was trying to record this, Dave found a female nearby in the grass!!! So that's two males, one female and the first one that Sam recorded. Four in all. Incredible. Here is my best shot but they all came out badly. LARGE CONEHEAD!
A massive thanks to Dave and Sam for the best evening of natural history of the year! It was so exciting, with just the right amount of dipping, followed by finding, to be a perfect roller coaster. And I was so fortuitous to be there that night for so many different reasons. I am definitely going to spend more time at Dunge. It's 19 years since I was a volunteer at the RSPB but this helped me remember just how much I love it there. I am going to become a friend of the Obs and start getting out there more often!
My first season as an almost full time entomologist is drawing to a close. It's been an incredible summer and one of the most exciting surveys has been the East Head survey I carried out for the National Trust in West Sussex. On Saturday I finished the sixth and final visit. It was one of those visits where you don't really feel like you've found very much, until you get home!
First off I thought I had found a new spider for me, being Agroeca inopina. After I got this male home, it was evident that this was actually the much more widespread Agroeca proxima. I did take the time to get some photos though. These late summers spiders look quite like small skinny wolf spiders with slightly wrong proportions. I took a female from a few metres away too. And I was really surprised that that one turned to be Agroeca inopina. This spider was new to me but known from the site. That makes 306 spiders for me this year. I am still way behind Matt. The spiders are done for the site with 13 of the 61 species recorded having conservation status! A whopping 21.3%. Here are the rare and scarce spiders for the site.
Alopecosa cuneata (NS)
Araneus angulatus (NS)
Argenna patula (NS)
Ceratinopsis ramosa (NR)
Crustulina sticta (NS)
Enoplognatha mordax (NS)
Nigma puella (NS)
Pardosa proxima (NS)
Phlegra fasciata (NR)
Sibianor aurocinctus (NS)
Sitticus saltator (NS)
Thanatus striatus (NS)
Zelotes electus (NS)
I could not find Marpissa nivoyii at this site but a more striking absence is that of the wolf spider Xerolycosa miniata which is usually common in sand dunes. This spider remains absent from West Sussex.
I still have 30 tubes of invertebrates to identify over the winter but this survey is definitely one of the most distinctive in terms of its statistics. It's by far the lowest in terms of overall diversity (I'm currently on 298 species) but the proportion of species with conservation status continues to be the highest I have ever surveyed. It's currently at 49 species, that's 16.4%! It was 17.4% after July, 16.2% after August so feels like it's oscillating around this area and won't change massively with the addition of the microscope work.
Under some tidal debris I found this this lively noctuid larva, which I believe to be Sand Dart. A Nb coastal specialist.
Other new species with status for the survey included Protapion difforme, Orthotylus rubidus and Sibinia arenariae. However, the highlight of the day and possibly the whole survey came in the last hour when I ran the suction sampler through some short sandy turf at the end of the dune slack. A funny orange carabid which turned out to be Bradycellus distinctus. This is Nationally Rare and Endangered and Mark Telfer says he can't recall hearing of any records since he wrote the carabid review in 2016! Last recorded in Sussex was in 2000 at Rye Harbour and only known from there and Camber Sands in Sussex. Here it is!
The next day I was at the Secrets of the Heath event and the first family that came up to look at the inverts in the tray asked "were you at East Head yesterday hoovering up the dunes?"
...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!
WARNING: This post contains the details of an offensive encounter, some of the most shocking behaviour I have ever seen in a birdwatcher and a moth-related euphemism that triggered a painful trip down memory lane. It's about 90% rant and 10% wildlife.
Yes a lot went on yesterday. For those with less time on their hands, here is the abridged version: I ticked Radde's Warbler on the edge of Brighton and saw Southern Chestnuts at Ambersham Common.
Now the long version. Where to start with such a day? I was in the middle of some work when I heard about the Radde's Warbler up at Sheepcote Valley, just to the east of Brighton. I needed this bird so I legged it up there only to find it had not been seen for three hours. After half an hour of watching Ring Ouzels flying all over the place (I saw at least six) the Radde's was relocated in a thick bramble bush. It was not showing well, diving out of the top and then flying straight into thick cover and only rarely calling. A birder played calls of it repeatedly before actually crawling into the bush to flush it and play more of its calls to it. Is this normal behaviour in birding circles now?! It was enough to put me off twitching for life. The total disregard for the bird's well being was disgusting, to certain individuals it would seem that tired and disorientated wildlife exists for one reason. Their amusement. I saw the bird, sadly probably because it was flushed. I would rather have not seen the bird. I left the site feeling dirty thinking to myself 'bad things happen when good people do nothing'. So this is my protest to such behaviour. I would like to add thanks to all the decent birders who were not doing this!
I picked up the gang and headed off to the other end of the county to do some real natural history but not before I recall my last encounter with a Dusky Warbler (a bird very similar to a Radde's Warbler) 12 years ago...
...I was at Dungeness RSPB at the time as a residential volunteer. Dave Walker had found a Dusky Warbler at the Obs so I dashed around on my push bike and when I look back it was a very similar feel to the Radde's twitch. Lots of people rushing from bramble bush to bramble bush but birders didn't use bird song or crawl into bushes back then, they used field craft and patience. The bird was relocated some distance from where I was and I jumped onto my bike landing heavily on a rather sensitive region of my body. I fell to the ground in agony as birder after birder ran past and over me without stopping to help! I guess some things never change. Jesus, birders are so unfriendly sometimes. I saw the bird. Memory lane sucks, I'm going back to Ambersham...
...It was cold last night and despite four traps, we only saw about five moths. Grey Pine Carpet, Grey Shoulder-knot, Black Rustic, Red-green Carpet and at least four Southern Chestnuts. A pretty little moth. It wasn't exactly mothing at its best though and I was a bit concerned I might have put Rachael off mothing for life. That said it was a stunning evening with a beautiful sunset and an amazing cold mist that crept in across the heath. Would you believe this was my first time to Ambersham Common?! I really must go to more none SWT sites. We saw one other person all evening, a young lad taking his remote control car for a walk. Pretty strange but not as strange as what happened next. Two strangers from the Midlands were also moth trapping. Friendly as ever, I wanted to talk to them. This is the exchange that happened in front of Rachael and my friend Simon.
Me: Hiya. Are you finding much?
Stranger: I would do if you lot would go away. This place is big enough for us all to have some space.
For once in my life I was speechless! I'd only been in that spot just long enough to net and pot up a Grey Pine Carpet for ID. I think that's the rudest a stranger has ever been to me during a natural history event. I can't imagine how debilitating this behaviour is. We have such a laugh when we go out on events like this, the company is so important, especially as I do so much natural history alone. Why do people sink to the lowest common denominator in crowds?!
We went to the pub afterwards, where po-faced bar maids continued the theme of rudeness.
Rude people of Earth, I remind you of the words of Bill and Ted: 'Be excellent to each other!' A big thank you to Tony Davis, Dave Gibbs, Simon Cullen, Shaun Pryor and of course the lovely Rachael Dover for being, as ever, excellent!
I played a dangerous game today and decided not to twitch the Vagrant Emperor Hemianax ephippigerdragonflies at Dungeness. I then decided I would after a late start and arrived at a very casual 13.00 pm. Fortunately for me, my laziness and indecision paid off as I walked straight up to a male and avoided a long wait! I would have been really fed up if I had dipped though. I saw one male for perhaps no more than ten minutes and it was then seen to fly off, over a field out of site. I have to admit I knew very little about this animal before today but the BDS website states it's a long distance migrant coming from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. There were as many as three there yesterday if what I heard was true and there has been an influx in France also. I saw Lesser Emperor at Dungeness in 2001 and apart from the time of year I would have thought it was that to start with.
I had no chance with my Coolpix but see Jake's blog for some good shots. I did get this video on the Canon though. I am always surprised at what the microphone pics up on this camera. You can hear Marsh Frogs,Canada Geese, camera shutters, Lydd airport and even the Dymchurch railway!
Prior to rushing off to Kent I popped into Crispin Holloway's folk's garden again and was amazed at the array of insects there including Dingy Skippers, Small Purple-barred, Green Carpet, three species of Pyrausta, Osmia bicolor and a squash bug which was new to me, Coriomeris denticulatus. Back to Dungeness and at the dragonfly twitch I met up with Mark Telfer and as I was showing Mark the bug, bizarrely there was another one right at our feet!? Anyway, always good to spend any time in the field with Mark as I always add a few things to my list, not only do I have him to thank for the dragonfly tip off but he also showed me Cepero's Groundhoppers and Leistus fulvibarbis. Four species up to day leaving me on 3274.
So it's just outside of Sussex but who cares? Went to Dungeness today, no sign of the Red-flanked Bluetail but we did get some great views of a Great White Egret. It always amazes me how long and thin their necks are, so much thinner (relatively) than Grey Herons and Little Egrets. This is my third UK GWE. Plenty of Marsh Harriers too but we didn't see much else on the RSPB reserve other than a very late Swallow over the car park as we were leaving.
Down the Patch there was a Sandwich Tern and a Med. Gull but the sea was dominated by Gannets and Kittiwakes and little else. A few Chaffinches were coming in off the sea and there was quite a movement of auks out distant. A single diver sp. flew west but that was about it. As we were leaving Lydd we saw a Barn Owl (Jo's first owl) and we soon saw another owl sp. fly over the road just east of Middle Farm. Twenty seven years without seeing an owl and she sees two in an hour.
Jo also informed me today that her old landlord was into birdwatching, did I know him? His name was John Gooders! I only grew up reading his books, sad to find out he passed away last May though.
I wish I had started blogging ten years ago. So, to make up for this and to find things to blog about in the winter or when I have a stinking hangover (like today) and have not done any natural history, I am gonna post a regular feature reminiscing about natural history conquests of yesteryear. I don't know if it's the way I tell 'em or if I really do seem to have a lot of strange things happen to me...
So, rewind nine years and I'm living in the volunteer accommodation at Dungeness RSPB reserve in Kent. I'd gone back to Brighton for a weekend and was amazed to find a Death's-head Hawk-moth had turned up in one of the moth traps! Only about six months prior to that I had a tattoo of one on my arm (by my exceptionally talented friend Gerry Carnelly) so I jumped at the opportunity to have a photo of it taken next to the tattoo. Thanks to David Burrows for taking the photo, who, many years later I would meet again as a member of Sussex Moth Group. The Dungeness moth traps were pretty rad, lots of rare residents and scarce migrants. We used to get Great Crested Newts, Lesser Cockroaches, Great Silver Water Beetles and once even a Black Redstart on or in the traps too. I got a huge list of birds as well, although the ibis incident is perhaps another story. I think I'll be making a visit tomorrow if the Red-flanked Bluetail is there, those four and a half months I spent as a residential volunteer are very close to my heart indeed!
I was only able to attend the first day of the beetling weekend at Dungeness RSPB Reserve but I saw most of the good stuff anyway. Grey Bush-cricket was new to me as shown yesterday. Omophron limbatum, the above beetle is perhaps THE Dungeness speciality. This atypical RDB1 carabid was once abundant on the silty margins of old gravel extraction sites but has declined in recent years (in some traps I set when I worked for the RSPB back in 2006, it was the commonest beetle, last year, in a repeat study, it was not not even present). We found several on the ARC pit, so it's great to confirm this national rarity is still present. It looks more like a ladybird than a carabid but with very long legs allowing it to scurry along quite rapidly.
Another unusual carabid running around on the silt margins, although common, is this stunning Elaphrus riparia (photo). Other rarities on the edge of the silt margins including many of the RDB species Augyles hispidulus and the nationally scarce Cercyon bifenestratus. This 11-spot LadybirdCoccinella undecimpunctata (photo) was also a new one for me, the spots looked a little busy, the body longer and the red more scarlet than orange. I have a lot of smaller carabids to key out and identify too.
All this against a back drop of the strange vegetated shingle and lichen heath in the shadow of the nuclear power stations. Plants included masses of the rare Jersey Cudweed (photo), the scarce Nottingham Catchfly, Lesser Centaury, Brookweed and Knotted Pearlwort.
Finally, I spotted this big tortrix and thought it might be a goody, it's Cochylimorpha alternana. Surprise surprise, it's a species pretty much restricted to Kent with a stronghold on the Dungeness peninsula, not sure of a conservation status on this yet but I bet it has one! It feeds on Greater Knapweed. It seems that almost everything you bump into at Dunge is rare or scarce. It was great to go back and see some old faces and catch up with old colleagues from the RSPB. The last nine years have gone pretty quick since I started out my career in conservation there as a volunteer. I have some very fond memories of my time there, Dungeness is bloody awesome, if you haven't been you should!
I've been at a coleopterists meeting at Dungeness today and I have to shoot off to help moth trap at Pulborough Brooks this evening so this is only a taster of the things we found there today, the rest will come tomorrow. Whilst looking for beetles under stones on vegetated shingle we found about five Grey Bush-crickets. This very mottled, long-winged cricket is nationally scarce (Nb) and very coastal with a southerly distribution. A new species for me and one I have always wanted to see.
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