The Lyons Share

Once every 1461 days we get a 29th February and a chance to see a 'leap frog' (this isn't a thing, I made it up). By a total coincidence I did exactly that today and got a new amphibian thanks to James Harding-Morris, Seth Gibson and Mark Telfer. I had a long overdue day off and headed to the butterfly house again at Whipsnade Zoo. All that will have to wait as it was rather eclipsed by these beauties at the end of the day in Bedfordshire. This is the Midwife Toad Alytes obstetricans. What a smart little beast and a great scientific name too. Introduced but apparently not a major threat being a poor disperser. James found three very quickly and I indulged in some shots.

Such incredible eyes on them. The rather sickly colour and texture of the skin reminds me of the zombies from the Walking Dead! Such pleasing proportions too and great to see them next to Common Toad. This little one really showed the lines of red warts that are really distinctive.

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!

Excuse the poor quality photo but I had to share this one. Last Sunday was our third Ditchling Beacon Conservation Super Squad and as my back is anything other than super, I was on light duties. Which involved finding wildlife to show the team on a freezing cold day. I had a go with the suction sampler in the quarry at Ditchling and picked up a tiny (1.5 mm) spider. It wasn't until I got home and looked down the microscope that I saw this...

I am still terrified of ET as a 40 year old 'man'. I've gone all jittery looking through photos just to write this post. Anyway, money spiders with freaky heads are pretty cool but this one is really weird. What looks like nostrils are actually one of the four pairs of eyes. The palps (External Testicles) were pretty weird too. This is Panamomops sulcifrons (my 373rd arachnid). It's a bit of a chalk-grassland specialist but what's strange is that I didn't pick it up at all last year during a survey there, in fact there were only three species of spider with conservation status that went into the management plan. Even though I was using a suction sampler in that exact same spot. It just shows that ongoing casual recording is also a great way to add to our knowledge of sites. The only other record on a Trust reserve is from Malling in 2009.

This is the second Nationally Scarce species we have added to the site list whilst scrub bashing up at Ditchling. A great way to do practical conservation and learn about wildlife at the same time. Have a look here if you want to sign up. It's always the last Sunday of the month and involves some steep and challenging work but is really rewarding. We also found three other species new to the site. Yellow Archangel, Moschatel and Palmate Newt!

I went to Ebernoe today to look for deadwood inverts. I had my mind on the large and the exotic and although I did get a glimpse of a Hornet Beetle, the weather was pretty poor and there was little on the wing. This ugly little Toad was the biggest thing I found under a log today!

I did alright with the little things today though. I found a few beetles that are new to the site, some still to be identified. I think this incredibly flat beetle with huge long antennae for such a small beetle is Uleiota planata. I'm waiting for confirmation but it looks good for it. It's Na and a Grade 2 Indicator of Ecological Continuity. I found two of them under sappy Beech bark on a limb that came down last winter. Strangely, each specimen had only one antenna each. UPDATE: Apparently this species has undergone a recent range expansion and may no longer warrant the nationally scarce status.

Whilst looking for Hornet Beetles in the glades I found this brightly coloured scolytid which looks like Trypodendron signatum. It has a purplish pronotum with yellow and brown striped elytra. It is Nb and new for the site too. I also found a small false click beetle on a dead Beech tree that is either Microrhagus pygmaeus or the rarer Hylis olexai. As this last species is not in Joy, I need some help with clinching the ID! Watch this space. I also saw Bitoma crenata and Platypus cylindrus.

On the fly front I saw Xlylota sylvarum (another deadwood hoverfly), Volucella inanis, lots of the robber fly Machimus atricapillus (photo) and a Dioctria sp. A surprise was a fledgling Spotted Flycatcher being fed by a parent in the glades.