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.
Last weekend was City Nature Challenge. It's hosted in iNaturalist. I am not a fan of this platform for many reasons that I won't go into here (I wish it was in iRecord) but I do like the challenge. So I have took part by sending my records in as casual observations (without photos that is - it's ludicrous to think I could take photos of even a fraction of what I record without completely wrecking the methodology). This way, they don't actually find their way back to the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, they get there directly from me in the same way as all my other data. Here is the current leader board for 2023, at the time of writing my records are not on there but they will be soon and I will update this blog when they are and the challenge is over for the year.
Some 23 'cities' in England are taking part. For the last two years Brighton has come top for the total number of species, and I have been pleased to play a big part in this. This year, I had more time free to do some recording for fun (not just using records from work). I recorded constantly for about 3.5 of the 4 days. You do get a bit of time to do the dets too, which are just finished. So my stats come out at 2801 records of 1014 species. This includes 570 invertebrates, 303 plants and 77 birds.
Day 1. A quick walk around BHASVIC Field with Karen first thing and then I headed to Woods Mill but it was sodden, so I just wandered around doing plants, bryophytes, molluscs and birds. I managed to refind Pepper-saxifrage in the valley field and saw a Cuckoo. Then I headed to Wiggonholt Common RSPB and things got really interesting. I targeted this site as one of the only significant areas of heathland within the project boundary. I recorded something like 150 invertebrates in the field over about four hours but it was the specimens that provided the most significant find of the weekend, probably my year. I had noticed lots (maybe around 15 or more) of paired up Nephrotoma craneflies flying up out of the Heather. I took a couple of males and when keying them out, I couldn't believe that it was coming out as Nephrotoma sullingtoniensis, the Sussex Tiger.
This cranefly has only ever been recorded three times and from one site - Sullington Warren. This small heathland is just the other side of Storrington to Wiggonholt, so it was certainly not out of the question. The book lists it as flying in June though, not late April. And lots of people have looked for it then and not found it. Could it have a much earlier flight period than people thought? I quickly got on to Alice Parfitt and told her all about it and she went and checked out Sullington (no joy) but did find it a third site - Hurston Warren. How amazing is this?! Especially as I just wrote a blog the night before about the importance of going out in April. Here are the rest of the microscope shots of this Endangered species.
Other highlights included my first heathland Enoplognatha mordax (still it marches on inland into all habitats, I had one in woodland the other day - first photo), Cercidia prominens, Xerolycosa nemoralis, Sibianor aurocinctus and Hypsosinga albovittata. I had another lifer int he form of a scarce dung beetle, Euorodalus coenosus and I refound Spathocera dalmanii there (photo). I found a few Dieckmaniellus gracilis too, despite the lack of foodplant.
Day 2 I spent on the chalk with Kim Greaves. We did the morning at Malling Down and the afternoon at Seaford Head. We mopped up! Malling Down provided some really exciting records, but mainly things I had seen there before. The first sample generated an almost adult Phaeocedus braccatus (1st photo) in Bridgewick Pit. And a whole host of cool harvestmen, including Trogulus tricarinatus again and this awesome Megabunus diadema (2nd photo). I got a lifer on the way into Green Pits. This is a rather messed up looking specimen of Thimble Morel (3rd photo) which people tell me is having a good year.
Onto the Coombe and I found an adult Pancaliaschwarzella at one of its few Sussex sites and Kim spotted this carabid, Lebia chlorocephala. This is only the third time I have seen this beetle in 13 years, the other two records being from Malling Down in 2010 and Southerham in 2017. The Horsehoe Vetch feeding pollen beetle, Meligethes erichsonii, was also a lifer.
To Seaford and a very casual twitch of the White-crowned Sparrow before mopping up on some Hope Gap specialities. Heath Snail, Moon Carrot, Lasaeola prona, Pyrausta ostrinalis (photo) and (possibly new to site) Astrapaeus ulmi. Oh and of course, loads of freshly emerged Anthophora retusa males. Amazingly we saw one male sitting on an Adder but I just couldn't get anywhere near it to get a photo. Picked up Whimbrel on call, when you do this you need to have one ear listening out all the time.
And I think these are my first Sussex Thick Top Shells (Phorcus lineatus) from the rockpools off Seaford Head. This seems about as far east as they come in the UK.
Day 3 and I spent it at work and made over 830 records to add to the set. Libby Morris accompanied me for about half of the day. Highlights included Bombus humilis and another Enoplognatha mordax. Oh and Aulacobaris lepidii which I see quite a lot on farms. But the best record was actually on what I believe to be Sussex University Campus land when I was trying to get back to my car. I saw that Martin Harvey had picked this up a few weeks earlier and I was gripped, can't believe I then went on to see this very odd yet charismatic sawfly, Sciapteryx soror. Yet another lifer.
And what must be the most Syntomus obscuroguttatus I have ever seen in one sample, this is just a fraction what was in the tray.
Day 4. I am broken after walking 27 miles in four days with 15 kg of gear. I spend most of the day entering records and identifying specimens. The weather is bad with some storms but Karen and I head out to Woods Mill to do some wetland invertebrate sampling in the afternoon and we do quite well. We find the ladybird Nephus quadrimaculatus, loads of new spiders in the meadow and finally Nightingale! Which was also Karen's first.
Here is my distribution over the four days, including some roadside botany. I am exhausted, 30% of the way through my field work for the year already and I have entered 8734 records in April alone. This challenge was immensely fun but talk about burning the candle at both ends.
Will it be enough to get us into top place for species again? I hope so. Here is the breakdown of the species recorded.
Abut six weeks ago actually. I saw that Jim and Dawn Langiewicz, along with Mark Colvin, had found a Tiered ToothHericium cirrhatum at Ebernoe Common growing out of a fallen Beech. Now, as this fungus is known to be a bit of a delicacy, I promised I would wait a few weeks until I posted about it. I have to say this was the best looking fungus I have EVER seen. I was totally transfixed with it, I couldn't stop taking photos!
It conjured up images of flying into Superman's Fortress of Solitude. It was like someone had bought me a white-chocolate fondue set for Christmas and I was coating everything in it! It was like reading the Northern Lights by the actual light of the Northern Lights whilst eating coconut ice-cream. It was like exploring an ice-cave on Svalbard with Werner Herzog. Anyway, you can probably tell I was quite taken with it, enjoy some more photos of this spectacular fungus.
Mark had also found some Felt Saddles which amazingly was a new species for the site. It's really well recorded for fungi so it's not easy to find new species there.
And nearby plenty of Fluted Bird's-nest Fungi! What wonderful little creations these are. A huge thank you to Jim, Dawn and Mark for spotting all these wonderful fungi.
Possibly the strangest thing I am ever going to see EVER. I called in to twitch the Starfish Fungus on my way north today. Must be the first fungus I have added to my list in nearly a year (#210). An introduced species from Australia, it certainly doesn't look like it belongs here. I made the mistake of smelling it and I can confirm it is somewhere between dog muck and rotting corpse. Disgusting, beautiful or somewhere in between? It just leaves one question. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT BROWN STUFF?!
It could be something to do with that I have been watching the Walking Dead all day that I could come up with such a blog title for what was essentially a survey of Wild Daffodils, but as usual, it's the the less obvious things I encounter when I'm out, the underdogs, that interest me. Yes, Wild Daffodils have their own intrinsic beauty but this Toothwort that Nick Sturt got me on to, does it more for me. Looking like dentures that have fallen out of a gawping botanist's mouth or a half-buried dead creature, Toothwort has to be one of the strangest plants out there. I find all the plants that can't be bothered to get their energy from the Sun hugely fascinating. Considering the host is Hazel, why is it so scarce at West Dean Woods?
It was 'bring your girlfriend to work day' last Thursday and Rachael was great at spotting daffs, even when they weren't flowering. She also spotted this Yellow Brain Fungus.
The mapping exercise was a success, I hope to show the results on here next week. For those that like Wild Daffodils, here are bunch of the showy little tarts. Apparently, they look amazing this year! Whatever floats your boat, give me Toothwort any day!
Finally, to dispel any myths that I'm not out there doing natural history or listing anymore, my current list is on 4209 and I've added 30 species (mostly invertebrates) since the start of March! All of this is from the two surveys I am doing at work this year, one at Filsham Reedbed with Alice Parfitt and the other at Old Lodge with Chris Bentley. I anticipate these surveys being the main source of additions to my list this year based upon the success of the March visits but that is another story...
Due to rather rubbish weather forecast over the next few days, I decided to do the Woods Mill bird survey this evening. It was rather good surprisingly with many more registrations of Song Thrush and Blackbird than I usually record in the mornings. I saw the female Kestrel fly in with food and tear it up for the chicks. A few young Tawny Owls called to each other in the woods. I finally stumbled upon the Buzzard's nest to see a well grown youngster looking down at me and a Barn Owl flew across the reedbed with a prey item. Not only that but I got a fungus tick too in the form of these Collared Parachutes that have a distinct collar separating the gills from the stipe which is perfectly obscured from view in this informative photograph. That puts me on 4012 species.
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?'
Thanks to Jake Everitt for finding this Caterpillar FungusCordyceps gracilis at Mill Hill this weekend. I headed up there with Dave and Penny and sadly, my bad back tagged along too. I thought I had seen the back of it (see what I did there) but alas it appears that no amount of strengthening of my core muscles is enough to keep it at bay. It's not the disk this time though, just muscle spasm but it's very painful. The extra strong painkillers make me pretty spaced out and I can't drive with them.
Anyway, I saw the strange little fungus which was a tick for me. I found this short video from Planet Earth on YouTube which basically tells you about the genus Cordyceps. This species parisitizes Lepidoptera larvae, someone told me specifically Common Swift moth larvae, before sending the little fruiting body up out of the caterpillar's head to produce yet more of the spores. I had two more ticks at Mill Hill yesterday evening too but that will have to wait for another post...
I had a rather dull walk around Woods Mill this lunch time with my highlight being a fly over Cormorant (wahoo!). On a whim I decided to have a closer look at some mature Field Maples that I walk past most days. I was instantly confronted by a large moss that I didn't recognise. I thought it might of been Mnium hornum but I soon realised it was a pleurocarp and all the stem branches were running downwards, it's called Anomodon viticulosus. It was growing in discrete, bright-green patches that shrivel up really quickly when you leave them on your desk! It was growing beneath large areas of this moss, Neckera complanata.
Growing on the same tree I also noticed this little bryophyte. I was perplexed until I saw a dried up one. It's only Prince of Wales Feather-moss Leptodon smithii. I went all the way to Goodwood to look for this just a few weeks ago and all along it was growing right under my nose. The base-rich nature of the bark clearly results in a distinct community of mosses. I will be giving this area a good going over over the next few lunch breaks.
But fortunately for you and me, it's not on my body but it's on my list. I was Googling Nail Fungus to show it to a colleague and got a nasty surprise, hence the title of the post. It did make me laugh...at first, then it made me feel sick. Anyway, Nail Fungus is a rare species that grows out of horse dung and is known from Old Lodge. There wasn't much there but we did see three little patches, last year it was abundant but it has been very dry this autumn. I went on a fungal recording day today followed by a walk around the site to discuss grazing and management. Ray Tantrum lead the field trip and she was a wealth of knowledge. I added nine species to my list leaving me on 3658 species.
Species I didn't manage to get good shots of and that were new to me were: Poisonpie, Snowy Waxcap, Orange Mosscap, Pleated Inkcap and Yellow Fieldcap. The main reason for this is that mycologists have a frustratting skill of picking fungi for identification before I can get a chance to photograph them in situ!
This Russula was a new one for me being identifiable in the field by the exposed gills around the edge. It is known as Bare-toothed Brittlegill. I saw in Roger Phillips that it also has another name, the Flirt!
I then spotted two of these little guys, the rather infamous Liberty Cap but that was not a tick for me but I don't see them that often.
After a long walk around the site we bumped into the recording group again and Ray showed us another interesting fungus on a burn site. It's Pine Firefungus. I thought they looked like some kind of dessert, perhaps profiteroles or that stuff you poor on ice cream that solidifies into chocolate. Everyone else thought they just looked like dog muck. Now I'm looking at the photos I have to say that perhaps I was just hungry at the time.
I changed the interception traps at Cowdray yesterday for the penultimate time. I was surprised at how many beetles there were so late in the season, more than there have been earlier in the season. With some of the biggest hollow trees being present on the golf course, a funny thing occurred there yesterday when I hid inside a hollow tree to wait out a heavy rain shower. The complete surprise on a passing golfer's face as I jumped out of the tree afterwards was priceless! My explanation of what I was doing in there only seemed to confuse them even more!
I did manage one new species walking between the trees. The fungus Blackening Waxcap. I have really slowed down with the listing now, adding only two species since the start of August! I hope I can get some more fungi and lower plants this Autumn...
I've been at a conference all day in Hampshire looking at how to conserve Juniper populations which was organised by Plantlife. It was a very interesting day and we had about an hour to look around Stockbridge Down at the end and I was surprised to see that most of the Juniper bushes have this unusual fungus on them (I have never seen this at Levin). It's Gymnosporangium clavariiforme and apparently it has dual hosts. Firstly infecting Juniper where it then releases spores which go on to infect a member of the Rosacea, particularly Hawthorn. This second incarnation is supposed to look totally different. Amazing stuff, I've never heard of this before, great to come across surprises like this and a tick for me too.
We also saw the work of the tiny mite that occurs in Juniper berries and can have a strong negative effect on their fertility. It's called Trisetacus quadrisetus and you can tell they are in the berry by the openings. I picked one to see if I could see them inside under the microscope but they are very small apparently and I may well struggle to see them at x 40. I'll perhaps wait till I'm less tired...
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