The Lyons Share

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 had a rare thing last weekend. I had an afternoon off. So I thought I would I would switch off from natural history...kidding! So I thought I would head out to the Crumbles at Eastbourne and try and find Heath Shieldbug Legnotus picipes at its only known Sussex site. It was very windy but that's not a problem for the suction sampler. With John Burnham and Oliver Froom on their way, I stood in the car park looking at the Pampas Grass tussocks. The Crumbles is now a shadow of its former self, it was an incredible area of vegetated shingle but has been developed (and continues to be developed - a large chunk has gone since I was there last five years ago). It's a sad story that the value of vegetated shingle wasn't recognised at the time BUT it still has a lot to be found there. So with my feet on the tarmac, I rammed my suction sampler into the nearest Pampas Grass tussock. They reminded me of the kind of structure with hanging litter that Greater Tussock-sedge provides and I've had good results with those in the past. I walked right by them five years ago when I was last there though.

The first sample produced a lifer, the tiny ladybird Scymnus interruptus (above) and TWO immature Myrmarachne formicaria We went on to find maybe 50 Myrmarachne in all! Included one stonking adult male which we were very pleased to see! We initially thought we also had Synageles venator but they were just female Myrmarachne (they have surprisingly large palps). Being ant mimics, it's actually the females and immatures which make for a more convincing mimic than the adult male with those huge chelicerae, such as in this video. The mimicry comes from the way it moves, the unusually-shaped and patterned abdomen, the raised and darkened section on the cephalothorax but also from the way it holds and moves the angled front legs (which are also slightly darker and paler-tipped). I can't understand what the huge chelicerae of the adult male add to this!

In Sussex this most captivating of our jumping spiders is only known from here and Rye Harbour. They are really quite hard to find, so seeing around 50 was incredible! Here are some more shots. I can't help think it looks a bit like a duck (A sad little ant-duck-spider in the second shot).

But the fun didn't end there! I got a first for Sussex (and a lifer!) in the form of this beautiful ground bug, Beosus maritimus. That's the fourth new bug we have added to the Sussex list so far this year.

And Oli had ONE go on the suction sampler and came back with a lacewing that I thought was a spongefly at first but it turned out to be Psectra diptera. This is the second record for Sussex and the first for East Sussex. Other highlights includes Neides tipularius, Dasypoda hirtipes and Odiellus spinosus (which was a new one for me). We never did find Legnotus picipes. I wonder what else is there unrecorded?