Contents / Diary of events
MARCH 2017
Bristol Naturalist News
Photos © John Sparks
Discover Your Natural World
Bristol Naturalists’ Society
BULLETIN NO. 558 MARCH 2017
BULLETIN NO. 558 MARCH 2017
Bristol Naturalists’ Society
Discover Your Natural World
Registered Charity No: 235494
www.bristolnats.org.uk
HON. PRESIDENT : David Hill,
BSc (Sheff), DPhil (Oxon).
ACTING CHAIRMAN: Stephen Fay
HON. PROCEEDINGS RECEIVING EDITOR:
Dee Holladay, 15 Lower Linden Rd., Clevedon,
BS21 7SU [email protected]
HON. SEC.: Lesley Cox
07786 437 528
[email protected]
HON. M EM'SHIP SEC.: Mrs. Margaret Fay
81 Cumberland Rd., BS1 6UG. 0117 921 4280
[email protected]
HON. TREASURER:
David K Clegg
42 Dial Hill Road, Clevedon, BS21 7HN
[email protected]
3
CONTENTS
Diary of Events
4-5 Society Talk + AGM
6
Roger’s Notes;
7
Book keeper wanted
Welcome to new members
Botany Section needs a President
Reading Group
Nature in Avon call for articles
8
‘Useless’ statistics (but help wanted!)
Phenology;
Poem for the month
BULLETIN DISTRIBUTION
9
Hand deliveries save about £800 a year, so help
is much appreciated. Offers please to:
HON. CIRCULATION SEC.: Brian Frost, 60 Purdy
Court, New Station Rd, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16
3RT. 0117 9651242. [email protected] He will
be pleased to supply further details. Also
contact him about problems with (non-)delivery.
BULLETIN COPY DEADLINE: 7th of month before
publication to the editor: David B Davies,
Society Walk Report
10 BOTANY SECTION
‘Purple Emperor’ talk
Field meetings with Glos. Nats.
Botanical notes : Meeting Reports;
Plant records
13 GEOLOGY SECTION
14 LIBRARY An invitation to visit!
The Summer House, 51a Dial Hill Rd., Clevedon, BS21
7EW. 01275 873167 [email protected]
15 INVERTEBRATE SECTION
Notes for this month
Grants: BNS typically makes grants of around
£500 for projects that meet the Society’s
charitable aims of promoting research &
education in natural history & its conservation in
the Bristol region. Information and an application
form can be downloaded from:
http://bns.myspecies.info/search/site/Grants
(and bristolnats.org.uk) Email completed
applications to [email protected].
Health & Safety on walks: Members
participate at their own risk. They are
responsible for being properly clothed and shod.
Dogs may only be brought on a walk with prior
agreement of the leader.
16 ORNITHOLOGY SECTION
Field Meeting Reports;
Fieldwork - Breeding Bird Survey
Recent News - Waxwings
19 MISCELLANY Botanic Garden;
Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project
Arnos Vale Tree identification
20 Inland Seal ! More Waxwings;
Scarlet Elf Cup Fungus
Cover pictures: Kindly provided by John
Sparks, illustrating his talk on Wild
Ethiopia
Bristol Naturalists’ Society
Discover Your Natural World
2
Registered Charity No: 235494
www.bristolnats.org.uk
Diary of events
Back to contents Council usually meets on the first Wednesday of each month. If you plan
to attend please check date & time with the Hon. Sec. (from whom minutes are available to
members). Any member can attend, but must give advance notice if wishing to speak.
Visitors & guests are very welcome at any of our meetings. If contact details are given,
please contact the leader beforehand, and make yourself known on arrival. We hope that
you will enjoy the meeting, and consider joining the Society. To find out how to join, visit
http://bns.myspecies.info and click on membership.
MARCH 2017
Thu 2
Sat 4
Wed. 8
Wed 15
Wed 22
Wed 29
Walk: Slad Valley, Stroud
Severn Beach & New Passage
Wild Ethiopia
SOCIETY AGM+Talk : NB New start
Purple Emperor (not just for Botanists!!)
Origins of Dolomites
time
Society
Ornithology
Ornithology
Society
Botany
Geology
10:00
10:00
10:00
19:30
19:30
19:30
page 5
page 14
page 14
page 4
page 10
page 13
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
Tickets at
page 19
page 19
page 19
page 19
page 13
page 10
page 10
page 14
page 10
Photo © Steve Hale
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 exhibition ends on 5 March. M Shed top floor.
Museum Reception (Ground Floor!) or on-line at the museum website.
Sat. 4 Mar. Arnos Vale, Winter Trees identification. £5 Arnos Vale
10:30
Tue 14 Mar. Our Local Raptors
Gorge & Downs 19:00
Thu 16 Mar. Romans & Roses (Italian Gardens)
Bot. Garden
19:00
Sun 19 Mar Curator’s Tour
Bot. Garden
10:30
Sat 8 Apr
Lulworth Cove to Mupe Bay
Bath Geol. Soc.
Thu 20 Apr Selsey Common & other locations
Glos. Nats.
11.00
Thu 18 May St Briavels & Slade Bottom.
Glos. Nats.
11.00
Sun 4 June RSPB Arne Reserve
BOC
08:00
Thu 22 Jun Rodmarton, Culkerton & the Fosse Way
Glos. Nats.
11.00
Thanks to Steve Hale for this Song Thrush, taken 8 Feb. 2017. He writes:
Lots of Thrushes around Ashton Court today, 6+ Song Thrush and 20+ Blackbird
3
SOCIETY ITEMS
Contents / Diary
SOCIETY AGM – NB CHANGE of advertised START TIME
Followed by a Presentation on Palaeolimnology
Ancient Lake Ohrid: An Exceptional Hotspot of Biodiversity and
Archive of Environmental History
Speaker: Dr. Jens Holtvoeth, University of Bristol
NB Early start: 7.00pm, Wednesday, 15th March 2017
Westbury-on-Trym Methodist Church, BS9 3AA
(There is a large car park adjacent to the Church and several buses stop nearby)
This presentation will introduce members to Lake
Ohrid, a transboundary lake shared between
Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia that has long been recognised as one
of the oldest extant lakes in the World. The lake
features an outstanding level of biodiversity as it
hosts more than 300 endemic taxa, ranging from
phytoplankton to fish, per square kilometre more than anywhere else. Biologists were soon
wondering whether this exceptionally high level of
Lake Ohrid: An Exceptional Hotspot of Bioendemism resulted from frequent climatically
diversity and Archive of Environmental History
driven environmental changes that triggered
extinctions and the evolution of new species or, by contrast, from stability and some kind of
resilience to change. They therefore joined forces with geologists in the “Scientific
Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Ohrid” or (SCOPSCO)”. In 2013, a drilling
campaign supported by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP)
recovered the full 570m of uninterrupted sediment sequence from the lake centre,
providing the scientists with a unique archive of environmental changes in the Ohrid Basin
over more than 1.2 million years. Climate
variability in the Western Balkans and
ecosystem response are finally revealed.
The International Continental Scientific Drilling
Programme Team at work in Lake Ohrid
Dr. Jens Holtvoeth joined SCOPSCO early
on in the quest to get to the bottom of Lake
Ohrid’s secrets. He will introduce
methodological approaches to paleoenvironmental reconstructions and present
first answers to some of the big questions
surrounding the history of this remarkable
ecosystem.
4
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (Preceding the talk)
Election of Council
Most Council Officers and Members are required to stand for re-election.
David Hill: The BNS President will be standing down this year having reached the end of his three
year period of office. Council would like to take this opportunity to thank David for his skill and
wisdom during this time. As retiring President, he will remain on Council next year to join with us
in welcoming his successor.
Council Nominations are:
Stephen Fay (Member/Chairman)
Lesley Cox: Hon Secretary
Michael Butterfield: Hon. Treasurer
Margaret Fay: Hon. Membership Secretary
Jim Webster: Hon. Librarian.
Dee Holladay: Hon. Proceedings Receiving Editor
David Davies: Hon. Bulletin Editor
Clive Lovatt: Hon. Archivist
Mark Pajak: Hon. Webmaster
Brian Frost: Hon. Circulation Secretary
Vacancy: Publicity Secretary
Ray Barnett (Member)
Richard Bland (Member)
Tim Corner (Member)
Robert Muston (Member)
Mandy Leivers (Member)
Section Representatives:
Richard Ashley: Geology
Tony Smith: Invertebrates
Giles Morris: Ornithology
Any member of the Society wishing to nominate a fellow member for election should inform the
Hon. Secretary as soon as possible.
Lesley Cox (Hon. Sec.)
SOCIETY MID-WEEK WALK
Back to contents / Back to Diary
Slad Valley, Stroud
Thursday, 2nd March: 2¼ miles.
This is a varied and interesting, short walk with woodlands and fields but a bit steep in
places. Meet at Bull’s Cross at 10 am on the Slad Road, SO877086, parking on the
roadside. To get here use the A46 to Stroud and take the Slad Road B4070 East out of
Stroud. Bull’s Cross is about 2 miles North of Slad village. Hopefully we will have lunch at
the Woolpack at Slad. The walk should finish about 12.30 pm. The field paths should be in
good condition but good walking boots should be worn and suitable clothing for the time of
year.
Tony Smith; telephone 0117 965 6566
5
ROGER’S NOTES
Back to contents / Back to Diary
March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, as my Mum always told me, each year.
March winds and April showers, make way for sweet May flowers, as Abe Lyman sang in
1935.
March is the first month that sees the possibility of some consistent warmth. Harbingers of
Spring that have teased us, only to be nipped by frost, now become a reality. As I write
this, I have garden Robins, nervously tolerating each other, and Blackbirds going about in
pairs. Dunnocks are, well, doing what Dunnocks do (This is a family publication. We’ll
draw a veil over that!). Collared Doves which, as John Gooders pointed out, started their
breeding season on January 1st and will not stop until December 31st.
The hedges will start to gain a haze of green, but above all, things start moving, as the
weather improves. The first migrant birds arrive in force, drawn on by the prospect of
invertebrate life to feed their chicks. Each year we wonder what we will see - and things
are changing. Will my, recently infrequent visiting, Little Egret, become a regular? Will I
hear a Cuckoo (at all!). I didn’t get one on my Breeding Bird Surveys last year. A few
years ago I could expect to hear one, maybe once, from the garden. Warmer climate
species are pushing into southern Britain. Some, like the Asian Hornet, not so
welcome. Importantly, it is always uncertain what each year will bring.
Mammals are always a lucky sighting. A few weeks ago I saw a resting Brown Hare in a
nearby field. March is, of course the season of the Mad March Hare. Do keep an eye out.
Roger Steer
PHENOLOGY
January was the coldest since 2013, but a degree warmer than the average since 1853,
but spot on the thirty-years average, or climate. Until the last weekend it was exceptionally
dry, and the final rainfall total of 60mm was below the January average of 85mm let alone
the 30 year average of 101. As December was also unusually dry we have now had only
800mm in the past twelve months, compared with the average of 900, and this is the
lowest since 1996 and 1997. If a dry summer succeeds a dry winter we get into drought
alert territory.
A number of common species are on the way to overwintering in flower. They include
Chickweed, Groundsel, Daisy, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Mexican Daisy, Petty Spurge and
Shepherd’s Purse. Many of these will disappear if we have a cold spell. How far
overwintering is a new phenomenon is hard to say, as people enjoy recording new spring
flowers, but have rarely recorded survivors right through the winter. Hazel catkins
th
elongated on the Downs on the 15 , two days earlier than the long term average, and
th
three weeks later than last year, and Snowdrops opened on 27 , but Crocus, Hairy
Bittercress and Forsythia which have, on average since 2003, opened in January have
shown no sign at the time or writing. Stinking Hellebore, a native plant most often found in
gardens, is open, and the Primroses in my garden have already been in flower since
September.
Richard Bland
6
BOOK KEEPER Required: Could this be a job for you?
Contents / Diary
Your Council believes it would be useful for the Society to have a Bookkeeper as part of
the team whose job it will be to keep a simple, accurate record of all our daily transactions.
These are regular rather than frequent and cover things such as making a note of
members’ subscriptions, speakers’ costs and venue hire. Some members may have a
bookkeeping qualification, which would be useful but not necessary. We just need
someone dependable and willing. We believe that this will spread the load for the
Treasurer who will continue to be responsible for producing the Society’s Accounts.
If you could be the person who helps us with this simple task, please contact me.
Many thanks. Lesley. ([email protected]).
Welcome to new members of BNS:
Miss Jane Shackleton; Ms. Cathy Tailby (Interests: Geology); Miss Elizabeth Yates
(General, Ornithology)
BOTANY SECTION: Help Required
Our Botany Section benefits from a large Committee, which provides ideas and support
helping the Secretary and the President to construct a programme of events. A President
of the Botany Section is required to fill this post to plan and run the Botany meetings with
the Section Secretary and the rest of the committee. It is not an onerous job. If you are
interested and want to know more please contact the BNS President, [email protected]
or the Secretary, [email protected]
READING GROUP / BOOK CLUB
The Reading Group welcomes new members
Contact: Tony Smith 0117 965 6566 [email protected]
Currently we are reading The Serengeti Rules by Sean B Carroll.
Contact the above for details of meeting places and times
NATURE IN AVON Next Issue - 2016
Deadline for contributions 31 March 2017
All contributions welcome, short notes or longer papers!
Please send to [email protected]
7
SOME LATEST 'USELESS' MEMBERSHIP STATISTICS
Contents / Diary
A
t the time of writing, membership of the Society stood at 408. There are 56 more
male members than female. There are 318 Full members, and 68 Household
members. The few remaining include Affiliated, Corresponding, Honorary, and
Student members. Of these members, there are 329 different surnames, with the most
common being Brown, at 5. We have no 'E' members, except one Household.
There is one member who joined in 1940, one in 1949, and several in the 1950's.
including myself. Our oldest one who will be 99 on the 1st. of November, joined in 1975,
(unless someone knows of an older one).
Obviously, most of our members come from BS postcode areas, with 8 and 9 being the
most usual. However, we have at least one member in each of the following postcode
areas:- BA, BH, CF, GL, GU, RH, SN, TA, TQ, WF, WR, and YO. There is also one
member in Germany. We have three full members in one road, Dial Hill Road, in Clevedon
Of those members for whom we have internet email addresses, the most common
providers are blueyonder, bt internet & btopenworld, gmail, hotmail, and yahoo. Some
members have their own personal provider.
At the present time, we have 350 copies of Bristol Naturalist News (Bulletin), printed
monthly. Of these, 121 are hand delivered by volunteer members, which saves the Society
a considerable amount of money. We could save even more, if we could find deliverers for
the following areas:- Bedminster and Southville (10), Downend (4), Kingsdown
and Cotham (8), Montpelier (9), and Stoke Bishop (6). Offers (preferably by email),
would be gratefully appreciated by me, Brian Frost, Hon. Circulation Secretary, details
inside front cover. Some members opt not to have a printed copy, and get the details from
our website, which saves on printing and postage costs.
If there is something that someone spots, that is incorrect, please forgive me!
Brian Frost
POEM FOR THE MONTH
“Work Without Hope”
Poem discovered by Helen Mumford and contributed by Tony Smith
All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair —
The bees are stirring — birds are on the wing –
And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!
And I the while, the sole unbusy thing,
Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.
Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow,
Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.
Bloom, O ye amaranths! Bloom for whom ye may,
For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!
With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll:
And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul?
Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And Hope without an object cannot live.
st
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 21 February, 1825
8
SOCIETY WALK REPORT
Contents / Diary
Report on a walk at Abbots Leigh, Thursday 2 February.
Tony Smith this month casts his report in the form of a letter to one who missed out…
Dear Eileen,
You may be kicking yourself for paying attention to the weather forecast for today: we
had a very interesting walk, with the rain quite ceasing at about 9.30, the sun shining by 5
past eleven, and no wind.
We found my first Lesser Celandine this year in flower and Red Deadnettle, Winter
Heliotrope and Snowdrops all greeting the mild and damp air. I took another recce of the
walk yesterday and decided that there was no reason to risk skiddy mud and nasty falls on
the steep hills near Abbots Leigh and certainly there was no way to negotiate the
deplorable morass that you and I had both
tackled at different times at the end of Home
Farm Road. We just walked along the
footpath beside the main road, crossed over
Beggar’s Bush Lane at the traffic lights and
after a further few yards got into the grounds
of Ashton Court, where we followed the wall
round on the inside and came out opposite
the road to Upper Farm. Then we kept on
until we reached Abbots Pool and almost
the end of the walk up to The George.
Jean Oliver was on hand to name some
spectacular fungi. We saw Ganoderma
bracket fungus (see photo) in great vertical
columns rising up the trunk of one large
beech tree and on the flaky bark of a
sycamore there were tiny clusters of
exceedingly tiny, translucent white
Mycaena toadstools. And I was able to hold
my X 10 hand lens just 1 cm away from one
group so that people could peep through
and see the delicacy of the structure. On the
ground were some Scarlet Elf Caps, that
amazed people (picture p20). I was able to
handle a large Garden Worm and point out
the features, and do similar for a Banded
Snail and a Two-toothed Door snail, in so
doing being able to cover hermaphroditism,
shell growth, aestivation break in growth,
Artist’s fungus Ganoderma applanatum
dextral and sinistral coiling, and
invertebrates versus invertebrates, genetics Photo © Clive Burton
and processes of cell regulation, and then we found the pub was shut. However, we had
already decided that we would have lunch at the Priory Inn, Portbury, which proved to be
an excellent choice. I was gratified that eight people turned up, obviously a lot more
confident than I had felt! You would have enjoyed the whole thing.
Best wishes,
Tony
9
BOTANY SECTION
PRESIDENT:- Vacant
HON. SEC:- Clive Lovatt 07 851 433 920 ([email protected])
Back to contents / Back to Diary
INDOOR MEETINGS
We have a new venue (and day) and for the indoor meetings, which are now held on the
4th Wednesday in the month at 7.30pm - 9.30 pm. We are using a room in the Westburyon-Trym Methodist Church, Westbury Hill, BS9 3AA which is on a bus route and has an
adjacent free public car park.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PURPLE EMPEROR
Speaker: Matthew Oates
Wednesday 22 March, 7.30 pm
The Botany Section invites all members of the Society to this talk. Matthew tells us: “I’m
writing a new book on the natural history of this wonderful butterfly. There’s a good Bristol
link here as Ian Robert Penicuick Heslop, who wrote much on this butterfly during the
1950s and early 60s was a Bristol boy, went to live at Burnham, and his collection and
papers are in Bristol Museum.” The eccentric Heslop once claimed to have ‘taken’ as
many Purple Emperors as Elephants (four).
Matthew has been with the National Trust since 1990 and is their National Specialist,
Nature. Initially he worked in nature conservation practice, specialising in grazing regimes,
scrub management and lowland habitats. A frequent radio and TV broadcaster, he is
particularly drawn to people’s relationships with nature, places and seasons, and
increasingly the impact of weather on wildlife.
For a taster, see Matthew’s website http://www.thepurpleempire.com/ and the account
of this local rarity in Butterflies of the Bristol Region. We should also learn how Salix
caprea, Sallow or Goat Willow should be managed in favour of the butterfly, and its
unusual tastes.
FIELD MEETINGS
The following meetings, led by Clive Lovatt, BSBI recorder for VC34, will take place
as a continuation of the five Gloucestershire Pot Luck botanical recording meetings
held last year, but now extending into areas outside the traditional BNS area. All
meetings start at 11am. The meetings are being held for the Gloucestershire
Naturalists Society and BNS members are welcome.
Thursday 20 April 2017. Selsey Common and other locations. Meet at the Selsey
Common car park with multiple entrances on the B4066 at SO82880267/GL5 5PL for a ‘pot
luck’ botanical survey of spring flowering plants. Cerastium semidecandrum Little Mouseear occurs on the Selsey common and C. pumilum Dwarf or Curtis’s Mouse-ear was
recorded there 20 years ago. We will move on to search other commons and roadside
verges for ephemerals including the apparently rare segregates of Erophila verna,
Whitlowgrass.
Thursday 18 May 2017. St Briavels and Slade Bottom. A ‘pot luck’ botanical survey
focussing on plants not recorded since before 2000 (list available) in two tetrads. We
should be able to visit St Briavels Castle and see the tufa formation at Slade Brook SSSI.
Meet at Forestry Commission Car Park at Tiddenham Chase SO558993/GL15 6PT to
consolidate before moving on.
10
Thursday 22 June 2017. Rodmarton, Culkerton and the Fosse Way. A ‘pot luck’
botanical survey of largely unrecorded monads close to the county boundary in a rural
setting. Rosa tomentosa, Downy Rose should be seen. Meet at Rodmarton Church
ST942981/GL7 6PE (limited parking).
August – date to be confirmed. Arable weeds of Gloucestershire. A ‘roving meeting’ to
look at the current distribution of arable weeds in the Cotswolds.
The BNS Botany Section’s own meetings (at least one a month relatively close to
Bristol) and those with a stronger emphasis in recording and rare plant monitoring
run in collaboration with or by invitation of the Somerset Rare Plants Group will be
advertised in the BNS Bulletin as soon as details are available.
BOTANICAL NOTES Contents /
Indoor Meeting Reports
Diary
AGM and 2016 BOTANICAL RECORDS, Wednesday 25 January
A brief AGM was held with a dozen members present. Apologies were received from Libby
Houston and Helena Crouch. The Hon Secretary reported that five indoor meetings had
been held in 2016 (2015, 6) and 16 field meetings (2015, 14). Attendance varied from 1 to
over 20 in the field and hovered around a dozen indoors, with more when external
speakers had been invited. All meetings were written up in the Bulletin. The Hon Sec and
Committee were thanked by one member who had enjoyed the field meetings she
attended for the variety of places, the gentle learning and the easy companionship – surely
the enduring strength of societies such as ours.
The Botany Committee were re-elected unchanged – Clive Lovatt as Hon Sec, with
Helena Crouch, David Hawkins, David Hill, Libby Houston, Ellie Phillips and Tony Smith as
ordinary members. There remains a vacancy for a Section President/Chairman.
Due to illness, Helena Crouch was unable to attend and give her presentation on the
year’s botanical finds in the N Somerset (VC6) part of the BNS area; so the programme
reverted somewhat to the format of a members’ evening. In alphabetical order:
Clive Lovatt gave a short presentation of public memorials of Bristol botanists,
including the GHK Thwaites pavilion in the botanic gardens in Peradeniya in Sri Lanka
where he had been curator for 30 years from 1849, and closer to home, the stained glass
window dedicated to his contemporary and friend HO Stephens, in the asylum chapel, now
the Glenside Hospital Museum in Stapleton. He also gave a presentation of some of this
year’s VC34 finds, mainly closer to Bristol, several of which had been publicised in the
BNS Bulletin.
Ellie Phillips showed her small (and rare) plant finds from Cleeve Hill near
Cheltenham, – Moonwort, Frog Orchid and Red Hemp-nettle. All were no larger than a
fingertip. The opportunity was taken to note the recent death of Ian Howes who only last
year had self-published a little book, Cleeve Common and its Wild Flowers. There is a
copy in the BNS Library and Ellie has a PDF from which it should be possible to arrange a
reprint.
Tony Smith gave a short extemporisation on three other small plants of his
acquaintance, one read from a book.
Many BNS members will be aware (either from Biology lessons at school or being
shown them in the wild or the garden) that primroses and other Primulas have two flower
forms: ‘thrum’ with the pollen bearing anthers visible at the top of the floral tube and the
stigma which receives the pollen half way down; and ‘pin’ the other way round, with the
pin-head stigma visible. As Darwin recognised, this promotes out-breeding. Classical
11
geneticists showed that that a 1:1 ratio obtains in offspring and that the ‘thrum’ allele is
dominant (thrum plants heterozygous Ss and pin homozygous recessive).
Contents / Diary
Our member Dr Margaret Webster was part of the team that have overturned the
current model of how the breeding system is controlled by several very closely linked
genes published in Nature Plants, an abstract at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17561923
The gist of it is that using her ‘library’ of pure bred forms and by controlled crossings and
DNA fingerprinting (the latter ‘not my bit’ as Margaret remarked) the team have shown that
the recessive ‘s’ allele is non-existent. The immediately obvious consequence is that rare
variants cannot arise by crossing over during meiosis as had always been assumed, but
they must be mutations in the ‘S’ supergene. We were spell-bound by Margaret’s clear
exposition. How wonderful is the variety of nature. Margaret also remembered the
assistance and encouragement she received from Dr Mark Smith of the Bristol University
Botanic Garden (CML had earlier shown a photo of his memorial stone and plaque in the
new gardens) and Dr Chris Grant of Bristol University Botany Department.
An online album of lichens in Dorset – and more
Sheila Quin draws attention to a stunning online resource showing the biodiversity of
lichens in Dorset, many of which would be found in our area too. See
http://www.dorsetnature.co.uk/Dorset-lichen.html. Jenny Seawright is the site owner who
writes, “Since my return to Dorset I have been photographing some of the wildflowers,
moths, lichens and fungi to be found in the county. This website will never provide an
illustration of all the species to be found here but it’s a good memory aid for me that I hope
will be of use to others! Species descriptions are being added - but it's a slow work in
progress!” What do we have to match it round here?
Plant records
I had an email and list of plants from a longstanding BNS Member John Burton, who used
to work as a Producer at the Natural History Unit at the BBC in Bristol. One of the plants he
had spotted was the Southern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa in a small plantedup meadow beside the car-park by the Westbury-on-Trym Methodist church. “Strange
place for a Marsh-orchid” he remarked. Indeed, though we’ve had it on the Bristol Downs
for a decade or more, and I've seen it on a grassy bank in the Shirehampton Park and
Ride. Whilst going through the AJ Willis archive of Bristol Botany I came across a letter
from him with his records for 1971 on blue-green index cards, amongst them finding the
same species recorded in a more obvious place- in wet fen meadow in the Gordano Valley.
Thank you to John, who appears to be the last survivor of the ‘school of 1971’ for your long
interest in recording plants in the Bristol region.
If you've found some interesting plants in the Bristol area, let me know.
Clive Lovatt, Shirehampton, 8 February 2017
Correction: Len Wyatt writes that the Feb. Bulletin (p11, New Year Plant Hunts) said the
walk led by Alex covered Novers Common, whereas it only visited 2 other parts of The
Slopes - The Bommie and Glyn Vale. For more on this fascinating area see www.northernslopes-initiative.co.uk
12
GEOLOGY SECTION
Back to contents / Back to Diary
PRESIDENT: David Clegg [email protected]
HON. SEC.: Richard Ashley, [email protected] Tel: 01934 838850
LECTURE MEETING
Lecture meetings take place in the S H Reynolds lecture Theatre, Wills Memorial Building,
University of Bristol, BS8 1RJ. For those unfamiliar with this venue: Enter the Wills Building
via main entrance and walk ahead between the two staircases. Turn right when you reach
some display cases. The lecture room is on your left.
THE ORIGINS OF DOLOMITES
Professor Maurice Tucker
Wed. 29 March 2017 at 7.30pm
Dolomite is a common sedimentary rock - plenty in the Bristol district and South Wales in
the Carboniferous and Triassic, but there is a problem in explaining its origin. Seawater is
supersaturated with respect to dolomite but it does not precipitate there; dolomite appears
to increase in abundance back through time, being especially common in the Precambrian;
to dolomitise a limestone needs much Mg and through-flow of water - but how does that
work? Dolomites are very important as reservoirs for oil and hosts of lead-zinc sulphide
deposits, so understanding their origin and geometry is important. This talk will examine
dolomites from around the world and up and down the geological column and discuss the
hot topic as to whether microbes provide the answer.
FIELD MEETING
LULWORTH COVE TO MUPE BAY
Leader: Professor Maurice Tucker
Saturday 8 April
Bath Geological Society Field Meeting
Anyone interested in joining this field meeting to a fascinating section of the Jurassic Coast
please contact Bob Mustow of Bath G.S. [email protected] or telephone him on
01294 4403019
13
LIBRARY
Back to contents / Back to Diary
HON. LIBRARIAN: Jim Webster [email protected].
BNS Library at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, BS8 1RL.
Open: Wed. 1.15pm-2.15pm, Sat. 10.15am-12.15pm.
Committee member on duty: 0117 922 3651 (library opening hours).
Access to the Society’s Proceedings and Nature in Avon online
We are grateful to the Biodiversity Heritage Library and its participating institutions (Harvard and the Natural History
Museum in particular) for digitising our Proceedings and Nature in Avon without charge and making them publicly
available. To access them you can google “Biodiversity Heritage Library” and use the search facilities, or you can go
direct to our own index pages at: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/98898#/summary (for the Proceedings, i.e.
up to 1993); and http://biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/99328#/summary (for Nature in Avon, from 1994 to date)
An invitation to the Library
T
his is an article about the BNS Library and an invitation for all to come and visit. I am
Cathy and I and others on the library committee have spent the last years cleaning
up the library. Today we have a library that is a wonderful place to visit.
Before the cleanup it was equally wonderful and in some ways it was a shame to lose the
higgledy-piggledy arrangement of books which required some degree of determination to
find any book that one considered taking out of the library. In the process one was aware
of the dust on the books and some of the leather bound catalogued books caused the
hands to become covered in old rotting leather. Today that has all been swept away. All
books are newly catalogued and easy to find (more or less). There are five main sections
on Botany, Geology, Ornithology, Invertebrates and Mammals but also sections on
General Reading, these being books that are not of a scientific but of general interest on
subjects related to the natural world and one would read one of these books just out of
general interest on a new subject. Good bedtime reading! Natural History is another
section that gives the reader a more general appraisal of a subject. But the best way to find
out what it is all about is to go and visit the library.
The committee member on duty will make you welcome. The library is in the Bristol City
Museum & Art Gallery. Go up the main stairs and keep going, until you reach the giant
dinosaur (can’t be missed, large and black skeleton) then turn left and GO AS FAR AS
YOU CAN, past all the geological specimens, down some steps and then you come to a
pair of locked doors. On the wall to the left there is a phone & bell, pick up the phone, ring
the bell and the library committee member will answer the phone and release the door
lock. Push the door open, go to the left and down the steps. One is descending into a
basement, accept that it is at floor level! Once down the steps go right and the library door
is on the left. There it is, the treasure house of the BNS Library.
It's not just about visiting the library. The Museum & Art Gallery are well worth a visit and
there is an excellent café in the building. If visiting on Saturday, for the energetic, a tour of
the Wills Tower and a climb to Big George is also possible. For those not so energetic one
can hear Big George chiming the hour in the library.
The library is open on Saturday 10.15 - 12.15 and Wednesday 12.15 - 1.15. These hours
can be varied by arrangement with the librarian. Jim Webster [email protected].
To go up Wills Tower, you have to book through Bristol University.
14
INVERTEBRATE SECTION
Back to contents / Back to Diary
PRESIDENT: Robert Muston 0117 924 3352
SECRETARY: Tony Smith 0117 965 6566 [email protected]
INVERTEBRATE NOTES FOR MARCH 2017
T
he Field Studies Council has recently published its latest AIDGAP fold out leaflet
which this time is a key to the pseudoscorpions of Britain. This series of publications
which is now very comprehensive and includes ladybirds, caddisflies, common
spiders, bumblebees – the list goes on, continues to impress with the quality, ease of use
and excellent value for money, £3.80 in this case. Authored by Gerald Legg and Francis
Farr-Cox (the latter lives on our doorstep in Burnham-on-Sea), it covers the 27 species on
the British list with a diagrammatic key, photos and information on each species and
general notes on life history and biology.
If you are not sure what pseudoscorpions are, they are small (often about 5mm long)
members of the arachnids with large appendages reminiscent of a scorpion’s but without
the sting in the tail. They are not often encountered unless you are searching for them. I
like the description of putting some woodland leaf litter on a white sheet and then waiting to
see what runs out – ‘They will usually start to move when all the other invertebrates have
run off the sheet and you have decided to start again with another load of leaves!’
Pseudoscorpions are predators of other even smaller invertebrates. Although leaf litter is a
good place to start, there are species which even prefer garden compost heaps so why not
have a look and see if you can find any (and perhaps also the Lesser Earwig which also
likes compost).
The annual moth recorders meeting in Birmingham on 28 January had as usual an
excellent series of talks. Butterfly Conservation is gearing up for publication of their
national macro-moth atlas in 2018 with last year the final one from which records will be
incorporated. Over 21 million records are now on their database. Other talks covered
topics such as conservation of the Dark-bordered Beauty, moths breeding in birds’ nests,
work on hedgerow species, rediscovering ‘lost’ micro-moths not recorded for decades and
the possibility that several species long considered single species may be shown by DNA
analysis to actually be species complexes. (The latter by BNS member David Agassiz.)
The most eloquent talk of the day came from a non-insect specialist. Michael McCarthy
(journalist on the Independent) spoke about his book ‘The Moth Snowstorm’ in which he
recalled the nights of his youth when driving on a balmy summer’s evening would reveal
snowstorms of moths in the car’s headlights. His evocation of such a scene no doubt hit a
nerve with many of us who remember also swirls of moths around moth traps and also the
numbers of dead insects from driving by day that would be splattered on windscreen and
radiator grill. This phenomenon just does not seem to happen anymore and highlights the
huge decline we have witnessed in invertebrate abundance over the last 40 years.
Sobering stuff.
Ray Barnett 08/02/17
15
ORNITHOLOGY SECTION
PRESIDENT:- Giles Morris, 01275 373917 [email protected]
HON SEC.:- Lesley Cox 07786 437528 [email protected]
Back to contents / Back to Diary
Field Meetings continue as usual with one or two every month. Our Winter Lecture
Programme offers the opportunity to explore related practical and / or research based
subject areas. Talks take place on the second Wednesday of each month until March and
provide a varied schedule of stimulating and informative topics to enhance our
understanding of Ornithological issues. They are held at Westbury-on-Trym Methodist
Church; visitors are welcome to join us. The Committee looks forward to seeing all their
old friends from the Section and across the Society; make a note in your diary to join us!
FIELD MEETINGS
SEVERN BEACH & NEW PASSAGE
Leader: Giles Morris. Tel: 01275 373917
.
Saturday, 4th March
10:00 am
Meet at 10am - at Beach Road, Severn Beach, (ST539852, BS35 4PE). NB – this is the
northern part of Beach Road next to the park below the Sea Wall.
We will walk north along the sea wall towards New Passage and the Pilning Wetlands.
As usual, how far we travel will depend on the time spent looking at wildlife along the route.
The date and time have been selected to coincide with high tide so that the waders and
wildfowl should be more easily seen at roost on the saltings. We shall also check out the
Pilning Wetlands which has been turning up a good variety of interesting species. Anyone
with a telescope will find them very useful.
The path is flat but could well be muddy especially beyond New Passage and is also
exposed if the weather is inclement; appropriate footwear and clothing is advised. The
meeting will end around 13:00.
Please make sure to contact the leader by Fri. 3rd March if you intend to join us.
RSPB ARNE RESERVE
Sunday 4 June, 08:00
An invitation from Bristol Ornithological Club
BOC invites BNS members to join a coach trip leaving 8am from the Water Tower on the
Downs, going to Arne. In the morning RSPB will take us to an area not open to the public;
for the afternoon we’ll be independent on the Reserve. Return to the Water Tower around
7pm. Cost around £16. Anyone interested should contact the Hon. Sec. for more details.
INDOOR MEETING
WILD ETHIOPIA
Speaker: John Sparks
Wednesday, 8th March
7:30pm
… home of the Queen of Sheba but a country plunged into
periodic famines, causing humanitarian crises. That is the
only thing that most people know of Ethiopia. However,
nestling in the ‘horn of Africa’, this is a richly diverse country
boasting a treasure trove of wildlife. Two years ago, John
Sparks satisfied a longstanding ambition to visit the remote
Bale Mountains, some of the lakes cradled in the Great Rift
Photo © John Sparks
Valley, and the breathtaking High Simien Plateau. His photographic record bears witness
to some of the dazzling birds and unique mammals that give Ethiopia such great appeal to
the naturalist.
16
FIELD MEETING REPORTS
Back to contents / Back to Diary
Wednesday 28th December Chew Valley Lake
welve members left home in bright sunshine from all points of the compass to
descend into the Chew Valley to find the Lake shrouded in fog. We met at Herriotts
Bridge where there was just sufficient visibility to admire a smart pair of Goosander
in the channel to the main part of the Lake. A Little Egret appeared from the gloom and
Shoveler and Shelduck loafed on the water. A Reed Bunting was seen and also heard
calling with its thin contact note and a Great Crested Grebe dived for a fish breakfast. Two
Snipe jetted overhead. We then moved to the Moreton area of the Lake by which time
there was an improvement in the visibility. Looking across Herons Green Bay it was good
to compare a Great White Egret close alongside another Little Egret. From the Moreton
Hide, Cormorant, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Gadwall, Coot and Moorhen were
added to the list. A short debate ensued as to whether a small bird that kept flying to a
distant post and then disappearing was a Robin or a Stonechat. The problem was solved
when both species eventually popped onto two close posts. The last part of the morning
was spent walking on Nunnery Point in glorious sunshine. The highlights were the flocks of
winter thrushes, mostly Redwing, but also Fieldfare and Mistle Thrush. A Green
Woodpecker “yaffled” at the end. Forty-six species was not a bad count in challenging
conditions.
Mike Johnson
T
Ham Wall, Saturday 21st January 2017
he big, new car park at RSPB Ham Wall was bathed in bright sunshine as we
arrived, but the forecast cloud cover was beginning to threaten as we gathered.
Undaunted, we decided to go across the road to see if the Firecrest was still showing
in the trees around the Shapwick Reserve car park. We missed the Firecrest, but
fortunately we did find the 3 members who had been waiting anxiously for us in the wrong
carpark!
With numbers swelled to 15, we returned to Ham Wall, walking along to the first viewing
platform and then on to the new Avalon hide. Good numbers of wintering duck were on
show and we picked out some wonderfully cryptic snipe feeding in Waltons. Great and
Little Egrets obligingly provided an easy size comparison and 4 Marsh Harriers put on a
good display in front of the Avalon hide.
The first flocks of Starlings overhead prompted a rapid return to the main path to see
the arrival of several hundred thousand at their nightly roost site in the reeds. No big aerial
display, unfortunately, but an impressive sight and sound nonetheless. Unusually the roost
has occupied the same patches of reed all winter thus far – not good for the quality of the
underlying water!
No real rarities on the day and a relatively modest number of species seen, but a very
enjoyable afternoon of quality birds. Ham Wall seldom disappoints!
Giles Morris
T
17
FIELDWORK
Contents / Diary
Breeding Bird Survey This National BTO survey, which began in 1994, monitors the
populations of all our common birds with considerable accuracy. In 2016 we surveyed 223
kilometre squares, about 15% of the surface area and counted 73,708 birds. We are,
almost certainly, the best region in the nation for our coverage. Anyone can participate who
can identify common birds, preferably by sound as well as by sight, and the requirement is
to do two standard transects through a one-km square between April and the end of June,
recording every bird seen and heard. Free training will be provided in March. You can
choose your own square to do, or take on a random one selected nationally. Locally it is
organised by Dave Stoddard [email protected] or 0117 924 6968. Please
contact him if you are interested.
RECENT NEWS
January
he run of good birds continued into January when a young drake American Wigeon,
our first for a number of years, was found at Littleton Warth on 2nd. With a big flock
of Wigeon here (over 500 on my WeBS and Low Tide counts recently) it was a
surprise when it was not seen again, either here or with any more of our Wigeon flocks
(notably on Northwick Warth-Aust). I think our last three records have all been seen on a
single date with the last long-staying bird as long ago as 1978-79 at Chew (which I missed
by a day on a student birding trip from Cardiff!). Cattle Egret looked to be colonising our
area a few years ago, with breeding taking place in Somerset, but two cold winters really
set them back. At last they seem to be on the up again and two appeared in roadside fields
at Wick from 10th and remained all month. The reservoirs held an excellent collection of
rare and scarce birds: Chew had a drake Ring-necked Duck, up to 13 Scaup (very good
numbers for us), two or more Bitterns, Black-necked Grebes, a couple of Great White
Egrets and Bewick's Swans; Barrow Gurney had a Long-tailed Duck and Blagdon up to
five Great Whites and Bewick's Swans (commuting to Chew at times). Rarer gulls at Chew
were typically unpredictable with Ring-billed, Caspian and Kumlien's all noted once or
twice. Waxwings stole the show in Bristol with a few roving bands showing up, the most
popular and reliable being in Bradley Stoke. Photographers are all hoping they stay until
we get a bit of sunshine!
John Martin
T
Photos © Giles Morris
18
MISCELLANY
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL BOTANIC GARDEN
The Holmes, Stoke Park Rd, Stoke Bishop, BS9 1JG.
Booking: 0117 331 4906. www.bristol.ac.uk/botanic-garden
Email: [email protected]
Back to contents / Back to Diary
Thursday 16 March (after AGM at 7pm) ROMANS & ROSES: a personal history of
Italian gardens. Speaker: James Bolton. James specialises in garden history in England
from 1600 and the history of French and Italian gardens. His lecture explores the
development of Italian gardens from the Emperor Hadrian’s 2nd century garden at Tivoli,
via the Renaissance to the early 20th century. Perhaps the most spectacular garden in Italy
remains Ninfa, where the Caetani family created a gardener’s dream within the walls of a
ruined medieval Italian town.
Venue: Frank Theatre Wills Physics Laboratory, Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TL. Free to Friends
on production of membership card. Visitors asked for a donation (suggested £5) Attendees
use any University car park; nearest are in University Walk and The Hawthorns.
Sunday 19 March 2017 10.30am-12.00pm. Curator’s Tour of
the Botanic Garden. A 2-hour tour of the Garden with the
Curator, Nicholas Wray. With luck the stunning Magnolia
campbellii subsp. mollicomata 'Lanarth' will be flowering in all its
glory, along with our daffodil collection, early spring blossom and
emerging woodland bulbs. Then, see treasures of the Amazon
rainforest in the glass-houses; orchids, bromeliads and tropical
food and medicinal plants.
Free to Friends & students. Visitors £5.50. Meet outside the
Welcome Lodge, The Holmes, Stoke Park Rd., BS9 1JG.
Photo © Andy Winfield
Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project contents / diary
Booking and further information: Contact the Project on 0117 903 0609 or email [email protected]. Pre-booking essential for all events.
Details of meeting points are given on booking.
Tuesday 14th March. OUR LOCAL RAPTORS – or are they?
(Talk) Speaker: Ed Drewitt. We may be familiar with hobbies
and honey buzzards coming to the UK for our summer but what
about our more common raptors? Join Ed for a stimulating insight
into the largely unknown migration of some of our common and
familiar birds of prey. 7–8pm. £4. At Bristol Zoo Gardens. Venue
accessible to wheelchair users. Hearing loop in place.
Sparrowhawk. Photo: ©Ed Drewitt
Arnos Vale – www.arnosvale.org.uk - 357-359 Bath Rd, BS4 3EW
Sat. 4 March, 10:30-12:00 Winter Tree Identification walk. £5.
For queries see website or contact Mary Wood: 07900 121 527
19
Photo © Jonathan Mortin
Back to contents / Back to Diary
Jon Mortin sent in this unusual sighting – “…a
Grey Seal high up on the saltmarsh near
Severn Beach (21/01/2017). Not quite sure
what it was doing there...seems quite an
unusual sighting: they are normally seen in the
water.”
Giles Morris made it to the Bradley Stoke
hotspot for Waxwings on 30 Jan. See page 18
Waxwing Photos © Giles Morris
Tony Smith’s walk (page 9) turned up colourful fungi: here, Scarlet Elf Cup
fungus Sarcoscypha coccinea
Photo © Clive Burton
20