Notes and Observations 16 Part 2

NOTES A N D OBSERVATIONS FRITILLARIA MELEAGRIS—K W E S T SUFFOLK COLONY. Mr. W. H. Payn's remarks on the Whepstead fritillaries in the June, 1972, edition of Suffolk Natural History were of great interest to me, for I remember as a child in the 1930s being taken into the Rectory Meadow and seeing these lovely wild flowers.

I was recently told that they had been seen again in 1971 and so made it my business to visit this meadow, and on 22nd April, 1972, counted twenty-five blooms.

Alas, since then the meadow has been sold for building development, so although Mr. Payn's Statement that the Whepstead colony has long been extinct, is at present not the case, I fear that by next April, it will be only too true.

E I L E E N C O E , Brockley, Bury St. Edmunds.

BATS:

A Long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus) identified by Dr. G. B. Corbet was taken here in June, 1972.

M R S CADOGAN, Easton.

Two Long-eared bats were found under the roof tiles of a cottage in Gt. Glemham in October, 1972, but escaped unexamined, so the species was not determined.

CRANBROOK, Gt. Glemham.

Two Serotine bats (Eptesicus serotinus) were found under the roof tiles of a cottage in Gt. Glemham in October, 1972.

CRANBROOK, G t . G l e m h a m .

F I E L D M I C E (Apodemus sylvaticus) E A T I N G SUGAR BEET SEEDS. We have noted damage by field mice to sugar beet seed before 1971 but only on a very minor scale. In the spring of that year it was extensive, being reported from many areas of the country.

The mice located the seed, whether pelleted or not, dug it up and extracted and consumed the embryo from the husk; they then moved on to the next seed. Damage was evidenced by small holes at every seed position and the seed remains. Although birds have been blamed for this type of damage, I am sure they could not locate the seed accurately.

Field mice were trapped in the field, often well away from any cover, and easily recognisable chewed beet seed embryo found in their stomachs. We were quite unable to get any estimates of population but, by using caged mice, I hope to get some idea of the number of seeds they consume.

No one seems able to indicate whether unusually high populations caused this damage; it may simply be that the cold dry

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conditions delayed germination, and the seeds were therefore "at risk" for a longer period.

DR. R. A. DUNNING, Broom's Barn Experimental Station, Higham, Bury St. Edmunds.

YELLOW-NECKED M I C E (.Apodemus flavicollis). Düring the winter of 1971/72 I caught several yellow-necked mice in my apple störe in which there stood on a shelf a 1 lb. jam jar, one-third füll of rat poison. This jar was filled to the brim with odd bits and pieces from a near-by box—nails, screws, picture hangers, short lengths of brass wire, and torn up pieces of paper. No member of my family moved these oddments from box to jar and it seems most probable that mice were responsible.

D . REID, A l d r i n g h a m .

SQUIRRELS :

Red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and Grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). In 1971 a red squirrel was drowned in a water butt here and another, entangled in a fruit net died, presumably of shock, after being released.

MAJOR

F.

H.

W.

ROSS-LEWIN,

St. Olaves.

The Bursar at Culford School reports the arrival of grey squirrels there in 1969 and that only one or two red squirrels remained in 1971 A. E. VINE, King's Lynn.

Grey squirrels have invaded Helmingham where there do not seem to be any red squirrels left. April, 1972.

LORD TOLLEMACHE, Helmingham.

Many squirrel-worked cones can be seen in a 15-acre pine wood here and red squirrels are present in adjoining deciduous woods.

One grey squirrel was shot and others seen during the winter of 1971/2 ' '

CRANBROOK, G t . G l e m h a m .

ROE DEER (Capreolus capreolus).

In the spring of 1 9 7 2 , I had a clear view of a roe buck at Bentley.

D Smee> B r a n t h a m .

(Mr. Smee's description is quite clearly of a roe deer and not a fallow deer of which there are a number in the woods at Bentley.

This seems to be the first authenticated record of a roe deer from that part of Suffolk.—ED.) DEER IN BRADFIELDS W O O D RESERVE. Mr. and Mrs. J. Hart, the Wardens, report that about five fallow deer and three red deer visited the wood at irregulär intervals during 1972. No roe have been observed during the past three years.

CRANBROOK, G t . G l e m h a m .

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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 16, Part 2

MOLLUSCA OF REDGRAVE AND LOPHAM FENS. On lOth June, 1972, a number of members of the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland visited the Redgrave-Lopham Fen reserve of the Suffolk Trust for Nature Conservation and collected the following species:—

Viviparus fasciatus Valvata cristata Bithynia tentaculata B. leachi Carychium minimum C. tridentatum Lymnaea truncatula L. palustris L. stagnalis L. peregra Physa fontinalis Planorbis corneus P. planorbis P. vortex P. leucostoma P. contortus Succinea pfeifferi Cochlicopa lubrica Lauria cylindracea Vallonia costata Cepaea hortensis C. nemoralis

Hygromia striolata H. hispida H. liberta Punctum pygmaeum Arion intermedius A. ater agg.

Euconulus fulvus Vitrea crystalina V. contracta Oxychilus cellarius O. alliarius Retinella radiatula R. nitidula Zonitoides nitidus Agriolimax reticulatus A. laevis Anodonta cygnaea A. anatina Sphaerium corneum Pisidium milium P. subtruncatum P. nitidum

MOLLUSCA AT BLO NORTON FEN. Dr. M. A. P. Kerney Bio Norton Fen in 1968:— collected the following species at

Potamopyrgus jenkinsi Bithynia tentaculata Carychium minimum C. tridentatum Lymnaea palustris L. stagnalis L. auricularia L. peregra Planorbis corneus P. carinatus P. vortex P. albus P. crista P. contortus Segmentina complanata Succinea putris S. pfeifferi Cochlicopa lubrica Vertigo antivertigo V. pygmaea Vallonia costata Cepaea hortensis C. nemoralis

Hygromia striolata H. liberta Discus rotundatus Arion intermedius A. ater agg.

Euconulus fulvus Vitrea crystalina Oxychilus cellarius O. alliarius O. helveticus Retinella radiatula R. nitidula Zonitoides nitidus Agriolimax reticulatus A. laevis Sphaerium corneum Pisidium casertanum P. personatum P. obtusale P. subtruncatum P. henslowanum P. nitidum P. pulchellum