Notes and Observations 16 Part 4

NOTES

AND

OBSERVATIONS

G R E Y SQUIRRELS (Sciurus carolinensis) are being reported to be spreading and increasing in numbers though some reds remain at Playford (Mrs. Green), Gt. Glemham (Cranbrook), Sotterley (Col. M. St. J. Barne), and Benacre (Sir Robert Gooch).

Over most of the country grey squirrels have become such a pest that the Ministry of Agriculture has designed a special feeding device, accessible only to squirrels if properly sited. In those counties where grey squirrels only exist and no reds, permission is given to poison them with Warfarin-treated grain using these special feeding devices. This is not allowed in Suffolk, where there are still red squirrels. It is important therefore that Suffolk naturalists should be ready to advise the authorities on the status of red squirrels in the County and members are urged to send reports of their occurrence to Mr. W. H. Payn, Härtest Place, Bury St. Edmunds in West Suffolk and the Earl of Cranbrook, Red House Farm, Gt. Glemham, Saxmundham in East Suffolk.

BADGER (Meies rneles). My son saw a badger at Bramford in August, 1972, but I cannot get any information about a sett in the parish.

J . E . PARKER, Bramford Tye.

(Siphoninus immaculatus)—A N E W RECORD FOR On 8th February, 1973, my wife, M. O. MilneRedhead, noticed some sticky honey-dew below a sprig of ivy brought into the house for winter decoration. T h e ivy leaves had on their underside what I took to be some sort of Scale-insect, quite unfamiliar to me, so I sent specimens to the Department of Entomology at the British Museum (Natural History). I had a letter by return from Dr. L. A. Mound telling me that the creature was not a Scale-insect but a Whitefly, Siphoninus immaculatus, a Continental species which is not known to maintain permanent populations in this country. Dr. Mound told me that he had been working on this group for about ten years, but this was the first time he had seen this insect alive! Its food plant is Hedera helix and it has been recorded from Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and southern Russia. In Britain he has records from Devonshire, August, 1883; Henly, Oxfordshire, August, 1915; Camberley, Surrey, August, 1920; and Bristol, May, 1928.

A WHITEFLY EAST A N G L I A .

In our garden at Nayland (v.-c. 26) the ivy is growing against a south-facing wall and is protected from the weather by an openfronted summer-house, as a result of which it is not subject to rain. Last winter was, of course, exceptionally mild, which conditions may possibly account for this winter record of the species.

E . M I L N E - R E D H E A D , Nayland.

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A N A L I E N EARTHWORM, Eophila icterica Savigny, IN SUFFOLK. When this house was still a farmhouse, twenty-five years ago, fowls were kept in what is now the vegetable garden and I'm told that each year it was thickly covered with the waste resulting from the annual threshing, which may well account for its present fertility —quite the best soil in the garden! When digging in this garden I kept on Coming across an extremely pallid earthworm, especially when its ventral surface was exposed. More than once I mistook the worm, a medium-sized creature, for a fragment of Lesser Bindweed (Convolvulus arvonsis), and got hold of it to throw it on the heap of weeds! T h e worm was quite unfamiliar to me, so in April last year I sent a few specimens to the Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History). I was interested to hear from Dr. R. W. Sims a few days later that it was Eophila icterica Savigny, an introduced species widespread on the continent, but known in Britain only from botanic gardens and agricultural research stations. A year later it is still the most plentiful earthworm in this vegetable garden. How it arrived here is a mystery; it must have been well established when we came here four years ago, and have been introduced since the fowl-run was abandoned after the last war. Can it be in other Suffolk gardens?

E . MILNE-REDHEAD,

Nayland.

T H E WHEPSTEAD FRITILLARIES — A H A P P Y OUTCOME. Following my notes on the Fritillaria meleagris in January, 1973, Suffolk Natural History, I am now able to report more cheerful news.

By great good fortune the flowering season has come round again before any development of the site for building has taken place. On 24th April, with permission from the owners and the blessing of the Nature Conservancy, Mrs. Rood, Dr. Lichfield, and I carefully removed about forty-five plants, each with a substantial block of soil. On 2nd May, a further fifteen were collected

by Mr. Payn and myself. These sixty specimens have been replanted in seven different new areas, namely at Bradfield, Hawstead, Rede, Horsecroft Road, and also at Whepstead in three separate sites, one of the latter is less than 200 yards from the original habitat.

Our hope is that, by distributing this rare and beautiful wild flower in various places, at least some of the colony will be preserved for future generations to enjoy.

EILEEN C O E , Brockley, Bury St. Edmunds.

NATTERJACK T O AD ( B u f o calamita).

T h e Conservation Committee of the British Herpetological Society is conducting a survey on the status of the natterjack toad in Britain. They would be

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most obliged if anyone with Information of this species in Suffolk would contact Dr. Trevor Beebee at 33 Eiston Road, Aldershot, Hants.

M A Y L I L Y , Maianthemum bifolium ( L . ) Schmidt.

Mr. G. H .

BĂźrden, F.L.S., a Bury St. Edmunds naturalist, has reported a colony of May Lilies growing in an old plantation of mixed trees at Dunwich. This is, I think, the first record for the County.

Its origin is unknown, however it is possible that it was originally introduced, as a number of garden and naturalised species of plants, shrubs, and trees occur in the area and reference to an early map also suggests that this might once have been part of an ornamental garden or shrubbery. There were about twenty-five flowering plants mainly confined to the area of a stump of a sawn-down tree.

T h e species occurs as a doubtful native in Norfolk at Swanton Novers Great Wood, which is, however, a native type of woodland.

F . W . SIMPSON,

T h e Museum, Ipswich.

BLUE S O W T H I S T L E , Cicerbita niacrophylla (VVilld.) A . Gray.

This introduction, which is a native of the Caucasus, appeared in a neglected garden in Berners Street, Ipswich, and was noticed by Miss J. D. Denniss and brought to the Ipswich Museum for identification and also confirmed by the British Museum and David McClintock. It is established in Derbyshire and elsewhere in the British Isles but this is the first Suffolk record. Miss Denniss has also found the purple flowered variety of the T h o r n apple (Datura stramonium L.) in Ipswich.

F . W . SIMPSON,

T h e Museum, Ipswich.

Battarraea phalloides Pers. A number of specimens of this rare and interesting fungus have been found growing on a sandy bank at Blyford by Richard Mabey and a specimen was sent to me by his brother, David Mabey. This is the first time I have seen this fungus and there is no mistaking its identification. It was first described by Thomas Woodward of Bungay in 1784 who found it in the spring of 1783. It had been gathered earlier by W. Humphrey in 1782. In 1792, Sowerby stated that, " M r . Davey of T h e Grove, Yoxford, finds it annually in Suffolk". I am not certain if Mr. Davey actually found it growing in Yoxford parish or in another area and it is possible that it could have even been this site at Blyford as Davey explored the area very thoroughly and made many records for the County. Mr. Mabey teils me that non-botanical friends who live in the area have observed the fungus growing there for many years. All the earlier findings were from Suffolk and Norfolk.

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Named by Persoon in honour of Antonio Battarra, author of a Historia Fungorum Agri Ariminensis 1759. A very curious fungus. For many years was only known in England where it is very rare. The volva or wrapper is about the size of a hen's egg, subterranean, hollow internally. A spongy stalk is formed and rises to a height of about 12 inches. On the summit of the stalk is a cap-like structure, which is part of the volva and covered with very numerous dark ginger-brown spores. T h e hollow stalk becomes firm and woody and is covered with long brown fibres.

This fungus is found on sandy banks and in hollow trees. There are only about fifteen recordings since it was first described.

F. W. SIMPSON, The Museum, Ipswich.