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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 18, Part 2 NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
Butterflies Düring 1979 I spent a good deal of time searching waste land adjoining industnal areas in the Lowestoft and Oulton Broad district. Düring these Visits I saw no fewer than ten species of butterflies and several kinds of moths This shows that even small areas of habitat left untouched will enable quite a number of species to thrive. My most rewarding sighting was a speckled wood butterfly at Lound Water Works. This is the first time I have seen this species in Suffolk, and it would appear that it is increasing its ränge from the Breck district, where it has become quite common in recent years. Martin Cooper. Otter I was fishing in the River Blackburn at Eustonwhen the river was clear and shallow and I saw a shoal of roach. As I was creeping quietly up the river bank towards the fish I saw an otter intent on the same purpose. It was definitely not a coypu. I watched it for a minute or two, but as I softly called a friend to see it the otter vanished. I saw an otter at the same place 50 years ago. K. E. G. Culley Snakes Snakes are becoming uncommon in Suffolk but they can sometimes be seen when Ieast expected. For example, G. D. Heathcote saw a grass-snake at Hernngswell on 9th May, 1979 (rather early in the season and in an unusually dry spot to find this snake) when checking spindle bushes for black aphids, and H. E. Chipperfield saw a reddish-brown adder at Westleton Heath on lOth July, 1979 while moth hunting. This would almost certainly have been a female for, although sexual dimorphism is rare in snakes, female adders are generally reddish-brown and males are generally olive with a much more clearly-defined pattern than the female. G.D.H. &H.E.C. Wild tulip at Samundham Tulipa sylvestris L. It is pleasing to hear from the Misses Rhoisia and Bridget Copinger-Hill that the three wild tulip bulbs rescued from the plough on the banks of the River Gipping at Sproughton in 1954 and replanted in the grounds of Park House, Saxmundham (Simpson, 1979), have now increased to about one hundred. They are growing in a light, woodland garden site and have been well looked