Notes and Observations 8 Part 3

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NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON FLOOD-DAMAGE in garden of Rosemary Cottage, Blythburgh, which is only just above marsh level :— 1.—Killed at once—outright: Pink herbaceous Phlox (well established), White Aquilegia, Peach seedling, 4 ft. high.

2—Unaffected (up to Sept., 1953) : Spring—Day Lily, Lily of the Valley, Leucojum ; summer—Chrysanthemums, Michaelmas Daisies, Mulberry.

3.—Much retarded, and/or partly killed: Narcissi of all kinds, Flag Irises, Lilium umbellatum, Fuchsia, Purple Lilac, Deutzia, Garden " wild " Hyacinths, Rose trees, Pear tree, Apples, Strawberry plants, Kerria japonica, Camellia.

4.—Started flowering, then died : large Weigela bush (a terrible looking object, its flowers all stunted, flowered and gradually lost all life, now stark and staring, alas !), Blue Aquilegia, young Plum tree, Red and Black Currants, White Lilac.

5.—Little affected : Solomon's Seal, Iris sibirica, Montbretia, Winter Chrysanthemums, Buddleia.

6.—Still doubtful: Paeony (common red), Tulip bulbs.

7.—Seeds up in profusion : already in garden—Feverfew, Foxglove, Greater Celandine ; carried in by flood, or may have been in ground already as sea things come in ones and twos only—Plantago maritima, Sueda maritima, Atriplex spp.

NOTES

—M.

M.

WHITING.

T H E ASSINGTON CEDAR.—Weighing nearly 2 0 tons and containing close on 700 cu. ft. of timber, the butt (40 ft. long and 6 ft. diameter) of a Cedar of Lebanon felled twelve months ago in Assington Hall Park, near Sudbury, SufTolk, was taken by road to the Royal Show at Blackpool in July of this year to form part of the late Duke of Westminster's exhibit.

The annual growth rings of the Cedar indicated that its age was about 200 years. About fifty years ago the crown of the tree, and a companion which still stands, were chained and banded.

Assington Hall, now a training College for the Roman Catholic Order of Christian Brothers, was in possession of the Gurdon family (of which Lord Cranworth is the present head) from 1547 to its sale just before the war to Mr. Arthur Green, a Yorkshire timber merchant. Subsequently the tree was purchased

by Mr. Cyril Whiting of the Stowmarket Timber Co., Ltd., on

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behalf of Pulford Estates, Ltd., Beigrave, Cheshire, and its transportation from Assington Hall Park to Blackpool was undertaken by A. K. Cooper (Haulage) Ltd., timber hauliers, of Sweffling.

T h e butt was hauled up a ramp formed by parts of a Bailey bridge on to a drag by two timber tractors. The operation was under the supervision of Mr. A. K. Cooper, managing director of the firm, and Mr. F. H. Gospel (timber foreman) and was completed in two hours.

The journey of just over 250 miles went off without a hitch, and the exhibit evoked considerable interest to many visitors — A . K. COOPER, Sweffling.

Senecio cineraria, an alien, is well established on the cliffs below the R.A.F. Station at Bawdsey. I noticed this summer that the caterpillars of the Cinnabar Moth, Hipocrita jacobaeae Linn., were feeding on it, just as they do on the common ragwort, S. jacobaea. My mother teils me that it feeds regularly on several alien or garden Senecios at Snape. C. Puss AND POPLAR-HAWK MOTHS.—My cousin, L. W. LancasterGaye of Wortham Ling, writes : " I recently planted a row of Lombardy Poplars as a windbreak. Last year they leafed four times only to be frosted on each occasion. This year, 1953, they were entirely defoliated by Puss Moth caterpillars. I had not the heart to dispatch them, so we delivered half of them to a large poplar tree and the other half to a sallow. T h e little poplars which grew new leaves were then attacked by Poplar-hawk caterpillars."—J.C.N.W. LYCAENA PHLOEAS, Linn.—Several were observed in Fornham Park on May Ist, amongst them was a specimen of the rare

var.

alba.—H.

J. BOREHAM.

CURRANT CLEARWING M O T H (Aegeria tipuliformis, Clerck.).— A male was caught on the leaf of mugwort on July Ist at the Playfield, Bury St. Edmunds.—H. J. BOREHAM. BRIMSTONE BUTTERFLY.—Yesterday, September 17th, I saw a Brimstone Butterfly in the garden of Battie Abbey. Surely it ought not to be there in September.—E. R. LINGWOOD. T H E FOX OR THRESHER SHARK, Alopias vulpes, Linn., 1 3 ft.

3 ins. long (including tail, 6 ft.) and weighing 600 lbs., caught on Sept. 8th in Butley Creek by Messrs. R. Pinney of Gedgrave and T. Hawes of Orford has received much notice in local and national newspapers.

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The statements of the Orford Harbourmaster, Mr. G. Brinkley, that he had never seen a catch like it before and of Mr. J. Wood of Aldeburgh, a fisherman of 50 years' experience, that he did not know of anything similar being caught in the whole of his experience, have reminded two of our members of earlier catches.

Mr. E. L. King writes that the late A. H. Patterson, the Yarmouth Naturalist, reported a small one in 1932 and five being taken off Lowestoft and Yarmouth in 1905, the largest of these (1898) being 14 ft. 5 ins. in length. Mr. G. W. Thurlow refers us to our past-president, Dr. D. W. Collings' " Fishes of Suffolk," Transactions, Vol. II, pp. 104-133, for an account of these and two others landed at Southwold and Sizewell between 1879 and 1928. Dr. Collings, on p. 126, quotes Transactions of the Norfolk Society, Vol. VI, p. 487, for the measurements of the Sizewell one—9 ft. 3 ins. with tail 6 ft., girth 3 ft. (Oct. 3rd, 1905). Mr. Thurlow adds that no further occurrences of this fearful-looking but comparatively harmless fish have been recorded in Transactions since 1933, but at that date Dr. Collings says " it feeds on mackerei and is not infrequently found by mackerel-fishers entangled in their nets."

ED.—We have received this from Mr. R. W. Blacker of the Fisheries Laboratory at Lowestoft: " I find no mention of Threshers among my post-war records of unusual fish captures.

Pre-war records were probably lost during the war. This does not necessarily mean that no Threshers have been landed, as the Thresher is easily recognised, we may not be notified of their capture. Skipper Pye of our Collectorate Staff recalls capturing at least two during the time he was on drifters (about 30 years). He says that they are caught fairly regularly, but are never landed as they are only a curse to fishermen."

RAHE F I S H ON SUFFOLK COAST.—Mr. J . T . Fenton sends the following :—" There has been a remarkable number of occurrences of Ray's Bream (Brama raii. sehn.) on the Suffolk coast during November. One found alive on Gorleston beach on the 14th has been followed by two others, one alive and the other freshly dead, found or received by two members of the Lowestoft Field Club on the 22nd, when they also heard of two others. All these were on the beach between Gunton and Hopton.

' ' During the previous week the Fisheries Laboratory at Lowestoft received two other speeimens, but these were caught at sea and brought in by herring drifters. The only other occurrence actually on the Suffolk coast appears to be one washed ashore at Lowestoft on December 3rd, 1850."

Mr. C. C. T. Giles writes that Suffolk seems to stand high among counties for supplying the national papers with items of unusual natural history: a baby Seal 2 ft. long Coming up the

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Gipping as far as Ipswich, having passed through lock-gates and two docks last August and a large Salmon travelling still further up the Gipping, and last year a Royal Sturgeon and now a Monster Thresher Shark.

But Mr. A. C. C. Hervey points out that we ought to disclaim for SufFolk " a Cat Fish caughtby Mr. L. Wright of East Dereham, weighing 17 lbs. and 4 ft. 2 ins. long in the Wissey at Wissington," since though Wissington is in Suffolk on the Essex border, the Wissey is a Norfolk river, tributary of the Ouse.

RABBIT, Oryctolagus cuniculus, Linn.—Two fawn coloured rabbits survived and came through the winter of 1 9 5 2 - 5 3 at West Stow Sewage Farm, and commenced to breed in late February. These two were probably brother and sister, which mated, the doe having litters of 9, 7 and 3, in that order. The colour of these varied slightly from that of the parents, some were of a lighter shade. Some of these came to a natural or unnatural end, five of which I can account for, and are as follows : two were killed by motor vehicles upon the adjacent highway, three were killed by stoats, which abound here, others have disappeared without trace, these I hope have moved safely to establish a new colony elsewhere. All that remained or could be counted on July 1 Ith out of this large family of 21 were 3. Three black ones were again observed here on occasions during June and July.—HENRY J. BOREHAM, July, 1 9 5 3 .

BADGER, Meies m. meles Linn.—I have recently seen what appears to be an occupied Badger sett on the edge of a conifer plantation at Mildenhall Warren.—H. S O U T H W E L L , July, 1953.

(The Conservator of the Forestry Commission teils me that in 1953 there were no less than five occupied setts in the State forests in West Suffolk. Badgers are welcome residents on Forestry Commission land where they can do no harm and much good.

Now that they are well established and protected in the State forests we can hope to see these interesting animals increase in number throughout the county. C.).

A L B I N O M O L E S . — A semi-albino mole was caught recently at Levington, and another last year at Nacton.—H. W. H U R L O C K , Broke Hall, Nacton.

S T O A T F A M I L Y C O M E S TO T O W N . — O n the morning of August 18th I heard a sparrow screech and looked out of the window to see what the trouble was. At the same time my two cats leapt past me. On going outside I found that they were holding a young stoat at bay between the wall and a tree stump. I picked up Gilbert, fearing that the stoat might go for his throat.

The stoat darted across the road into the Ipswich School field with Trixie in close pursuit. He got away and was heard of later

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OBSERVATIONS

177

in a neighbour's garden. A m o n t h earlier I had seen Mrs. ?

Stoat crossing Warrington Road. Later I heard that the cricket coach and groundsman had chased father Stoat round and round the field, but he was too quick for h u m a n athletes. Is it unusual for stoats to come so near town ? I am not sure of the sexes, b u t on the analogy of the thrce bears, big, middle and little, I fancy I am right.—J.N.C.W. G R E Y A N D R E D S Q U I R R E L S . — I have kept a look-out for years round here and have never seen a Grey Squirrel. But about six m o n t h s ago I got a fleeting glance at something in a wood at Cavenham. It might have been one. T h e r e are red squirrels, but they are not to be seen every day. I f o u n d one dead in a barn owl's nest.—MRS. J. L. C. BRISCOE, Chepstow Place, W.2.

D E E R . N E W TO SUFFOLK.—Whilst cycling along the lane f r o m the R o u n d House past Ropes' farm I saw two M u n t j a c deer, which I feel certain were the Indian type. Presumably they were a pair as one had the characteristic short horns and bony frontal piece on the face, whilst the other was minus these.

T h e y were a little less t h a n two feet high, b u t I should say over eighteen inches. T h e Chinese M u n t j a c is, I believe, a smaller creature. I got quite a good view of t h e m for nearly a m i n u t e as they crossed the lane f r o m one field to another, and had t h e m in sight for another couple of minutes until they vanished in the undergrowth.—PAXTON C H A D W I C K , 8.9.53.

(Both the Chinese and Indian m u n t j a c or barking deer were released or escaped f r o m captivity in Bedfordshire some 20 or 30 years ago and have gradually spread from there. T h r e e barking deer were seen just over the border in Norfolk near Brandon in 1952 : this is the first record for Suffolk. C.).

A U R E L I A ACERITA, L . — I do not know if the same phenomenon occurred off the Suffolk coast b u t at Frinton-on-Sea a southeasterly wind on the afternoon of Sept. 7th brought enormous n u m b e r s of the common jelly fish, Aurelia acerita, L., ashore.

M y family set u p a " home for stranded jelly fish " in a pool and collected 135 in three-quarters of an hour. Yet there has not been a sign of a jelly fish since.—H. C . G R A N T .

R A I N F A L L RECORDS.—The Rev. J . E. Soden at present in Dorset writes that he used to take the rainfall at H o r h a m Rectory for 30 years, and it may be of interest to record that on August 26th, 1912, 5.82 inches of rain feil in twelve hours. T h e lowest rainfall was in 1921—15.21 inches ; the highest in 1916—35.52 inches.

L E E C H E S . — " A revision of the British Leeches of the family Glossiphoniidae " bv D r . K. H. M a n n appears in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Vol. 123, pt. 2, August 1953, and can be seen at the Ipswich M u s e u m .

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MULLEIN.—A roving botanist, Mr. A. Wright of Felixstowe— now a member of our Society—espied a mullein at Martlesham and asked to have his identification confirmed. Rather amusingly he found it near Mr. and Mrs. Lingwood's gate. She had not reported it to our Botanical Recorder because she was in some doubt of it being a genuine native of Martlesham seeing that someone had been scattering various seeds from Levington thereabouts. She reports another plant of it near their compost heap. Kew has confirmed this as Verbascum Virgatum Stoke.

BRISTLE G R A S S . — M r . B. W. Smith of Sweffling writes, " I have found in my garden a plant identified by the British Museum as Setaria italica, L. (P.B.) which has long been cultivated in Southern Europe and is imported into this country for bird-seed.

Neither I nor my neighbour keep cage-birds, so I think it probably came in poultry food."

M O T H S AT L I G H T IN 1 9 5 3 . - — M y

again kept his light-trap going, and to my local list, viz. :—Apocheima curtula Linn. ; Pheosia dictaeoides Linn. ; Hadena ochroleuca Schiff. ;

grandson, Alfred Waller, has six species have been added hispidaria Schiff. ; Pygaera Esp.'; Lymantria monacha Schoenobius gigantella Schiff.

Additions to last year's list:—Hybernia leucophaearia Schiff. ; Euproctis phaeorrhoea Don. ; Hygrochroa syringaria Linn. ; Calocalpe certata Hueb.; Orthosia xerampelina Hueb. ; Lithosia complana Linn. ; Falcaria falcataria Linn. ; Drepana binaria Hubn. ; Hydriomena variata Schiff, (dark variety) ; Plusia festucae Linn. ; Melanchra cespitis Schiff, (quite a number); M. genistae Bkh. ; M. thalassina Huf. ; Seletiia lunaria Schiff. ; Phragmatobia fuliginosa Linn.

Arctia villica Linn, have been unusually plentiful, and too many larvae of Plusia moneta Fab. on my delphiniums : — A . P . WALLER, Mill Cottage, Waldringfield, Woodbridge, September, 1953.