White Admiral 85

White Admiral Newsletter 85

Summer 2013

Suffolk Naturalists’ Society

Contents Editorial & Snippets

Be n Heather

1

S oc ial Media & its uses for Na tura l ists Haw k Honey

3

Obse rving a Garden Pond

R ic hard S tewa rt

7

More Pond Life

Charles Cuthbe rt

8

Onl ine Rec ording w ith Su ffol k BR C

Be n Heather

10

Ra re barkfl ies, jump ing sp ide rs a nd green l ichen

Alan T hornhill

14

Outc omes of the 201 2 Suffol k Leafhopper survey

Colin Lucas

16

A reques t for rec ords & specimens of s oc ial wasps

Adrian Knowles

18

T he third British rec ord for D olic hop us exc isus

Pe te r Vincent

19

A Sea Mouse

Ge n Broad

20

D isc overy of a myca ngium & ass oc iated yeasts in the s tag beetle

Colin Hawes

22

SNS Supports SOG

Phil Brown

23

Ge oSu ffol k l ooks at the London Clay

Ca rol ine Ma rkham

24

Book Review - Otte r Cou ntry

David Walker

25

Giddyup, Spring is He re a t Las t

Ras ik Bha dresa

26

Obituary - B Laps

Dav id Nas h

27

SN S/SWT/SOG Taste r Spec ies Rec ording Event

28

ISSN 0959-8537 Published by the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society c/o Ipswich Museum, High Street, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 3QH

Front Cover: Technology and Recording Montage. Mobile phone app image

by Ben Heather, SBRC iRecord snapshot and Lime Hawk Moth by Lesley Walduck.

Newsletter 85 - Summer 2013 With this issue of the White Admiral I want to start to introduce a technological theme to the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society, as technology and its role in natural history is going to become more and more prominent.

What with online resources, interactive keys, smart phone apps, social networking, camera technology and recording websites there is no shortage of tools out there to further help expand our understanding of the natural environment and enhance the citizen science drive. ‘Citizen science’ is a supposedly new concept being used heavily by conservation organisations at the moment, but in fact, citizen science perfectly describes what naturalist societies have been doing for years.

In this issue there is an article on the uses of Twitter for natural historians, a piece describing a new online and interactive way of sending records to the Suffolk Biological Records Centre and technology inspired snippets.

Also, following the successful first SNS, SOG & SWT Taster day at Knettishall Heath, can I draw your attention to the next Taster Day at Carlton Marshes on 10th August (see back inside cover).

Thank you to all those who have contributed to this issue of the White Admiral, it is again another full issue, but please keep sending copy in to me using the contact details below. For the Autumn issue it would be nice to feature any exciting natural history discoveries and finds over this, so far, hot summer.

Edit o r : B e n He a t he r Suffolk Biological Records Centre, c / o I p s w i c h M u s e u m , H i g h S t r e e t , I p s w ic h , I P 1 3 Q H b e n . h e a t h e r @ s u f f o l k . go v . u k White Admiral 85

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Snippets Flickr. A fantastic place to share and discover photos. There are many natural history groups to view including the Suffolk Biological Records Centre group which is a growing resource of Suffolk wildlife photos: http:// www.flickr.com/groups/sbrc_suffolk-wildlife-photos/ More on Flickr. I have started to create a photo set of flatbed scanned grasses that can be used for future reference see: http://www.flickr.com/ photos/benheather/sets/72157633923307848/ Suffolk BRC on Twitter. Follow updates and news from the Suffolk BRC and the natural history news we’ve seen that’s interesting: https:// twitter.com/SuffolkBRC iRecord. Detailed later in this issue. Make use of interactive forms (incorporating Google Maps and the NBN species dictionary) to make records. There is also a call for species group experts to join as moderators.

Find out more at http://www.brc.ac.uk/irecord/ Leaf and stem mines of British flies and other insects. Interested in looking at leaf mines? Find a whole host of resources and keys for identification here http://www.ukflymines.co.uk/index.php . There is also a Yahoo group where you can post queries and get feedback… http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ukleafminers Plant tracker. An online and smart phone app that can be used to log the locations of invasive plants: http://planttracker.naturelocator.org/ iSpot. A place to share nature, and get help with identifying wildlife.

Upload photos for peer review, ID help and discussion: http://www.ispot.org.uk/ . iRecord Ladybirds. A mobile phone app for recording sightings of Ladybird.

More information can be found under the recording section of the following website: http://www.ladybird-survey.org/default.aspx .

Big Butterfly Count App. A mobile phone app for submitting sightings towards the Big Butterfly Count (20th July - 11th August): https:// itunes.apple.com/gb/app/big-butterfly-count/id658158833 Maverick Maps. A free android mobile phone mapping app that can be loaded with Ordnance Survey mapping. Works with your phone’s GPS to help with navigation, storing waypoints and tracking routes: http://codesector.com/maverick 2

F ollow @SuffolkBR C on twitter for White Admiral 85 more snippets

Socia l m ed ia a nd its use s for Na tura lists I’ve been a keen naturalist for many years, but have been more active in my pursuits in the last 10 -15 years as time has allowed me to pursue my interests more. Every year, I find myself booking up on various courses/field trips and meeting new people with similar interests and having a great time.

However, one thing I have noticed among the majority of people I’ve met is that when I mention the words or refer to ‘social media’ it is quite often met with derisory looks as if I had mentioned something vulgar at a posh dinner party.

It’s almost as if any credibility I had earned as an amateur naturalist amongst my fellows is proven worthless when I mention the word ‘Twitter’ and that I must only be interested in the private lives of Messer’s Bieber and Fry rather than the lifecycle of an Emperor moth. I am relegated to being a non-serious naturalist in the eyes of my new friends. But bear with me people, the above is not true and I really have very little, if any interest in the celebrity culture that consumes the majority of our youth.

Social media has a very important part to play in citizen science and the environment. Its uses in our field of interest are immeasurably White Admiral 85

beneficial to all who use it and the key word for using social media is USE. It’s how we USE it that is most important, if you choose to follow various celebrities then the information you are likely to receive is basically going to be celebrity gossip. But if you follow people like Butterfly Conservation, Mid Anglian Bat Group, RSPB Minsmere, SRBC, Norfolk Moths or The Royal Entomological Society (all to be found on Twitter), then the information you are more likely to receive to your Twitter feed is going to be environment/ ecology/naturalist based and of much more interest and guess what, it’s free!

A recent study by some academics provided some interesting facts in this wonderfully constructed flow chart below. Just a quick glance at it shows how important a role Twitter can play in science.

As you can see, Twitter with over 200 million users speaks for itself.

The ability to Tweet pictures, video clips and sounds further improves it usefulness. I trap moths on a regular basis and often come across the odd moth or two that I just cannot ID from the book. A quick snap taken with the camera on my mobile phone, then at the touch of a button I upload the 3

T w itter has many bene fits. (Rep roduced w ith kind perm iss ion) image to Twitter with the words “Can anyone ID this moth for me please?” Within 30 minutes, but more often within 10, I can 98% guarantee that I’ll have an ID for it and from a credible source too. For example, Les Hill the Dorset moth recorder has been a great help in helping me to ID moths. Ian Beavis, Natural History specialist entomologist and Richard Jones professional entomologist, have often helped me identify various insects I’ve found in the field allowing me to release them on the spot instead of carrying them home to ID them.

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Citizen science also benefits by using social media as a platform to advertise new projects or by getting people involved by using Twitter as the main tool for participation. Such projects are @RecordWildlife who use Twitter to spread the word about their wildlife recording application (app), which helps wildlife recorders generate GPS data. Then there’s @ProjectSplatter, run by Cardiff Uni, which gets people to Tweet road kill sightings logging what, when and where they saw the road kill in order to collate and find hotspots. There’s also ‘The White Admiral 85

There’s also the fun side of things such as the Garden Moth Challenge where people are asked to submit their Lepidoptera sightings from their gardens. The results are shown in the form of a league table (I’m currently standing 21st at the time of writing).

Then there’s the more serious issues. Recently I discovered through a tweet, that the Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust pinion (a form of mutilation to prevent the bird from flying) their birds. Through Twitter, I was able to contact and question them to find out the facts so that I could draw my own conclusions. Twitter has also played its part in the Badger debate with many people spreading the word as to where petitions could be found to be signed and links to various articles on the pros and cons, all very informative.

Typ ical pos tings to Tw itter for I D reques ts.

Ladybird Survey’, which aims to facilitate the recording of all ladybirds.

Then there’s the benefits it has to various local groups. Through social media you can publicise your upcoming events and ask people to re-tweet (RT) your post. This means that the people who follow you will share your groups post with the people who follow them and so forth and so on. Through Suffolk Amphibian & Reptile White Admiral 85

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Group’s posting of an upcoming event in Great Crested Newt survey training, I spent a lovely evening in the presence of Duncan Sweeting and Margaret Regnault learning all there is to know about newts and even got to see a grass snake hunting around a pond. I wouldn’t have experienced this if SARG hadn’t posted their event to social media and this should be a wake up call to our societies.

You may even find your local reserve warden on Twitter, many around the country are tweeting any special sightings spotted on their reserves, and so you need not miss a thing.

The really amazing thing about this is that all of the above didn’t happen with me sat glued to a computer screen, it all happened on my phone. I didn’t have to take time out to do anything, I could look at my phone whilst at work, whilst waiting for the bus, whilst traveling on the train or even whilst I was in the field having a lu nch br eak fr om ch asin g butterflies. Smartphones are getting cheaper and cheaper and they’re getting more and more easy to use. So much so, I’ve just given my 80-year-old mother an android smartphone, which she loves.

youngsters entering the field, no new naturalists to carry on the research. Looking around, I could see I was one of the youngest there. Again, at the British Naturalist Association conference, looking around I was one of the young whippersnappers. Trouble is, I’m 45, not exactly wet behind the ears and this is a big problem.

Unless we embrace this technology with open arms and spread the word about what we do and the importance of what we do, we are endanger of becoming extinct ourselves. All that wonderful knowledge that some of our older members possess from their l i fe t im e s stu dy , a ll th e i r experiences and the changes they’ve seen and more will be lost.

The youth are growing up in a world of technology, if we shun the technology, then we shun the youth.

So, if you feel like grabbing the bull by the horns and getting yourself a Twitter account, then look me up (@SuffolkNature) and hit the ‘Follow’ button. If you’re not feeling that brave just yet, you can still follow my blog at www.suffolknaturalist.com.

Hawk Honey

I was recently at the SNS AGM where comment was made by the chair that there weren’t many 6

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O bserving A Garde n Pond

Az ure D a ms elfl y b y Be n H ea th er

An important element in our wildlife garden at Westerfield Road, Ipswich, is our garden pond; just five foot by three, it is a precast mould with a maximum depth of seventeen inches. We have done little to alter it, other than sorting out a major leak. In spring it attracts up to twenty frogs and a few common newts, both species breeding successfully.

One addition has been crisscrossing lengths of tight fishing line to deter amorous mallards and an early morning heron intent on spearing frogs. In spring I try to reduce the weed covering most of the surface but always search it carefully for aquatic life and leave the clumps close to the pond so creatures can hopefully drop back into the water. The weed soon recovers and I have placed one of several drinking bowls close by, hopefully to deter birds from standing on the mats of weed to drink and catch aquatic life, especially pond skaters.

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The most welcome sighting has been of large red and azure damselflies. Looking at records sent to Adrian Parr, the County Recorder, the maximum number of large red damselflies seen on one day has been twelve (consisting of six mate pairs) and twelve also for azure (five pairs and two single).

Blue-tailed damselflies occur in small numbers, but always singly.

Other Odonata in the garden, but not directly using the pond, include common darter, southern, migrant and brown hawker.

Watching both species in tandem, their elegant heart shaped curves as the female lays her eggs, is an absor bing ex per ienc e. Th is beautiful sequence does however sometimes end suddenly, as a frog, well camouflaged in the weed, grabs both of them. We have also witnessed the final transformation into an adult, the initially colourless adults leaving the pond to dry out on surrounding 7

vegetation and their wings slowly become infused with colour.

However, there are more problems; any adult landing on the water causes vibrations which are quickly picked up by hungry pond skaters, the frogs are still watching and several birds have taken them.

One robin developed a very effective short, quick and angular flight to take emerging adults right next to the pond edges. Since the pond has no shallow areas or tall plants I have inserted a few sticks from below the water level to end in gaps between the top paving slabs around the pond and these have been used frequently. For the

last few years a female broadbodied chaser has been observed laying eggs and in 2012 we found several exuviae, too large to be those of damselflies, but all regrettably empty. Therefore we still have to definitely verify this species.

The final bonus is that all of this activity can be viewed from our kitchen window, while washing up or preparing meals. It is a great joy to know that at least two species of these elegant creatures are dependent on our small pond for the whole of their life cycle.

Richard Stewart.

More P ond Life On the topic of pond life, Charles Cuthbert managed to capture this brilliant photo, to the right, of a frog being predated by a grass snake in his large and wellvegetated pond in his Kelsale garden. Charles noticed this grass snake at the side of the pond with a common frog in its mouth, and immediately rushed off to grab his camera. He managed to take just three quick photos before both snake and frog disappeared into the water. “The frog appeared to be dead and was partly digested, 8

surprisingly, feet-first!� Charles has taken a few other photos of a grass snake at his pond, including one last year that had a large bulge in its body - you can also view this on Flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/ san dl in g s/ 7 79 44 6 44 3 8/ in / se t 72157631094632582 . This rare capture of nature in its rawest form can be found in the Suffolk Biological Records Centre photo group on flickr http:// www.flickr.com/groups/ sbrc_suffolk-wildlife-photos/.

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Photo by Charles Cu thbert

O nline Re cord ing with Suffolk BRC The last couple of years have seen the emergence and growth of the term ‘citizen science’. As a concept, it has really taken off and we need to see citizen science, not as a dumbing down of biological recording, but as an opportunity to enthuse a new generation of naturalists. This shift towards a citizen led approach has seen the need to make biological recording both more accessible and more interactive and has led to the Suffolk Biological Records Centre realising the need to embrace new technologies.

With the help of the national BRC and their pioneering website iRecord we now can offer an online recording service on our website. iRecord has been developed in conjunction with and making use of something called Indicia which is a new and evolving toolkit of web code. It has given iRecord, and now us, the chance to host very interactive forms, with things such as Google maps and the NBN taxon dictionary built in.

At this stage, it is worth stressing that, like all new technologies, there have been a few teething problems getting set up and dealing with such niggles as understanding how cookies are stored for iframes in different 10

browsers. To break with this jargon, seemingly alien to many as it was to me, it is worth making clear that our online recording service will, like the technology and our understanding of it, evolve over time.

The recording section of our website can be found by navigating to our home page and clicking on the recording link on our main menu or by simply going to the following URL: www.suffolkbrc.org.uk/ public_html/recording. Treat this page as a portal to different ways of recording and it is here where I plan to feature other methods of recording in the future. On this page you will find instructions on how to use iRecord forms on our website as well as how to send in records to SBRC in the traditional way, by downloading, populating and sending in a spreadsheet. We do not want to discourage recorders who are already using our ideal spreadsheet, as for many, this is still the best way to send in large quantities of records.

On our recording page under the online recording heading there is a set of instructions on how to register and or sign into an iRecord account. There is no obligation to White Admiral 85

do this and you can send records in by skipping this step, but we do recommend it. By having an account with iRecord you will be able to login and review any records you have made, change their details and even delete them if you have made a mistake. It also means that we can provide feedback about records, they can be better verified and that you can explore what other people near you have recorded.

When you register and login to iRecord be sure to click ‘remember password’ (when prompted by your browser) this will enable our

website forms to remember who you are when you navigate back to them in the future. This is a major benefit of being a registered user, time is greatly saved as there is no need to enter personal details every time you want to make a record, as with any record, we still need the ‘who’ piece of information to go with the ‘what, where and when’ to make it valid.

When you login to iRecord by following the links you will see that there is a whole raft of different recording forms available, apart from ours, and you can use nation-wide based forms when

F ig. 1 – Entering Species into the S BR C recording form. visiting other parts of the country.

However once logged in with iRecord you should be able to use the forms from our recording page (please choose the option that agrees with your browser) as a registered user. The forms featured White Admiral 85

on our website are tailored to making records in Suffolk.

The forms on our website have been set up on a three tab basis.

The first tab asks for personal information (which is skipped once 11

F ig. 2 – Crea ting a grid refe rence with the SBRC rec ording form. you have logged in), the second asks when and what and the third asks for where. A step-by-step pdf presentation on our website goes through the forms stages in more depth, but in general, each submission from a form allows you to submit one or more species records from one location and place in time.

The key and most useful parts of the online recording form are based around the method for selecting species and assigning the grid reference. On the second tab (first if you are logged in) the species input is linked to the NBN taxon dictionary. When you start 12

inputting a species name, either in Latin or English, the form starts to guess and suggest possible species (see fig.1). Once the species you want is listed, all you need to do is click on it and this is then input on the form. This method ensures that there are no spellings mistakes and also makes sure that the right scientific name is selected, which helps later on when data is exported into the SBRC dataset and onto the NBN. Also on the “What did you see� tab you can specify certainty, quantity, sex and stage parameters, add details of anyone who helped with your identification, add a record White Admiral 85

comment and even submit photos to help with the verification of your record.

On the third tab (second if your logged in), the form incorporates Google maps to provide an easy portal to select the grid reference for your record. You can of course enter your own grid reference and the mapping interface will serve to confirm that your grid reference is accurate, or not (see fig.2). Clicking on the map will bring up a grid square (and a corresponding grid reference will be input), the form will then encourage you to zoom in and click the map again to select a smaller grid square. This process continues until you have an 8 fig. grid reference (or 10m square).

However, you don’t have to submit all records with this level or accuracy as it is not always possible and you can also swap to aerial photography to help define your location.

Also on the “Where was it” tab you search for locations, add habitat information and, if you are logged in, you can save sites you frequently visit to save time when inputting in the future. Sites can

be as large as you like, for example Alton Water, or as small as you like, for example pond 1 at a specific site.

On the iRecord website http:// www.brc.ac.uk/iRecord/ you will also find a variety of inputting forms (as well as ours), which may come in handy for recording when you visit other parts of the country, however, please use the tailored Suffolk recording forms on our website to input your Suffolk records and also let us know what you think.

This article has hopefully covered the main features of our new online recording section and a walk -through presentation can be found on our website to take you through the process of adding a record step by step.

In the ideal world we hope that spending 5 minutes inputting records via our recording form directly after a day out on site can get into the routine of every active wildlife officer in the county.

Ben Heather Biological Records Officer (GIS)

www. suffolkb rc. org.uk /pub lic_htm l/re cord ing

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R are b arkflie s, jum ping spide rs a nd g ree n liche n

Last summer, whilst observing the jumping spiders that live on the outside of my house, I occasionally noticed some small insects scurrying across the wall. On ex amin in g on e u n der th e microscope I recognised it as a barkfly of the order Psocoptera and, using the key to UK species*, was able to identify it as Blaste quadrimaculata (this identification was later confirmed). There were only nine previous UK records for the species, none of them from Suffolk. This paucity may reflect a lack of barkfly recorders as much as rarity of the insect, although for some species there are hundreds of records.

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Barkflies are the outdoor species, most of th em w ing ed, of Psocoptera. About 68 species live in the UK although for several there are, at present, just one or two records. So, it is likely that other species remain to be discovered. Barkflies feed on lichen, algae and fungi, and also organic debris such as that which accumulates at the bases of trees or the junctions of branches and trunk. They were formerly known as barklice but entomologists were unhappy about the ‘lice’ part of the name because it implied that they were harmful or unpleasant in some way, and so renamed them.

However, species of Psocoptera White Admiral 85

which live mostly indoors, and which are wingless, are still referred to as booklice.

Two species of lichen grow on the (east facing) wall where I saw the Blaste. The more widespread is Lecanora expallens which has formed several pale green patches up to a metre above ground level.

Close to the ground is an extensive light grey growth of Lepraria incana, although there is some Lecanora growing amongst it. Both these lichens grow in the area where I saw most Blaste and so it seems likely that they are what the barkflies are feeding on.

The Blaste were one of the insects present on the wall that I never saw the jumping spiders catch.

Worker ants were similarly left in peace. By contrast, small flies (Diptera) were stalked and preyed upon relentlessly, and I saw the

spiders catch other insects occasionally. Once I saw a barkfly pass within about 2 cms of a Sitticus pubsecens, but the spider just watched it. On another occasion a Sitticus jumped on a barkfly but immediately jumped off again and retreated a short distance. After a few seconds the spider returned and did the same again. Then it retreated further and paid the barkfly no more attention. The barkfly survived but never attempted to flee. It would be interesting to know if the barkflies really do have some sort of defence against spider attack.

More observations are called for!

My thanks go to Keith Alexander for confirming the barkfly identification and to Chris Hitch for identifying the lichens.

Alan Thornhill

*The home page of the Barkfly Recording Scheme is http://www.brc.ac.uk/ schemes/barkfly/homepage.htm. The site has a key to, plus descriptions and pictures of, UK species.

Contributions to White Admiral Deadlines for copy are 1st February (spring edition), 1st June (summer edition) and 1st October (autumn edition).

The opinions expressed in White Admiral are not necessarily those of the Editor or of the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society.

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O utcom es of the 201 2 Suffolk Lea fhoppe r Surve y, includ ing 13 ne w spe cie s for the C ounty

C o l i n e x a m i n i n g p o o t er c on t e n t s a t M a r t i n ’ s M e a d o w a f t e r u s i n g a l ea f - b l o w er

The Auchenorrhyncha, usually referred to as Leafhoppers are under-recorded in Suffolk. Records date back to 1897 but there are only just over a thousand Suffolk records from the first to the present day. Claude Morley was responsible for most of the early records and 21 of the species he recorded have not been found since. After hearing about the paucity of records here from Alan Stewart, the national organiser of the Auchenorrhyncha recording scheme, at a British Entomological Society workshop on Leafhoppers Tricia and I decided to undertake a c o m pr eh en s iv e c ou n ty -w i d e leafhopper survey in the spring and summer of 2012. We obtained a Morley Bursary from the Suffolk 16

Naturalists’ society to support the project.

Auchenorrhyncha are part of the suborder homoptera which form part of the order Hemiptera (‘true bugs’) together with the heteroptera (Shield bugs etc).

There are just over 400 species known in Britain . They occur in most habitats with grassland, deciduous woodland and fens being the most important. The best time for collecting is from late June to the end of August although some families are present as adults from mid may. The term Auchenorrhyncha covers various families th a t w e c al l l eafh o pper s, planthoppers, froghoppers, treehoppers and cicadas. These bugs pierce the fluid transport White Admiral 85

system of plants and imbibe large amounts of liquid from which they extract nutrients. The bugs themselves range in size from 1mm to over 10mm. Some of the more distinctive species are easily identifiable in the field but most species require closer examination, preferably with a microscope.

We decided to concentrate on nature reserves and ended up sampling from 37 sites throughout the county. The standard sampling method was a timed walk with a modified leaf-blower that sucks the insects from the vegetation.

Unfortunately, the weather was awful during the spring and early summer. We got our first decent catch of adult hoppers was on 17th July. The next six weeks were a mad dash to get round all the sites.

Despite the terrible weather, we managed to collect 445 records of 97 species. Considering the weather we were very happy with

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these results. 13 of the species have not been recorded in Suffolk previously. The sites that yielded the most species tended to be wetlands with Sizewell Belts, Market Weston Fen, Darsham Marshes and Carlton Marshes being the most productive.

Woodland and heaths were generally unproductive.

Species with a national status of “common� formed a disproportionate amount of the species with only 7 species being nationally scarce.

The most frequently found species found was Javasella pellucida which is a widespread planthopper that is found on grasses.

At the other end of the scale the species which has the highest number of previous Suffolk records, a common very distinctive red and black froghopper, Cercopis vulnerata, was not found at all.

This was probably due to the adults being active earlier in the

E v a c a n t h u s i n t e r r u pt u s 17

A n o t h e r beautiful species is

Eupteryx

urticae

which lives on Nettles and was found at Hutchison’s Meadow.

E u pt e r y x u r t i c a e

season when the weather was too bad to do much collecting.

Many of the hoppers are fairly plain creatures to look at but there are plenty of striking ones such as Evacanthus interruptus which we found at Market Weston and Hopton Fens.

This year’s efforts will concentrate on finding scarcer species that may be of interest to conservation managers.

We will be concentrating our efforts in the Breckland sites th at h av e historically produced some notable species. Hopefully the weather will be kinder to us and we will be able to add more species to the Suffolk list as well as increase our knowledge of the distribution of current species.

Colin Lucas

A req ue st for record s a nd spe cime ns of social wasps In 2012 I requested records of the large yellow and black social wasps that so often plague our picnics and barbecues. At that time I did not know that we were going to have such an awful summer. Even I hardly saw any!!

So, I lay down the challenge again. I would like to receive dead specimens of any of these wasps from within Suffolk, for a forthcoming review of this group in 18

the Transactions. The specimen should include data on where it was found (address with post code or OS grid reference), date and your name and address. If you are sending more than one specimen, please keep the information separate for each one, unless identical. All reasonable postage costs will be reimbursed by the Society in recognition of the considerable costs of posting large White Admiral 85

(though light) objects these days. The specimens can be put into small match boxes or old camera film tubs (are these becoming scarce in this digital world?!). Please post them to me at Jessups Cottage, London Road, Capel St Mary, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2JR. Please send any items by 31st October 2013 Adrian Knowles

S o c i a l W a s p b y B e n H ea t h e r

The third British record for Dolichopus excisus Loe w, 185 9 ( Dipte ra , Dolichopod idae) from Walberswick NNR, Suffolk The record of one male specimen of D olichopu s exc isu s from Walberswick National Nature Reserve, Suffolk constitutes the third British locality for this species (Vincent, 2011) following the original discovery in Britain from Poole, Dorset in 2005 (Gibbs, 2006) and a second record from O ar e M ead ow , Ea s t K en t (Clemmons, 2009). It was collected in a water trap, from wet fen habitat (NVC, M22a Juncus

subnodulosus-Cirsium palustre fen meadow, typical sub-community) on 10 July 2010. The recent occurrence of D. excisus at three sites on the south and east coast of Britain may show that this species has expanded its range and is in the process of colonising Britain from the European mainland, or it could be that it is a rare species a n d h a s b e e n pr e v i ou s l y overlooked.

Peter Vincent

References Clemmons, L. 2009. Dolichopus excisus Loew, 1859 (Diptera, Dolichopodidae) in East Kent .

Dipterist Digest 16, 188.

Gibbs, D. 2006. Dolichopus excisus Loew, 1859 (Diptera, Dolichopodidae) new to Britain discovered in southern England. Dipterists Digest, 13, 5-10.

Vincent, P. 2011. The third British record for Dolichopus excisus Loew, 1859 (Diptera, Dolichopodidae) from Walberswick NNR, Suffolk. Dipterists Digest, 18, 70.

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A Se a Mouse - A ph rodita acul eata

In early January 2013, Tiffany Dereham was enjoying a stroll on Southwold beach following a storm when she found a strange looking creature with a curved back covered with long ‘bristles’ lying on the sand. This was later identified as a ‘Sea Mouse’ Aphrodita aculeata. Living in the sublittoral zone from just below the shore to depths of over 1,000 m in muddy sand, this fascinating marine animal is occasionally unlucky enough to get washed up onto the shore following storms or stranded by low tides.

A. aculeata is a polychaete worm in the same class as ragworms, bristleworms and tubeworms and has been recorded around most of the coast of Britain and Ireland, as well as from the North Atlantic, 20

the Baltic and the Mediterranean.

The term ‘polychaete’ means ‘many bristled’ and there are over 10,000 of these mainly marine, often colourful and sometimes beautiful, worms worldwide.

All members of the family Aphroditidae are characterized by scales (elytra) on their backs; A. aculeata has 15 elytra covering a convex back. These, in turn, are completely covered by a dense mat of long fine chaete (bristles) made from chitin. When out of the water, the chaete give the animal the appearance of a dishevelled, bedraggled mouse, giving rise to the common name of ‘sea mouse’.

The worm is usually 10 to 20 cm in length and up to 6 cm wide with about 40 segments. Thick, dark coloured bristles mix with longer White Admiral 85

green, blue and gold iridescent cirri to create a colourful shimmer down the sides of live animals. The head is hidden, but two horn-like palps and two pairs of shorter tentacles protrude in front and there are two pairs of sessile eyes either side of a single antenna. A. aculeata lives for 6-10 years, reproducing at the age of 1 or 2 years old.

A. aculeata is a surprisingly active predator, feeding on other worms as well as very young crabs and hermit crabs. Prey are swallowed whole, head first: this cannot be easy with a worm such as the king rag Nereis virens which is about 3 times the length of the sea mouse!

Indeed, the swallowing of a king rag by the sea mouse has been likened “to a hedgehog swallowing a snake”. A. aculeata can move forward relatively fast in a ‘stepping pattern’ using individual parapodia rather than the sinusoidal undulations characteristic of many other

D i s t r i b u t i o n of A . a c u l e a t a a r ou n d B r i t a i n a n d I r e l a n d ( NB N )

polychaete worms.

If you get the chance, it’s always worth checking the beach for unusual finds after stormy weather.

Gen Broad

References: Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters and Joelene Hughes 2007. Aphrodita aculeata. Sea mouse. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 19/06/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/ speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=2564> Mettam, C., 1971. Functional design and the evolution of the polychaete Aphrodite aculeata. Journal of Zoology (London), 163, 489-514.

Mettam, C., 1980. On the feeding habits of Aphrodita aculeata and commensal polynoids. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 60, 833-834.

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Discove ry of a m yca ng ium a nd associa ted yea sts in the stag bee tle Lu canu s cervus (C oleopte ra: Luca nida e) Abs tra ct from a PhD thesis: Col in Hawes ( in p repara tion).

The adults of some wood-boring beetles (Xyleborus) and barkfeeding beetles (Ips) have special pouches called mycangia. These contain fungi which are later deposited in wood. In some species these mycangial fungi enable the rotting and softening of the wood (Sharp, 1978).

The mycangial contents from five females were examined using a microscope (x400) and showed the presence of yeast-like microbes.

These yeasts were later isolated and shown to

To determine whether stag beetles (Lucanus cervus) have mycangia, 10 males and 10 females (captured June, 2009), were dissected. A mycangium was discovered in all 10 females, whereas no mycangium was found in the males (RHUL end of year review report, December 14, 2009; PTES stag beetle focus group report, March 23, 2010).

Photographs were taken of both sexes at each dissection stage.

Dissection of females r ev ealed th at th e mycangium appears to be an enlarged infold of the cu ticu lar membr an e beneath the anal tergite.

I m a g e k ey : F em a l e s h ow i n g m y c a n g i u m ( m c ) , ov a r i e s ( o v s ) a n d h i n d gut (hg) 22

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utilize xylose sugar but not glucose, suggesting that the yeasts may be associated with the breakdown of larval food resources (dead wood). Female stag beetles were sent to Dr Masahiko

Tanahashi in Japan, who kindly confirmed the presence of yeasts in their mycangia, and, using DNA analysis, identified the yeasts as closely related to Pichia stipitis (Tanahashi et al, 2010).

References: Sharp, R.F. (1978). Investigative Mycology. Heinemann. London.

Tanahashi, M., Kubota, K., Matsushita, N. and Togashi, K. (2010).

Discovery of mycangia and associated xylose-fermenting yeasts in stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). Naturwissenschaften 97, 311-317.

SNS Supports SOG In summer 2012 the Suffolk Orn ith olog ists’ Grou p w as grateful to SNS for providing the Group with a bursary of £500.

SOG had pitched for matchfunded monies to support its ongoing membership drive. To that end it needed to invest in a range of pu blic ity materials, including a set of display panels, to present the Group’s purpose and its benefits in a fashion consistent with its strapline ‘For birds & for birders’.

The SNS monies allowed SOG to commission and produce a set of four display panels (illustrated) along with business cards and leaflets. The display panels have been used White Admiral 85

extensively since at internal meetings and talks, exhibitions, events and fund-raising activities.

The Council of SOG would like to thank SNS for their generosity.

Phil Brown

T he panels in action a t the Minsmere D isc overy Centre 23

London Clay a t Na cton S hore

GeoSuffolk Looks a t the Lond on C la y

The London Clay comprises a series of muds deposited during the Eocene Period 53 million years ago. It outcrops along Suffolk’s southern coast and estuaries, forming low cliffs of brown and grey muds and silty muds, which display a variety of geological structures. There are bands of harder mudstone cemented with lime, locally known as septaria, also thin layers of creamy yellow volcanic ash - part of the Tertiary Igneous Province as seen on Skye and the Giants Causeway as lava flows. Fossils include wood, shark teeth and, rarely, bird bones.

GeoSuffolk’s new leaflet, written

by Dr Roger Dixon provides a tour of the London Clay exposures of the Deben, Orwell and Stour estuaries, from Ramsholt Rocks to Harkstead Shore. The London Clay acts as an impermeable base to the water table in south Suffolk, with numerous springs 24

issuing from the sands a b ov e, an d locations to view this springline landscape are suggested. There also is information on the use of the mudstone as a building material, with various examples, including Orford Castle, and of Lon don Clay br icks in Waldr ingfield and Hemley churches.

GeoSuffolk would like to thank the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB (Community and Conservation Fund) and the Ipswich Institute for financial help with the production of this leaflet. The leaflet is free and available at Ipswich Museum and from GeoSuffolk’s website, www.geosuffolk.co.uk .

Caroline Markham White Admiral 85

Book R e vie w - Otte r Country Ot ter C ou nt ry - I n se ar ch of th e w ild ott er Mir iam Darl ingt on Gra nt a Pu bl ic at i ons , L on d on 20 12 363 pp, full bi bl i ogr a phy & i n de x I SBN 978 1 8 4708 485 9

Everyone is aware of the success story of the re-introduction of the otter but few have been lucky enough or sufficiently dedicated and adventurous actually to see one in the wild; Miriam Darlington has. Inspired as a young child first by reading Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water, then by Williamson’s Tarka the Otter , her enthusiasm was consolidated by, at the age of eleven, handling an otter skull.

Years passed but the interest did not diminish, on the contrary she took every opportunity to research the species and its circumstances in Britain. Over thirty years later she had still not seen an otter in the wild, so she drew up a plan: “I would explore the places in this land that hid my grail. I would spend a whole year or longer, if that’s what it took, wading through marshes, hiding between mossy rocks, paddling down rivers and swimming in sea lochs; recording my journey through the seasons as I searched for wild otters.” This is her account of that White Admiral 85

odyssey. So, she tells the tales of her quest, travelling in all weathers with seemingly limitless energy, from north to south and east to west, in the process befriending all manner of kindred spirits. With growing expertise in otter-seeking fieldcraft she is able to interpret the nuances of tracks and traces to good effect and before too long achieves her goal.

But that only drives her on for more…

Miriam Darlington is a poet and it shows in her writing, which is always lyrical and vibrant, and often gently amusing but she is also a naturalist and does not r o man tic ise h er su bje ct, recognising and respecting the otter’s fierce status as a top aquatic predator.

This is a book in a similar vein to Mark Cocker’s excellent Crow Country and also, I suggest, a worthy successor to Maxwell’s and Williamson’s masterpieces.

David Walker 25

Gidd yup, Spring is He re a t La st At long last, spring has unlocked its doors And defied the cold of the Arctic It has spread its wings And soared over the landscape The sulphur yellow of the primrose Is snaking through the woodland The golden faces of the celandine Enlivening the banks Giddyup, the martins are preparing nests The returning swallow cutting the air And against the clear blue sky The skylark is practising the tango The see-sawing mantra of the great tit Is landing music to the canopy While below the bluebell perfume Carpets the bottle green floor Giddyup, the sap is rising Quiescent buds eager for life bursting forth Leaves the colour of bracken unfurling And shoots heaping up increments Bumble bees are charging up in the sun Butterflies pumping their veins And snails leaving trails All striving to capture the promise of spring Giddyup, spring is here at long length The blackbird sings atop a tree Melody varying from one line to the next It is goodbye to the icy landscape History will remember The long chill of twelve-thirteen The gracious spring is here And the thaw of the cockles has set in Yee hah!

Rasik Bhadresa 26

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OBITUARY – B Laps It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of B Laps who passed away peacefully at his home in Yorkshire on 9th April, 2013.

B Laps – or “Stinker” as he was known affectionately among his friends – had been born at Great Glemham. Severely handicapped and neglected by his mother, it fell to a kindly local gardener in 2002 to alert authorities to his situation.

He was immediately fostered for a few months at Brantham before being permanently adopted by the Stokes family of Driffield, Yorkshire who knew that the youngster had a limited life expectancy and would need a lifetime of care.

Accordingly, they strove to make his life as comfortable and enjoyable as possible providing him with his own room where he could enjoy the peace and solitude which he seemed to crave and where he could snack upon his preferred foods – grapes and slices of cucumber! Although the Stokes’ had always realised that his life expectancy was not great, his eventual death aged ten years came as a great shock and we extend our sincere condolences to them in their time of grief. They can gain some comfort by knowing that most of those like B Laps rarely survive to the age of three.

Like Wordsworth’s beloved Lucy, B Laps had lived unknown and few would know when he ceased to be. Except us.

Requiescat in pace.

David Ridley Nash, Brantham.

Documents relating to the life of B Laps Nash, D. (2011). Is a pet for life even if it is only a Churchard Beetle ?

White Admiral 80: 24–25.

Nash, D. and Underwood, D. (2003). Cellar Beetles on the move. White Admiral 55: 31.

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SNS/SWT/SOG Taste r Spe cie s Re cord ing Eve nt

O ve r 30 people a tte nded the SNS/SWT/SO G ta ster spe cie s record ing e ve nt hosted a t SW T’s Kne ttisha ll He ath Na ture Re se rve on 29th June. This collabora tive e ve nt was a grea t succe ss, g iving people the opportunity to find out ab out aq ua tic inve rte brates, pla nts, b utte rflie s, moths, d rag onflie s, te rre strial inve rteb ra tes, g eolog y a nd b ird s from SNS a nd SO G e xpe rts. The fe edba ck was ve ry positive with se ve ra l re que sts for furthe r such e ve nts. The ne x t taste r da y is scheduled for the 1 0th A ugust 2013 ( see nex t pag e).

“Just a quick n ote to say a very big th ank yo u to th e who l e team fo r a lo vely day y esterday . We reall y en jo y ed it. More such even ts pl ease! ! ” John N oe l P h o t os b y L e s l e y W a l d u c k 28

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FOUNDED IN 1929 by Claude Morley (1874 -1951), The Suffolk Naturalists’ Society pioneered the study and recording of the County’s flora, fauna and geology, to promote a wider interest in natural history.

Recording the natural history of Suffolk is still one of the Society’s primary objects, and members’ observations are fed to a network of specialist recorders for possible publication before being deposited in the Suffolk Biological Records Centre, which is based in Ipswich Museum.

Suffolk Natural History, a review of the County’s wildlife, and Suffolk Birds, the County bird report, are two high quality annual publications issued free to members. The Society also publishes a newsletter, White Admiral, and organises two members’ evenings a year plus a conference every two years .

Subscriptions: Individual members £15.00; Family membership £17.00; Corporate membership £17.00. Joint membership with the Suffolk Ornithologists’ Group: Individual members £28.00; Family membership £32.00.

As defined by the Constitution of this Society its objects shall be: 2.1 To study and record the fauna, flora and geology of the County 2.2 To publish a Transactions and Proceedings and a Bird Report. These shall be free to members except those whose annual subscriptions are in arrears 2.3 To liaise with other natural history societies and conservation bodies in the County 2.4 To promote interest in natural history and the activities of the Society.

For more details about the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society contact:

Hon. Secretary, Suffolk Naturalists’ Society, c/o Ipswich Museum, High Street, IPSWICH, IP1 3QH. Telephone 01473 433547

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