Back to .... Homepage ---------------------------------------------------- FRIENDS OF EMSWORTH WILDLIFE This is a community web site dedicated to the observation, recording and protection of the wildlife of the Emsworth area Please send your observations and photos to Brian Fellows . . . brianfellows at tiscali.co.uk CURRENT WILDLIFE DIARY Wildlife photo gallery - 2010 . . . EXTERNAL LINK . . . use BACK button to return DIARY ARCHIVES April 1-15 . . . April 16-30 . . . May 1-15 . . . May 16-31 . . . June 1-16 . . . June 17-30 . . . July 1-17 Wildlife News Summaries . . . Fortnightly summaries of the local wildlife news . . . FRIDAY JULY 30 PURPLE EMPEROR IN SOUTHBOURNE The identification of the butterfly photographed by Alan Bonner on a wheelie bin in Southbourne on 23 July has been confirmed as a female Purple Emperor. Here is an extract from the Sussex Butterfly Conservation sightings page with Tony's report and photo followed by the following response from Neil Hulme. . . . http://www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk/sightings.html "This is a female Purple Emperor, recognisable by the slightly more-rounded wingtips, and the width of the white band on the hindwing. Males don't always show the purple sheen (which depends on the angle from which the insect is viewed), so the lack of purple is not itself diagnostic from a single image. However, the base colour is a slightly different brown - and this is typically 'female'. Females will wander long distances through the landscape, searching for sallows on which to lay their eggs. While driving along the A27 just to the North, I've noticed an abundance of sallow in the local landscape. Only yesterday I was watching male Purple Emperors disputing their territory 2 miles to the NW, but the butterflies might also be present in the much smaller copses to the North of Southbourne." Note on Purple Emperor Males congregate on the canopy of tall tree where they perch and make spectacular flights and battle with each other. The same tree is used year after year. Females visit the master tree to mate with a male and then go off in search of suitable Sallows to lay eggs, sometimes, as Neil Hulme says, flying considerable distances. The caterpillar feeds on the leaves of Goat and Grey Willows and over winters in this stage. Here is a superb photo of the underwing of a Purple Emperor taken by Tony Wootton in Bentley Wood in early July SOUTHBOURNE COPSE This morning Tony Wootton and I decided to have a look at Southbourne Copse at Grid Ref: SU 7565 0612, which is the nearest woodland to the Southbourne site where the Purple Emperor was seen, not that we had any real expectation of seeing one, but you never know! The only butterflies we saw were Speckled Woods, Gatekeepers and various Whites, plus a Red Admiral outside the copse. I last visited this copse on May 31, following John Tagg's concern about the orange markings on trees which he thought could mark a proposed route for a road through the copse. I checked at the time with Southbourne Parish Council and West Sussex County Council, neither of whom knew anything about it. The markings and numbers on the large Oaks were were still there this morning, though no sign of any activity. In one open sunny clearing we saw a Southern Hawker dragonfly flying around, which perched briefly on a grass stem for me to get a photo, though it flew off before Tony got his camera out of the bag. This looks like a female from the books. The copse was fairly quiet at this time of the year on the bird front, but we were lucky to get a good view of two Treecreepers and heard a Bullfinch calling. We also herd the first autumn song of a Robin. Among the other birds we saw or heard were Long-tailed Tits, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Wren, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove and Green Woodpecker. We did not see or hear a Great Spotted Woodpecker, though John Tagg has seen them at a nest in the woodland this year. Among the various woodland plants in flower, I noted Agrimony, Tufted Vetch, Hoary Ragwort, Enchanter's Nightshade, Broad-leaved Willowherb and Wood Sage. Of the grasses, Creeping Bent-grass was very common, but I was puzzled by a taller well tufted Bent with long pointed ligules, which I think was Velvet Bent. We had a mooch around the edge of the large wheat field to the east of the copse, where we found good quantities of Common Orache (not a common plant in the local area), Scented Mayweed, Redshank, Knotgrass and Scarlet Pimpernel. BROOK MEADOW - Firsts I had a mooch around the meadow this afternoon and was pleased to find some firsts for the year. I found 14 flower spikes of the handsome Marsh Woundwort poking above the rampant vegetation around the Horse Chestnut saplings at the northern end of the Bramble path on the south meadow.   Pepper-saxifrage is now in flower in the usual place on the east side of the Lumley area, but I could only find 5 plants, which is far fewer than usual. Strawberry Clover is flowering on the path around the Lumley area, not a place I have seen it before. Wild Angelica is now in full flower and the plants are growing well above the surround vegetation on the south meadow. Along the Bramble path I also noticed some Nettles with narrow leaves, which could possibly be the non-stinging Fen Nettle (Urtica galeopsifolia). The leaves did not sting when I felt them and on close examination I could only see a few of the 'hyperdemeric needle' hairs which produce the stings on the normal Common Nettle. I shall monitor them. Finally, a female Common Darter perched well for a photo, another first for the year. THURSDAY JULY 29 HAYLING ISLAND Jean and I had a walk from Sinah Common round Beachlands to Gunner Point and back along Ferry Road. I have been astonished at the amount of Stone Parsley there is this year, more than I recall in previous years. I was pleased to find Sand Sedge growing well along Ferry Road with a good showing of Large-flowered Evening Primrose. GLOW-WORMS IN HOLLYBANK WOODS. Andy Brook reports female Glow-worms are attracting mates now in the south eastern woodland. Their bright fluorescent green lights are bright amidst the leaf litter to attract males (females do not fly, only the males). Each individual female has an adult glowing life of only a few weeks until she mates, since she dies soon after laying her eggs and does not feed during this time. GODWIT NEWS from Iceland Pete Potts reports that godwits have had a poor breeding season as have many species in Iceland, probably due to the late cold spring and very dry summer. However, they did well and colour-ringed 71 godwit chicks and c. 45 adults. The chicks have white flags and the adults have a white engraved ring on the left tibia with a black 8 on it with a colour-ring above. There are some photos of the group at work in Iceland on . . . http://www.siglfirdingur.is/v.asp?page=251&Article_ID=69 Pete Potts helping with the ringing of Black-tailed Godwits in iceland Pete taking a photo of Godwit R8+GO in Iceland Here is a close-up of Godwit R8+YW ringed in Iceland WEDNESDAY JULY 28 PORTSDOWN HILL Jean and I stopped at Fort Widley on the way back from Southampton General Hospital. After a quick lunch we did the regular circuit of the fort, taking the path below the road back to the car park. The whole area was a galaxy of wild flowers, dominated by masses of Field and Small Scabious. Other flowers included Marjoram, Wild Parsnip, Corn Mint, Greater Knapweed, Black Knapweed, Common Fleabane, Kidney Vetch, Tufted Vetch, Tall (Golden) Melilot, Agrimony and Wild Mignonette. Lots of Common Blues were flitting around the grasses and 6-spot Burnet Moths were feeding on the Scabious flowers. TUESDAY JULY 27 HAYLING OYSTERBEDS I missed the wardening session last week, so it was good to get back to the Oysterbeds this morning to see what had changed. The weather was cloudy, but warm with a splattering of rain late in the morning. There was a good flow of visitors throughout the morning, including lots of cyclists. I had a chat with a birdwatcher named Simon who was on holiday from Dorset. He knew Brownsea Island well and I was pleased to share experiences with him from my first ever visit to the island this spring. I also spoke to a couple of birdwatchers from Cambridgeshire, who knew the Oysterbeds from previous visits, but were sorry to have missed all the fun of the breeding gulls and terns. Birds The big change from a fortnight ago was how quiet the lagoon area was with virtually all the Black-headed Gulls now departed and just a few Common Terns hanging on. Four Common Terns were sitting (on nests?) on the south island and another 2 on the north island. I watched a couple of Terns near Marker A for some while in the scope; I was not sure what was going on, but one bird appeared to be tending to a nest while the other moved around displaying.   There was a solitary small Common Tern chick close to Marker A which was occasionally fed by two adults. It settled down at times next to a corpse of a chick, possibly the same one I saw a couple of weeks ago.   The Oystercatcher family of 2 adults and one youngster were on the south island. I spotted 5 Redshank on the north island along with a solitary Ringed Plover. Jason says Ringed Plovers are becoming increasingly scarce breeders on the south coast, probably as their breeding range is pushed further north by climate change. A Common Sandpiper was feeding around the edges of the lagoon and another three were on the mudflats of the northern beds. Plants Walking from the car park to the lagoon, I was immediately struck by the burnt and shrivelled appearance of the plants along the edge of the shingle beach, particularly Spear Thistles. I asked Jason if they had been sprayed and he confirmed they had, but not by human means, but by the natural salty spray from the high tides. Jason told me a large area of Common Ragwort and Teasels to the right of the path to the lagoon had been cleared as in previous years by a contractor.   I have been looking all season for some Lax-flowered Sea-lavender on the saltmarshes off the southern seawall and this morning I found some. There is a small rather inconspicuous patch of this fairly uncommon plant to the left of the large very colourful areas of Common Sea-lavender. Lax-flowered Sea-lavender is easily distinguished from Common Sea-lavender by having its flowers scattered all along the branches, rather than all the top in the latter. Jason says this is a first for the West Hayling Local Nature Reserve as a whole.   Also on the saltmarshes, Glasswort is standing upright like miniature green trees, along with plenty of Stone Parsley, Sea Beet, Common Cord-grass, Annual Seablite and the Common Sea-lavender. Another first for my Oysterbeds list at least, was Lesser Swine-cress on the southern bund. This is an inconspicuous low growing plant with a distinctive cressy smell when crushed. These take my own personal list for the reserve for this year to 165 species. Meanwhile, Hoary Ragwort, Wild Parsnip, Corn Mint and Red Bartsia were newly flowering from last time on the Hayling Billy Line. At the north of the track on the left before the bend one can see a good example of a Bedeguar gall (aka Robin's pincushion) on a Dog Rose. These attractive galls are caused by a small gall wasp called Diplolepis rosae. BROOK MEADOW Wild Angelica was newly flowering in the usual area on the south meadow. But Wild Carrot is out for the first time on the Lumley area. PURPLE EMPEROR - Photo to follow. Tony Wootton came round this afternoon with an astonishing photo taken by one of his U3A group of a Purple Emperor butterfly perched on a domestic wheely bin in a house off Stein Road in Southbourne. It was clearly distinguishable from the White Admiral from its rather irregular pattern of white patches on its upper wings and single red circles at the rear of the wings. This seemed to be an astonishing find for such a scarce butterfly which is really only found in deep woodland. However, 'The Butterflies of Hampshire' (p.111) states "The species is a great wanderer" and lists various places it has been recorded over the years, but never before on a wheely bin! And never before, to my knoweldge in the Emsworth area. Tony will be submitting the record to Butterfly Conservation. The nearest woodland to the Southbourne site is the small privately owned Southbourne Copse which I visited on May 31 to have a look at the ominous markings on some large Oaks, noted by John Tagg. John thought they could mark a proposed route for a road through the copse. I checked with Southbourne Parish Council and West Sussex County Council, neither of whom knew anything about it. Tony also wondered whether this copse could be the source of the reports of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in gardens in The Rookery off Lumley Road. The copse certainly has nesting Great Spotted Woodpeckers, so why not Lessers also? We plan to go and have a look around the copse for ourselves in the near future. SWALLOWS Message on hoslist - "yesterday evening over 1000 Swallows (mostly juveniles) and a handful of sand martins were to be found perching on boats in Emsworth harbour in a pre-roost get together. Following this they moved eastwards to swarm over the reedbeds of Thorney Island - and here a Hobby appeared and spent just a couple of minutes zipping through the group until it caught one. The masses then descended into the reeds but their chattering continued into the night. A fantastic sight - and may well be repeated tonight - tickets are free." SUNDAY JULY 25 EMS VALLEY WALK I led the first of the Ems Valley Walks (for the Hampshire Water Festival) this morning from 10am to 12 noon. Five people attended: Patrick Murphy (a Brook Meadow Conservation Group regular), Christine (whose house backs onto the Seagull Lane patch of Brook Meadow) Barry and Carol (from Wickor Way, Emsworth) and Janet (a visitor to Emsworth). I distributed the Brook Meadow leaflets. We started in Palmer's Road Car Park from where we walked through Palmer's Road Copse, noting the magnificent Crack Willow trees and various other plants on the way. We stopped at the Water Vole signcase and I explained the importance of this mammal. We stopped on the south bridge, but there was no sign of any Water Voles. We then did a complete circuit of Brook Meadow, going up the main river path and back through the main meadow, noting the tall plants of Hogweed with flower heads covered with insects along with various other flowering plants and grasses. We sheltered from brief light shower. We then walked along Lumley Road with Peter Pond on the right and crossed the road to walk round Slipper Millpond, where we noted the site of the old mill. The tide was swilling over the sluice gates, where we saw a number of large Grey Mullett fish. A chap fishing was hoping for Bass. Prickly Lettuce was in flower on the west side of the pond. The regular Mute Swan family with 3 cygnets (including the 'Polish') was in Dolphin Lake, where we also noted a Mallard family with three tiny ducklings. We did not have time to go onto the marina. All the participants were involved and interested in all aspects of the walk and thanked me at the end. I agree it was an enjoyable morning's stroll. Blackbird nest On the way home I met Richard who lives in the house on the corner of St James Road and Bridge Road. He told me the Blackbird that was nesting in his garden hatched 3 eggs, but had abandoned the nest leaving the chicks to starve. This was very unusual and must mean that the hen bird had been disturbed or even killed. PAGHAM HARBOUR Heather Mills reports on yesterday's walk by the Havant Wildlife Group. A lovely morning provided good numbers of 10 adults + two halves walking a different path around the north of Pagham thanks to Fay and the expertise of Ros finding a safe path through the village instead of the shore. We were greeted with a sunning heron dropping it's wings open to fully relish the sun's rays on the inside of it's wings, not the usual pose. Plenty of butterflies to keep us happy, gatekeepers being the most prominent,meadows, red admirals, peacocks, whites , common blue and a few small coppers along the way. Flowers in abundance with some fruits gathering size in the hedges. In the pools we noticed about 10+ egrets with circa 60 redshank on one bank. 3 buzzards mewed and stooped which later made me think it could have been parents with one young. Lapwing, great crested and little grebes and one Greenshank. Several coots with young and moorhen. Over the walkway before the sluice gates we had many swallows with a few sand martins. A kestrel followed us at tea break and having checked my photo of the ducks that flew over they turned out to be a pair of pintail. We should repeat this walk as there is a good variety for everyone to enjoy. Godwit news Heather Mills saw 3 Black Tailed Godwits, one of which colour ringed: orange over lime and orange over red on the tarsal left leg. O//R+OL. Ringed as first summer male. 26-Jun-05 Thorney Island. Regularly seen in Fishbourne and occasionally in Pulborough Brooks and Pagham Harbour. My last sighting was 19-Nov-08 from Pagham North Wall. SATURDAY JULY 24 HOOKHEATH MEADOWS On the way back from visiting my granddaughter in Southampton General Hospital, I called into this HWT Reserve at the bottom of Pigeonhouse Lane on Portsdown Hill Grid Ref: SU 647078. I went hoping to see Beautiful Demoiselles along the Wallington River, as I did last year. I made the mistake of going through the gate and walking along the track, but there is no access to the river from the track. I retraced my steps and took the casual path through the meadow down to the river and where I found these magical insects. I walked a little way along the river path taking photos of the Beautiful Demoiselles as I went. They were not nearly so numerous as they were last year, though I went a month earlier in June. I only saw males with the deep blue wings, without the band, which distinguishes them from the Banded Demoiselles that we have on Brook Meadow. Not sure where the females were. A Beautiful Demoiselle perched on a grass stem with a fly   Walking along the river path I found some superb examples of Giant Fescue along with some Himalayan Balsam, not a common plant in our local area. I also found some Betony and Pepper-saxifrage in flower on the meadow. FRIDAY JULY 23 SOUTH MOOR I had a look around the South Moor this morning. The gate to the orchid area was open, allowing cattle access to graze, though they had not made much impression on the mass of vegetation growing there. Rushes were the dominant plants with both Jointed Rush and Sharp-flowered Rush abundant. I also noted Hard Rush and Soft Rush, mainly in tufts outside the orchid area. Rushes were the most abundant plant on the South Moor in late July   The flowering plants were dominated by Black Knapweed with most of the Common Fleabane yet to flower with some Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil here and there. Lots of Common Blue butterflies were on the wing and I got a nice photo of one feeding on Red Clover.   SOUTHLEIGH ROAD (WEST) WAYSIDE I checked the plants on this verge from the junction with Horndean Road to the entrance to the Southleigh Farm estate, adding a couple of new plants to take the grand total for the verge to 69. This puts it in second place in the Emsworth wayside plants league table (see yesterday's diary entry for the league), though it is still some way behind Bridge Road Nature Reserve which has 130 (with 118 found this year). It has some interesting plants including a patch of Butcher's-broom, Compact Rush, Grey Sedge, and several flowering plants of Stone Parsley. The presence of Bumblebees on the large flowers of Spear Thistle attests to the value of not cutting these verges. I was pleasd to find a single plant of Hedge Parsley. This is the latest to flower of the three common hedgerow umbellifers (the others are Cow Parsley and Rough Chervil). It is rough like Rough Chervil but has a very stiff stem and has both upper and lower bracts below the flower head. One of the policies of the new Friends of Emsworth Waysides group is to keep the allocated waysides tidy, so as to avoid any criticism that leaving the verges uncut attracts litter. The Southleigh Road wayside is particularly vulnerable to litter and I collected three bags of cans, bottles, paper, etc this morning to make the verge look reasonable. JIM BERRY REPORTS For the last month or so a juvenile Great-spotted Woodpecker has been feeding on the the peanuts in our garden (Rowlands Castle), and on past form I expect this to continue for the next month or so. In about alternate years for about the last 15 years, a mother bird has brought a youngster and introduced him to the feeder, but then disappeared, leaving the youngster to visit alone. This he seems to do at least daily for about two months (presumably when the moult begins) and thereafter we only see a Great-spot as an occasional visitor (in contrast to the Green Woodpecker which is always around) and never on the feeders. I should obviously have kept a detailed diary of these roughly bi-annual events. I haven't done so, but remain curious. On Monday and Tuesday this week I had a Humming Bird Hawkmoth in the garden. I have seem them here before but not for several years. Yesterday a particularly brightly coloured Siskin visited the thistle seed feeder. We occasionally have Siskins in February and March but never at this time of the year before. I wonder why he has not gone further north to breed etc. - I would not have expected to have gone and come back by now? Note on Siskins Although Siskins are mainly migratory, a small number do remain in local areas to breed. The Hants Bird Report describes Siskin as a 'moderately common breeder', mostly in the New Forest, but it would not be surprising to find some in Stansted Forest. That might account for your bird, having finished breeding and looking around for some easy food. HAYLING OYSTERBEDS UPDATE Jason Crook reports http://langstoneharbourwildlife.blogspot.com Having missed an update last week I have to report on rather a lot so will try to be as succinct as possible. The major event recently was the strong winds and high tides of 14th and 15th July. The overnight tide and gales during the early hours of 15th July threw waves across the top of some of both South and North Islands in the lagoon and wiped out a total of three broods and seven nests of Common Tern, plus a few very late Black-headed Gull nests. The combined height of the tide and waves reached over 5.4 metres in places, and is unprecedented during the last five years of our wardening. All of the 'top' areas of both islands are over 5.2 metres (most are considerably higher, notably the new shingle recharge area) and would not have been inundated under any of the high spring tides that I have recorded in recent years. The timing of the stormy conditions could have been a lot worse of course, as an earlier event could have wiped out many more small tern and gull chicks and nests. Overall it has already been a very good season for Common Tern and Black-headed Gull breeding success. Exact numbers will follow in due course but it is likely to be at least 1:1 productivity (i.e. averaging at least one fledged young per breeding pair) for each species. Predation of tern chicks has continued and sadly two broods that survived the storms of last week have now disappeared. Continued predation by Mediterranean Gull is the likely cause. One brood has appeared since then, at the southern end of South Island. These are likely to be the last new chicks we see on the reserve this summer. As is typical the first egg hatched a day before the second and until the second egg hatched the female looked very uncomfortable trying to incubate egg and brood chick at the same time. The male soon came in, passed a tiny fish to the female. She then fed the new chick for the first time. Common Terns Various other very late attempts at re-nesting will probably come to nothing as the colony begins to break up. In recent days I have counted up to 130 adult and 60 juvenile Common Terns on the reserve, many of the juveniles still being fed by their parents but still returning occasionally to their nesting territory on the islands. As time moves on more will remain in the harbour, some on the shingle spit to the south of the lagoon, before finally dispersing more widely. In the meantime the recent increase in display and territorial activity by some of the adults provides an opportunity to observe all stages of the breeding cycle in one quick scan with binoculars! I might add that the sheer spectacle of watching terns flying within metres of you as they pass between harbour and lagoon continues to be a delight to watch. Black-headed Gulls Apart from a few newly fledging juvenile Black-headed Gulls, and some older juveniles remaining on the islands, there are now only three smaller gull chicks left. I will continue watching these to (hopefully) add them to the overall figures when they too fledge. There's been a noticeable recent increase in territorial activity with some of the remaining adult gulls re-affirming territories for next year I, with the camera capturing some interesting freeze-frame motion shots of their posturing! Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover It's not been so good a season for Oystercatcher or Ringed Plovers, with the latter failing to fledge any youngsters and the former only one. This is the latest image of the juvenile Oystercatcher; it is still being fed worms by its parents, but for the last couple of weeks it has learnt to wash them free of mud for itself (previously the adults were only presenting it with pre-washed worms!). Little Terns As the season also draws to a close out on the main Langstone Harbour islands the success of the Little Terns out there is being indicated by the regular appearance of small numbers of juveniles accompanying some adults at the Oysterbeds. Encouragingly these birds have "found" the new shingle area at the north end of the reserve and are currently using it as a loafing site at high tide. I counted a maximum of seven juveniles and four adults the other day. Just in case there is any doubt as to the differences between juvenile Little and Common Terns two instructional images appear below. In fresh plumage juvenile Little Terns have bold dark inner markings on their pale upperpart feathers (much like juvenile Sandwich Terns do) whereas Common Terns, although more variable, have narrower and more regular "sub-terminal" markings and buffy edges to the same slightly darker feathers. Of course, size is an indicator too, with Little Terns really being…. little! THURSDAY JULY 22 EMSWORTH WAYSIDES Not much time for wildlife today. However, I went round some of the waysides this afternoon checking on the plants. Surprising, how I see more every time I go. One unexpected one was Balm on the Washington Road path. I assembled a league table of waysides based on the number of plants on them. Here it is with Bridge Road leading the way. 1. Bridge Road Nature Reserve = 127 2. Southleigh Road (west) = 69 3. Footpath from Washington Road to the Emsworth Recreation Ground = 67 4. Emsworth Recreation Ground - NW corner = 66 5. Westbourne open space = 55 6. Roadside embankment A259 - adjacent to Belcher and Frost = 53 7. Dolphin Creek path = 43 8. Havant Road verge - top of Valetta Park = 41 9. Junction of Horndean Road and New Brighton Road = 40 10. Footpath from Southleigh Road to Barwell Grove = 35 11. Christopher Way verge = 22 Full details of the plants on each site can be seen on the web site. http://www.emsworthwaysides.hampshire.org.uk/few-waysideslist.htm INTER-BRIDGES SITE The Inter bridges Site is up for sale again. There is still a well trodden footpath through the site from New Brighton Road. The Canadian Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) is in flower and looking very good. Also masses of Black Knapweed are in flower. I have a plant list of 73 which I assembled for the last planning application in 2004. Canadian Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) on the interbridges site INSECT SURVEY ON BROOK MEADOW Report by Bryan Pinchen I had a good day on Tuesday (July 20) and a good haul of Nationally Scarce and Red Data Book species, as well as a good selection of more common species, rarities as follows: Social Wasp, Dolichovespula media, Nationally Scarce A, workers around the reserve, will probably lose it's Nat Sc status soon as it's become rather more common. Hoverfly, Volucella zonaria, Nationally Scarce, two seen, their larvae feed inside wasps nests, a recent colonist that is spreading and doing well. Can often be found on Buddelia in gardens - it is big and yellow/brown/black. Picture-winged Fly, Myopites inulaedyssentericae, Red Data Book 3 but will probably be downgraded to Nationally Scarce soon. Larvae develop inside flower heads of Fleabane, a single female swept from the fleabane. Tachinid fly, Gymnosoma rotundatum, Red Data Book 3, a fairly big orange coloured fly with black spots down the abdomen. A single male not long after you left, larvae feed on the Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina. Solitary bee, Melitta tricincta, Nationally Scarce B, collects pollen exclusively from Red Bartsia and nests in bare ground, a single male found. Solitary bee, Nomada fucata, Nationally Scarce A but will probably lose Nat Sc status, has increased over the past few years as it's host spreads, the host bee is Andrena flavipes, of which I recorded a number during the day. Four-banded Longhorn beetle, Nationally Scarce B, A black and red banded species which develops as a larva in dead wood. A single specimen by the trees at the northern end of the reserve. Bombus hypnorum again, a single worker. I still have a couple of potential goodies to check against material at the museum, will let you know the outcome if they are rarities. WEDNESDAY JULY 21 RALPH HOLLINS NEWS Ralph has e-mailed me to say he has made a start on resuming maintenance of his website by creating a new Diary entry for yesterday. He hopes to restart his Weekly Summaries in August. This is great news as I am sure I am not alone in having seriously missed Ralph's important contributions to the recording of local wildlife. Welcome back, Ralph. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ralph.hollins/Diary.htm Spreading Hedge Parsley His diary entry for July 20 records the discovery of Spreading Hedge Parsley in a Langstone garden. Ralph has informed Martin Rand as he thinks this is a new species for SU 70. He has invited me to see the plants when he goes back in a week or so when there should be some seeds to help clinch the id. I recall Ralph finding it in East Stansted Park in 2006. TUESDAY JULY 20 HOLLYBANK WOODS Brown Argus Caroline French spent an interesting couple of hours in Hollybank Woods on a very warm summer's afternoon. We were hoping to see the Brown Argus butterfly that Andy Brook found there for the first time on July 18 - see the report and photo in yesterday's entry. We spent two periods of at least 20 minutes each, searching and watching in the open Bluebell area in the southern woodland where Andy saw the Brown Argus, but we did not see one. In fact we did not see any blue butterfly at all. We also searched in surrounding areas without success. I also had a look for the plants that the Brown Argus caterpillars feed on, Common Stork's-bill and Dove's-foot Cranesbill, but there were none in the area as far as I could see. Maybe, the butterfly that Andy saw was just passing through and not actively breeding there. Other butterflies Although we did not see the Brown Argus, the walk was far from disappointing as there were lots of other delightful butterflies for us to enjoy and photograph. I was amazed at the number of Silver-washed Fritillaries we saw. I counted 10 during our walk, including both the dark females and the paler males. I am sure I have never seen this many in Hollybank Woods before. Silver-washed Fritillary showing her 'silver-washed' underwing in Hollybank Woods - 20 July 2010 I also counted 5 White Admirals during the walk, most of them showing very well. This has clearly been a good year for both of these spectacular butterflies. One of five White Admirals seen in Hollybank Woods on 20 July 2010   We also saw some dazzlingly bright Commas. Gatekeepers were numerous, plus a few Meadow Browns, Large Skippers. Ringlet that posed for a photo, showing why it got its name. Bullfinch song The woods were very quiet as birds have largely ceased their singing. However, as we were walking along the path towards the Bluebell area, we were delighted to hear the soft and squeaky song of a Bullfinch, a very are event, which I have not heard for some years. Caroline also heard the soft mournful call of at least one other Bullfinch. Dense-headed Heath Wood-rush I was also very pleased to find several plants of Dense-headed Heath Wood-rush (Luzula multiflora ssp congesta), with their distinctive round clusters of brown flower-heads with two bracts longer than the head. They were on the edge of the path through the Bluebell area, east of the large Cherry tree - Grid Ref: SU 7468 0814, a new site for this rare plant, which was first discovered by Gwynne Johnson on 11 May 2002, a little further east along this path at the junction of four paths. Dense-headed Heath Wood-rush (Luzula multiflora ssp congesta) in Hollybank Woods - 20 July 2010 The identification of this plant was confirmed by BSBI Recorder for South Hampshire, on 13 May 2005. "Your suspected Dense-headed Heath Wood-rush Luzula multiflora ssp congesta looks good to me: the inflorescence is a little lax but this is not unusual; the lower bract overtops the whole inflorescence; and the tepals look as if they will be longer than the capsule even when the capsules are mature." Other plants The paths were lined with the delicate inflorescences of Creeping Bent-grass. This is clearly a late flwoering plant. It is out everywhere while other grasses are on the wane. I also noted some Tufted Hair-grass on the Bluebell area. We also noted lots of sedges, including Remote Sedge, Wood Sedge and Grey Sedge. GARDEN I counted maximum of 8 Swifts sweeping through the sky over the Bridge Road houses this evening. This is about as many as I have seen all this summer. No where near the number I used to see a few years ago - 50+. There has clearly been an eruption of flying ants today with lots of gulls in the sky, twisting and turning to catch them. MONDAY JULY 19 BROOK MEADOW Grasses Caroline French and I had a wander around the meadow this morning, mainly reviewing the grasses, following the Flora Group workshop over the weekend. We had a look at the Smooth Brome (Bromus racemosus) with drooping panicles which is growing well on the path around the Lumley area. We also found some Soft Brome with its more erect panicles for comparison. Smooth Brome (Bromus racemosus) with drooping panicles on Brook Meadow - 19 July 2010 We noted the dominance of Tall Fescue on the north meadow, far more than in previous years. I recall John Norton saying that Fescues do tend to take over on non-grazed ground and that an early spring cut would probably be beneficial. We also found Meadow Fescue in the usual place on the north eastern path along with some good examples of Festulolium Hybrids (Festulolium loliaceum). The soft delicate inflorescences of Creeping Bent-grass were very prominent around the meadow. This grass is clearly a late flowerer. We spent some time examining the Bents, but could only find the Creeping variety. In contrast, the Meadow-grasses had largely gone over, though we did dind some Rough Meadow-grass with the long pointed ligules. I did not find any Smooth Meadow-grass on the meadow this year. We noted plenty of the low-growing Annual Meadow-grass alongside the paths. Other Plants I pointed out a nice fresh growth of Lesser Swine-cress in flower at the bottom of the steps up to the north bridge which Caroline was not familiar with. Lesser Swine-cress is flowering on Brook Meadow at the foot of the steps from the north bridge Butterflies Caroline stayed on to do a butterfly transect for the conservation group, but we noticed a good number of butterflies during our walk, particularly on the patch of flowering Creeping Thistle on the west side of the north meadow. These included Peacock, Comma, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Small Copper, Large White, Small Skipper. We also saw a black Harlequin Ladybird with two bright red spots. Fish I spotted a Brown Trout basking in the warm sunshine in the river north of the north bridge. They are fairly common in the river in summer. Brown Trout basking in the warm sunshine in the river on Brook Meadow - 19 July 2010 WATER VOLE At 12.30pm Caroline French saw an adult vole swimming downstream and under the south bridge. "It was swimming for quite a way along the bottom of the river, which I haven't seen one do before - usually when I see them they are swimming on the surface unless diving to escape danger. At first I though it was a trout! I saw it again about five minutes later, just south of the bridge, swimming from the west bank to the east bank." Like Caroline I have never seen a Water Vole swimming along the bottom of the river like a fish, though I suppose they are well capable of doing so. This takes the total number of sightings for 2010 to 62, which is half the number that were seen last year (though we have not had many from Caroline!). HEDGEHOGS Juliet Walker came across a Hedgehog snuffling about in her back garden round about dusk a couple of weeks ago. She hasn't seen it since, but she has found droppings on the grass. Juliet lives in New Brighton Road - i.e. close to Patrick Murphy, who also saw one recently in his Christopher Way garden. She wonders if they are be the same family! Possible, I suppose but I hope they did not have to cross the New Brighton Road. This is good news. There do appear to be more Hedgehogs in the local area than usual. BROWN ARGUS Andy Brook sent me the following photo of a Brown Argus butterfly which he said were on the wing in the southern woodland of Hollybank Woods right now. Andy found them in the southern woodland in the bluebell clearing where the big cherry tree is. He thinks they could well have been here in previous years, but we just did not have a positive ID before. At a distance they can be mistaken for a female Common Blue, but a clear macro picture (like Andy's here) makes identification easy. This is exciting news. I must have a look for myself tomorrow. I have never seen one! 'The Butterflies of Hampshire' (2000) indicates that the Brown Argus has three main habitat types in Hampshire. Unimproved chalk grassland is the most important where the caterpillar's main food is Common Rockrose. The sandy grassland at Sandy Point on Hayling Island is the second most important where the principal food stuff is Common Stork's-bill. The third habitat includes meadows, woodlands and rough ground where Dove's-foot Cranesbill appears to be the main food. Clearly, woodland is an unusual habitat for Brown Argus, so what attracts it to Hollybank Woods? Dove's-foot Cranesbil or Common Stork's-bill. Are they present in the Bluebell area? From what I can see from the Butterfly Conservation web site there have been no woodland sightings of the Brown Argus this year, so the sightings should be reported. http://www.hantsiow-butterflies.org.uk/sightings.htm SUNDAY JULY 18 GRASSES WORKSHOP DAY 2 Caroline French and I attended Day 2 of the Flora Group grasses workshop organised by Martin Rand, the BSBI Recorder for South Hants. Today was a field day led by John Norton in the Alver Valley in Gosport, an area which neither Caroline or I had ever visited before. As well as the 20 or so people attending yesterday's workshop and Martin Rand, alien grasses expert, Eric Clement was also there, which meant three of the county's top botanists were in attendance! We all parked at the Grange Road recycling facility at SU 586 000 and did a circuit of the valley including the Browndown heathland , stopping for lunch half way. The weather was cool and cloudy in the morning and warm and sunny in the afternoon. The day was spent examining various grasses, mainly with reference to the BSBI Handbook on Grasses by Cope and Gray. Here are a few notes that I took. Wood Small-reed - flowering in a similar heathland habitat to where it grows in Hollybank Woods. Common Bent-grass - apparently grows best in dry grassland, which explains why I have not been able to find it on Brook Meadow. But it should be on some of the waysides. Floating Sweet-grass (Glyceria fluitans) - looked very much like Festulolium Hybrid which grows abundantly on Brook Meadow. Sea Barley - John Norton told me where to find this rare plant on the western seawall on Farlington Marshes, just beyond the first gate towards the lagoon. Broad-leaved Helleborine - Large number found in the woodland. New record? Some new plants for me with section references in Cope and Gray: Annual Beard-grass (115), Bristle Bent-grass (94), Fine-leaved Sheep's Fescue (18), Early Hair-grass, Purple Moor-grass, Purple Moor-reed, Great Fen Sedge (in the fenland).   Here are a few photos from the day John Norton (on the right in white shirt) leading the Flora Group in the Alver Valley. Eric Clement is on the left.   Martin Rand helping Caroline with a tricky grass in the Alver Valley   John Norton examining a grass in the Alver Valley   Martin Rand in the fenland of the Alver Valley   Great Fen-sedge in the Alver valley   The Flora Group on the heathland in the Alver Valley   Hampshire Flora Group Grasses Workshop - Browndown Common 18 July 2010 List of species recorded in approximate order seen. A few Poa and other spp. were not demonstrated to everyone and I can't remember if we looked at Deschampsia cespitosa. Martin also saw Creeping Soft-grass Holcus mollis. from John Norton (john@jnecology.com). English name Scientific name Tribe, (Subtribe) Wall Barley Hordeum murinum Triticeae Common Couch Elymus (Elytrigia) repens Triticeae Cock's-foot Dactylis glomerata Poeae Perennial Rye-grass Lolium perenne Poeae False Oat-grass Arrhenatherum elatius Aveneae, Aveninae Rough Meadow-grass Poa trivialis Poeae Barren Brome Bromus (Anisantha) sterilis Bromeae Soft Brome Bromus hordeaceus Bromeae Meadow Foxtail Alopecurus pratensis Aveneae, Alopecurinae Timothy Phleum pratense Aveneae, Alopecurinae Creeping Bent Agrostis stolonifera Aveneae, Alopecurinae Annual Meadow-grass Poa annua Poeae Common Reed Phragmites australis Arundineae Crested Dog's-tail Cynosurus cristatus Poeae Meadow Barley Hordeum secalinum Triticeae Tall Fescue Festuca arundinacea Poeae Red Fescue Festuca rubra Poeae Yorkshire-fog Holcus lanatus Aveneae, Aveninae Tufted Hair-grass Deschampsia cespitosa Aveneae, Aveninae Smooth Meadow-grass Poa pratensis Poeae Smooth Brome Bromus racemosus Bromeae Wood Small-reed Calamagrostis epigejos Aveneae, Alopecurinae Bristle Bent Agrostis curtisii Aveneae, Alopecurinae Fine-leaved Sheep's-fescue Festuca filiformis Poeae Squirreltail Fescue Vulpia bromoides Poeae Common Bent Agrostis capillaris Aveneae, Alopecurinae Early Hair-grass Aira praecox Aveneae, Aveninae Floating Sweet-grass Glyceria fluitans Meliceae Reed Canary-grass Phalaris arundinacea Aveneae, Phalaridinae Sweet Vernal-grass Anthoxanthum odoratum Aveneae, Phalaridinae Upright Brome Bromus erectus (Bromopsis erecta) Bromeae False Brome Brachypodium sylvaticum Brachypodiae Purple Moor-grass Molinia caerulea Arundineae Purple Small-reed Calamagrostis canescens Aveneae, Alopecurinae Hard-grass* Parapholis strigosa Hainardeae *Collected from Forton Lake, Gosport. Smaller Cat's-tail (Phleum bertolonii) I was very pleased that Martin Rand and Eric Clement both confirmed the identification of the grass that I discovered on the Havant Road wayside, from a couple of samples I took along to the workshop, as Smaller Cat's-tail (Phleum bertolonii). Smooth Brome (Bromus racemosus) Martin also confirmed the Brome with drooping panicles that I found yesterday on the edge of the Lumley area on Brook Meadow as Smooth Brome (Bromus racemosus). There are immense difficulties in distinguishing Smooth Brome and Meadow Brome, so Martin thought it best to stay with the former. I have adjusted the Brook Meadow grasses list to include Smooth Brome and delete Meadow Brome until I hear otherwise. This still leaves us with 34 grasses on the list. Ash key galls I also asked Martin and Eric to look at the Ash keys with the brown gnarled lumps that are growing on the large Ash tree on the railway embankment on Brook Meadow. Both thought they must be galls caused by an insects, but neither had ever seen anything like it before. Ash key galls on the large Ash tree on Brook Meadow From the internet: http://www.hansenstree.com/residential/flowering-ash-gall.php "Though most galls are caused by insects, this one is caused by an eriophyid mite called Eriophyes Fraxinivorus, one of the arachnid family. These tiny mites feed on the male flower clusters of the ash tree in the early spring season and in doing so transform the male flowers into irregular, fringed masses. These masses persist for up to two years and become more noticeable when the leaves drop in the fall. The masses will be green early in the season when they are newly formed, but will turn black as they dry." SATURDAY JULY 17 GRASSES WORKSHOP Caroline French and I attended Day 1 of the BSBI Grasses workshop led by Martin Rand and helped by John Norton at Swanwick NR Centre. Never been there before. Today was indoors studying grass samples that Martin had brought in. We both made good use of our new BSBI Handbook on Grasses by Cope and Gray. Tomorrow's Field Session at Gosport will be led by John. I had a walk round the main lake during the lunch break. Several dragonflies and damselflies were flying over the lake. I got a photo of a Broad-bodied Chaser. Caroline saw a pair of Bullfinches. BROOK MEADOW I had a quick look around the meadow this evening. I found a good amount of what could be Meadow Brome (Bromus commutatus) on the path round the Lumley area. Martin Rand first identified it on the meadow in 2005. The panicle is drooping with much longer branches than the normal Soft Brome. I shall ask Martin about it tomorrow. I found Guernsey Fleabane on the edge of Palmer's Road Car Park, the first for a couple of years. This plant used to be more common than it is now. The large Ash tree on the railway embankment is covered in clusters of green 'keys', many with gnarled brown lumps. I wonder what they are?