Botany Walk Bexhill High Woods

A couple of weeks ago, we went with the Hastings Botany Group to Bexhill High Woods led by Jacqueline Rose with a few equally knowledgable botanists.  For me the highlight was being introduced to a plant called Butcher's Broom which looks very much like common broom with green stems and small leaves, but this plant doesn't have any leaves.  Instead, the leaf-like projections from the main stem are in fact modified stems, and the flower grows out from the middle of the 'leaf', to be replaced eventually by a red fruit. Apparently the name comes from its ancient use for sweeping butcher's blocks.  The roots may be used medicinally and are alleged to relieve venous insufficiency.

Butcher's Broom (Ruscus aculeatus)

Butcher's Broom Flower (Ruscus aculeatus)

Another interesting find was a sample of wood stained by the fungus Green Elf Cup (Chlorciboria aeruginascens).  The mycorrhiza (roots) of the fungus stain the wood it grows in, a stunning shade of green.  The fruiting bodies - the elf cups, are rarely seen but  the stained wood is fairly common.  In the 18th century, the wood thus stained was highly prized for marquetry.  Small wooden boxes with the tops inlaid with the wood became known as Tunbridge ware.

Green Elf Cup Staining

At the end of the walk, two very bright, metallic looking micro-moths presented themselves - obviously testing out the range of interest of the Botany Group.  One has been identified as Adela reaumurella, or the Green Longhorn.  The other has not been identified but is possibly a Nemophora species.

Green Longhorn (adela reaumurella)

Green Longhorn (adela reaumurella)

Unidentified, possibly Nemophora sp

Short-haired Bumblebee

This post is not strictly about Pett although I hope it will affect Pett in the not too distant future.  I am in Sweden at the moment looking for bumblebees for the Short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project.  The bumblebees that I caught today will not form part of the reintroduction as the collection will not start for a few days.  I caught them just to make sure that they were short-haired bumblebees to gauge how many are emerging from hibernation, so that we know when to start collecting in earnest.  The collected bumblebees will then make their way to Dungeness for release at the end of May.  When they are fully established in the UK, then hopefully a few will make their way to Pett.  If they do, I hope that I am first to let you know.  There are two photos below.  The first one shows the normal colour form that will be introduced to the UK with yellow bands and a white tail.  The second shows the mellanistic form which is almost completely black and will not be introduced to the UK as the UK has never had that colour form.

Short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneous)

Short-haired bumblebee - mellanistic form

Mermaid's Purses

16 April 2014  Today I joined a load of kids on Easter holiday hunting for mermaid's purses on the beach at Rye Harbour.  Sadly they have nothing to do with mermaids, they are the egg cases of sharks, skates and rays.  The main ones found were Undulate Ray, Thornback ray and Catshark.  Catshark is a small shark that paradoxically is a species of dogfish.  I couldn't leave Rye Harbour without checking on the Mediterranean Gulls.  These are hard to separate from the Black-headed gulls - the Black-headed gull has a black head (dark-chocolaty brown if you get a close look), a white eye ring, and a dark red beak.  The Mediterranean gull has a black head, a white eye ring and a bright red beak.  The most obvious difference is the extent of the black head which reaches down to the nape on the Med gull, but stops at the back of the crown on the Black-headed gull.  The Med gull is much less raucous as well.  There were plenty of Med gulls about as well as a healthy number of avocets.

Also in evidence were a lot of brambles with cocoons of brown-tail moth caterpillars (the two orange spots on the back are diagnostic).  I also spotted an immature Garden Spider starting its web.

Undulate Ray (Raja undulata) Egg Case

Thorn-back Ray (Raja clavata) Egg Case

Small-spotted Cat-shark (Scyliorhinus canicula) Egg Case

Brown-tail Moth caterpillars (Euproctis chrysorrhoea)

Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)

Bumblebee Activity

15 April 2014  So far this year, I have seen  8 species of bumblebee in the garden.  Buff-tailed, white-tailed, red-tailed, tree, early, large garden, and common carder for the true bumblebees, and 1 cuckoo bumblebee - the Southern Cuckoo (Bombus vestalis)

Queen Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Queen Tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)

Queen Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) carrying pollen

Southern Cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus vestalis)

Sparrowhawk encounter

8 April 2014 This sparrowhawk chased a small bird out of a bush and into a flowerbed.  The sparrowhawk then chased it out of the flowerbed and eventually caught it in front of the greenhouse.  I think the prey was probably a dunnock, but it all happened too fast to be sure.