LETTERS, NOTES AND QUERIES

Containing this month: 
That mouse again… Jennie Nourse
Latin pronunciation: John A. Burton
Headless rabbit: Russell Edwards
The image of deer (including the poem ‘Bradfield Woods’): Richard Stewart
Swimming slow worm: Neil Sherman Industrious wren: Colin Hawes
A cool adder: Steve Goddard

That mouse again…

At the end of May I put away the seed feeder (in order to ward off a second mortgage)! I had some leftover peanuts and so refilled the nut feeder. The visiting birds were fairly predictable: families of both blue and great tits, together with the occasional dishevelled and very non-acrobatic robin and a few tentative dunnocks. The exception was an extremely handsome great spotted woodpecker, very dramatic at such close quarters. The feeder is about eight feet from our kitchen window and, of course, has a squirrel guard. To our delight a wood mouse appeared, first of all climbing the trellis, which is fairly densely covered with jasmine and then leaping down successfully to the feeder, a distance of about twelve inches. Then she began to miss and fall into the shrubs below, pick herself up, brush herself down, and start all over again. After a while we couldn’t bear to watch and so fastened a trailing piece of jasmine to the top of the feeder so that she had a rope ladder. We have now observed three generations: all the baby mice seemed to need to grow into both their ears and hind legs! Their nest is in my garden cupboard, beautifully constructed mostly from my gardening gloves and green garden twine. They drink from a wall-mounted birdbath – I think we would rate quite highly in the “Michelin Mouse Guide”!

Jennie Nourse. Ipswich

Latin pronunciation

I am not sure I agree with much of what David Walker wrote in his article on the pronunciation of biological Latin (White Admiral 61). First I would point out that the names are best referred to as scientific names, not ‘Latin names’, that their main function is as a lingua franca for biologists, and they are essentially a written language. So to claim there is a right 'English' pronunciation is not really true. The primary purpose of the names is to assist communication. Most professional biologists adapt their pronunciation depending on the person they are speaking with, and their nationality. In English many scientific names have idiosyncratic pronunciations, and would not be understood if pronounced correctly. For instance Fuchsia, is normally pronounced fewsheeia, but should really be fucksia or fooksia. I would also point out that the suggested pronunciation for some words obfuscates their meaning. The emphasis suggested for Silvilagus ignores the fact that the word is a compound of silvi and lagus; likewise spermophilus. Finally, despite the fact that scientific names are referred to often as Latin names, many in fact have Greek origins - just to confuse anyone who wants to pronounce them 'correctly'. So all in all I suggest there is no such thing as 'correct' pronunciation: the most important thing is to be clearly understood. I would like to end on a related, but entirely different note. I find the current vogue (particularly among birdwatchers) of using standardised vernacular names (Eurasian Wigeon etc) particularly deplorable when used in conjunction with a scientific name. It's a Wigeon full stop. Even better, why doesn't the Suffolk Naturalist's Society use local dialect names plus scientific names, and increase linguistic diversity while writing about biological diversity. Provided the scientific (Latin) names are there, there should be no confusion.

John A Burton

Headless rabbit

I am sending you a picture of a headless rabbit we found on the garden path yesterday morning (August 20 th 2005). You will notice that it has had its head removed but whatever removed it didn’t fancy the ears, which it has detached from the head and left beside the body.  (On the other hand it could be leaving the best bit till last)! I wonder if you or anybody has any idea what would have done this. My guess would be a stoat but I have never seen one in the garden although we do have weasels from time to time. We also have a visiting sparrow hawk and an over-flying kestrel but these seem unlikely. A fox has been known to visit but I would have thought a fox would have taken the lot.

I am sure someone in the SNS will know the answer.

Russell Edwards , Holbrook

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The image of deer

As a naturalist with detailed knowledge and observation of fallow deer, I was very interested in the article ‘Deer In the eastern Region’ by David Hooton (White Admiral 60: 16-18). It was well written but failed to examine other ways of keeping deer out of coppiced areas of ancient woodland besides shooting them. The image of deer seems to have deteriorated almost parallel with the increase in coppicing. There is another point of view, perhaps best expressed in the poem below from my ‘Green Man’ collection. 

Bradfield Woods

‘This wood is infested with deer’
Which, if you ignore the
Sometime stripping of bark in thin months,
Means that once, walking in these
Dark realms, you would suddenly
Encounter deer, restless shadows
Flickering in and out of tree trunks,
Tormenting and teasing your mind but
The climax of the day.

 
Only now, coppicing completed,
These same deer are vermin
Doing what they have always
Done, feeding on the forest’s
Flora, but now devouring seeds
Long hidden in the soil, suddenly
Flowering in the new sunlight.

And so we take what seems
Immutable and change it to
Suit our own desires and management plans.
The surprise is suddenly become surplus,
In the flick of a marksman’s finger.

Richard Stewart

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Swimming slow worm

Whilst walking beside one of the numerous ponds at Ipswich golf club with a work colleague on the 29 th April 2005, I noticed some movement on the water’s surface. On approaching the water’s edge, it became obvious that there was a long thin animal swimming sinuously across the pond. It came closer and stopped up against a fallen tree limb. Immediately I thought of a small grass snake about 25cm long. This would be a good record for the site, having never seen one in my time working for the club. But something did not look quite right; the animal looked too pale and did not appear to have the distinctive yellowish collar. When it moved again, it became clear that it was in fact a slowworm. These are regularly recorded at the site, but this is the first time I have seen one swimming. I searched all my literature at home but can find no reference to swimming. It was a very hot, sunny day, so perhaps it was cooling off?

Neil Sherman Site Conservation Officer, Ipswich Golf Club

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Industrious wren

A request for stag beetle records and volunteers for the stag beetle road casualty survey (East AnglianDaily Times, Evening Star, The Advertiser: June 2005) resulted in a massive response from readers. Interestingly, the response also brought forth several fascinating, unrelated natural history observations, one of which, with the kind permission of the respondent, Terry Civell, is related here.

‘In 2003, great tits nested once again in the nest box in our garden, as they have for several years. One morning one of the parent birds was found dead on the patio, having probably flown into the patio window. Shortly afterwards, a wren was observed going in and out of the box. Later, the wren was seen carrying food into the box. It continued to gather and carry food into the box over a period of days. Eventually, six young great tits fledged and were subsequently fed in the garden for several days by both the wren and the single great tit parent. Finally, the wren built a nest in the garden, paired up and helped to rear his own young. What an immense task for such a small bird. Is it unusual for a wren to help out like this?’

Colin Hawes

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A cool adder

On a hot 22 nd June whilst watching dragonflies from the river crossing at Eastbridge, I looked down to find a snake lying across water lilies below. Much to my surprise, it was an adder rather than the more likely grass snake. It spent several minutes in this position allowing several of us to enjoy a quite unexpected sight before it slid away to the riverbank. Since it was so still, we assumed that it was simply cooling itself down on this rather hot day. Another of nature’s interesting encounters.

Steve Goddard