SNIPPETS
SPRING 2006

    The prize for the most original contribution in White Admiral 63 was awarded to Geoff Heathcote for ‘The Singing Dancing Fungus’.

    New members of Council. Three new members of Council were elected at the AGM in April - Nigel Cuming, Robin Harvey and Ray Ruffell. Nigel’s interests are Coleoptera and Hemiptera; he has a static caravan in Suffolk and a permanent home in Colchester. Robin is an Assistant Warden at Minsmere RSPB. As well as specializing in the management of the wetland habitats, he runs the monitoring programme on the reserve. He has an interest in most aspects of natural history, particularly birds and lepidoptera. Ray has moved to Suffolk from Essex and has expertise in spiders. Tony Howe also sits on Council representing the Suffolk Ornithologists’ Group.

    CL98725 aka Megastar failed to arrive. The blackbird that spent the last three winters in Devon and summers in Thetford failed to arrive at his Thetford base this spring. The intrepid traveller, ring number CL98725 was last seen on February 10th in Newton Abbot. The BTO says that the average lifespan of a blackbird is three years and, as this one was born in 2003, ‘it’s not looking too good…’

    Tracking snakes. Adders can be identified by the unique pattern of pigmentation of the individual scales on top of the head; grass snakes by the pattern on the belly and slow worms by their faces.

    Egg thief dies falling from tree. Colin Watson, 63, of Selby, Yorkshire has died after falling from a larch tree in which he was investigating a nest. Once the most notorious egg thief in Britain, he was fined a total of £4,600 over a 14 year period but gave up his crimes ten years ago. Collecting eggs from wild birds’ nests has been illegal since 1954.

    Scarlet malachite beetle survey launched at SNS field event. Jimmy Doherty, beetle enthusiast and owner of ‘Jimmy’s Farm’ launched the 2006 survey on 13th May during the SNS field day. The scarlet malachite beetle Malachius aeneus, once widespread across southern England, is currently known at only a few sites in Essex, Hertfordshire and Hampshire. Metallic red in colour and less than 1 cm long, the beetle emerges for only four weeks or so in May and June and then vanishes, to where is not clear. Its demise is due to changes in agricultural practices.

    Funding for National Moth Recording Scheme. Butterfly Conservation has recently announced that it has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a four-year National Macro-moth Recording Scheme. Over the last two to three years Butterfly Conservation has been working on planning the project. Workshops have been held around the country and it has been discussed in the entomological press with feedback invited from moth recorders to work out what such a scheme should cover. The scheme will be up and running later in the year but in the meantime more information can be found at the web site http://www.mothrecording.org.uk/. The system should give a better picture of the status and distribution of the country's moths, which will be a useful tool in moth conservation. Watch out for something along the lines of The Millennium Atlas for Butterflies in a few years time.

    Seven species of bat found in Captain’s Wood. Using special bat-detecting computer equipment the Suffolk Bat Group has recorded natterers, serotine, noctule, soprano pipistrelle, common brown long-eared, common pipistrelle and barbastelle bats in Captain’s Wood near Sudbourne. The barbastelle is a target species of the Suffolk BAP. The wood / pasture was recently acquired by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust following a public appeal for funds.

    Agri-environment policy not helping butterflies. In a survey commissioned by Defra, Butterfly Conservation has found that at 620 farmland sites, 371 on ‘agri-environment’ schemes butterfly numbers have fallen by 30% in ten years. Overall, seven species improved, 20 declined and 13 were steady. Four out of the eight most endangered species have declined significantly including Small Blue, Duke of Burgundy, Grizzled Skipper and Green Hairstreak.

    BTO trends report. In the bird numbers trends report for 2005 the British Trust for Ornithology flags up alerts for three species that have crossed the 50% decline threshold. They are yellow wagtail (-67%), willow warbler (-60%) and cuckoo (-57%). There are positive trends for song thrush (+23% over 10 years, but still 36% down over 36 years). Figures for marsh tit and reed bunting are now lower than 50%. More details can be found at www.bto.org/birdtrends2005.

    Suffolk Branch of Butterfly Conservation has a full programme of ‘Save Our Butterflies 2006’ events. Details on website, in list below.

    Some useful websites for wildlife gardeners:-

www.bats.org.uk ;
www.bwars.com ;
www.britishspiders.org.uk ;
www.dragonflysoc.org.uk ;
www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk ;
www.buglife.org.uk ;
www.butterfly-conservation.org ;
www.ibra.org.uk www.froglife.org ;
www.www.plantlife.org.uk ;
www.pondstrust.org.uk ;
www.thewildflowersociety.com