SNIPPETS

      Too few mycologists - according to CABI (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International) the national research data base for mycology is in danger of collapse owing to the lack of experts .

      The new Guide to Garden Wildlife by Richard Lewington is highly recommended for its excellent drawings and as an identification aid. Pbk, £12.95, published by British Wildlife Publishing.

      The swift population of the south-east fell by 55% between 1997 and 2007. A major threat to the species is destruction of nesting sites when renovating buildings. See www.swift-conservation. org for more information.

      Contraceptive injections are being trialled to control wild boar populations in the Forest of Dean.

      Insects threatened by rising sea levels include the rare sea-aster bee and the fen mason wasp. These species will not be able to retreat to marshes inland if they are cut off by sea walls; they need managed retreat schemes.

      The rare Smooth-stalked sedge has been found at SWT’s Market Weston Fen, a first confirmed record for Suffolk. Martin Sanford says it is known at one site in Norfolk and only a few in Essex. “Its distinguishing features include small red dots on the fruits which themselves are only a couple of millimetres in size.”

      Sedges have edges, rushes are round, grasses are hollow, what have you found?

      Multiple paternity (two or three fathers) was found in 53.8% of litters of the Wood Mouse studied at Queen’s University, Belfast. Polyandry increases the genetic diversity of litters, thus improving the chance of survival in times of stress.

      A letter written by Charles Darwin has been discovered in the archives of Ipswich museum. The letter, dated 29th August 1872 was found at Ipswich museum in February 2009, and is in reply to F.W. Harmer, an amateur geologist from Norwich. Darwin apologises that Mr Harmer has become “involved in a troublesome controversy” over an article on natural selection. Harmer had defended Darwin in a newspaper debate with W.P. Lyon, author of ‘Homo versus Darwin’, in which he wrongly claimed Darwin had said “natural selection is a kind of god that never slumbers nor sleeps”. The letter is on display in the museum.