may 2019 bristol naturalist news
TRANSCRIPT
Contents / Diary of events
MAY 2019
Bristol Naturalist News
Discover Your Natural World
Bristol Naturalists’ Society
BULLETIN NO. 580 MAY 2019
Photo ©H Pring
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CONTENTS
3 Diary of Events; Welcome new members
4 Society Items: AGM Report;
BNS BioBlitz at Blaise; Westonbirt BioBlitz; Dotted Bee-fly;
5 Leaders for Midweek walks;
Golden Hill seeks pond expert; Bristol Weather
6 Natty News:
Dominic Dyer’s AGM address
8 BOTANY SECTION ‘Other’ meetings; AWT needs monitors; 9 Botanical notes ; Meeting Reports; Publications; Plant Records
13 GEOLOGY SECTION Bath & Wales Geol Soc meetings
15 INVERTEBRATE SECTION
Notes for May; Points of Interest at the Museum
17 LIBRARY Closures in May; Books to give away; Badge designer; New Naturalist books to borrow & wanted
19 ORNITHOLOGY SECTION News; 20 Westonbirt BioBlitz;
Meeting Report; Recent News ;
22 MISCELLANY Botanic Garden
Avon Organic Group
23 Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project; 24 The Granny Downs Tree Trail
Cover picture: Dotted Bee-fly: see
comments on pages 4 and 15.
HON. PRESIDENT: Andrew Radford, Professor
of Behavioural Ecology, Bristol University
HON. CHAIRMAN: Ray Barnett
HON. PROCEEDINGS RECEIVING EDITOR:
Dee Holladay, [email protected]
HON. SEC.: Lesley Cox 07786 437 528
HON. MEMBERSHIP SEC: Mrs. Margaret Fay
81 Cumberland Rd., BS1 6UG. 0117 921 4280
HON. TREASURER: Mary Jane Steer
01454 294371 [email protected]
BULLETIN COPY DEADLINE: 7th of month before
publication to the editor: David B Davies,
51a Dial Hill Rd., Clevedon, BS21 7EW.
01275 873167 [email protected] .
Health & Safety on walks: Members
participate at their own risk. They are
responsible for being properly clothed and shod.
Dogs may only be brought on a walk with prior
agreement of the leader.
BULLETIN NO. 580 MAY 2019
Bristol Naturalists’ Society Discover Your Natural World
Registered Charity No: 235494
www.bristolnats.org.uk
Bristol Naturalists’ Society Discover Your Natural World
Registered Charity No: 235494
www.bristolnats.org.uk
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Diary of events Back to contents
Council usually meets on the first Wednesday of each month. If you have any matters you
wish to be discussed by Council, please contact the Hon. Sec. at least a week in advance. Visitors & guests are welcome, free, at our lectures and field meetings. If contact details
are given, please contact the leader beforehand, and make yourself known on arrival. We
hope you will enjoy the meeting, and consider joining the Society. To join, visit
https://bristolnats.org.uk and click on membership. Members are members of ALL sections.
MAY Sat 4 Walton Common Invertebrate 13.30 page 15 Sun 5 Dawn Chorus, Leigh Woods Ornithology 06.00 page 20 Sat.11 BNS Blaise BioBlitz Society 09.00 page 4 Sun 26 Ham Wall Ornithology 09.30 page 20 Tue 28 Marshfield Botany 14.30 page 8
JUNE Sat 8 Lower Wye Valley Geology 10.00 page 13 Sun 16 Wapley Bushes, Yate Botany 14.30 page 8 Thu 27 The Downs & Clifton Botany 18.30 page 8
JULY Sat 20 Portishead, Clevedon Geology 11.00 page 14
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
Until 6 May Leonardo drawings at the Museum Museum page 13 Wed 1 May Appreciate nature with pencil and paper Botanic Garden 11.00 page 22 Sat 4 May Introduction to Plant Propagation Botanic Garden 10.00 page 22 Sat 4 May Etches Collection & Kimmeridge Bay BathGeolSoc 11.00 page 13 Sat 4 May Trees of the Granny Downs Gorge&Downs 14.00 page 23 Sun 12 May Peony Study Day Botanic Garden 10.00 page 22 Sun 19 May The Isambards’ Botanic Verses Botanic Garden 11am & 2pm p22 Thu 23 May Designing a Multi-purpose Garden AOG 19.00 page 22 Sat 25 May ‘Picture Perfect’ photography course Gorge&Downs 10.00 page 23 Thu 30 May Minibeast Magic (for children) Gorge&Downs 10.00 page 23 Fri 31 May Westonbirt BioBlitz page 4 Sat 1 June Flax Bourton SRPG 10.30 page 8 Sat 15 June Usk Inlier S Wales Geol Soc 10.30 page 13
We welcome new members: Mrs. Susan Bartlett, Ms. Imogen Chakrabarti,
Mr. Nick Joyce, Mr. Tim Martin, Ms. Maggie Moss
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SOCIETY ITEMS AGM Report Contents / Diary
A brief, efficient Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday, 20
th March at which the officers currently
serving were re-elected for another year. They join the previously elected Section Representatives to form the BNS Council. Following the meeting, the Society was delighted to welcome an excellent speaker, Dominic Dyer, CEO of the Badger Trust and Wildlife Advocate for the Born Free Foundation, who
gave an extremely stimulating and thought provoking talk on the problems facing our wildlife today that ended with the broad outline of the actions required to bring about the winds of change contained within the People’s Manifesto for Wildlife. A summary of some of the content of the talk appears in Natty News.
BNS BIOBLITZ at BLAISE Saturday, 11th May. 09:00 – 17:00 The Society will be running its own BioBlitz this year and all members would be welcome to join us at the popular, but undervalued, Blaise Castle Estate. The Society will be hosting the event in association with two organisations with which we have close links, i.e., BRERC, to whose staff we send all our records and the Bristol Museum, some of whose
specialist staff will be present. Member-recorders will be combing the woods, grassland and river to find examples of the species to be found there, whilst others will be leading hour long walks to engage with the public and foster interest in the importance of the natural world around them, from the geological features of the gorge, through which the river runs, to the plants of the quiet, unspoilt grassland, the invertebrates that pollinate them and the birds that bring the woods alive with their song. Walks will start from our unmistakable BNS stand, which will be manned throughout. Support your Society. Please join us on Saturday 11
th May (09:00 – 17:00) to engage
with your fellow members and to enjoy the less well known aspects of this well loved, local site and if you would like to offer your services as a recorder, walk leader or to spend time on the stand welcoming others, please contact me on [email protected]
WESTONBIRT ARBORETUM: The highly successful BioBlitz type of event held at
Westonbirt in 2017 is being repeated and the Society has been honoured with a request to return to this nationally important site with a team of specialists on 31
st May 2019 for a
recording day. If you are a specialist and would like to join the recording team, please get in touch, via [email protected]
If you are a non-specialist but would like to come and join us to support your Society and enjoy the wonders of this beautiful site, it would be fantastic to see you there. For more information contact the address above.
DOTTED BEE-FLY: There has been an increase in
sightings of the Dotted Bee-Fly (Bombylius discolor) like this female. Whilst not truly rare, it is a species that is quite localised within southern England and Wales. The NBN only holds 818 records to date. (See also page 15, Invertebrate notes for May) It is on the wing between March and June but is most frequently seen in April. It is a Bee mimic that lays its eggs into the nests of Andrena mining bees. Appropriately,
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2019 is the Year of the Fly as designated by the 9th International Congress of Dipterology.
It is intended as a celebration of the role of flies in nature and in human society.
WALK LEADERS Contents / Diary We would like to re-establish the regular Society Mid-Week Walk by creating a pool of volunteers who would be prepared to lead an occasional walk. For example, a pool of 12 voluntary leaders would mean the responsibility of leading a walk for any individual leader would only fall once a year - but (s)he would be able to enjoy 11 others, along with many other members of the Society who miss the existence of this event. If you are interested, please contact Lesley via, [email protected]
GOLDEN HILL COMMUNITY GARDEN is situated immediately behind Horfield
Prison and is open every Wednesday. There is a small pond on site that helps to drain the surrounding garden, replenished by rainwater, where they put on pond dipping events for toddlers and primary school children. The Project worker attached is looking for a specialist to volunteer time with them to identify the flora and fauna within the pond. If anyone would like to volunteer for this, please contact Lesley via, [email protected]
BRISTOL WEATHER Contents / Diary t is worth remembering that sometimes monthly summaries can mask anomalies within
the month. To some extent this has just happened in March 2019 when the first half of
the month saw considerable rainfall but the last thirteen days of the month saw no
measurable rainfall at all. The net result of this was a slightly wetter than average March
with 111.5% of the 30 year average for the city despite the 13 consecutive dry days.
As is becoming more common with temperature, we see rises of the general trend and
March 2019 was no exception. It has been the equal 7th
warmest March with an average
temperature of 9.3°C, equal with 1991 and 1990. In this city we have records beginning in
1853 with just one year’s data missing for March. The equal warmest Marches have been
2017, 2012 and 1998 with an average temperature of 9.8°C
As way of contrast the average temperature for March 2019 was 3.2°C warmer than
the average temperature for March 2018. Also, unlike March 2018, there was no snowfall
and no frosts. Together with February 2019 this year’s early spring has seen new growth
much earlier than usual.
Whilst temperatures were higher than normal there was a period in the middle of the
month when winds were higher than usual. The average wind speed for the whole month
was 7.2 mph and it was the highest average wind speed of all months since February
2016, which was also recorded at 7.2 mph. Gusts were recorded as high as 45 mph, which
is not exceptional, but in urban Bristol where the weather station is sited, wind gusts over
50 mph are relatively rare. Another feature of the wind in March 2019 was the overwhelm-
ing predominance of South Westerlies. For 26 of 31 days the predominant direction was
SW. The last time this happened was in July 2016 when there were 28 days of SW winds.
As if to highlight the warmer than average March temperatures it was also a slightly
sunnier than average month and it was the sunniest March with 41.4% of the maximum
sunshine since March 2014 when 44% was recorded.
All this of course tells us nothing of what may be coming but April has started
considerably colder than March and so perhaps again averages may mask some
anomalies when we come to look at the spring averages of 2019 later.
Barry Horton
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NATTY NEWS Contents / Diary
Summary of Dominic Dyer’s AGM Talk Dominic began by introducing the issues that he has to deal with on a daily basis when talking to Universities, schools and politicians.
The last 50 years has seen an increase in the world’s population from 2.6 billion people to the current population of over 7.5 billion. By 2050 it is likely to be over 9.6 billion. We will have to feed more people in the next 50 years than in the last 10,000 years combined. Since 1970, species around the world have declined by 60—70% in number. At the same time, there is only 13-14% more of the world’s surface left to grow more food on and, because climate change is happening so quickly, land is being lost that currently grows food.
Oil presents a further problem; its existence has enabled the population growth to happen. It has produced huge benefits; the constituents of oil are used in petrol, kerosene, asphalt, plastics, pesticides fertilizers and pharmaceuticals – but it has also been a destructive force. It produces the indestructible plastics that are killing our oceans and allows humans to travel in cars and planes but the freedom it allows us as individuals is causing massive damage the rest of the world’s life – and the planet itself. Whilst many of us have been aware of the consequences for decades our politicians have been blind, or unwilling to address the problems that are leading this planet to destruction. Our way of life will need to change otherwise the very fabric of the natural world will be destroyed.
There may be problems overseas but in our own ‘green and pleasant land’ the countryside may be green but it’s not pleasant for wildlife and much of it is sterile. The first two pages of the People’s Manifesto for Wildlife produced by Chris Packham, amongst other leading figures, lists many of the species important to our ecosystems that are extinct or in major decline; these are affected by intensive livestock production, intensive farming, urban development, over use of pesticides and fertilizers and climate change, etc. All
have contributed to the huge destruction of natural habitat and wildlife that we take for granted both in variety and number. Local action can make a difference. Societies such as the BNS that have been in existence for over 150 years will have done a huge amount to protect key areas in the locality and to generate interest in nature conservation over many generations. That spirit of activism must continue and grow.
The use of pesticides, and the way in which they had been developed and were regulated and controlled (or not) was the catalyst that brought change for the speaker as he worked in the plant science industry. Neonicotinoid insecticides had been developed in the 80’s to avoid the worse elements of spraying that had done huge damage to non-target species, including within our waterways. By incorporating the neonicotinoid with the seed underground, the problem was allegedly solved. However, more and more worrying signs began to show that the product was having an adverse effect on pollinators. It was impacting bees and affecting their ability to reproduce and navigate but the companies concerned, rather than acting responsibly wouldn’t listen as their profits grew. The industry was very, very close to the regulator so, as the agri-chemical industry supplied the farming industry and the farming industry worked very closely with the government, there was a mutually beneficial cosy arrangement. Raising concerns regarding the detrimental effects of this insecticide was challenging the vested interests of each element of the partnership, which naturally opposed the concerns because the implications of withdrawal would cost them a lot of money. Eventually those products were largely banned across Europe although some exemptions still exist.
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Unfortunately, the damage that had already been done was hugely significant. This was just one example of industry having too much control and not enough responsibility.
Contents / Diary
A second example was the Badger cull. No good science existed to support the action. It was purely a political move. As the speaker spent more and more time with the President of the NFU or senior representatives of the farming industry and the politicians working with them it became increasing clear that dirty deals were being made and the science didn’t matter. An earlier rigorous trial taking place over nine years had found that killing badgers made no significant contribution to the reduction of Bovine TB. That should have been the end of the debate but politics got in the way of science. Today the figures for policing the Badger cull in 2018 have been released. Over £3,000,000 has been spent policing the cull in that one year alone. Over 14 new cull licences have been issued for this to take the total of badgers killed in one year alone to over 50,000. We have little understanding of the impacts of this action. The cost so far is over £50 million and rising rapidly. There is no evidence from any of the culling zones to suggest that culling is lowering the incidence of disease. In some areas it appears to be making it worse. The methods used are also inhumane as the British Veterinary Association agrees. It could take a badger 15 minutes to die of organ failure and blood loss. The method is disgusting but ‘cheap’ and the government continues to allow it to be done. There are alternatives. Many badgers are being trapped before being shot when they could be trapped, vaccinated and released. The overall cost of trapping and killing a badger is £900-£1,000 but the cost of volunteers trapping and vaccinating is around £200 or less per badger. Vaccination reduces the likelihood of a healthy badger contracting the disease from cattle by 70% and benefit will feed down into the cubs. So there is no scientific evidence that badger culling is working; it is not cost effective and is extremely cruel but it is still being pursued for political reasons.
These examples are not isolated. Published information on licences to kill seals in Scotland recently shows that over 280 seals were shot last year because they went too close to fish farms. The industry is worth over £500 million a year and the trade associations and producers have significant influence over the Scottish government. They are not prepared to lose even a few fish to the seals or to use double netting or to use divers to clean out the dead fish that attract the seals. Again, this is short-term economic and political interest driving the destruction of our wildlife.
Most of the land in our National Parks is privately owned and a large proportion of it is used for shooting. Mountain Hare populations in Scotland have been reduced by thousands; killing pheasants that are usually not even eaten but ploughed into the ground has a huge impact on wildlife because as more and more land is used for shooting so managers have to shoot any wildlife that comes on to it; stoats, weasels, badgers, foxes, whether protected or not, with no control over how they are killed, creating large, sterile tracts of land where only the species that have been bred to be shot exist. Trophy hunting to order exists whether it is deer at Woburn or Mountain Goats on a Scottish island. The Hunting Act (2004) is widely flouted on National Trust Land. Badger setts are filled in, or worse. So, we are not only bombarding the earth with chemicals we are farming in a way that destroys wildlife and prevents its recovery and we are allowing the land to be used for the destruction of its fauna for so-called ‘entertainment’.
Lesley Cox, Hon. Sec.
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BOTANY SECTION PRESIDENT:- Clive Lovatt 07 851 433 920 ([email protected]) Contents / Diary HON. SEC:- David Hawkins [email protected]
FIELD MEETINGS From late March to early October, the BNS Botany Section will organise at least one field meeting a month in or relatively close to Bristol. More extensive programmes throughout botanical vice-counties 6 and 34 (North Somerset and West Gloucestershire respectively) are organised by the Somerset Rare Plants Group (SRPG) and the Plant Group of the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society (GNS). A few of these meetings will be joint meetings or will be advertised as open to BNS members by invitation.
MARSHFIELD Tuesday 28 May Clive Lovatt 2.30pm Marshfield is botanically renowned for having the ‘Marshfield Pea’ or Dragon's-teeth (Tetragonolobus maritimus), an alien plant which was found in grassland there in the 1920s. It now occurs in about 20 vice-counties. I remember a BNS excursion to see it probably in the late 1970s. The last record I can trace is in 2012 (BRERC online maps). It was abundant in 2008 in an area of about 40m within two 1km grid squares. These are also relatively unrecorded recently so it will be something of a Pot Luck meeting to see what we can find.
Meet at the churchyard (ST782737) where we can also record. There is no public car park in Marshfield and street parking may be difficult. Lift sharing is encouraged and botanists expecting to come should contact the leader in advance for an update.
Advance notice Wapley Bushes, Yate, 2.30pm Sunday 16 June. Local Nature Reserve with excellent cal-
careous grassland, marsh vegetation, some old woodland, and aliens around the railway. The Downs and Clifton, 6.30pm Thursday 27 June. A walk much loved by the late
Richard Bland, beginning, as he did, overlooking the Great Quarry.
OTHER BOTANICAL GROUP MEETINGS May meetings of the GNS Plant Group and SRPG are all well outside the Bristol region. Advance notice of an SRPG meeting in June is given below: Flax Bourton, N Somerset 10.30 at carshare point, Sat. 1 June. SRPG meeting plant
recording in under-recorded area. Choice of woodland with calcareous grassland or urban
fringe. Contact Ellen McDouall [email protected] for membership & meeting details.
Botanical monitoring volunteers needed! Avon Wildlife Trust are looking for volunteers to help support the monitoring team with their seasonal fieldwork.
We undertake regular surveys, primarily of grassland, woodland and ditch flora, in order to monitor the state of our reserves and inform our management practices. The group goes out on Mondays and/or Thursdays from April to September.
Existing botanical skills are helpful but not necessary as we can help you to build these up, however an enthusiasm to learn is a must! Own transport is not necessary as we meet at our Jacobs Wells Road offices.
If you are interested in joining the monitoring team, and would like further information, please contact: [email protected]
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BOTANICAL NOTES Contents / Diary INDOOR MEETING REPORT The biology, ecology and history (and future) of mistletoe – correction
In the report in the April Bulletin on Jonathan Briggs’ talk on Mistletoe held in February, I got my birds muddled up – easily done in my case since I can’t recognise anything less distinctive than a lilac-breasted roller. As pointed out to me, the reference to Redstarts as another disperser of Mistletoe, should have read Blackcaps.
FIELD MEETING REPORT Charismatic Mosses and Liverworts of Leigh Woods, Sunday 24 March
Report by meeting leader, David Hawkins
Fourteen budding bryologists gathered on a gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon to look at some of the commoner and most recognisable species of our hugely diverse bryoflora. We began on the edge of the Plain with three ubiquitous mosses of lawns and turf: Springy Turf-moss (Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus), Neat Feather-moss (Pseudoscleropodium purum) and Pointed Spear-moss (Calliergonella cuspidata).
One, two or all of these species may be encountered in most garden lawns and are readily differentiated. (I wonder how many tons of such moss must be pointlessly scratched out of garden lawns every year? They are clearly an important part of the ecosystem and come into their own in winter, providing food and shelter for huge range of invertebrates.)
These first mosses were all pleurocarps, which generally grow horizontally. They are many-branched, and their spore capsules form on the sides of the main stems. But it wasn’t long before we found an acrocarp (species that grow upright with the capsules forming at the end of the stem): Bank Haircap (Polytrichastrum formosum) is a striking, robust viridian-coloured moss and a classic species of woodland, where it can form large cushions. Another eye-catching moss in early spring is Swan’s-neck Thyme-moss (Mnium hornum), whose large bright shoots grow in big patches around the bases of trees and on dead wood.
At the edge of Stokeleigh Camp we examined some logs for their dead-wood specialists and other woodland mosses. Pellucid Four-tooth Moss (Tetraphis pellucida)
was seen growing on the north-facing sides, with capsule-rich Cape Thread-moss (Orthodontium lineare) on the western sides and clumps of Broom Fork-moss (Dicranum scoparium) on the top looking almost coppery in their dried-out state. Nearby, in Catherine’s Moss (Atrichum undulatum) we met another showy acrocarp, the finer details
of its toothed and pleated leaves, with a thick nerve, clearly visible using a hand lens. Next, the Parish boundary wall presented us with a wealth of limestone-loving mosses,
including Frizzled Crisp-moss (Tortella tortuosa), Flat Neckera (Neckera complanata) and Comb Moss (Ctendium molluscum). As well as aesthetic delight, the sensuous and tactile
nature of moss appreciation was noted, especially in the velveteen, silken softness of Tender Feather-moss (Rhynchostegiella tenella). Conditions had been rather dry, though, so many of the specimens were desiccated and shrivelled. Thankfully, unlike vascular plants, bryophytes can be rapidly brought back to a plump and pleasing fullness with the application of water from a spray-mist bottle. This swift rehydration was most readily observed in another specialist of calcareous rocks, Rambling-tail Moss (Anomodon viticulosus), which transformed under our collective gaze as if in time-lapse.
Several other mosses were considered before we turned our attention to epiphytic liverworts: Dilated Scalewort (Frullania dilatata), Forked Veilwort (Metzgeria furcata) and Pale Scalewort (Radula complanata) were found growing side-by-side on a single tree – a
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not uncommon sight. We also saw some examples of the Bristle-moss (Orthotrichales) genera, which largely grow on bark. Contents / Diary
After glancing at some other conspicuous and crucial woodland mosses – Rough Feather-moss (Brachythecium rutabulum), Common Tamarisk-moss (Thuidium tamariscum) and Fox-tail Feather-moss (Thamnobryum alopecurum) – there was a treat in store to end this bryoforay. Half-way down Nightingale Valley, a scramble up a steep and highly friable slope revealed a large patch of the iconic MacKay’s Pouncewort (Marchesinia mackaii), the jet-black shoots of which grow tightly appressed to the limestone outcrops, making it look like squiggles of a marker pen and hence its colloquial name ‘black graffiti liverwort’.
The human eye has the greatest acuity for colour in the green part of the spectrum. Any consideration of bryophytes soon reveals a glorious and seemingly illimitable range of hues. These ‘lower’ plants always merit and reward more attention.
[Sincere thanks from CML on behalf of the Society to David Hawkins for his captivating excursion into the world of bryophytes. Few will forget him carrying in one hand, the water spray bottle, and in the other, a falling-apart copy of the current field guide, Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland (2010). We now have two copies in the BNS Library, having been presented with the late Justin Smith’s copy by his widow. The weather too was far better than the wet day in the 1980s when the late George Garlick took us round the northern part of the woods.] PUBLICATIONS
In 1930, The Lichen Flora of Somerset was published in the Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. Their 2017 Proceedings were published in 2018 and (at pages 235-311) contains a new and exhaustive account with 984 species. Somerset Lichens and Lichenicolous Fungi: An overview and annotated checklist by
Pat (PA) Wolseley and Brian (BJ) and Sandy (AM) Coppins is likely to be of reference value for a long time. It is not on sale separately or as part of their Proceedings, but a copy can be consulted in the BNS Library.
The Somerset Rare Plants Group newsletter for 2018 (and earlier years) can be
downloaded, free of charge from their website at http://www.somersetrareplantsgroup.org.uk/newsletter-archive-2/. In addition to reports of their meetings in 2018 (well-illustrated with images of plants and botanists in the field), it contains several excellent articles and Helena Crouch’s annual report of new and interesting plants in Somerset, some of which are from the southern half of the BNS area.
The Gloucestershire Naturalist for 2018 was recently published by the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society. It contains, at pages 4-34, the Botany report for 2017 by Clare and Mark Kitchen with Clive Lovatt. Like the Somerset report described
above, it covers the Watsonian (traditional) county and therefore includes records from the northern half of the BNS area.
PLANT RECORDS Contents / Diary Cardamine corymbosa (New Zealand Bitter-cress) in Somerset (by Helena Crouch)
In March 2019, Margaret Webster was excited to identify a new weed in a pot in her garden as Cardamine corymbosa
(New Zealand Bitter-cress, see right). This small white-flowered crucifer probably arrived in Britain as a contaminant of plants for sale at garden centres and nurseries: it was first recorded as a garden weed at the Photo ©Margaret Webster
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Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh in 1975. In Somerset this species was first found by Ian Green in 2003 at Cadbury Garden Centre and was subsequently recorded at nine other garden centres and nurseries. It arrived years ago in my garden as a contaminant of pots of plants from my brother-in-law in Suffolk – he has had it as a weed in pots for years. In 2013 I made the first Somerset record in a flower bed (as opposed to a pot!) at the Yeo Valley gardens in 2013; in 2016 Rob Randall found it in some large planters (big pots, or small gardens!) in London Road, Bath. Eventually, in 2017, Rob discovered plants which had finally broken out from pots and gardens and were growing on a pavement in Bath. To date that has been our only record of this species as a garden escape*, but it is well worth looking out for. Contents / Diary
To aid identification, Tim Rich has made an informative You Tube film about the five white-flowered Cardamine species, including the newly discovered Cardamine occulta one which Alan Leslie has found in Cambridgeshire, first at a nursery, then in a planted tub at Ely station. To watch Tim’s video, one of a series of “Tim’s botanical riches”, follow the link from the BSBI website: https://bsbi.org/videos.
*By comparison, we only have three records from Gloucestershire, all in garden centres.
What makes a plant wild?
Helena’s account does rather draw attention to the problem botanists have of what to record. The standard work, Stace’s New Flora of the British Isles, includes ‘all plants that the plant-hunter might reasonably be able to find in the wild in any one year’. Alien plants
are included to the extent that they are naturalised, or recurrent casuals. These can be garden-escapes and throw-outs as well as unintentionally introduced plants (including garden weeds, unless introduced to the garden). There have been many cases where deliberately introduced wild plants have escaped from botanists’ gardens. Field and forestry crops have such an impact on the wild landscape that they are included in the Flora, but exclusively garden plants are not, thoug h ornamental trees and shrubs are if planted ‘on a considerable scale’. The late Richard Bland was far keener (and more able) to record street trees than I am. Botanists joke when they see a plant growing naturally on the structure of a barge (less often a car, though you do see mosses occasionally) whether they should record it at all and, if the boat were to move and dock elsewhere, if they could record it in both moorings – and indeed in transit. Duckweeds, I suppose, also have no fixed place of abode and can migrate across a water body – in Stroud the canal defines the vice-county boundary.
The Spring 2019 Wild Flower [Society] Magazine has an article covering similar ground, but their members can record ‘only plants which are genuinely wild’. No doubt the next issue will be full of replies from botanists who, if not wild on this issue, are genuinely just a little in disagreement.
Cardamine occulta, another new Bittercress to look out for: Helena’s note on Cardamine corymbosa above, and my
commentary on what makes a plant wild were written (rather presciently) and drafted into these pages before its discovery in two places in N Somerset on 6 April 2019. First Fred Rumsey had stopped at the M5 Gordano services on the M5 on the way to the Somerset Rare Plants Group meeting in Clevedon and spotted it in planters outside Starbucks there. I later saw about a dozen plants, mostly growing around planted heathers (right), the presumed means of introduction. Then in the afternoon Fred and Helena’s group found it in a planter at the end of a driveway in a rural suburb of Clevedon. This bittercress is easily recognisable Photo ©Clive Lovatt
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as it has no rosette at flowering and seems to have smaller flowers and pods than other species. It doesn’t appear in the new edition of Stace’s New Flora of the British Isles and
doesn’t seem to have a proper English name; it is only now beginning to be found ‘in the wild’. Planters (especially when on wheels as in Gordano services) and pots in garden centres don’t count as wild places. Still, it is attracting a lot of attention in the botanical world and has been recognised by Paul Green (a co-author with his brother Ian of the Atlas Flora of Somerset) in Ireland and Ian Green (also a co-author of the Flora of the Bristol Region) in Scotland, who recommends looking in B&Q. Contents / Diary Something fishy
Rupert Higgins reports finding the Fish-Plant (Houttuynia cordata) on 27 March in the Ham Brook, Hambrook near Frenchay (ST6378), the second county record. It is a patch-forming herbaceous garden plant with heart-shaped leaves with red backs which are tightly-rolled before they unfurl (right). When it flowers, its affinity with primitive plants like Magnolias is immediately apparent. Its name alludes to the scent of its leaves and it is used in Asian cooking. Toothwort hunting
The Somerset Rare Plants Group have been surveying Toothwort (Lathraea squamaria), another plant that can be described as curious. It looks like a broomrape or Bird’s-nest Orchid but is coloured a ghostly pale pink. It is a parasite on roots of hazel and other trees. It seems to like dappled woods so many of the five or six places (Including Nightingale Valley, Leigh Woods) I saw it in March were close to paths. Any more records from the Bristol area would be appreciated. The Joy of Spring
Following the long period of dry conditions last year, we expected that there might be an upsurge of sightings of some of the less-common spring ephemerals. Both Helena Crouch and I were pleased to find Early Forget-me-not (Myosotis ramosissima) in places which it had not been recorded in for over a decade. Helena’s was on a single grave in the churchyard at Clutton (VC6, ST6258, seen in 2002). Mine was on the south-facing slopes at Haresfield Beacon (VC33, SO8208, last record 2005), where there were many thousands of the little annual plants, made visible by their tiny gentian-blue flowers. Of course, the finds could have been due to resurgence, or to there not having been recording visitors at the right time. The plant should be looked out for on the margins of Observatory Hill, Clifton. If you’ve found any interesting plants, please let me know.
Clive Lovatt, Stroud, 10 April 2019 Contents / Diary
Photo ©Rupert Higgins
13
GEOLOGY SECTION
PRESIDENT: VACANT Contents / diary HON. SEC.: Richard Ashley, [email protected] Tel: 01934 838850
BRISTOL NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY BIOBLITZ BLAISE CASTLE ESTATE, HENBURY 9am, Saturday 11 May See page 4. It is hoped that the Geology Section will participate by providing morning and afternoon walks through the geologically interesting Trym Gorge. Volunteers are required to lead these walks.
If you are interested in doing this please contact the Section Secretary.
FIELD MEETINGS THE ETCHES COLLECTION & KIMMERIDGE BAY Saturday, 4th May BATH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Leader: Graham Hickman, Bath Geological Society 11am The Etches collection in the Museum of Jurassic marine life is the largest, single collection of Kimmeridgian fossils in the UK. Graham Hickman will lead our visit to Kimmeridge Bay, SSI, in the morning where most of the collection was discovered. We will have lunch in Kimmeridge, and after lunch will visit the Museum.
Meet at the Bay car park for 11am. Car park fee: £5.00. Museum entrance fee: £6.00 per person (min.10 people), otherwise £8.00 per person (includes 12 months complimentary admission to The Etches Collection), and free parking.
Anyone interested in attending please contact: [email protected].
LOWER WYE VALLEY AONB – 10.00 a.m. Saturday, 8th June TINTERN & BARBADOES HILL AREAS
Leader - Dave Green The geology of the area is of Old Red Sandstone as far as Tintern and below this point to Chepstow it is Carboniferous limestone.
Meet at 10 am in Tintern Abbey car park, (G.R. ST 5331999), £3.00 no time limit. We then transfer into as few cars as possible to go up to Tidenham, from where we walk down to
Tintern via the Devil’s Pulpit, and have lunch in Tintern. After lunch, we visit the quarries from which the abbey was constructed.
Anyone interested in attending please contact: [email protected]
THE USK INLIER 10.30am Saturday 15 June
SOUTH WALES GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION FIELD MEETING
Leader: Leslie Cherns Meet at 10.30am at the Llandegfedd Reservoir Car Park (ST 328 985) which is on the road
between the reservoir dam and the village of Coed y paen. Depending upon numbers
attending we may have to leave some cars here (free parking) as parking at some of the
sites to be visited have limited parking space. Bring a packed lunch.
The Silurian Usk inlier exposes rocks laid down on the south-eastern shelf of the Welsh
Basin, including the southern edge of the Wenlock reef belt where the Limestone is thin.
We will visit localities showing small patch reefs with rich and diverse fossil assemblages
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as well as laterally equivalent sandy bioclastic limestones of inner shelf inter-reef areas.
We will also look at the overlying Ludlow age shelly siltstones that replaced carbonate
sedimentation. Some localities are currently being restored by the RIGS group.
Saturday 20th July Contents / Diary
Portishead - Clevedon, North Somerset Leader: Mark Howson Meet at 11am on the foreshore by Portishead Yacht & Sailing Club (ST 451766). Park at
the northern end of Nichols Road (BS20 8DT) and Belton Road, which link up in a rough
parking area and where there are short paths down to the coast path, which is part of ‘The
Gordano Round’. The start point is about 150 yards or so to the east along this path. Bring
a packed lunch.
This trip is planned as a counterpoint to the June 2017 excursion to the east Portishead
and is a pleasant walk along west Portishead’s coast to look at some interesting but less
well-known geological features. We will pass the small but engaging and historic Black
Nore Lighthouse and then continue walking to the west, sometimes on the pebbly, rocky
and occasionally muddy beach and sometimes on the path above the low cliffs. We may
make it as far as Charlcombe Bay, but one could return at any time along this path.
The geology is dominated by the Lower Devonian Old Red Sandstone (ORS), known
as the Black Nore Sandstone, overlain by Triassic Dolomitic Conglomerate. In the fluvial
sandstones near the Yacht Club we will see trace fossils (burrows) which may be unique
and that are believed to relate to the feeding and reproduction of the organisms. Geologists
viewing photos have suggested that they may be erosional features, but the few that have
seen them in the field have not doubted that they are syn-depositional burrows.
More features to be seen in the ORS include possible plant fossils, sedimentary
features, mud-flake conglomerates and some curious erosional features. We will also look
at the variation, mineralization and derived fossils in the Dolomitic Conglomerate, and
discuss the depositional environments that prevailed. Our end point, if we get that far, is a
secluded, rather attractive bay with an interesting cave, where there are two intersecting
unconformities.
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INVERTEBRATE SECTION PRESIDENT: Mike Hutchinson [email protected] Contents / Diary Hon. SECRETARY: Moth Broyles [email protected] 07809 281421
FIELD MEETING WALTON COMMON, North Somerset Saturday 4th May Leader: Ray Barnett 13:30 Walton Common is an Avon Wildlife Trust reserve, renowned for its butterflies and wildflowers. Calcareous grassland is surrounded by woodland with views of the Gordano Valley and across the Severn Estuary. We will meet on the verge of Walton Road at ST423736
INVERTEBRATE NOTES FOR MAY 2019
Those who take close notice of the annual Invertebrate Report in Nature in Avon, may have seen how over recent years reports of the Dotted Bee-fly (Bombylius discolor) have been steadily increasing in and around Bristol and Bath. This year, partly as it is ‘The Year of the Fly’, there have been lots of reports on social media from around the country of the spring bee-flies. This has reflected an increase in the Dotted Bee-fly across much of England, not just in our own region. Another case of impact of climate change perhaps?
The blip of very warm temperatures in the last two weeks of February proved to be just that and it was noticeable that spring really began towards the end of March and insect activity was suddenly very noticeable from Sunday 24
th March
(indeed the day I saw my first bee-fly of the year in my garden (B. major not B. discolor)). On 1 April Orange-tip butterflies started to be reported along with Green-veined and Small Whites and Speckled Wood in addition to the overwintered adults of Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Red Admiral, Comma and Brimstone. On the moth front, Muslin Moth, Red Swordgrass and Pale Mottled Willow had all been recorded before the end of the first week of April again to add to the usual overwintering and early spring species.
The national press has again covered the publication of another study highlighting the catastrophic collapse of insect populations, this time based on 700,000 observations by amateur entomologists between 1980 and 2013 of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species in the UK. Momentum seems to be gathering to try to address this issue which is very alarming in terms of biodiversity but also food security (as many are important pollinators) with the finger pointed fairly and squarely at intensive agricultural practice and less so climate change for once. Will these declines be reversed? Let us sincerely hope so and do all we can to contribute, whether by campaigning or continuing to help monitor species and
16
provide the evidence to those in a position to influence change. There has never been as much interest and knowledge about the invertebrate world as now and what an irony that that focus is enabling us to witness first hand such devastating declines rather than celebrate its amazing diversity.
Ray Barnett 07/04/19
Contents / Diary
POINTS OF INTEREST Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing. Bristol Museum and Art Gallery includes examples of plant and animal life drawn by the master. Until 6 May (admission charge).
Natural Selection. Bristol Museum and Art Gallery 1 June - 15 September (pay what you think on exit). Artist Andy Holden and his ornithologist father Peter take us on a journey from nest-building to egg-collecting – or is it the other way around?
This exhibition brings together Andy and Peter’s personal collections of found objects with sculpted birdsong, a human-scale bower bird nest, exquisite replica eggs crafted from porcelain and two new video works.
In one film, A Natural History of Nest Building, father and son explore the intertwined
themes of nesting and creativity in birds: practical or aesthetic? In the second, A Social History of Egg Collecting the artist examines the history of egg-
collecting, from wholesome pursuit to destructive obsession. Bristol & District Moth Group daytime meeting at Blagdon Lake, Sunday 26 May – details from [email protected] for any BNS members wishing to attend.
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LIBRARY
BNS Library at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, BS8 1RL. Contents / Diary HON. LIBRARIAN: Jim Webster [email protected].
The Library is open: Wednesdays 1.15pm-2.15pm, Saturdays 10.15am-12.15pm. Tel. (opening hours only): 0117 922 3651. CLOSED on Saturdays connected with Bank Holiday Mondays, and New Year, Christmas and Easter.
Access to the Society’s Proceedings and Nature in Avon online We are grateful to the Biodiversity Heritage Library and its participating institutions (Harvard and the Natural History Museum in particular) for digitising our Proceedings and Nature in Avon without charge and making them publicly available. To access them you can google “Biodiversity Heritage Library” and use the search facilities, or you can go direct to our own index pages at: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/98898#/summary (for the Proceedings, i.e. up to 1993); and http://biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/99328#/summary (for Nature in Avon, from 1994 to date)
Bank Holiday Closures (see above): the Library will not be open on Sats. 4th
and
25th
May.
Offer of FREE COPIES of BNS Proceedings / Nature in Avon / Special Issues nos. 2-4
The Library Committee again invites requests from members for copies of the Society’s Proceedings (incomplete, but back to 1867) and Nature in Avon (most years), and for the three Special Issues: Bristol’s Urban Ecology (no 2); The Coast of Avon (3); and The Mendip Hills (4).
Please contact [email protected] should you or a library or natural history group or organisation you represent wish to take advantage of this offer. Collection from the BNS Library during normal opening hours is preferred, or it may be possible to post small parcels up to 2 kg on receipt of postage of £3.00.
The designer of the BNS Anniversary Badge revealed In the Bulletin for March 2019, I posted a photo of the 1962 BNS Anniversary enamel badge with the image of the Flower of Bristol or Nonesuch, Lychnis chalcedonica. I have now learned - from the soon to be published obituary of Brian Frost by the late Richard Bland – that it was designed by Brian Frost.
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Collins New Naturalist books in the BNS Library Contents / Diary Most members will be familiar with the Collins New Naturalist books. Our Library has a good collection of them. The current policy of the Library Committee is to acquire copies of each volume on publication in hardback, so long as the content is considered relevant to our members, whether by virtue of the geographical or subject-matter coverage. At our recent committee meeting we agreed to purchase copies of the two new volumes: Gulls and
Garden Birds. Typically, the new books cost up to about £50 each, and once stamped as
the property of the Society and catalogued, are available for lending to members. The volumes are kept together in order on the shelves and some duplicates (e.g. Lichens) are retained in the sectional areas of the Library.
As shown above, our collection of New Naturalists is incomplete. There are several reasons for this. The subject may have been considered ‘out of scope’, like the un-numbered large format volume on the Art of the New Naturalists, or beyond budget – the Library has a budget of around £1,000 including on-going periodical subscriptions. Occasionally too, volumes go astray, as illustrated by the tale of the Ladybirds volume,
where the gap was so kindly made good by Tony Smith (see the Bulletin for June 2018). Volume 71, British Warblers, we only have in paperback. There was also a period when the volumes were issued in low print-runs and we may have missed out at the time. This is particularly pertinent for the volumes illustrated: amongst others, the Library doesn’t have numbers 67, 73, and 75-80. Several of these can be obtained reasonably cheaply as paperbacks on the second-hand market as public and other libraries dispense of their used copies, whilst ‘as new’ original printings are usually offered at several hundred pounds.
The BNS Library has always, and continues to benefit from members’ donations, either of books or occasionally funds. If any member has a copy of any of the outstanding volumes as listed below (hardback or paperback, unless stated) which they would be prepared to let us have or would like to donate funds to sponsor a volume or support our Library in any way, please let the Librarian, Jim Webster, know at [email protected].
Volume 67: Farming and Wildlife Volume 71: British Warblers (Hardback) Volume 73: The New Forest Volume 75: Freshwater Fish Volume 76: The Hebrides
Volume 77: The Soil Volume 78: Larks, Pipits & Wagtails Volume 79: Caves and Cave Life Volume 80: Wild and Garden Plants
Clive Lovatt, Stroud, 7 April 2019
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ORNITHOLOGY SECTION PRESIDENT:- Giles Morris, 01275 373917 [email protected] HON SEC.:- Lesley Cox 07786 437528 [email protected] Contents / Diary
NEWS: As I write in early April, the RSPB has released the results of its Big Garden Bird Watch. As expected, the severe weather that included the “Beast from The East’ during the winter of 2017 - 18 season has taken its toll on our small birds in particular. Sightings of Long-tailed Tits have decreased by 27% this year following increased sightings during the winter of 2018 before ‘The Beast’ hit Britain. Its number 9 slot in the top ten was taken by the Chaffinch. Wrens have also decreased by 17%, which could perhaps be considered miraculous given the size of the bird and the severity of the weather - it could well have been a higher percentage.
Of the 7.5 million birds counted, the House Sparrow topped the poll; a result that belies its 57% fall in population and threatened status of many years past and offers the possibility that the recent 10% increase in numbers might be a sign of hope for its future. Another species -the Starling - that has declined by 80% over the last 40 years came in second with the increase in woodpigeons and magpies being reflected in their relative positions at number 5 and 10. Two other small birds, the Blue Tit (3) and the Goldfinch (6) hung on to their top ten positions despite their diminutive size and Bullfinches are reaching the top 25 but the Song Thrush continues to struggle.
Osprey: Maya, an unringed female Osprey who is a regular at Rutland Water battled a
head wind of 50 mph to get home to her nest site on 14th
March. She arrived at 10:39 and having cleared some Egyptian Geese from the nest, immediately went fishing to feed herself. Her partner came a few days later and their first egg was laid on 2
nd April.
Although we see this species in transit, we live in hope of seeing them nest at Chew Valley Lake as numbers increase.
Goosander: As far as I know, this is the first recording of
a pair of Goosander on the River Avon (ST 634718) opposite Eastwood Farm spotted by an alert member (Jane C.) on 30
th December 2018. The observer apologizes for the poor
quality of photograph only having a mobile ‘phone to hand but it’s good enough to identify the species. Well done!
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FIELD MEETINGS Contents / Diary DAWN CHORUS at Leigh Woods 6am, Sunday, 5th May Leader: Mike Johnson (Tel: 07530 981106) This is Dawn Chorus Day and a superb opportunity to appreciate the fantastic songs that
our resident birds and summer visitors produce in their quest to find partners, define their
territories and communicate with others. Whether you are a beginner wanting to learn or
an old hand wanting to brush up your skills this is a perfect opportunity to enjoy a fresh,
spring morning in a beautiful, historic setting surrounded by bird song.
We shall be meeting 25 minutes after sunrise at 06:00 (so that we can see the birds as
well as hear them) at the North Road entrance gate to Leigh Woods, Grid Ref. ST555730
(or BS8 3PZ). Please inform the leader if you are planning to attend.
HOBBIES AT HAM WALL 9.30am-1pm, Sunday, 26th May Leader: Bob Buck Tel: 07884 400221 Meet at 09.30hrs in the RSPB Ham Wall Reserve car park at Ashcott Corner (ST 449397 BA6 9SX). From the middle of Meare Village on the B3151 Wedmore to Glastonbury road, take the minor road south, now with a brown signposted to RSPB Ham Wall (at last!). After approximately one mile the car park is situated on the left just after the Railway Inn and the drain bridge. NB – not the Shapwick car park, which is on the other side of the road.
Level walking, but may be muddy in places. Parking charges: RSPB members are exempt at the Ham Wall car park (place membership card in the windscreen). Remember to remove all valuables from parked cars.
This is peak season for most of the Avalon Marshes specialities, so hopefully we’ll see lots of singing warblers, booming bitterns, sky-dancing harriers and hawking hobbies. You never know what might turn up down there these days!
Please contact the leader if you are intending to join the walk.
WESTONBIRT BIOBLITZ Friday - Saturday 31 May - 1 June The highly successful event of 2017 for which the Bristol Naturalists’ Society was asked to send a team of specialists will be repeated this year on Friday, 31
st May and Saturday, 1
st
June. Members of the Ornithological Section will be on site surveying the avian population.
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FIELD MEETING Report Contents / Diary Sand Point 24
th March 2019
Waiting in the sunshine in the car park at Sand Point for the group to arrive it was easy to be deceived into thinking that spring had already arrived. The medley of bird song included Robin, Skylark, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff and Dunnock. Brimstone butterflies meandered past Blackthorn bushes thick with white blossom and we looked set for a very pleasant walk. Twelve members assembled and we moved off to check out the scrub along the lane below the south slope. The scrub here contained a singing Blackcap and a few more expected species, but no significant indicators of fresh migration. Perhaps any overnight arrivals had already taken advantage of the fine morning weather to move on.
Gaining the top of the ridge we were able to scan the nearer area of saltmarsh for shorebirds, finding Oystercatcher, Shelduck, Little Egret and Mallard before they were joined by a flock of 20+ Curlew flying in from the north. A single swallow heading north did not make it summer but at least hinted at some migrant movement! Stonechats posed prominently in good numbers, showing up impressively in the bright sunlight.
Moving along towards the point we found our the first of the hoped-for Wheatears along with the Rock Pipits on the cliffs but the good weather had brought out big numbers of people, children and dogs, so the chances of many more lingering migrants seemed slim.
Moving east through Middle Hope towards St Thomas’s Head there were fewer people and sharp eyes picked out an interesting shape on the ground in the middle of a ploughed field. All bets were on a buzzard foraging for earthworms; we had seen several earlier in the air along with ravens. Closer examination however revealed a Peregrine. There was no clear reason for its curious choice of resting place, but it was sitting in the same place when we passed on the return leg. Was it unwell or a sulking escape from a falconer?
Reaching the MoD land at St Thomas’s Head we were rewarded with a fine view of Woodspring Bay, speckled with Shelduck and in one of the fields beside the path a group of six or seven Wheatear.
Not spectacular birding, but a thoroughly enjoyable walk in splendid weather with good evidence of some spring movement.
Giles Morris
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MISCELLANY
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL BOTANIC GARDEN Contents / Diary
The Holmes, Stoke Park Rd, Stoke Bishop, BS9 1JG. Booking: 0117 331 4906. www.bristol.ac.uk/botanic-garden
Email: [email protected]
Wed. 1 May 11am to 1pm. Appreciate nature with pencil and paper. 8-week drawing class, led by artist Sheena Vallely. Each morning, exercises will be carried out in a different part of the garden. All materials provided. £90
Sat. 4 May 10am to 4pm. INTRODUCTION TO PLANT PROPAGATION Julie Henderson guides you through various methods of creating new plants, giving an overview of basic propagation for the average gardener; including seed collecting & sowing, division, layering and various types of cuttings, including some houseplants. Focus on the time of year, but skills you learn will be applicable to other times. Price: £45.
Sunday 12 May 10-5pm. PEONY STUDY DAY A day of tours & talks in our
new peony cultural garden, when the Chinese peonies will be at the height of flowering. Tours morning & afternoon, talks by Lady Christine Skelmersdale, founder/owner of
Broadleigh Gardens; Will McLewin, grower and breeder of the Chinese Gansu Mudan peony group; Tony Harrison, Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden Co-ordinator and herbalist. Tony will outline the use of different peony species in traditional Chinese medicine.
Kelways, world famous peony nursery, will be selling plants at this event.
Sun. 19 May, 11am & 2pm. The IsamBards’ Botanic Verses – two poetry
walks. The IsamBards are four Bristol-based poets who, from time to time, collaborate on site specific poetry projects. These have included Brunel’s Bristol and Clifton Suspension Bridge. Three original IsamBards, Pameli Benham, Deborah Harvey & David C Johnson, are delighted that prize-winning poet Dominic Fisher joins them for this botanic adventure.
Tours are included in the entry price but must be booked in advance: https://botanic-garden.bristol.ac.uk/event/the-isambards-botanic-verses-two-poetry-walks/
AVON ORGANIC GROUP www.groworganicbristol.org / [email protected]
All meetings 7-9pm at The Station, Silver St., BS1 2AG (in Dance Studio) All welcome: Admission: Visitors £5 / Members £2, includes light refreshments.
Thurs. 23 May: Talk “DESIGNING A MULTI-PURPOSE GARDEN” with
Rebecca Bevan, Horticulturalist, Garden Designer, Researcher for National Trust and
BBC Gardeners World.
After 15 years tending other people’s gardens Rbecca has finally bought her own small plot and is making a garden that will accommodate chickens, a veg patch, fruit, herbs, habitat for wildlife, as well as all her favourite plants.
In this talk she shares her approach to planning & realising her dreams, including tips from great gardens she has worked in. She gardens organically. Her partner is an ornithologist.
For full FB event details visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/2194697063922874/
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Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project Contents / Diary Booking and further information: Contact the Project on 0117 903 0609 or e-mail [email protected] . Pre-booking essential for all events.
Details of meeting points are given on booking.
Saturday, 4th May. Trees of the Granny Downs (Walk) Explore the Tree Trail (read about it overleaf) created in memory of Richard Bland, with Robin Haward (Friends of the Downs and Avon Gorge) and Mandy Leivers. Along the way learn to identify the trees, find out fascinating facts about them and enjoy Laburnums, chestnuts and hawthorns in flower. 2-4pm, £5.
Book with the Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project, 0117 903 0609 / [email protected]. This event is run as part of Bristol Walk Fest. www.bristolwalkfest.com has the full range of walks on offer
Sat. 25 May. PICTURE PERFECT (Course). Learn to
take great wildlife photos with members of North West Bristol Camera Club. After an illustrated introduction, head outside to take advantage of the opportunities that the Downs have to offer. This fun and informal workshop is an ideal introduction for beginners. 10am-3.30pm, £25.
Please bring your own digital camera to this course. NB: This event is aimed at adults.
Thur. 30 May Minibeast magic (Children’s event for 8 – 12 year olds) Explore undergrowth in search of little creatures in our minibeast safari. Create your own minibeast nature reserve. Astound us with your acting skills in minibeast charades. In the afternoon, fashion your own marvellous minibeast sock puppet. Drop off children at 10am and pick them up at 3.30pm. £17.50 per child.
Photo ©Ray Cottrell NWBCC
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The Granny Downs Tree Trail On Friday 12
th April the Lord Mayor of Bristol launched the new Granny Downs
Tree Trail. Contents / Diary
Created as a collaboration between the Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project and the Friends of the Downs and Avon Gorge (FOD+AG), the trail encourages participants to visit an under-explored part of the Downs and find out about 17
trees along the way. Whilst the trail can be done at any time of the year, it is particularly lovely in spring when Laburnums, horse chestnuts, hawthorns and cherry trees are in flower.
The initial research for the Granny Downs Tree Trail was carried out by the late, great Richard Bland (right). As many of you know he was a wonderful naturalist who observed and recorded the wildlife of the Downs for decades. Not only was he
a stalwart of Bristol Naturalists’ Society, he was also Vice Chair and founder member of FOD+AG. The trail has been completed in his memory with funding from the OVO Foundation and FOD+AG.
The area that this trail covers is a part of Durdham Down known as the Granny Downs. Legend has it that the residents of an old people’s home bordering this area used to be brought here on sunny days to sit and enjoy the trees – hence the name ‘Granny Downs’.
Copies of the Granny Downs Tree Trail can be picked up from Café Retreat on the Downs. Or email [email protected] or call Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project at Bristol Zoo Gardens on 0117 9030609 and we’ll send you a copy.
Laburnum (Avon Gorge & Downs
Wildlife Project J Parsons)
Hawthorn 'Paul's Scarlet' 3 (Avon Gorge and
Downs Wildlife Project J Parsons)