S u f f o l k N a t u r a l i s t s ’ S o c i e t y

N e w s l e t t e r 9 1 S u m m e r 2 0 1 5

W h i t eW h i t eW h i t e A d m i r a lA d m i r a lA d m i r a l

C o v e r P h o t o : N i g h t i n g a l e b y N e i l R o l p h

ISSN 0959-8537

Published by the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society

c/o Ipswich Museum, High Street, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 3QH

Registered Charity No. 206084

© Suffolk Naturalists’ Society

E d i t o r i a l 1

W h a t ’ s o n ? & B i o b l i t z E v e n t s 2

S a v e o u r S u f f o l k S w i f t s K e r r y S t r a n n i x &

B e n H e a t h e r

3

S u f f o l k H e d g e h o g S u r v e y c o n t i n u e s ! S i m o n e B u l l i o n 6

R a m s g a t e E a r t h q u a k e C a r o l i n e M a r k h a m 7

N i g h t i n g a l e s N e a r I p s w i c h R i c h a r d S t e w a r t 8

B e e F r i e n d l y A n n e - M a r i e &

R i c h a r d S t e w a r t

9

W i l d l i f e a t t h e F a r m P a r k N i c k M a y o 1 0

T h e N a t u r a l H i s t o r y o f W a v e n e y F o r e s t T i m G a r d i n e r 1 0

J o h n W a l s h e t o J o a n H a r d i n g h a m

C o r r e s p o n d e n c e - 0 7 / 0 6 / 2 0 1 5

J o h n W a l s h e 1 1

F r o g s T r e v o r G o o d f e l l o w 1 3

A d d e r s , P h o t o g r a p h y a n d D i s t u r b a n c e J o h n B a k e r 1 6

S t a r t i n g w i t h S a w f l i e s C o l i n L u c a s & T r i c i a

T a y l o r

1 9

A n a p p e a l f o r E m a i l s 2 1

S i l k - c o v e r e d l a m p p o s t s A l a n T h o r n h i l l 2 2

H a r b o u r P o r p o i s e P h o c o e n a p h o c o e n a a t

L a n d g u a r d & O r f o r d n e s s

N i g e l O d i n & M i k e

M a r s h

2 4

S u f f o l k B i o l o g i c a l R e c o r d i n g O n l i n e B e n H e a t h e r 2 6

N a t u r e D a y a t B r a i n t r e e D i s t r i c t M u s e u m

i n H o n o u r o f J o h n R a y

2 8

C o n t e n t s

White Admiral 91 1

E d i t o r : B e n H e a t h e r

S u f f o l k B i o l o g i c a l R e c o r d s C e n t r e ,

c / o I p s w i c h M u s e u m , H i g h S t r e e t , I p s w i c h , I P 1 3 Q H

b e n . h e a t h e r @ s u f f o l k . g o v . u k

N e w s l e t t e r 9 1 - S u m m e r 2 0 1 5

Suffolk Naturalists’ Society

The

Welcome to the Summer issue of the White Admiral and thank you to all

who have provided me with copy.

At a recent council meeting we made great progress with the planning of

our next SNS conference which is scheduled for 20th February 2016.

Please save the date! As it will be 25 years since the first SNS conference

in 1991 ‘Water Wilderness’ - we have decided to celebrate this by revisiting

the freshwater theme. The conference will therefore be called “Freshwater

Revival, 25 years of freshwater conservation and beyond”. The conference

will be held again at Wherstead Park, near Ipswich and we have already

started to make good progress with enlisting some speakers. More

information will be released in the next White Admiral as we get further

through planning the day, we hope many will be able to join us.

This year, for us at the Suffolk Biological Records Centre, has been the

year of the bioblitz. We have already been involved in 5 this year with

more coming up in the second part of summer (see events page). These

events, which involve recording as many species as possible for a site

within a given time, are a great opportunity to get out with fellow experts

and enthusiasts and get involved in some real natural history (with some

biological recording thrown in). They have also enabled us to make use our

new online recording system (Suffolk Biological Recording Online) which

you can read about on page 26 and update a lot of our species lists for sites

such as Dunwich Heath and Holywells Park, Ipswich. We are hoping to get

involved with more of these events in the future.

White Admiral 91 2

W h a t ’ s o n ?

Grasshoppers & Bushcrickets – Sat 22 August at Snape Village Hall &

Blaxhall Common

http://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/events/2015/08/22/grasshoppers -

bushcrickets-sat-22-august?instance=0

Autumn Bird ID – Sun 4 October at Lackford Lakes

http://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/events/2015/10/04/autumn-bird-id-

sunday-4-october?instance=0

Fungus ID & Foray – Fri 23 October at Bradfield Woods

http://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/events/2015/10/23/fungus-id-and-foray-

friday-23-october?instance=0

Autumn Macro Masterclass & Fungi ID – Sat 24 October at Lound

Lakes

http://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/events/2015/10/24/autumn-macro-

masterclass-fungi-id-saturday-24-october?instance=0

S u f f o l k W i l d l i f e T r u s t E v e n t s :

B i o b l i t z E v e n t s :

FSC Flatford Mill 14 hour Bioblitz survey - Saturday 15th August, 8am

till 10pm. Experts and non-experts welcome. Light refreshments will

be provided throughout the day and we will have an allocated base for

collating records from each element of the survey. Contact FSC on

01206 297110

Africa Alive’s Bioblitz is back for a second year! - Saturday 12th

September & Sunday 13th September. Help the experts with the

wildlife count and get hands-on with our British wildlife activities.

http://www.africa-alive.co.uk/

White Admiral 91 3

By the time you read this,

they’ll be gone. The swifts

that is.

Synonymous with long summer

evenings, their screaming calls fill

the sky in our towns and villages

from May to late August. Last

year, along with the Suffolk

Ornithologists’ Group, Suffolk

Wildlife Trust launched a

campaign to raise awareness of the

plight of this fast declining species.

Titled, for obvious reasons, Save

our Suffolk Swifts, the campaign

aims to spread the word far and

wide about what could be done to

help swifts in Suffolk. Actions

range from putting up nest boxes

to playing their calls over

loudspeakers to attract new

nesting pairs. To illustrate how

successful these actions can be we

held events across Suffolk where

people came to hear from experts

and see swifts in action. We also

teamed up with Suffolk Biological

Records Centre to create

an online survey to record both

screaming parties and known nest

sites. This information will be

crucial as we learn more about the

species in Suffolk in the coming

years. The final event of this year

is to be held in Ipswich on 5

November, where Dick Newell of

Action for Swifts will be speaking

about the latest developments in

swift conservation. Details of this

and more information about how

you can help swifts can be found

following the links below.

There is still time to log your

sightings of both screaming parties

and nest sites with the Suffolk

Biological Records Centre. As you

can see (next page) we have had a

good response so far but there are

still many gaps to fill. Records do

not have to be current sightings

and in fact we would welcome your

observations from the whole

summer.

S a v e o u r S u f f o l k S w i f t s

P h o t o : N e i l R o l p h

White Admiral 91 4

© Crown copyright and database rights 2015 Ordnance Survey 100023395. M a p s h o w i n g w h a t h a s b e e n r e c o r d e d o n l i n e s o f a r t h i s y e a r

White Admiral 91 5

h t t p : / / w w w . s u f f o l k b r c . o r g . u k / s w i f t

h t t p : / / w w w . s u f f o l k w i l d l i f e t r u s t . o r g / s w i f t s

h t t p : / / w w w . s o g o n l i n e . o r g . u k /

h t t p : / / w w w . s w i f t - c o n s e r v a t i o n . o r g /

# S O S s w i f t s

The recording forms have made

use of the Suffolk Biological

Recording Online service (see later

article) and can be accessed by

going to the following webpage

www.suffolkbrc.org.uk/swift.

Alternatively sightings containing

a grid reference or post code,

recorder name, date, record type

(screaming party or nest site), plus

any additional information can be

emailed or sent to the editor at

ben.heather@suffolk.gov.uk or

using the address at the bottom of

page 1.

Kerry Strannix - Suffolk Wildlife

Trust & Ben Heather - Suffolk

Biological Records Centre

P h o t o : N e i l R o l p h

White Admiral 91 6

S u f f o l k H e d g e h o g S u r v e y c o n t i n u e s !

P l e a s e r e c o r d y o u r h e d g e h o g s i g h t i n g s i n 2 0 1 5

Suffolk Wildlife Trusts’ campaign in

2014 was one of the largest

localised hedgehog surveys in the

country with more than 8000

records submitted. Although we

were delighted by the response,

there is still every indication that

hedgehogs are in decline and we

need more data. So once again, we

are asking people to record

sightings of hedgehogs across the

county, both living and dead.

Of particular importance is

information gathered about the

numbers of hedgehogs recorded

dead on roads. Last year we

recorded more than 1300 road kills

in Suffolk which seems a very high

number. Without knowing the size

of the hedgehog population, it is

impossible to know what impact

this is having, but as there is a

relationship between the number of

road-kills and the size of the

population, this could mean that

there are still good numbers of

hedgehogs in our county. All the

locations and dates of these road

deaths have been sent to a PhD

student at the University of

Reading for more detailed analysis.

By continuing to collect more

information on read deaths in 2015

we can begin to see if there are hot

spots for road deaths, both in terms

of the time of year and location. We

are also hoping to start to look at

whether high road kill numbers

represent higher populations in

these locations.

We also want to find out about live

sightings of hedgehogs. If you have

a hedgehog regularly visiting your

garden then you do not need to

record every sighting. Let us know

when you first saw it along with a

summary of its activity. We are also

still very keen to hear from people

who used to see hedgehogs in their

gardens, but no longer do so, or

have never seen a hedgehog ever at

that location. Similarly, as for dead

hedgehogs, when you are out and

about keep a look out for live

animals as well and do let us know.

You can log your sightings on our

website as before, but we have

made some small changes. Now

you can record finding droppings as

an alternative to a seeing hedgehog

and guidance is also provided on

how to be sure of what you are

looking at.

S i m o n e B u l l i o n - S e n i o r

Conservation Adviser (SWT) &

County Mammal Recorder

White Admiral 91 7

R a m s g a t e E a r t h q u a k e

At 2.52am on 22nd May movement

along a fault 13km below

Ramsgate resulted in a magnitude

4.2 earthquake. It was felt over

most of Kent (though not in

neighbouring Sussex), along the

Thames valley and across the

Thames estuary on the Essex coast

and northwards through Ipswich

and Norwich. Along with many

others, it woke me in the small

hours of Friday morning. The bang

which saw me sitting up in bed

didn’t frighten me as we live in

Ipswich town centre with its

variety of man made noises at most

times of night and day. It sounded

as though one of our young

neighbours in the block of flats had

dropped a large piece of furniture

on the ceiling, except that the

sound came from beneath

me…….However, the rhythmic

swaying of the building which

followed was unfamiliar and

frightening even though it only

lasted a couple of seconds.

In the morning I logged on to the

British Geological Survey website

to report my experience and

investigate its cause. The

questionnaire asked things I

expected such as - how many floors

up? (5); Type of building? (Steel

frame) and some that I didn’t – did

it wake you? (Yes); were you

frightened? (YES!). Then I was

asked to describe the noise, which

for me was definitely explosive

(gosh, did I actually hear the fault

move?) and the movement – only

horizontal swaying, no vertical

component. If you go into the BGS

website you can see that this is

what most others experienced too.

Report ing such events is

i m p o r t a n t , t h ey au g m en t

information from seismological

records. If you heard/felt this

earthquake, do fill in the

questionnaire at:

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/.

The BGS has summarised that the

movement was on a NW/SE

aligned fault consistent with

compression from the south due to

ongoing Alpine mountain-building

episodes. Africa is steadily moving

north towards Europe and

earthquakes caused by this

phenomenon are not uncommon in

SE England. Another which was

felt in Suffolk occurred near

Colchester on April 22nd 1884. The

East Anglian Daily Times reported

– “A very distinct shock was felt all

over Ipswich at about 9.18 on

Tuesday morning. Mr T N

Fonnereau, of Christchurch Park,

estimated that the shock lasted

White Admiral 91 8

about ten seconds. The walls of the

mansion perceptibly shook, and the

bells rang violently. In several

parts of the town the vibration

caused pedestrians to stagger, and

on Henley Road a servant was

thrown down. At the Custom

House the shock was felt to an

alarming extent. The whole

building vibrated, and in one office

a large press, standing about eight

feet high, swayed backwards and

forwards, so much so that some of

the officials rushed out of the

building.”

Caroline Markham - Geo Suffolk

Nightingales are a declining

species in this country but Suffolk

remains one of their best breeding

counties. A few years ago I

resolved to see or hear twenty

different birds close to Ipswich and

this was achieved relatively easily,

admittedly with a ‘flying’ start of

eight during a dawn chorus at

Foxhall Heath, right on the town

boundary. The rest came mainly

from the Fynn valley and Alton

reservoir.

In 2014 I was delighted to find

nightingales had returned to two

sites which they had left after

habitat destruction. The first was

at the Playford end of alder carr

woodland close to the railway line,

in the Fynn valley. Walking

through the wood I could distantly

hear one or more males near the

N i g h t i n g a l e s N e a r I p s w i c h

P h o t o : N e i l R o l p h

White Admiral 91 9

final bend in the wood. A quiet

approach often led to sightings.

Part of the path was muddy, no

problem if you had the right

footwear, but an all weather path

was put down and surrounding

vegetation cut back. This was

dumped right on top of the

nightingale breeding area. In 2014

the vegetation had returned

sufficiently for the birds to return

but then more work was carried

out nearby, with potential negative

effects. I contacted the relevant

people at Suffolk Coastal District

Council and now have a written

assurance that anyone working

nearby will be made aware of the

situation. The second was within

the town boundary. There have

always been birds nesting in

suitable scrub within the town,

including waste areas near the

Princes Street river bridge. This

was at Heath Road, close to the

hospital but on the other side of

the road, next to concrete blocks.

Here in 2007 a nightingale was

heard in a small copse but this

vegetation was subsequently cut

back. However, nature fought back

and a bird was singing again, its

beautiful song audible despite the

nearby heavy and continuous

traffic just a few yards away.

This is proof yet again that

wildlife, given the chance, can be

flexible and adapt successfully to

new or improved conditions.

Richard Stewart

As a follow up to our article about

leaf cutter bees in White Admiral

November 2014, we noticed that

Sainsbury’s have a large display

board, approximately 5x6.5 feet,

facing customers at the tills. It

features the work of solitary bees,

with a central black and blue

diamond shape showing bamboo

canes superimposed onto a photo of

a wall with bees. The caption

reads: ‘Solitary bees help pollinate

our home-grown produce-which is

why we have over 100 bee hotels in

our stores’.

Anne-Marie and Richard Stewart

B e e F r i e n d l y

F o r S a l e :

S i m p s o n ’ s F l o r a o f S u f f o l k , £ 2 0

T e n s u c c e s s i v e c o p i e s o f S u f f o l k B i r d s 2 0 0 4 - 2 0 1 3 , £ 1 0

C o n t a c t R i c h a r d S t e w a r t , t e l : 0 1 4 7 3 2 1 6 5 1 8 .

White Admiral 91 10

On 25 May, I was at Easton Farm

Park and took the opportunity to

walk quietly by the River Deben,

away from the main farm area

where most of the people were.

I became aware of a lot of quite

noisy splashing in the river and

discovered a stoat swimming over

to the side where I was. It climbed

out and started hunting in a pile of

logs before seeing me and hastily

slipping back into the river and

swimming away to the other side.

What I found interesting was that

the stoat moved very fast across

the water; presumably being very

light it almost ran across the

surface but it was a noisy process

for such a small creature. I have

seen foxes and hares swim, but

they appeared to be more

immersed than the stoat, which

looked remarkably dry when it

climbed out.

I also observed a very fine buzzard

cruising about, and picked up a

beautiful tawny owl feather, both

of which would indicate a healthy

wildlife population there.

And the farm animals? They were

very fine too.

Nick Mayo

W i l d l i f e a t t h e F a r m P a r k

T h e N a t u r a l H i s t o r y o f W a v e n e y F o r e s t b y T i m G a r d i n e r

A new book documents the wildlife

of Waveney Forest in east Norfolk

near Great Yarmouth. The Forest

is a large area of coniferous

woodland, interspersed with

remnant heathland and bog. The

Forest has been the subject of

much interest recently due to

proposals for large-scale gravel

extraction. The threat of quarrying

has attracted a huge amount of

opposition and renewed efforts to

document the wildlife found in the

Forest. Survey work has revealed

that the Forest and the

surrounding marshland and

reedbed provide habitat for many

legally protected species such as

the Norfolk Hawker dragonfly and

Water Vole. The open heathland is

a rare habitat in east Norfolk, as is

the birch carr and Sphagnum bog.

Due to its value being widely

recognised it appears that the

Forest is safe from quarrying,

although future climate change

and unmanaged scrub encroach-

ment are serious issues for the

remaining heathland and bog.

Recent felling of a large area of

White Admiral 91 11

conifers has given insects and

plants of open areas a new lease

of life after several decades

surviving under the dense shade

of the planted pines. Nightjars

nest in the felled areas and Turtle

Doves were heard in 2014.

T h e b o o k ( I S B N - 1 3 :

9780956469250), published by

Forrest Text, is available from the

Natural History Bookstore http://

www.nhbs.com/title/204056/the-

natural-history-of-waveney-forest

price £19.99, or from Amazon.

The book can also be purchased at

a reduced rate from the author by

sending a cheque (made payable

to Mr T.A. Gardiner) for £15 (p&p

included) to 45 Maltings Wharf,

Manningtree, Essex, CO11 1XE.

Any queries please email Tim at

timgardiner134@btinternet.com

Tim Gardiner

J o h n W a l s h e t o J o a n H a r d i n g h a m C o r r e s p o n d e n c e –

0 7 / 0 6 / 2 0 1 5

Joan Hardingham, who lives in the

Mid-Suffolk district near to

Needham Market, sent me this

correspondence from John Walshe,

who surveys and rings birds on

land adjacent to where she lives.

He writes up his discoveries and

keeps nearby interested parties

posted on developments. Below is a

sample of one of his digests:

White Admiral 91 12

There were some real red list

glitterati on site this morning - 2

Cuckoos singing again early on,

only heard simultaneously once

but clearly different sounding

Cuckoos.

From about 06:30am to 10:10am a

Turtle Dove (presumed to be a

female) was nest building in a

Hawthorn at the bottom of the

Wildwood site not far off the main

riverside path.

She was collecting material from

Alder Carr Farm’s Causeway

Meadow about 50m away, single

twigs at a time, every few

minutes or less. The male only

sang a few times from the Chalk

Pit, the Causeway Meadow alders

and once right by the nest but

appeared to take no part in the

nest building. When they’re

building them, Turtle Dove nests

must be one of the easiest nests to

find. However, it’s still a matter of

being in the right place at the

right time, as once they have

knocked up their simple platform

nests they become more secretive

in their comings and goings. This

nest is in an inaccessible spot

behind a big area of bramble, not

that high up, only about 4ft, just

level with the top of the adjacent

bramble behind where it’s

spreading into hawthorn. She’s

just about visible on the nest from

a distance with bins or a scope so

I can monitor it ok. It’s the 1st

time I have recorded them on site

this year. They have nested

before, once right by the river

path in Blackthorn, but nothing

ever came of it. And there have

been a couple of late second brood

nests in Hawthorns that again

seem to have come to nothing.

But the site is becoming ideal for

them as the hawthorns mature.

The Chalk Pit female Nightingale

was again caught at 05:00am in

the same net, by the North East

corner of the pit, as last time two

weeks ago. I thought at first they

might be finally feeding young as

they were alarm calling more

frequently early on but they soon

fell silent until late in the

morning. After taking the nets

down I sat about 20 metres from

where I thought the nest was and

listened to the pair anxiety calling

at my presence. I caught little

glimpses of them coming and

going, I presumed feeding young,

not in the thickest part of the

bramble, but in deep shade on its

edge amongst the nettles under

some leggy blackthorn. The nest,

that was visible, actually still

contained eggs. It was right on

the ground in fairly open nettles

without any bramble element; it

was well camouflaged rather than

White Admiral 91 13

well hidden. The eggs must be

very near hatching, presuming

they were not duds as she was

caught in the same area two

weeks ago. But it must be a

second attempt as this same

female was first trapped on April

29th when building on the other

side of the pit. This male didn’t

sing at all this morning but the

other male still sang occasionally

from the river path beside the

sewage works. I am not sure what

this pair were up to but the fact he

was still singing and they’d moved

implied they too had failed once

and were trying again.

A female Linnet I trapped a few

times on the last visit trying to get

back to her fresh clutch of five

eggs in the bramble beside the net

lane (causing me to take the net

down early to let her back),

happily hadn’t deserted as the

young had all hatched when

checked it this morning.

Only a single Pyramidal Orchid

noted flowering this morning,

normally there are 1000’s out by

now. A nice patch of Southern

Marsh Orchids coming into flower

off the North East corner of the

sewage works. Also some Fairy

Flax Linum catharticum out in

flower today.

John Walshe

F r o g s

One night last year I watched the

frogs and toads rise from

hibernation and make their way to

the pond for spawning. I spotted

three large frogs of very different

colouration: yellow, brown and

green. The largest was brownish

red and I thought it looked

familiar. Ok that sounds weird, but

this frog was not only an unusual

D e a d l i n e s f o r c o p y a r e : 1 s t F e b ( S p r i n g i s s u e ) , 1 s t J u n e ( S u m m e r

i s s u e ) a n d 1 s t O c t ( A u t u m n i s s u e )

T h e o p i n i o n s e x p r e s s e d i n W h i t e A d m i r a l a r e n o t n e c e s s a r i l y t h o s e o f

t h e E d i t o r o r o f t h e S u f f o l k N a t u r a l i s t s ’ S o c i e t y .

C o n t r i b u t i o n s t o W h i t e A d m i r a l

White Admiral 91 14

White Admiral 91 15

F r o g s a n d T o a d ( b o t t o m r i g h t ) b y T r e v o r G o o d f e l l o w

White Admiral 91 16

colour but also had sparse but

distinct markings. It has to be said

that these skin colours fade or

disappear when they are in water

but the markings remain.

I looked into my photo archives

back to 2012 and hey presto

‘Freddy’ a large reddish adult with

the same few black marks. This

was my test subject, although

when I spotted ‘him’ in 2013 and

again in 2014, it became obvious

that Freddy was a Freda.

I deduced that their markings are

likely to be unique and they don’t

change with time. Bearing in mind

that a frog will take two to three

years to mature, it surprised me to

discover that she was at least five

years old.

This year I have photographed

many frogs to try to compare with

previous years but it has been

difficult. Despite several of them

having a very individual layout of

spots or even none at all, I could

not match them to previous years.

I deduce therefore that it is

possible that this is their first year

of sexual maturity. A problem for

recording is that the females (e.g.

Freda) are mostly obscured by

males, to put it politely.

This year has been a good year

with thirty clumps of spawn

compared with a normal twenty or

so. Last year was exceptional when

the total climbed to fifty over

several days so maybe the figure

will increase after I write this.

Toad count is only 250 which is far

from the 600 record. The cold

nights have delayed and drawn out

the wake-up time which I have

noted affects numbers. Rats seem

to be the main predator but crows

and moorhen are also to blame. I

have even seen a magpie mimic

(not very well) a croak, wait for a

reply then peck it, just to eat its

insides.

No sign of Freda yet this year.

Trevor Goodfellow

A d d e r s , P h o t o g r a p h y a n d D i s t u r b a n c e

This year’s Springwatch broadcast

from RSPB’s Minsmere Reserve

featured radio-tracking adders,

using ‘cutting edge technology’.

Prior to this I had an interesting

meeting with the BBC and Nick

Burfield, a volunteer at Minsmere,

to discuss adders with a view to

featuring them in this year’s

programmes.

Nick and I approached the issue of

adders and public outreach from

White Admiral 91 17

different directions. Nick stressed

the value of public education and

particularly the impact of

introducing people to live animals.

Guided walks raised awareness of

adders and portrayed them in a

positive manner. Whilst I

understand that communication is

a key part of wildlife conservation, I

had doubts as to the value of guided

walks. I brought to the meeting the

growing concerns of a group of

naturalists who have been

watching adders and their sites for

some time and who are very

worried about the impact of rapidly

increasing disturbance. The issue

has been driven by technology – the

ubiquity of digital cameras and the

g r o w t h i n p o p u l a r i t y o f

photography compounded by the

Internet, which allows people to

‘post’ photographs for the world to

see. For wildlife this is double-

edged sword. On the one hand

photography can stimulate and

develop an interest in wildlife – but

at its worst it can lead to

disturbance of animals for no real

gain and sometimes the animals

themselves become secondary to

the pursuit of a particular

photograph.

Although guided walks are

intended to raise awareness and

hence indirectly benefit the animals

in question, I have come to the

conclusion that many walks and

training courses covering reptiles

(and amphibians) fail to achieve

this. They chiefly benefit people

who like courses – those who like

attending them and those who like

leading them. In general there is

nothing wrong with that, but it may

be creating problems for adders

when guided walks to hibernation

sites reveal location information

that gets passed on and, thanks to

the Internet , can become

‘publicised’, attracting exponential

numbers of visitors, especially

those looking for their adder

photographs. The effects of

disturbance on adders (or any other

reptile) are poorly understood but

there are reasons to be cautious.

Male adders, in particular, need to

bask for long periods in the spring

in preparation for breeding. This

makes them easy photographic

subjects. But at sites known to

photographers disturbance can be

prolonged which raises the question

of whether the animals are being

d e n i e d su f f i c i en t b a sk i n g

opportunities. There may also be an

indirect impact created by

trampling vegetation. Vegetation

structure is important to reptiles,

providing a mixture of open

basking areas adjacent to cover

from predators. Subtleties in this

structure can be key to providing

just the right sort of warm

microhabitat that reptiles require.

White Admiral 91 18

Nick showed me the ‘Adder Trail’

at Minsmere, where an adder

hibernation site has been roped off

keeping visitors to the path and

preventing them from actually

walking over an area where adders

can be seen basking after

emergence in the spring. When we

arrived the cordon was in action,

two photographers had spotted an

adder and were taking photo-

graphs from the footpath. I got

chatting to one of them, asking,

‘What have you seen?’. He was

happy to talk about his adder

photography explaining that he

had visited the site before to

photograph the snakes and he

showed us some fantastic images

he had shot. Was he perhaps a

potential adder botherer? No.

Without prompting he told us

that he was pleased that the

adders had been roped off

because of the situation the

previous year when people

were trampling over the area

and pushing cameras at

adders to get close-up

photographs. As a serious

photographer he had a long

lens and was able to

photograph the animals from a

distance.

I felt that the photographer

would have made an excellent

interview subject for Spring-

watch, but in the end it was

decided that radio-tracking would

be the way to follow adders during

the 2015 series. Radio-transmitters

were attached to five adders and

their locations subsequently

tracked by Suffolk Amphibian and

Reptile Group and RSPB

volunteers. This coverage barely

touched the pressing conservation

issues relevant to adders but it is

perhaps more suited to the

Springwatch format. Hopefully the

focus on adders will do the job of

portraying the animals in a

positive l ight, and widen

appreciation of this controversial

component of our native fauna.

Certainly I found my meeting with

Nick and the BBC instructive. The

‘Adder Walk’ at Minsmere shows

how visitor access to an adder site

H e r p e t o l o g i s t D a r r y n N a s h , p r e s e n t e r M a r t i n

H u g h e s - G a m e s a n d o n e o f t h e a d d e r s r a d i o -

t r a c k e d d u r i n g S p r i n g w a t c h ( K e r r y H o l m e s ) .

White Admiral 91 19

can be managed and it appears to

be working well. This approach

cannot be applied to open access

sites but perhaps by promoting

locations such as Minsmere, then

disturbance may be reduced

elsewhere.

Disturbance by photographers is

surely not an issue confined to

adders. Increased photographic

interest in wildlife is likely to

continue and creates challenges,

but also, opportunities. I suspect

that there are more people

interested in photographing

wildlife than in biological

recording. Linking the pursuit of

photography with the habit of

biological recording surely has a

part to play in the future of natural

history societies.

John Baker - Amphibian and

Reptile County Recorder

S t a r t i n g w i t h S a w f l i e s

Whilst sweep-netting or vacuum

sampling with a modified leaf-

blower one invariably catches all

sorts of insects. We usually identify

all the leafhoppers and beetles that

we collect. However the others that

quickly fly off always look

intriguing and leave a lingering

“that looked interesting, I wonder

what it was” feeling. Most of these

are diptera but occasionally we

catch a sawfly. When I have

mentioned them to other people I

usually get the response that

nobody looks at them and they are

very difficult to identify. A bit like

leafhoppers!

Last year I decided to try and find

a few more in the spring but had

no luck and then got engrossed

with my usual quarries. However

over the winter I attended the

sawfly workshop run by the British

Entomological and Natural History

Society (BENHS). As a group they

are certainly under-recorded

although it seems that they are

becoming slightly more popular

and indeed there is now a British

Sawfly website, although it’s fair to

say it is still very much a work in

progress.

The keys to British species were

produced by R. B. Benson in the

early 1950s (original price: 10

shillings each). As with many RES

handbooks they are now

downloadable for free from http://

www.royensoc.co.uk/content/out-

print-handbooks. There is also a

White Admiral 91 20

more modern-styled key to genera

published by the Field Studies

Council in the AIDGAP series. As

with other groups I suspect that if

you start with the larger more dis-

tinctive species that identification

becomes less daunting. Of course

before you get to the id you have to

find a sawfly to look at. I was told

that the greatest numbers occurred

in damp meadows with a good

floral diversity and that a lot of

species appeared early so a start in

late April would be fine. As to the

lack of numbers we were told to do

more sweeping. We would give all

the local grasslands a damn good

thrashing and a huge list of species

would be ours. After all with 547

recorded British species how could

we go wrong?

So, off we headed on April 14th on a

sunny day with a fail-proof plan to

find a good patch of flowers and

collect large numbers of sawflies.

Unfortunately not only were there

no flowers, all of the vegetation

seemed to have got off to a slow

start and hardly got above shoe

height. We drew a resounding

blank. Undeterred, I eventually got

my first sawfly on 24th April at

Darsham Marsh. It was a common

species Dolerus pratensis and I

had broken our duck. A trip to

North Cove in early May yielded

another very common species

A t h a l i a l i n e o l a t a ( p h o t o b y J . k .

L i n d s e y ) s h o w i n g f o o t b a l l s o c k s

D o l e r u s p r a t e n s i s

White Admiral 91 21

Selandria serva. Wow, this is hard

work. A return to Darsham on the

25th May produced 5 species. Not

quite the 30 species I was told was

a possible daily total from a good

site but progress nonetheless.

The low success rate is more than

made up for by the beauty of the

specimens we have found. We have

included some photos that

hopefully show just how nice these

insects are to look at. The

identifications are provisional and

we need a trip to a museum with a

good collection of sawflies to verify

our specimens.

At the Dunwich Heath Bioblitz I

met a very nice chap who records

sawflies in Lincolnshire and he

told me that he has only found a

handful this spring. This is some

solace as it has proved to be hard

going and there is always the

feeling in the back of your mind

that you are doing something

wrong and that everyone else is

finding loads. Hopefully as the

mediocre weather improves we will

find some more, as it is worrying

that such wonderful creatures may

struggling in the constant run of

poor springs we are having.

Colin Lucas and Tricia Taylor

A n a p p e a l f o r E m a i l s

The Suffolk Naturalists’ Society would like, in future, to send out

reminders and notifications to members with important dates and

information. Although we put dates and information into our publications

and onto our website we are aware that sometimes these notices are

missed. This is especially important where dates, times or venues are

changed last minute. To try and combat this we would like to set up an

email mailing list for our members.

We currently have addresses for about 40% of our members, if you would

like to be part of this mailing list and receive timely reminders please

email your email address to the Secretary, Gen Broad at:

g e n . b r o a d @ s u f f o l k . g o v . u k

White Admiral 91 22

S i l k - c o v e r e d l a m p p o s t s

A d u l t m a l e b r i d g e s p i d e r , L a r i n i o i d e s s c l o p e t a r i u s

White Admiral 91 23

On an Internet spider-related

forum in August of last year

someone expressed concern about

the number of large ‘huntsmen-

type’ spiders and the amount of

silk on the lampposts along

Bridges Walk in the centre of

Thetford, where an old bridge

straddles the Rivers Thet and

Little Ouse. (The bridge connects

the West Norfolk and West Suffolk

vice counties as used for biological

recording). On investigation, the

lampposts were indeed profusely

covered with silk and associated

with it were some quite large

spiders. However, they were bridge

spiders, Larinioides sclopetarius, a

native species usually found close

to water. No other species were

identified although most of the

spiders were towards the tops of

the lampposts and so could not be

examined. Some lampposts had

around 20 adult spiders on them,

and several smaller ones.

The reason that the spiders took

up residence on the lampposts can

only be guessed at but the bridge is

an old one with less room for water

to pass underneath than other

bridges nearby. A few days before

the issue was aired on the Internet

there had been heavy rain. So,

perh ap s th e mo s t l ike ly

explanation is that rain had caused

the river level to rise to such an

extent that water had backed up at

the bridge, driving the spiders off

it and on to the nearby lampposts.

Alan Thornhill

L a m p p o s t c o v e r e d w i t h s i l k

White Admiral 91 24

H a r b o u r P o r p o i s e P h o c o e n a p h o c o e n a

a t L a n d g u a r d & O r f o r d n e s s

L a n d g u a r d

Records of Harbour Porpoise at

Landguard over the past 25 years

were analysed to show a

considerable increase from its

rarity status last century to

becoming almost expected in

recent years.

1989 2014

L a n d g u a r d P o r p o i s e A n n u a l T o t a l s 1 9 8 9 t o 2 0 1 4

Data gleaned from the internet

is obviously out of date as the

species is noted on various web

sites as being non-existent in

south-east England. An even

greater rise in Harbour Porpoise

sightings has been noted at

Dungeness, Kent over a similar

time period although the

increase began earlier at this

location (Walker 2014). Records

at Landguard have been noted in

all months with a distinct peak

in April and May.

H a r b o u r P o r p o i s e L a n d g u a r d P o i n t M a y 2 0 1 2

( A l l a n K i n g )

White Admiral 91 25

The maximum number seen at any

one time has been five on 10th

February 2014 and five on 17th

and 18th May 2013. Females with

a calf in tow have been noted on

several occasions. The same

individuals may be involved in

sightings on different days but this

simple review of the data shows a

remarkable shift in the recent

fortunes of the species. The species

is now almost expected on flat calm

days in the summer if the effort is

put in to find them.

L a n d g u a r d P o r p o i s e M o n t h l y T o t a l s 1 9 8 9 t o 2 0 1 4

O r f o r d n e s s

At Orfordness, looking at ten years

of records going back to 2006, the

Harbour Porpoise appears to have

become a bit scarcer in recent

years although this might be due to

a reduction in the amount of time

spent sea-watching. Sightings here

are rare in the winter months, but

like at Landguard, there is a

distinct peak in April/May. Most

records are of one or two but counts

of five or more have been confirmed

on four dates with ten on 7th May

2006, six on 25th April 2011 and

five on both 2nd May 2010 and 7th

June 2014. The counts are of the

minimum number of individuals

seen at any one time, and due to

the difficulty in observing this

species and its highly mobile

nature , the numbers are

undoubtedly under-recorded. The

White Admiral 91 26

record count of ten on 2nd May

2006 was offshore from the

lighthouse and included at least

two calves. This was a calm sunny

day with the sea like a millpond,

and it is interesting to note that

some of the porpoises were very

inactive, laying just beneath the

surface with the tops of their back

and dorsal fin exposed, almost like

they were sunbathing!

Nigel Odin & Mike Marsh -

Landguard Bird Observatory

Reference:

Walker, D. 2014 The Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena at Dungeness, Dungeness Bird

Observatory 2013 Report p83 – 84.

S u f f o l k B i o l o g i c a l R e c o r d i n g O n l i n e

Suffolk Biological Recording

Online or Suffolk BRO for short is

the name of the new online

recording section of the Suffolk

Biological Records Centre’s

(SBRC) website.

This system is in effect an upgrade

from the online recording page we

previously hosted, courtesy of

iRecord, which I wrote about in

White Admiral 85. Rather than

just hosting a simple recording

form we now have a complete

recording system built into our

website that anyone can use to

make records of Suffolk wildlife.

The system makes use of the same

code (INDICIA) that was used to

create national systems like

iRecord and features some of the

same tools to help standardise

online inputting and also make it

user friendly. Features include

interactive calendars for capturing

dates, built in species dictionaries

for inputting species names and a

google maps interface for capturing

grid references by simply clicking

on a map.

Apart from simplifying the process

of record inputting the system also

features many reporting tools to

allow registered users to explore

what else has been recorded online

by other users. Registered users

also have the ability to join or

create recording groups centred

around a place or particular

species group of interest and

allows them to quickly see what

others in their group have

recorded.

However, the real power of having

our own complete recording system

is that we can edit the code behind

the website and create our own

bespoke species surveys and

recording forms. This means that

White Admiral 91 27

we can design recording forms that

ask specific questions for specific

species and design more effective

surveys. By doing this we have

managed to create some public

surveys for several species

including Turtle Doves, Stag

Beetles and Rosemary Leaf

Beetles. We have also been able to

design a recording page for the

Suffolk Save Our Swifts (SWT &

SOG) survey as detailed earlier in

this issue.

Using our website we have also

been able to help people running

recording events such as bioblitz

surveys by providing them with a

platform to submit and explore

records from the event. Dedicated

species and recording event

surveys are an area in which we

hope to expand our website in the

future by working with conserva-

tion organisations who want to run

a wildlife survey but may not have

the tools to do this themselves.

You can find the online recording

pages at the following web address

http: / /www.suffolkbrc.org.uk/

suffolkbro or by going to the SBRC

website homepage and clicking on

the menu link to ‘recording’. Once

you have navigated to the

recording homepage you can either

select from a number of public

surveys to take part in or you can

register to create an account. Once

you’ve registered and your account

has been approved by one of the

staff at the SBRC you will be sent

an email saying that your account

has been activated. You can now

log in to the recording homepage to

unlock all the features of the

website. You will now be able to

use all of the recording forms, look

at previously submitted records

and join recording groups.

The recording pages have been live

now since late Spring and already

over 3,300 records have been

submitted which includes 1,199

different species.

This is by no means a replacement

of traditional recording methods

and we will always accept records

in what ever format they come in

(as long as we have a who, what,

where and when). Suffolk

Biological Recording Online is

designed to offer people an

alternative way of recording and to

accommodate a new generation of

natural historians who like to do

everything online and very quickly.

Even if you do not wish to create

an account I would invite you, at

least, to take part in the public

surveys that we are creating, that

are open to all to use.

Ben Heather - Biological Records

Officer, Suffolk Biological Records

Centre.

White Admiral 91 28

N a t u r e D a y a t B r a i n t r e e D i s t r i c t M u s e u m

i n H o n o u r o f J o h n R a y

On Saturday 28th November 2015 Braintree District Museum is holding an

exciting nature day to mark the anniversary of the birth of local nature

hero John Ray. The day includes a range of talks, workshops and stands,

with something for all ages and for nature novices through to wildlife

experts. Braintree District Museum are pleased to be hosting two

prominent speakers – Roger Tabor, TV wildlife and nature presenter, and

Dr Roos of Lincoln University - who will be giving us insights into Ray’s

life, work and scientific travels.

Tickets are £6.50 for adults and £3.50 for children and can be purchased in

advance by calling 01376 328868. Places on each talk and workshop can

also be booked in advance. Full details of the program can be found on the

press release here http://www.sns.org.uk/files/pdfs/John%20Ray%20Day%

20Press%20Release-1.pdf .

John Ray founded natural history as a scientific, experiment-based and

university-worthy subject in Britain. He rose from humble beginnings as

the son of the village blacksmith to pursue a successful career at the

University of Cambridge, and then an even more successful independent

research career after leaving the university in 1662. He developed the first

scientific definition of a species and used this to produce the first scientific

classification of plants, animals, birds, fish, reptiles and insects. His three-

volume History of Plants included over 15,000 species and covered much of

the known world. His work helped pave the way for Linnaeus’

classification system and Darwin’s work on evolution. Ray invented the

terms petal and pollen, and was the first scientist to study and record the

complete life cycle of the butterfly. Discover more at our John Ray day, and

don’t forget to explore our John Ray gallery as well. The Museum would

like to thank the John Ray Trust for their support of this event.

Talks:

10:30am Introduction to John Ray with Roger Tabor

11:30am John Ray’s European Travels with Francis Willughby and

Martin Lister with Dr Anna Marie Roos

1:30pm A Year in the Wildlife of Bocking with Alexander Bass

2:30pm John Ray’s Legacy for the 21st Century with Malcolm Bryan

S u f f o l k N a t u r a l i s t s ’ S o c i e t y B u r s a r i e s

The Suffolk Naturalists’ Society offers six bursaries, of up to £500 each,

annually. Larger projects may be eligible for grants of over £500 – please

contact SNS for further information.

Activities eligible for funding include: travel and subsistence for field

work, visits to scientific institutions, scientific equipment, identification

guide books or other items relevant to the study.

Morley Bursary - Studies involving insects (or other invertebrates) other

than butterflies and moths.

Chipperfield Bursary - Studies involving butterflies or moths.

Cranbrook Bursary - Studies involving mammals or birds.

Rivis Bursary - Studies of the county's flora.

Simpson Bursary - In memory of Francis Simpson. The bursary will be

awarded for a botanical study where possible.

Nash Bursary - Studies involving beetles.

Applications should be set in the context of a research question i.e. a clear

statement of what the problem is and how the applicant plans to tackle it.

Criteria:

1. Projects should include a large element of original work and further

knowledge of Suffolk’s flora, fauna or geology.

2. A written account of the project is required within 12 months of

receipt of a bursary. This should be in a form suitable for publication

in one of the Society's journals: Suffolk Natural History, Suffolk Birds

or White Admiral.

3. Suffolk Naturalists' Society should be acknowledged in all publicity

associated with the project and in any publications emanating from

the project.

Applications may be made at any time. Please apply to SNS for an

application form or visit our website for more details www.sns.org.uk/

pages/bursary.shtml.

The Suffolk Naturalists’ Society, founded in 1929 by Claude Morley (1874 -1951),

pioneered the study and recording of the County’s flora, fauna and geology. It is the seed

bed from which have grown other important wildlife organisations in Suffolk, such as

Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) and Suffolk Ornithologists’ Group (SOG).

Recording the natural history of Suffolk is still the Society’s primary objective. Members’

observations go to specialist recorders and then on to the Suffolk Biological Records

Centre at Ipswich Museum to provide a basis for detailed distribution maps and

subsequent analysis with benefits to environmental protection.

Funds held by the Society allow it to offer substantial grants for wildlife studies.

Annually, SNS publishes its transactions Suffolk Natural History, containing studies on

the County’s wildlife, and the County bird report, Suffolk Birds (compiled by SOG). The

newsletter White Admiral, with comment and observations, appears three times a year.

SNS organises two members’ evenings a year and a conference every two years. Field

meetings are held throughout the year often in conjunction with other specialist

organisations.

Subscriptions: Individual members £15.00; Family membership £17.00; Student

Membership £10.00; Corporate membership £17.00.

Members receive the three publications above.

Joint membership with the Suffolk Ornithologists’ Group: Individual members £28.00;

Family membership £32.00. Joint members receive, in addition to the above, the SOG

newsletter The Harrier.

As defined by the Constitution of this Society its objectives shall be:

2.1 To study and record the fauna, flora and geology of the County

2.2 To publish a Transactions and Proceedings and a Bird Report. These shall be free to

members except those whose annual subscriptions are in arrears contact:

2.3 To liaise with other natural history societies and conservation bodies in the County

2.4 To promote interest in natural history and the activities of the Society.

For more details about the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society contact:

Hon. Secretary, Suffolk Naturalists’ Society, c/o Ipswich Museum,

High Street, Ipswich, IP1 3QH. Telephone 01473 400251 enquires@sns.org.uk

J u m p i n g S p i d e r b y B e n H e a t h e r

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