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Natural History Museum Library

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No. 51

LONDON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

Published: November 1972
Price: One pound post free

THE LONDON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

WHATEVER your interest in natural history — even if you are still a beginner —
the Society will welcome you as a member. You are offered a wonderful oppor¬
tunity of extending your knowledge and increasing your enjoyment. The Society’s
Area lies within a 20-mile radius of St Paul’s and here most of its activities take
place. Although so much of the area is covered with bricks and mortar it is a
most exciting region with an astonishing variety of fauna and flora. The Society
consists of sections whose meetings are open to all members without formality.
If you are interested in : archaeology, botany, ecology, entomology, geology,
mammal study, ornithology, rambling, or if you are a young naturalist there
is a section ready to help you.

We offer you :

INDOOR MEETINGS

Nearly every week throughout the year with Films, Lectures and Discussions
on all aspects of natural history.

FIELD MEETINGS

Led by experts, at weekends and on summer evenings to visit interesting natural
history places, often outside our Area. These excursions are very popular with
beginners wishing to improve their knowledge.

PUBLICATIONS

The London Naturalist , published annually, a permanent record of the Society’s
activities, including records of plants and animal life in the London Area.

The London Bird Report, published annually, containing papers, facts and figures
of special interest to bird-watchers in London. Compiled by the Ornithological
Section which also issues a free bi-monthly Bulletin (50p per year to non-members
post free).

LIBRARY

A large selection of books and periodicals, many with special reference to London.
READING CIRCLES

Many important natural history journals, enabling members who subscribe to
these circles to read any of the journals at a fraction of the cost of an individual
subscription.

MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

members . £2-50

JUNIOR MEMBERS . £U25

FAMILY MEMBERS . £1*25

All members except family members receive one free copy of The London Naturalist
and The London Bird Report.

All details may be obtained from: —

THE MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY, MR A. J. BARRETT,

21 GREEN WAY,

FRINTON-ON-SEA, ESSEX, C013 9AL

!

THE

LONDON

NATURALIST

'r r

2 J rt

V%5f Vi\c:

the journal of the

LONDON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

No. 51

for the year 1971

Edited by J. R. Laundon
with the assistance of
R. M. Burton and K. H. Hyatt

World List abbreviation: Lond. Nat.

Published November 1972

© London Natural History Society 1972

Printed by F. H. Brown Ltd., Sandygate Mill,
Burnley, BB11 1RP.

LONDON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

Founded 1858

President :

Miss Evelyn Brown
58 Ladbroke Grove, W.ll

Honorary Vice-Presidents:

E. B. Bangerter, B. Campbell, ph.d., C. P. Castell, b.sc., R. C. Homes,
m.b.o.u., Eric Hosking, f.r.p.s., m.b.o.u., Rt Hon. Lord Hurcomb,
g.c.b., k.b.e., Miss C. E. Longfield, f.r.g.s., f.r.e.s., m.b.o.u., E. M.
Nicholson, c.b., ll.d., m.b.o.u., R. M. Payne, f.r.e.s., J. H. G.
Peterken, f.l.s., Mrs L. M. P. Small, H. Spooner.

Honorary Librarian:

R. A. Scoales, m.a., a.l.a., Central Library (Reference Dept.),

Walpole Park, Ealing, W.5.

Officers for 1972

i

Vice-Presidents: G. Beven, m.d., b.sc., f.z.s., m.b.o.u., R. E.
Butler, b.sc., f.g.s., B. L. J. Byerley, f.r.e.s., S. Cramp, b.a., f.z.s.,
m.b.o.u., R. W. Hale, V. F. Hancock, m.b.o.u., J. E. Lousley.

Secretary: P. C. Holland, 28 Hetherington Road, SW4 7NU.

Treasurer: A. J. Barrett.

Joint Membership Secretaries: A. J. Barrett and Mrs B. F. Barrett,
21 Green Way, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, C013 9AL.

Librarian and Publication Sales Secretary: Miss H. Britton, 30
Boileau Road, W5 3AH.

Editor, London Naturalist: J. R. Laundon, f.m.a., 14 Victory Avenue,
Morden, Surrey.

Sub-Editors, London Naturalist: R. M. Burton, b.a. (Botany), K. H.
Hyatt (Zoology).

Editor, London Bird Report: P. J. Grant, 16 Windermere Court,
Eastrees Park, Ashford, Kent.

Elected Members of Council: L. Baker, m.b.o.u., R, M. Burton, b.a.,
D. Griffin, m.a., m.b.o.u., Miss E. M. Hillman, b.sc., Miss J. M.
Stoddart.

Contents

Officers for 1972 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2

Report of the Society for 1971 . 4

Studying wildlife in Holland Park — Evelyn P. Brown ... 7

Recording maps and overlays — H. A. Sandford . 20

The albino form of the grey squirrel in the London Area —

M. Towns . 22

The status of the silver bream in the River Thames —
Alwyne Wheeler . 26

A review of the macrolepidoptera of the London Area for
1970 and 1971 — C. G. M. de Worms . 28

Survey of Bookham Common : thirtieth year
Progress report for 1971 39

Changes in the distribution of trees and shrubs on Bookham
Common, 1953-1971 — E. M. Hillman . 45

A rabbit survey of the Bookham Commons — M. Towns ... 55

Gall midges of the pedunculate oak — Armand E. Le Gros 63

The Arachnida of Bookham Common — Armand E. Le Gros 68

Report on European Conservation Year 1970 — L. M. P. Small 77

Conservation report 1971 — E. J. Dawson . 81

Obituaries :

James Fisher, 1912-1970 83

John Birkhead Foster, 1894-1970 84

Lydia J. Johns . 84

Margaret Scholey . 85

Books ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 86

The Society’s Rules . 88

Statement of affairs at 31 October 1971 . 96

General account and publications account . 98

4

The London Naturalist, No. 51, 1972

Report of the Society for 1971

There has been no significant change in our overall membership
since last year, new enrolments having exceeded losses by eight only.
The totals of paid-up members as at 31 October 1971 are as follows:

Ordinary members

947

Affiliated members

23

Senior members

17

Family members

72

Junior members

62

Honorary members

16

Life members

19

1,156

With deep regret we have to report the death of the following
members: T. R. Eagles, J. B. Foster, Miss L. E. Johns, Miss J. Lamb,
Mrs R. F. Moorman, H. M. Pratt, Miss M. A. R. S. Scholey,
D. S. Warren. Obituaries of some of these members will be published
in the Society’s journals in recognition of the services rendered by
them to the Society.

The Society has now received the monies accruing to it from the
estate of the late M. T. Elindson. This amounts to £25,264-34 which
has been invested for the time being. As previously reported, it is
intended to use this money to secure suitable premises as a head¬
quarters for the Society.

Discussions are currently going forward on the matter of premises,
which, if successful, will leave us with the Hindson Bequest funds
largely intact. If we are fortunate in this respect, then alternative
uses for the funds can be decided upon. Meanwhile, it would be
premature to report more at this time.

The efforts begun last year to publicise the Society and to attract
new members have not, it seems, had the impact we had hoped for,
although the small increase mentioned above is itself a hopeful sign,
following as it does three years of falling membership. The cam¬
paign will continue and this, together with the efforts of existing
members to draw more of their friends into the fold, will help us to
maintain, at least, our present strength.

The Editor of the London Naturalist, P. A. Moxey, has found that
his duties as Warden of the Epping Forest Conservation Centre at
High Beach, Loughton, have left him with too little time to continue
in office. Indeed, members will have been disappointed not to have
received the journal for 1970, which should have been published this
summer. We hope it will be published early in the New Year. We
commiserate with Mr Moxey for not being able to continue his

Report of the Society for 1971

5

editorship, but thank him for his work in the past and wish him
every success in his post at High Beach. Next year’s journal
(No. 51 for 1971) will be edited by J. R. Laundon aided by a team
of editorial assistants and helpers.

Plans were made this year for the production of a Society Bulletin
to be issued six times a year free to all members. This would embrace
the previously existing Ornithological Bulletin and include pages
devoted to other aspects of natural history. It was intended that the
first issue would be published in January 1972, but the project has
had to be postponed owing to the departure for the West Country of
Mr and Mrs R. Allison. Between them they have housed the
Society’s duplicator and have dealt with much duplicating work for
us, including the pages for the Ornithological Bulletin. Mr Allison
combined this work with the duties of Business Manager of the
Ornithological Bulletin and they were both important members of
the production team. Whilst thanking the Allisons heartily for all
they have done for us in the past and wishing them well in the future,
we would like to extend a welcome to Mrs Mary Anderson, who has
nobly offered to house the machine and provide a duplicating service
for the Society and its sections. For the time being the Ornithological
Bulletin will continue as in the past and the possibility of producing
the Society Bulletin will be reconsidered as soon as practicable.

Increasing costs have obliged us to give thought to the printing of
our two journals and the decision was taken during the year to transfer
this work to provincial printers (F. H. Brown Ltd.). We were sorry
to sever the very cordial relationship we had enjoyed with F. J. Milner
& Sons Ltd. for so many years.

The Sections have once again completed an interesting and varied
programme of meetings. The Ornithological Section’s formal
meetings continue to attract audiences of 100 and more, whereas only
the occasional meeting arranged by other committees ever approaches
such numbers. All too often the attendances are pitifully small and
the averages reported are correspondingly low. They range from
eighteen to thirty, which is much the same as in previous years.
Informal meetings are by their nature small gatherings, but are
deservedly popular with those who attend them. They are parti¬
cularly useful in providing opportunities for discussion and in enabling
members to examine specimens or watch techniques being demon¬
strated. Field meetings are enjoyed by many members, notwith¬
standing continual fare increases and transport difficulties. These
range from afternoon walks to extended visits to interesting areas in
all parts of the country. This year, the botanists went to Swanage
for the Spring Bank Holiday and the ornithologists had three week¬
end visits to Cley in Norfolk.

A number of projects are going forward on the research front.
Mapping schemes are in advanced stages for plants and for birds,

6

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

though both the Botanical and the Ornithological Committees are
urgently appealing for help from members in filling gaps in their
recording maps. Several projects are being carried out at Bookham
Common by the Ecology Committee and its supporters. Help from
other members with this work would also be warmly welcomed.

We conclude this brief report on the Society’s activities over the
past year with a sincere expression of thanks to all those members
and friends who have contributed in manifold ways to the success
of its enterprises.

/

Plate 1. Holland House: the south front and rebuilt east wing, originally
c. 1640, of the ambitious Jacobean house. 1967. Photograph by Evelyn P.
Brown.

Plate 2. Holland Park: the chestnut avenue and woodland in zone 1. 1967.

Photograph by Evelyn P. Brown.

7

Studying Wildlife in Holland Park

by Evelyn P. Brown

(. Presidential address delivered on 7 December 1971)

Introduction

At the start of this address I would like to say how appropriate it is
that I should be dealing with Holland Park, because it was members
of this Society who did much to assist in ensuring its preservation as
a London Park and as a place of considerable natural history
significance following the destruction of the old house in the Second
World War. These members were the previous lady President, Miss
Cynthia Longfield, our two biggest benefactors, the late Mr Maurice
Hindson and Mr Cyril Castell, and two of our best known members
who are still active, Mr Stanley Cramp and Mr W. G. Teagle. We
have, therefore, a special interest in this area and a special obligation
to watch and try to preserve its natural history interest; the Society
can always put up a strong case for an area where its members are
carrying out scientific work and/or using it for field meetings. I am
grateful to members of the Society who have assisted me and to the
superintendent and staff of the Park.

History of the House and Grounds

As this is a Presidential Address I am going, as far as I am able, to
deal will all aspects of Holland Park, Kensington, and first I would
like to give a short history of the house (Plate 1) and grounds (Plate 2).

The house, then known as Cope Castle, was built by Sir Walter
Cope about 1605; it is known to have been inhabited in 1606. Sir
Walter Cope was a favourite of James I and held several appointments.
The actual architect of this building seems to be uncertain though
there is a book of drawings by John Thorpe at the Sir John Soane
Museum which show that Thorpe had a connexion with the building.
Inigo Jones and Nicholas Stone are also said to have planned altera¬
tions and additions but the only evidence of their having had anything
to do with it are the two gate-piers of stone now fronting all that
remains of the house, which were made by Stone, whose Notebook
contains the following: “Kensington, 23 March, 1629, Nic Stone,
undertake for the Earl of Holland 2 Peeres of good Portland stone to
hang a pair of great wooden gates on for £100”. An engraving of
the gates by W. Proud in the British Museum attributes them to
Inigo Jones.

Alterations and additions were soon made to the house, there
being accounts for 1637 to 1640 relating to additions, and further
adjustments came many times during its long life. The fleur-de-lis
was the chief emblem in the arms of the Copes, and it can still be
seen in the decoration of the remains of the house, but it does not
follow that these remains are of the original house, since they are

8

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

the arms of Sir Walter Cope’s daughter, who married Sir Henry Rich,
who became Earl of Holland in 1624. Lord Holland’s mother was
the “Stella” of Sir Philip Sydney. Lord Holland vacillated between
the Cavaliers and Roundheads and was executed by the Roundheads
in 1649. The house is thought then to have been used by Fairfax for
his headquarters for a short time and Cromwell is said to have met
Ireton on what may now be the playing field to discuss the affairs of
the nation. Ireton was deaf and it was thought by meeting on the
field their conversation would be less likely to be heard by eaves¬
droppers. Lady Holland was, however, permitted to return fairly
soon and perhaps rather surprisingly gave encouragement to plays
and players, so the open-air performances which now take place in
the summer have a traditional background. The house and grounds
stayed with the Earls of Holland till 1721 when they passed to
William Edwards, subsequently Lord Kensington, but in 1746 Henry
Fox, a younger brother of Lord Ilchester took a lease and sub¬
sequently bought them. They remained with the Fox family until
1952, when, following the partial destruction of the house during the
Second World War they were bought by the London County Council,
now the Greater London Council.

Lord Ilchester obtained certain restrictions on the use of the
grounds since the London County Council (Holland House) Act,
1952, stated that certain parts of the property, as marked on a plan,
shall not be used for certain purposes including a swimming pool,
amusement fair, dancing or band music and so on. The G.L.C. also
have an obligation to maintain the statue of Lord Holland “. . . in as
good order and condition as the same shall be at the date of com¬
pletion of the sale and purchase (but so that the Purchasers shall not
be responsible for its deterioration through natural causes).”

Many famous people have been associated with the house;
William III nearly bought it instead of Kensington Palace; Addison
married the then Countess of Holland and wrote two charming
letters about birds, of Fulham not Holland House alas, to his pro¬
fligate stepson; Horace Walpole, Charles James Fox, Napoleon III,
Samuel Rogers, George Watts, are just a few with associations.
With its acquisition by the Fox family, the house became a centre for
the Whigs as well as for many cultural activities.

On 14 April 1808 Lady Flolland wrote of a stay at Holland House:
“We have enjoyed ourselves mightily here: the fresh air, verdure, and
singing birds are delicious at all times, but more especially after the
dense vapours, gas lights and din of Pall Mall. As yet the melody of
the nightingale has only been heard by Lauderdale. He protests to
having heard one singing; I know not how far one may depend upon
the accuracy of his organs. These rustic pleasures have occupied
and kept me out of the way of hearing much news.” The singing
birds are still delicious, especially if you are lucky enough to hear a
dawn chorus, but the nightingale, alas, has not been heard since 1884.

Brown — Studying Wildlife in Holland Park

9

With this brief summary of the history of the house which has
been fully written up in two volumes by the late Earl of Ilchester
(1937; 1937a) and since then in a more popular style by Hudson
(1967), I now pass to the grounds.

The grounds are on the southern slopes of a hill on which in the
past springs used to arise. Indeed between 1802 and 1805 the house
was thought to be threatened by the water from these springs affecting
the foundations. This water was at some time collected on the
North Lawn in a big drain and diverted away from the house and I
understand that tnis drain still exists. However, in the last ten years,
probably due to the drainage when the new comprehensive school
was built, these springs have ceased and the small natural pond on
the summit of the hill now7 has to be replenished by a piped water
supply, but the three curious stone tanks which formed part of what
was at one time a “Japanese garden” still remain full of water with,
I am told by the Park staff, no apparent supply.

The grounds, although retaining much of their historic layout are
nevertheless and inevitably very different. The Earl of Ilchester
(1937a) writes “The drive by which the House is approached from
the lodges rises steadily for about a quarter of a mile. Trees and
bushes skirt the ascent on both sides, and beneath them in spring a
profusion of bluebells carpet the ground”. He writes of the elms
“which once formed a noble avenue” having gone, but now this
drive, the entrance from Kensington High Street, through a fine iron
gateway is a broad asphalt path, flanked by trees, admittedly many
of them poplars and planes, but with no bushes or bluebells, just grass
so trodden as to be barely recognisable. Immediately to the left of
this drive is the playing-field. At the top of the drive are the remains
of the house.

The retaining wall of the south terrace built in 1848 still remains,
and a flight of steps goes up through it, flanked by the Nicholas Stone
gate piers to which I have already referred. The east wing of the
house has been rebuilt and extended to the east by a modern building
built round a grassy courtyard with a small stretch of water in it, the
buildings of which comprise the international youth hostel opened in
1959. The ground floor facade of the south front of the house,
including the west wing, remain facing a lawn with box hedges and
this forms the backcloth, stage and auditorium for the open air
entertainments held there in the summer.

Immediately to the west of the house is the “Dutch Garden*' laid
out in 1812 by Bonaiuti, factotum and librarian to the Hollands.
This remains much as it has always been but the fountains have
evidently been altered. The ancient brick wall covered with creepers
still remains, though part of it had to be rebuilt recently. To the
south of the garden runs the remains of a terrace and arcade which
linked the house with the garden ballroom and the Orangery, all
built in the mid-nineteenth century. These two have been much in

10

The London Naturalist, No. 51, 1972

the news recently : first the Orangery, which has been used as a place
for people to sit in and for meetings and concerts, was the subject of
questions in Parliament; then the garden ballroom, which had
been used as a restaurant, and the Orangery were damaged by fire.
The garden ballroom was originally the granary of the stables and was
converted about 1 849. The arches alongside it are the remains of the
old stables, probably built about 1637/40 and removed when the new
garden was laid out in the early nineteenth century. Near these is a
seat in the garden wall formed by a Tudor fireplace and known as
Rogers’ seat, where Samuel Rogers used to sit, and where Lord
Holland’s couplet, composed in 1812 as a tribute to the poet is
engraved on the wall :

Here Rogers Sat, and here for ever dwell

With me those Pleasures that he sings so well.

Vandals destroyed this engraving in 1971 but I am delighted to
say the G.L.C. has replaced it in its original place. Lady Holland
introduced species of Dahlia to England in 1804 and the gravel
terraces on the west side of the arches mark the place where the seeds
were first sown. Near here too are yew trees hiding a pedestal which
formerly bore a bust of Napoleon. The Ilchesters of that period
were admirers of Napoleon but escaped the fate of the Stuart Lord
Holland. In front of it now is a modern Eric Gill statue. The Park
staff offices are housed in what were the stables south of the Dutch
garden. South of the garden too now lies a new rose garden, tennis
courts and a children’s sand-pit.

The Park formerly stretched far beyond here and included a lake
but this was all sold off and built over during the past century or so.
West of the garden now is a car park and the nursery. North of the
house and garden are two lawns, one open and one enclosed and in
the latter are two beech trees, the remains of a clump of beeches.
Here too is one of the two remaining cedars. Cedars were included
in the extensive planting which took place in the eighteenth century
but while the two remaining may be direct descendants, it is unlikely
they are those actual trees. From the north lawn, directly north of
the house, is the Rose Walk, formerly flanked by Caroline Testout
roses. These are, however, now being phased out and replaced much
of the way by plants of Azalea and Erica. At the end of the Rose
Walk is the statue of Lord Holland by Watts and Boehm. Beyond
this is the woodland formerly known as The Wildernesse. Here
there is a wide variety of trees, including ash, birch, elm. oak, plane,
sycamore, some fruit trees and two avenues, one narrow one of limes
planted by Lady Holland in 1876 and the other of chestnuts (Plate 2),
whose chief glory is the carpet of pink petals in the spring.

Natural History

Geologically the Park is on a gravel ridge with London clay below
and there is a sandy top soil, particularly good for the London area.

Brown — Studying Wildlife in Holland Park

11

The gravel varies in depth from a few inches to many feet and this
accounts for the tendency for the water to break through in places,
which I have already referred to.

In my earlier paper (Brown 1963) I divided the Park into four
habitat zones. Now there are only three. The fourth zone which
comprised waste land has been tidied up and cultivated. This was to
be expected and no one would wish otherwise. It may lessen the
number of wild plants and wild birds but the derelict area round the
ruins of the house was no beauty spot. This area can now, therefore,
be regarded as part of zone 2, the cultivated zone.

There has been little change in zone 1 , the wooded area (Plate 2)
on the northern side. A few trees have fallen or been cut down,
mostly the older ones. The leaf heap in the woods seems to have
grown bigger. The dominant plant of the herb layer remains cow
parsley ( Anthriscus sylvestris ) and there is still plenty of bramble and
holly. Some care should be taken in studying the flora since an
attempt was made some years ago to grow many species of wild
flowers along the north side of Chestnut Avenue. Some, of course,
have thriven to the extinction of others, but it was always on the
shady side for many plants. However, there is a clearing at the end
of Chestnut Avenue where dusky cranesbill ( Geranium phaeum) and
globe flower ( Trollius europaeus) are to be found. There are signs,
too, that the Clean Air Act is taking effect in the increase in mosses.
Mistletoe ( Viscum album) has appeared on a chestnut tree on the edge
of the wood. Some natural regeneration takes place since there are
many yew seedlings to be found in the woods — there is a big yew tree
in one of the gardens nearby and the thrushes in particular like the
berries. It seems more likely that the regeneration takes place from
this yew than from those in the Holland Park garden itself. Oak
seedlings can also be found but there are always far too many
sycamore seedlings and the Park staff have to keep these under
control. A house has been built in the north-east corner for the
Park staff and one of the best owl trees was removed to accommodate
it, but a cedar is still there, and one old elm used by owls for over
fifteen years remains. This is the area least crowded by the public
but there is an increasing tendency for dogs to run unleashed and boys
and hippy-like characters to invade the enclosures. There is,
however, a children’s adventure playground on the edge of the wood
in the south-west corner where children can unleash their energy
without doing damage. This is still the best area for birds and the
dawn chorus can rival and even beat many a country dawn chorus.
Its power defeats any attempt at individual identification and needs
to be experienced to be believed so close to the centre of London.

Zone 2 is the cultivated area in the southern part of the grounds;
apart from the alterations to the cafe and restaurant arrangements
and the addition of the area round the house, it has also altered
little. In this zone there has been one marked change in the habits

12

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

of the birds. This is the increasing tendency for the black-headed
gulls to come down and feed actually on the playing-field, probably
because fewer trees and more buildings now surround it, or maybe
there are more tame gulls. Early in the morning and when the
playing-field is closed for rehabilitation, as it usually is at the begin¬
ning of the year, this playing-field cannot be ignored by anyone
watching the birds. Here come the redwings if it is cold after
Christmas, and here too come some unexpected migrants, such as a
wheatear twice in April 1970. Mistle thrushes, song thrushes, many
blackbirds, and two or three crows can usually be found here but
the flocks of starlings are smaller than they were. The gardens are
now floodlit up to midnight but this has in fact probably affected
zone 3 more than zone 2.

Zone 3, the intermediate zone in the central part of the grounds,
has not altered much as far as vegetation is concerned, although some
of the conifers planted since the G.L.C. took over have grown
considerably, and people seem to get into the enclosures more than
they did. The willow warbler no longer even attempts to breed;
the blackcaps and chiffchaff territories are based more in the wood¬
land, the woodpigeon roost has gone, probably because of the
floodlighting, but the birches and the conifers still attract birds, for
instance tits, redpolls and goldcrests.

From the entomology point of view there are obviously many
small animals. One gets bitten in the woods in the summer ! There
are no longer any dragonflies, and except for the odd cabbage white
one rarely sees any butterflies. I saw a member of the public pick up
a black moth, probably a melanic pepper moth, one day. There are
wasps and a solitary bee which can be watched emerging from holes
in the ground in the spring but I think an expert study might be
interesting.

The mammal situation has worsened in that grey squirrels
appeared in 1969 and have now increased in numbers to some five
or six. The public like them but they may be affecting the owls and
further depredations will undoubtedly follow. There no longer
appear to be any hedgehogs but occasionally a mouse, presumably
a house mouse, is seen, and a bat was recorded in 1970.

The wood pond is obviously a traditional frog spawning place and
they still appear in some numbers towards the end of March but the
depredations of the schoolboys may have an adverse effect.

Such curious animals can be let loose in the Park by the public —
three domestic rabbits appeared on one occasion — that mammal
records must always be regarded with some suspicion.

Bird Population

The bird population appears to have stabilised and the annual
figures since 1964 remain remarkably similar. This date has been

Table ]. The breeding birds of Holland Park, 1964-1971. B = bred; b = probably bred; 0=observed.

Brown — Studying Wildlife in Holland Park

13

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Table 2. The non-breeding birds of Holland Park, 1964-1971. Gulls flying over are not included. O^observed.

1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971

14

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

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Brown— Studying Wildlife in Holland Park

15

taken as the base date since earlier years were covered in my two
previous papers (Brown, 1963, 1964). The number of proved
breeding species (Table 1) in four out of the eight years is 18,
excluding feral pigeons, and the total number of species observed
(Table 2) and breeding varies from 41 to 46. The breeding species
figure can be raised to an average of 20 with the inclusion of species
for which no firm breeding evidence has been obtained but which
have been present and singing throughout the breeding season, while
the total list of species observed could probably be raised to 50 or
more by daily early-morning visits, though the absence of any
substantial piece of water inevitably limits this. These figures show
a slight drop on the peak years of 1960-63 but a slight increase over
the 1950’s period. It is worth noting that the years 1966-67 were the
lowest and 1970 the highest. The number of species observed but
not breeding also remains remarkably consistent, ranging from 21 to
24 with 22 being the figure for five out of the eight years, even though
the species recorded varies.

The problems of studying the bird life of Holland Park include the
necessity of not looking for nests since, with one or two exceptions
such as crows, to find a nest will mean that it will almost inevitably
be found by some predator, human or otherwise; carrying nesting
material or food and in most cases the presence of young birds are
the best breeding evidence, though even the latter may be misleading
at times. The dense canopy in the late spring and early summer,
while of great benefit to the birds, also inhibits easy observation.
Another problem is that the density of the bird population fills census
maps with symbols to a much greater degree than Bookham Common
maps for instance, although many of the birds recorded as seen may
be birds that have come into the Park to feed or be fed. However,
I have known as many as six robins together sparring in one place in
April. Also the birds get to know those who feed them and may well
follow people long distances in the Park with the obvious danger that
they may be recorded more than once, though it is often possible to
recognise individual birds by some behaviour or even some defect —
there has been a one-legged robin, a blue tit with an elongated twisted
beak, and an almost albino blue tit. Another difficulty is not
drawing the attention of the public to what one is watching. Breeding
success is low, with the greatest success late in the season when the
foliage is thick; late breeding can occur because of abortive earlier
attempts.

Breeding Species

In order to provide comparison with earlier years I am following
the lines of my previous papers and come now to the breeding species.
There have been no marked gains or losses during the period 1963-
1971. There are, however, some trends on which to comment.
Although tawny owls have been seen during 1971 and pellets were

16

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

found in July, during the latter part of the year they have not appeared
at their usual roosts. This is not unusual with tawny owls but
nevertheless it seems possible the grey squirrels may be adversely
affecting them. Two squirrels were playing on one of the usual owl
trees recently. I have seen only two dreys, and those recently, and
it seems possible the squirrels may have been using the owl holes.
Owl pellets found during the summer still show a predominance of
bird prey.

The great spotted woodpecker may be in danger. There is no
evidence of successful breeding since 1965, although there has been
hole-making in subsequent years. In 1971 no female was recorded.
The Park staff reported a dead male in April but a male was
subsequently seen and although it may have bred elsewhere, there
may have been a sexual imbalance. There are still plenty of old
trees in the Park so the only apparent habitat change is the building up
of the surrounding areas. However, this species seems to read my
thoughts ! I was expressing my unease about it to a Park keeper in
June when suddenly one called and a few minutes later I saw a male.
There were no further records until in September I was again
expressing my doubts, this time to Mr Maurice Ogle, an elderly
gentleman who is very interested and has given me much help.
Suddenly the woodpecker called and again I saw a male. I saw it
twice shortly afterwards but it has been silent since 9 October. Had
I better try and call it up again !

The absence of the crow from the breeding list will not even
counter-balance the grey squirrel since crows are still around and
frequently breed in Ladbroke Square. The mistle thrush is more
disappointing but this species often feeds on the playing-field and may
well breed in some of the large trees in the nearby enclosed gardens.
The willow warbler I have already mentioned — disturbance rather
than habitat change seems the explanation here.

Turning now to more hopeful prospects — the nuthatch, absent as
a confirmed breeding species between 1965 and 1970 and appearing to
be represented by only a single bird, trebled its representation in 1971
and three birds were very active in the spring with much chasing,
which eventuated in successful breeding. There are still two birds
in the Park and I hope this species is on the upgrade again. They
are popular birds and come readily for food. The coal tit is also on
the increase with at least two and probably three pairs the last two
years. I have watched one of this species take nuts from my hand
and hide them under grass tufts. The chiffchaff too has made a
come back, being present singing till the end of June in 1970 and
1971, probably breeding in 1970 and likely breeding in 1971. It is
colonising the woodland zone 1, not zone 3.

There were, however, two gains this year in the first recorded
breeding of long-tailed tit and goldcrest. I am not optimistic enough
to think they will become regular breeding species as both seem to

Brown — Studying Wildlife in Holland Park

17

have had several good breeding years and to have increased through¬
out the country, probably helped by recent mild winters. What
appears to be a permanent gain, however, is the bullfinch which has
now bred in three consecutive years, 1969, 1970 and 1971. Holland
Park is big enough to absorb one pair of these attractive but
destructive birds.

Turning now to the regular breeding species, the mallard has
shown a marked increase but this is probably because a duck count is
carried out monthly on the new stretch of water outside the Common¬
wealth Institute rather than because of any actual increase in the
Park itself. The count has led to the species being recorded in the
Park throughout the year, while up to 1964 it had tended to be absent
in the autumn and winter. Indeed the appearance of a pair of
mallard on the wood pond could before 1965 be regarded as an
indication that spring was on the way. This species is frequently
seen in trees in the spring which leads to the supposition that some of
them may be breeding in the trees. An obvious sign of over¬
population was the killing of two well-grown ducklings by a female
on the wood pond on 7 May 1971.

The woodpigeon has decreased quite considerably in numbers,
with as always low figures for October and November but also lower
figures for May, although since they tend to breed later in the year
this may not have too much significance. There is no longer a
winter roost. Feral pigeons are no longer being counted. This
species collects in large numbers at spots where it is usual for the
public to feed them, for instance the High Street, Kensington Gate,
where there are usually upwards of eighty waiting to be fed. They
are no longer breeding on the buildings in the Park but they are much
more frequently to be found in the woodland and, having a tendency
to sit in the trees in the spring, delude one into the hope that there
may be a breeding stock dove.

The jay seems to have reduced slightly in number. As even Holt
Macpherson found, breeding evidence for this species is difficult to
obtain but there appear to be two pairs holding territory in the woods
and the spring assemblies have not got into double figures as they
have done in the past. Jays feed from the litter baskets and apparent
untidiness by the public may be because the jays have thrown paper
put into the baskets on to the ground round about.

The great and blue tits show little variation in breeding numbers
nor has there been any big winter influx though the figures show a
considerable increase in January 1970. The wren shows no change
although it is worth noting that although nests were known in 1971
no young birds were seen, and families of young wrens have in the
past had no difficulty in making themselves known.

The song thrush shows little breeding variation, but in September
1968 ten were counted feeding on Cotoneaster berries and although

18

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

that number has not been seen again there does seem to be a tendency
for small numbers to appe?r at the appropriate time in the autumn
when Cotoneaster or yew berries are ripe.

Apart from the house sparrow and the feral pigeon, the blackbird
remains the most common bird of the Park. The number of singing
males during the breeding season is not high which indicates that
many of those seen in the Park are probably there to feed, but this
adaptable species has been recorded breeding unusually high in trees
and with unusual nesting material such as cellophane. It is perhaps
worth noting that an almost white blackbird has again appeared in
November 1970 and is still there in the north-west corner of the Park
at the bottom of Chestnut Avenue, the same territory occupied by a
similar bird for about seven years up to March 1965. The Earl of
Ilchester (1937a) records an almost white blackbird in this same area
in the 1930’s. In the winter many of these birds roost in the hollies
in many parts of the Park.

Robins are still plentiful with a slight increase in numbers.
Although they are to be found in the other zones, it is the woodland
zone 1 that is their stronghold. Some of them will come on the hand.
The blackcap has had an average of two pairs and usually breeds
successfully. The combination of oak trees with an undergrowth of
bramble and holly is conducive to this species. The spotted fly¬
catcher increased to three pairs in 1971 and also usually breeds
successfully.

The dunnock again is a common bird, more common because of its
unobtrusiveness than the figures show, but even so there has been a
considerable increase in its numbers. This bird, though it can be
seen in all three zones, is principally to be found in zone 3. Starlings,
on the other hand, if anything have decreased. They still occupy the
same trees but there are no longer such big flocks on the playing-field
and the Park is not a gathering ground for the roosts in the winter.

Greenfinch numbers vary but there is a small breeding population,
and the chaffinch remains at two or three pairs, usually to be found
in zone 2, the cultivated zone, although they may feed in the woods.
The house sparrow is everywhere. Counts are no longer being taken.
Winter roosts include the big patch of bamboos, the palm trees which
are also occupied all the year round, and until the fire, the windows
and arches of the Belvedere Restaurant and neighbourhood.

Non-Breeding Species

Of the non-breeding species, the kestrel, swift, treecreeper,
redwing, willow warbler, pied wagtail and goldfinch have been
recorded every year (Table 2). The goldfinch h?s, of course, bred in
the past but is unlikely to do so again with the disappearance of zone 4
and its seeds. Unexpected records were a sedge warbler in 1969 and
a wheatear in 1970. A moorhen stayed by the wood pond for several

Brown — Studying Wildlife in Holland Park

19

months in the winter of 1968/69 and redpolls have appeared during
several winters. Whitethroats were recorded every year to 1969 but
have not been observed since — significant in view of their general
reduction in numbers. Garden warblers are recorded most years but
they are in competition with the blackcaps and indeed one is thought
to have been driven out of the wood near the hostel by a blackcap
in 1970. A hawfinch appeared in 1968, a brambling in 1965, and
magpies and cuckoos are recorded occasionally.

Conclusion

It is difficult to assess the significance of the changes in the wild
life of Holland Park over these eight years. Some features, such as
the black-headed gulls coming down on to the playing-field, the
increasing numbers of feral pigeons in the woods, the decrease in
the great spotted woodpeckers and the failure of the willow warblers
to breed seem to indicate greater urban pressure and the adverse
effect of more people in the Park.

On the other hand the breeding of the long-tailed tit and goldcrest
and the probable breeding of chiffchaff may point to the able
management of the woodland and the growth of planted trees and
shrubs to a point at which they provide a suitable habitat for these
species. Birds such as the coal tit and bullfinch may have become
more adaptable.

It is to be hoped that the increasing tendency for people to invade
the enclosures, run their dogs unleashed and so on will be kept
sufficiently in check to enable the more unusual species to continue
to breed, and that there will continue to be people interested in
feeding the smaller birds, such as the tits and robins rather than
letting the feral pigeons overrun the Park.

Anyone who has studied the bird life of an average south of
England or even a Midland deciduous wood will know that they
would see as many wild birds on a morning walk in Holland Park
as they would in a similar country walk and at much closer range
and with a much better chance of identifying them.

The use of the Reports by the Committee on Bird Sanctuaries in the Royal Parks
is acknowledged in the compilation of the Tables.

References

BROWN, E. P. 1963. The bird life of Holland Park. The effect of human
interference. Lond. Bird Rep. 1961: 60-87.

BROWN, E. P. 1964. The bird life of Holland Park, 1962-1963. Lond. Bird
Rep. 1963: 69-78.

HUDSON, D. 1967. Holland House in Kensington. London.

ILCHESTER, EARL OF. 1937. The Home of the Hollands 1605-1820.
London.

ILCHESTER, EARL OF. 1937(a). Chronicles of Holland House 1820-1900.
London.

20

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

Recording Maps and Overlays

by H. A. Sandford

( Mapping Schemes Secretary)

Since the publication of the Atlas of the British Flora it has become
clear that there are great advantages in the grid recording system,
in which the presence or absence of a plant or animal is recorded for
each square of a grid across the map. There is no longer an infinite
number of places to search but a limited number of areas. These
are precisely defined if the national grid of the Ordnance Survey is
used, and it becomes possible to compare the results of past and
present surveys or the distribution of an insect with that of its food
plant. Messrs Cramp and Gooders used grid maps effectively in
their study of the house martin (Cramp & Gooders 1967).

The smallest recording square normally used is the 1 km square
which is printed on the Ordnance Survey 2\ and 1 inch maps. These
are called ‘monads’ and a block of four is called a ‘tetrad’. Mr
Burton’s distribution maps of the common frog and common toad
(Yalden 1967) employed monads while the Botany Section’s mapping
scheme is using tetrads.

Monads and tetrads are squares and cannot make a perfect fit
with the Society’s circle, 20 miles radius from St Paul’s: our recording
Area has become, in effect, a polygon (Fig. 1). This polygon is very
slightly larger than our circle, which still remains our official Area.
The map shows a black and white version of the recording map with
the recording polygon added.

The large squares on this map are 10 km square and can be
called ‘centads’. Each centad lies in a vertical column and in a
horizontal row and so we can say that St Paul’s, marked by a cross,
lies in centad 38, that is, in column 3 and row 8. The tetrads are not
drawn on the map but they are marked in the margin and their column
and row numbers are also given. To identify a tetrad it is necessary
to give the number of the centad in which it lies followed by the
column and row numbers of the tetrad itself. For instance, the
north-west corner of the Inner London Area, marked by an oblong,
is in tetrad 28/T24 (that is, centad 28, tetrad column 2 & row 4).
The monads are marked in the margin but their columns and rows
are not numbered. If they were numbered their numbers would run

0, 1, 2, 3 . 9. The north-west corner of the Inner London Area

is in monad 28/M34 (that is, centad 28, monad column 3 & row 4).

Published distribution maps are going to be uniform in scale and
design so that they can be easily compared. This will also make it
possible to use overlays showing the variation in soils, rainfall, air
pollution and so forth over our Area. One of these is distributed
with this issue and shows the average annual rainfall; snow is recorded
as its equivalent in water. This map is based, with permission, on

Sandford — Recording Maps and Overlays

21

the latest edition published by the Ordnance Survey (Ordnance
Survey 1967). In redrawing the map the isohyets or rainfall lines
have been made to conform with the tetrad grid lines. This makes it
easier to compare the distribution of species with the distribution of
rainfall without reducing the accuracy of the isohyets for this purpose.

References

CRAMP, S. & GOODERS. J. 1967. The return of the house martin. Lond.
Bird Rep. 31: 93-98.

ORDNANCE SURVEY. 1967. Rainfall— Annual Average, 1916-1950. Ches-
sington.

YALDEN, D. W. 1967. Reptiles and amphibians in the London Area 1965-
1966. Lond. Nat. 46: 68-75.

Fig. 1. The revised recording map of the London Area.

22

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

The Albino Form

of the Grey Squirrel in the London Area

by M. Towns

The London Natural History Society’s mammal records now contain
a number of reports of albino (white-coated) grey squirrels ( Sciurus
carolinensis Gmelin).

A squirrel receives half its gene complement from one parent, and
half from the other parent. To produce their effect the homologous
genes combine. The albino gene in the grey squirrel is recessive
(Searle 1968). That is if an albino gene and a “normal” gene
combine, the coat colour of the squirrel is the normal grey-brown.
However if both genes are albino the coat colour of the squirrel is
white and the animal has pink eyes. This is known as homozygous
expression. So the albino homozygous expression depends on there
being at least two squirrels, of differing sexes, carrying the recessive
albino gene.

The chances of an homozygous combination occurring in a
natural population are usually very remote. An albino mutation
occurs only once in many thousands of offspring, and is very easily
lost from the gene pool. Add to this the loss by predation or disease
of pure albino forms, or individuals carrying the albino gene in a
recessive form, and chance becomes heavily weighed against albinism.

However, interference by man can greatly reduce or even eliminate
the odds against albinism. For instance in the United States of
America there are a number of grey squirrel populations with high
albino ratios. In the city of Illinois a pair of albino grey squirrels
was released and have since established an albino colony of several
hundred individuals (Shorten 1954).

The grey squirrel was introduced into Britain from North
America. Numbers of them were released, or escaped from captivity
into several localities. Some of these animals originated from groups
imported because of some unusual features they possessed, such as
albinism or melanism (black coat). A number of groups introduced
into Kent, Surrey and Sussex are thought to have been carrying an
albino gene (Shorten 1954) and in fact there are frequent reports of
albino squirrels in these counties.

The accompanying map (Fig. 1) shows the London Natural
History Society’s records for albino and part albino grey squirrels.
All the records are from vice-county Surrey, except for two records
from one locality in Kent. There are no records north of the River
Thames and even more striking is the limited area in which the
sightings are contained. As recorder the first question one must ask
is: “Is this distribution a real one, or only an apparent distribution
due to observer or other bias?” Surrey has a large number of
regular observers, while north London suffers from a lack of recorders.

Towns — Albino Form of the Grey Squirrel in London

23

Fig. 1. Distribution of the albino grey squirrel in the London Area.

Albino squirrels are. however, very distinctive and unusual enough to
ensure that when one is seen there is a good possibility of its being
entered into the Society’s records. Coupling this with the informa¬
tion on the release of albino-carrying strains of grey squirrel in the
south, the totally southern distribution in the London Area is in
all likelihood a real one. I have no knowledge of albino-carrying
squirrels being released into the London counties north of the
Thames, although melanic individuals occur in Hertfordshire.

Next the recorder has to consider whether records from adjoining
grid squares are in fact just several sightings of the same squirrel,
even though these sightings may be a few years apart. Shorten
(1954) made an analysis of the age structure of fourteen grey squirrel
populations, using tooth wear as an indicator of age. Her analysis
yielded the following age ratios: 56 per cent, in their first year, 32 per
cent, in their second year, 7 per cent, in their third year, and 5 per
cent, in their fourth year. An adult will forage over two or three
acres while young squirrels would probably range further than this.
So, an individual squirrel has a possibility of surviving for at least
four years, and during that time may wander into adjoining 1 km
grid squares although probably not much further afield. Bearing
this in mind let us look at the records of albino grey squirrels which
are set out in Table 1 .

24

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

Table 1. Records of albino grey squirrels in the Society's mammal records.

Date

Number

Recorder

Grid reference

1959/1960

One to three

W. Bailey &

V. Green

TQ 4266

1960

One

J. A. Burton

TQ (Bed<

1964 November

One

Lewisham Natural
History Society

TQ 4266

1964

One

W. E. Holland

TQ 2863

1964 October/

One

J. R. Laundon

TQ 2965

November

1964

One

M. S. Andrews

TQ 2965

1964 November

One

P. J. Wilson

TQ 3257

1965 August/

One

H. J. Freeman

TQ 3358

September

1965

One

A. Freeman

TQ 2658

1966 March

Two together

A. Fisher

TQ 2658

1966 September

One

G. Kinns

TQ 1873

1966/1967

One part white

G. Kinns

TQ 2174

1967 May /June

One

K. H. Hyatt

TQ 3258/3259

1968 September

One

Mrs Curry

c.TQ 2561

1968 November

One part white

Mrs Curry

TQ 2561

1971 October

One

R. H. Targett

TQ 2761

There are two records from Bromley Common (TQ 4266), one for
the period June 1959 to May 1960, when up to three squirrels were
seen, the other from November 1964, when one albino animal was
seen. Similarly there are three records from Beddington, one for
1960 (unfortunately no grid reference was supplied with this record)
and two separate records tendered in 1964 (TQ 2965). It is likely
that the two records for 1964 are in fact of the same animal. How¬
ever, in both of these groups of records there are gaps of several
years between sightings. Are these later sightings the same squirrels
as seen in earlier years ? Or are they separate occurrences of albinos ?
Using Shorten’s tooth wear index as a guide it seems there is a slim
possibility that these are sightings of the same albinos, yet there is
still some doubt, which only perhaps untendered observations could
clarify.

At Kenley an albino was sighted in 1964 (TQ 3257), and another
in 1965 (TQ 3358). These two records could be for the same squirrel,
but is it the same one as seen in 1967 (TQ 3258, 3259)7 Again using
Shorten’s tooth wear index, there is a 32 per cent, probability that it is.

In 1965 one and in 1966 two albino grey squirrels were seen
together at Banstead (TQ 2658), no further information on these
squirrels having been received.

Finally if we put together the groups of sightings, we are left with
six localities, four of them in an area nine kilometres by nine kilo¬
metres, in which for each year from 1964 to 1968 there has occurred

Towns — Albino Form of the Grey Squirrel in London

25

at least one albino form. Regular observation of these beautiful
animals could provide much information of general interest on
London's squirrels. Details such as whether the albino breeds, how
many to a litter and their subsequent fate could provide insight into
the frequency with which the gene for albinism is carried in natural
populations. After all the albino grey squirrel is so distinctive that it
should present fewer complications for a study than many other
mammals.

References

SEARLE, A. G. 1968. Comparative Genetics of Coat Colour in Mammals.
Logos Press, London.

SHORTEN, M. 1954. Squirrels. Collins, London.

26

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

The Status of the
Silver Bream in the River Thames

by Alwyne Wheeler
( British Museum ( Natural History), London)

In 1957 when I wrote an account of the fishes of the London Area
(Wheeler 1958) I had no confirmed records of the occurrence of the
silver or white bream, Blicca bjoerkna (Linnaeus 1758). Marl¬
borough (1965) recorded the capture of one by an angler at Twicken¬
ham A.S. Pit, Wraysbury, and thus was the first to publish a positive
record from the London Area, although by that time I had obtained
confirmation of its presence in the Thames system.

A number of records of silver bream in the Thames exist in the
angling literature, but as I pointed out this species is frequently
confused with young bronze bream, Abramis brama (Linnaeus 1758)
and it was not possible to corroborate these angling literature records.
Confusion also occurs between silver bream and specimens of bream
x roach ( Abramis brama x Rutilus rutilus) hybrid which occurs
occasionally in the Thames.

It was with the knowledge that the silver bream is frequently
confused with other species, and that such records as were available
came from uncritical sources that I hesitated to include it in my list.
This course seemed reasonable also because Regan (1911) wrote that
in the British Isles the silver bream occurred “in eastern rivers from
Yorkshire to Suffolk”, thus specifically excluding the Thames
catchment. The contradictory nature of this exception in relation
to Regan’s hypothesis for the colonization by stenohaline freshwater
fishes of the British Isles could not have been apparent to him, for
the statement occurred in a discussion on geographical distribution.
Regan’s hypothesis was that colonization of English rivers occurred
during a period of eustatic depression of sea level at the end of the last
glaciation, when the eastern English rivers flowed across the exposed
Doggerland in what is now the North Sea and connected there with
continental rivers. Present concepts of the existence of a land
bridge in the North Sea during pollen zones IV - VII (c. 10, 500-
7,000 B.C.) (see Godwin 1956, and Castell 1959) are basically
unaltered, and there can be little doubt that many of our primary
freshwater fishes (those that cannot survive prolonged exposure to
sea water) originated in this way. In view of Regan's acceptance of
the origin of these fishes in the British Isles it is more than curious
that he made no comment on the supposed absence of the silver
bream from the Thames. In general, the indigenous Thames fauna is
the same as that of the eastern English rivers northwards to, and
including, the Yorkshire rivers, and the fauna of all is similar to that
of the River Rhine but with fewer species. Thus it is not surprising

Wheeler — Status of the Silver Bream in the Thames

27

that the silver bream occurs in the Thames — it would be more sur¬
prising if it did not.

Specimens of silver bream have been collected by myself in the
River Thames at Reading in April 1961, (seven specimens 59 to 93 mm
in standard length, B.M.(N.H.) 1961 .4. 1 9.66-72). The British
Museum collection also contains two specimens from Moulsford
Reach, both 235 mm in standard length (B.M.(N.H.) 1936.3.2.1
and 1942.4.7.14.). Both these localities are outside the London
Area, and it is strange that although many hundreds of Abramis brama
(and other species of cyprinid fish) have been examined in my recent
work on the fishes of the tidal Thames, no Blicca bjoerkna have been
discovered. The reason for their absence downstream is not known.
The silver bream does, however, occur in some numbers in a former
gravel pit, now the Chase Fishery, Dagenham, and I have examined
many specimens of this species and Abramis brama from this water,
which lies well within the London Area.

In view of the similarities between the two British freshwater
breams, some simple diagnostic features are tabulated below, based on
the descriptions in Wheeler (1969). The use of a single feature, such
as the number of anal rays, as advocated by Marlborough (1965) is
not sufficient for critical determination.

Branched anal rays
Anal fin origin
Diameter of eye
Scales in lateral line
Pharyngeal teeth

Abramis brama
Bronze bream

24—30

Below mid-dorsal fin
Less than snout length
51—60
One row, 5
each side

Blicca bjoerkna
Silver bream

21—23

Below first dorsal ray
More than snout length
44—48

Two rows, 2 + 5
each side

References

CASTELL, C. P. 1959. The climate and vegetation of the London Area in
prehistoric times. Loud. Nat. 38: 6-16.

GODWIN, H. 1956. The History of the British Flora. Cambridge.
MARLBOROUGH, D. 1965. London fish since 1962. Loud. Nat. 44: 70-73.
REGAN, C. T. 1911. The Freshwater Fishes of the British Isles. London.
WHEELER, A. C. 1958. The fishes of the London Area. Loud. Nat. 37:
80-101.

WHEELER, A. 1969. The Fishes of the British Isles and North West Europe.
London.

28

The London Naturalist, No. 51, 1972

A Review of the Macrolepidoptera of the
London Area for 1970 and 1971

by C. G. M. de Worms

The present review of London’s macrolepidoptera covering the past
two years is a logical sequence to the previous biennial account for
1968 and 1969 which was published in the London Naturalist
49: 82-89. The new legislation to re-shape a number of counties
and to alter their boundaries does not appear likely to affect the
London area to any appreciable extent. For natural history surveys
the old Watsonian vice-county boundaries are still being adhered to
and are likely to be followed for many years in spite of these proposed
boundary changes.

As on previous occasions I have been admirably assisted in
compiling this survey by a number of recorders domiciled in the
various vice-counties contained in the London Area. Many of them
have produced very comprehensive lists of their observations on
local species, usually noted at static light-traps situated at or near
their home, while the daytime insects have as a rule been seen in the
vicinity of, or even in, their own gardens. To all these individuals,
some of whom are newcomers, I would like to express my sincere
thanks for their efforts and for all the trouble they have taken once
more in helping with this biennial survey.

The weather is always an all important factor when assessing the
incidence of insects in any particular season and in the case of the two
under review, 1970 had a somewhat cool start but after a bleak
March, spring burst forth in an exceptionally hot first half of June
with almost record temperatures in some parts of the country. The
main summer period was not unduly wet, while the autumn, till the
end of October, was mild and fine. As a contrast 1971 opened with
an extremely mild winter and sunny early spring. But June was a
very wet and bleak month on the whole. Summer temperatures
soared in July which was very warm and fine, while the late autumn,
especially October, was one of the sunniest on record. Flowever, in
spite of these two very congenial years the unfortunate feature of
both of them was the lack of migrant species which is most unusual
for two consecutive seasons. There was a general absence of such
regular butterflies as the red admiral and painted lady which some¬
times come in from the Continent in huge numbers and invade the
London Area. The same can be said of the more spectacular hawk
moths such as Acherontia atropos L.* (the death's head), Herse
convolvuli L. (the convolvulus) and Macroglossa stellatarum L. (the
humming-bird) hardly any of which were recorded in the British Isles
for either year. However, there was some compensation with some

* Brackets are omitted from authors’ names in accordance with current practice

in this group.

de Worms — Macrolepidoptera of the London Area 29

of the indigenous species, especially the butterflies in general, which
were reasonably numerous throughout the summer periods of both

1970 and 1971. It was the small group of hair-streaks which had a
remarkable burst of abundance in 1970 but with less prevalence in
1971. In particular the delightful little Strymonidia w-album Knoch
(the white-letter hairstreak) was in great plenty in many of its normal
haunts and appeared in several new ones. In some of its northern
localities such as Whippendell Wood, this little butterfly was in
hundreds and it reappeared near the Area’s boundary in north-west
Surrey. Another most attractive little butterfly, Celastrina argiolus
L. (the holly blue) was once more to be seen in plenty in many parts
of the Metropolis in both summers as it was in other parts of southern
and eastern England where it seems to have had a remarkable
resurgence after many lean years.

Starting with a resume of the more outstanding records and
captures over the two seasons as already stated, neither year was
noteworthy for any large influx of any specially regular or uncommon
migrant species, as had happened in most of the preceding years.
However, a few notable migrants were reported and foremost among
these was a Nymphalis antiopa L. (the Camberwell beauty), that
famous butterfly which always attracts much attention. A very fresh
specimen was caught in South Harrow in August 1970 by Mrs B. J.
Houghton who kindly presented it to the national collection at South
Kensington ( Entomologist's Rec. J. Var. 83: 153). It is only to be
hoped this insect was not a release through importation or breeding
from foreign sources, as unfortunately, has so often been proved with
this fine butterfly.

Another important record among the migrant butterflies was that
of a male Lampides boeticus L. (the long-tailed blue) seen distinctly
settled on a flower in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society
at Wisley on the fringe of the Area by Mr R. F. Bretherton in Sep¬
tember 1971. It is some twenty years since this near ubiquitous
insect was last seen in the Area.

Among the moths there appears to be only one species new to the
Area. In June 1971 Mr G. Prior took in his trap in North Harrow
an example of the small noctuid Eustrotia bankiana F. (the silver-
barred), a most surprising insect to find in such a built-up region,
since its normal habitat is in a few fens in Cambridgeshire and on
open damp moors near Killarney in Ireland. Occasional specimens
have been recorded in southern England but they are probably
migrants like the one in question. A few other rarities have turned
up in unexpected localities during the past two years. In October

1971 Mr P. J. Baker, who lives near the boundary of the Area between
Thorpe and Virginia Water, took the third record of Leucania
unipunctata Haworth (the white-speck wainscot). The only other
records of this migrant moth are from West Norwood in 1962 and
Fee in 1968. It appears regularly in our south-western regions, but

30

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

is very uncommon in the eastern half of the country. Another
capture of which there is only one previous record for the Area, from
Weybridge in 1953, was Oria musculosa Htibn. (the Brighton wainscot),
which found its way into Mr Baker’s trap in August 1970. This
species, with headquarters in Wiltshire wheathelds, seems to be
gradually extending its range eastwards, as far as Surrey. Yet
another surprise capture was Calophasia lunula Hufn. (the toadflax
brocade) at Bookham by Mr P. A. Sokoloff in July 1970. Again only
one previous record appears for the Area, from Dartford in 1953.
This moth has spread rapidly in the south-east since it was first
discovered to be breeding in Kent and Sussex in the early 1950’s and
the same can be said of Hadena compta Schiff. (the varied coronet)
which had a similar origin and is now spreading all over the London
Area wherever sweet williams are grown, its larvae riddling the seed
pods. Another little moth which seems to be extending its range
considerably is Hapalotis venustula Hiibn. (the rosy marbled). It
appears to have installed itself well in Joyden’s Wood according to
Mr B. West. Yet a further rarity for the Area was a specimen of
Harpyia bicuspis Borkh. (the alder kitten) taken at Selsdon in June

1970 by Mr E. H. Wild. This uncommon moth has only very few
previous captures in the Area: Limpsfield, in Surrey and Otford and
Bexley in Kent. Two remarkable aberrations of Catocala nupta L.
(the red underwing) were reported: one from Orpington in August

1971 with brown hind wings, taken by Mr P. Sokoloff, and another
with almost black hindwings (ab. nigra Cockayne) once more cap¬
tured by Mr R. I. Lorimer at Totteridge in September 1970. This is
his fourth example of this rare and handsome form to appear in this
locality and he estimates its incidence may be as high as one per cent.
But in many ways some of the most interesting records come from the
mercury-vapour moth-trap run regularly still each season in the
garden of Buckingham Palace. In 1971 it reached its twelfth con¬
secutive year there and has provided some most unexpected species
including several more that are new to Inner London. A special
feature of latter years has been the appearance of several species
associated with pine trees and heathland which is not the type of
terrain likely to be found in the central part of the Metropolis.
There has been a distinct increase in the numbers of the Thera
obeliscata Hiibn. (the grey pine carpet) and of Semiothisa lituraia
Clerck (the tawny barred angle), both pine feeders, while an unusual
newcomer has been Lycophotia varia Vill. (the true lover’s knot),
normally occurring amongst heather. Parastichtis suspecta Hiibn.
(the suspected) is yet another insect to be found mainly among birches
on heaths. This species reappeared in the trap in 1970. Poplar
feeders however, are also in the ascendancy and a specially welcome
one for 1971 was a female Harpyia bifida Brahm (the poplar kitten),
a newcomer to the trap as also was Amphipyra berbera Rungs (the
dusky copper underwing), now discovered to be quite widespread in
the Area. A more detailed account of captures of note in the trap at

de Worms — Macrolepidopterci of the London Area 31

Buckingham Palace will be given in the separate analysis for Inner
London. There seems definite evidence from the results of this
light-trapping in the garden of the Palace over the years that more
recently there has been a general increase in the diversity of species
of moths with a number of surprise captures for Central London, as
already indicated. Dr J. D. Bradley, who supervises the trap and has
charge of analysing its contents, is quite sure that the appearance of
these unexpected insects and the general increase in numbers of
individuals and species is due to the fact that the now' smokeless zone
of the Metropolis has not only encouraged the growth of various and
new forms of vegetation, but also through lack of foliage contami¬
nation with soot and other forms of pollution the larvae of a number
of species have found a much more favourable environment in which
to breed. This seems a logical explanation of this apparently
steady addition of species not normally seen in such urban areas.

Among a few more records worthy of note before starting the
vice-county analyses was the capture of the small migrant geometer
moth, Rhodometra sacraria L. (the vestal) by Mr C. B. Ashby at
Cheam in August 1971. This little insect is always a very welcome
visitor to the Area and was one of the few migrants reported in the
British Isles during 1971. Though Aprophyla nigra Haworth (the
black rustic) is a prevalent insect in the western half of the Area, it is
very rare in Kent (v.c. 16). It is therefore of especial interest that at
least two have found their way into the light-traps of Mr C. G. Bruce
at Lee and of Mr D. O’Keeffe at Bexley, both in 1971, indicating the
definite gradual spread eastwards of this handsome autumn moth.
Mr O’Keeffe has found a flourishing colony of Cirrhis ocellaris Borkh.
(the pale lemon sallow) at Bexley along the River Cray where larvae
were abundant in black poplar in 1970 and again in 1971. This
autumnal insect was first recorded in that region in the Victoria
History as far back as 1908, but since then seems to have been
undetected till quite recently.

In the analyses of records for the respective vice-county regions
and Inner London, a number of species new to them have occurred
and as in previous reviews these are denoted by an asterisk (*).

As usual INNER LONDON leads the list. The prevalence of
Celastrina argiolus L. (the holly blue) has already been mentioned and
this new abundance has been well borne out by Mr C. A. Clarke who
saw these little butterflies in numbers in Chelsea Physic Garden on
30 July 1971 {Entomologist' s Rec. J. Var. 83: 394). 1 myself saw

one of this species at South Kensington Station on 9 August of that
year. Other records of butterflies in the central area include Pieris
brassicae L. (the large white), P. rapae L. (the small white), Aglais
urticae L. (the small tortoiseshell) and Inachis io L. (the peacock)
all observed within a hundred yards of the Mansion House in the
City by Mr J. A. C. Greenwood in August 1971. A little later he
saw a Heodes phlaeas L. (the small copper) sunning itself on a shop

32

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

window in Cheapside, really quite a galaxy in one of the busiest
traffic spots anywhere (Entomologist9 s Rec. J. Var. 83: 346).

Returning to a more detailed report of the Buckingham Palace
trap records, it is interesting how many species not only new to that
locality, but also to Inner London, have come to light during the past
two years, with a few dating from the 1968 and 1969 period. In the
first category is the female Harpyia bifida Brahm (the poplar kitten)
already referred to for 1971. The only other record of this fine
insect for central London was of one taken in a trap at the Zoo,
Regent’s Park in 1953. Another welcome visitor was the very pretty
Thyatira batis L. (the peach blossom)* taken in July 1970, while
Drepana binaria Hufn. (the oak hooktip) and Earias clor ana (the
cream bordered pea) both reappeared in 1968 and have not since
been noted. Phragmatobia fuliginosa L. (the ruby tiger) was once
more taken in 1971. Among noctuid moths that had not been seen
before were Lycophotia varia Vill. (the true lover’s knot)*, first noted
in 1969, and also Thalera cespitis F. (the hedge rustic)* taken in 1970,
while another noteworthy visitor was Aporophyla nigra Haworth
(the black rustic)*, seen in 1968. All three species are most un¬
expected in this part of the Metropolis. Amphipyra berbera Rungs
(the dusky copper underwing), only recently separated from A.
pyratnidea L. (the copper underwing) was taken in the trap for the
first time in 1968 before the two insects had been recognised.
Another specimen of Parastichtis suspecta Hiibn. (the suspected)
turned up during 1970 with one previous record for the trap in 1963.
Apamea ophiogramma Esp. (the double-lobed) though a well-known
London insect, appeared in the trap for the first time in 1970. The
geometrids provided some very interesting newcomers for Inner
London. Notably three species, Sterrha inornata Haworth (the
plain wave)* in 1971, Euphyia unangulata Haworth (the sharp¬
angled carpet)* and Plemyria bicolor at a Hufn. (the blue-bordered
carpet)*, both in 1970. The last feeds on alder which occurs in the
garden. Two quite common moths not seen before in this part of
London were Hemithea aestivaria Hiibn. (the common emerald)* in

1970, and Deilinia exanthemata Scop, (the common wave)* in 1969.
A further example of the small migrant Nycterosia obstipata F. (the
gem) was also recorded in 1969.

For MIDDLESEX (v.c. 21) the most noteworthy butterfly was
Nymphalis antiopa L. (the Camberwell beauty) taken in South
Harrow on 31 August 1970 by Mrs B. Houghton, already referred to
in the introduction. Pyrameis cardui L. (the painted lady) has been
especially scarce over the last two years, so that one seen on Hamp¬
stead Heath on 15 August 1970 by Mr R. Kettle is worthy of mention.
According to Miss E. M. Chacksfield Polyommatus icarus Rott. (the
common blue) was very numerous near the Brent Flyover in August

1971.

Among the moths Mr G. Prior’s capture of Eustrotia bankiana F.

de Worms — Macrolepidoptera of the London Area 33

(the silver-barred)* is remarkable for v.c. 21, especially in such a
built-up region as North Harrow. This little insect, also new to the
Area, is mentioned in more detail in an earlier paragraph. The
small black noctuid Parascotia fuliginaria L. (the waved black)
seems to be spreading north of London because Mr Prior took it in
his trap in North Harrow in 1971. The appearance of Procris
statices L. (the forester) at Northwood is another unexpected dis¬
covery by Mr Prior who also reports the following geometrids worthy
of mention from North Harrow: Lobophora halterata Hufn. (the
seraphim), Sterrha emarginata L. (the small scallop) and Lygris
pyraliata Schiff. (the barred straw), all none too common for v.c. 21,
while the forester had only one other record, at Kenton. Yet
another surprise for this vice-county was Hapalotis venustula Hiibn.
(the rosy marbled)* at Hampton on 19 June 1970. This tiny noctuid
which graced the trap of Mr E. W. Classey seems to be spreading
rapidly in the Home Counties.

Several collectors have kindly sent in a number of useful records
for HERTS (v.c. 20). Of these Mr R. I. Lorimer's melanic Catocala
nupta L. (the red underwing) from Totteridge in 1970 is the most
spectacular. Also in that year he identified his first Amphipyra
berbera Rungs (the dusky copper underwing) in that locality. This
newly recognised species was in about the proportion of 1 : 7 with
A. pyramided L. (the copper underwing). Apatele alni L. (the alder)
was in spate during 1970 at Totteridge, with examples of the melanic
ab. steinarti out of a total of twenty normal insects. The melanic
ab. nigrofulxata of Semiothisa liturata Clerck (the tawny barred angle)
is now the prevalent form there. Melanism there is also on the
increase with dark forms of Tethea ocularis L. forming eighty per
cent, of the population. Melanic forms of Polia nebulosa Hufn. (the
grey arches) and of Gonodontis bidentata Clerck (the scalloped hazel)
appeared for the first time in 1971, with some uncommon visitors
such as Notodonta trepida Esp. (the great prominent), Apamea
ophiogramma Esp. (the double-lobed) and Caradrina ambigua Schiff.
(Vine’s rustic), while Hypena rostralis L. (the buttoned snout)
reappeared after twenty years. Zeuzera pyrina L. (the leopard) was
unusually common in 1971.

From Bushey Mr Barry Goater reports the arrival of Hadena
compta Schiff. (the varied coronet) in July 1971. Other newcomers
to his garden and to the district over the two years have included
Hadena conspersa Schiff. (the marbled coronet), Rheumaptera
cervina/is Scop, (the scarce tissue), Perizoma affinitaia Stephens (the
large rivulet), Bapta bimaculata F. (the white pinion-spotted),
Eupithecia tantillaria Boisd. (the dwarf pug) and Hemistola im-
macnlata Thunb. (the lesser emerald). Currant stems containing
larvae of the tiny Aegeria tipuliformis Clerck (the currant clearwing)
were found on the local allotments in June 1970 and successfully
bred through.

34

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

Mr G. Prior has also sent in a number of records from Boreham-
wood, near Rickmansworth. Here he noted Epirrhoe galiata Hiibn.
(the galium carpet) for which there are only a few records for v.c. 20.
Other geometrids observed in this locality in 1970 and 1971 included
Ligdia adustata Schiff. (the scorched carpet), Orthonama lignata
Hiibn. (the oblique carpet), Eupithecia succenturiata L. (the bordered
pug). Chloroclystis coronata Hiibn. (the v-pug) and Lygris fulvata
Forst. (the barred yellow).

Once more no records have been forthcoming from NORTH
ESSEX (v.c. 19), the smallest vice-county region of the Area. It has
potentialities as it borders on part of Epping Forest but it is un¬
fortunate that it should be so little surveyed.

For SOUTH ESSEX (v.c. 18) Mr K. W. Grimwood has sent in
again a most comprehensive list of captures for the past three years
in his trap at Ingrave near Brentwood. It is noteworthy that a good
many species hitherto quite scarce in the district have now reappeared.
Among these is Pararge aegeria L. (the speckled wood) which was
observed in both 1970 and 1971 after an absence of two years.

The holly blue was very numerous in both years in which very few
red admirals and painted ladies were seen. Among a most impressive
list of 278 moths covering the last three years an interesting capture
for 1971 was the form of Zygaena filipendulae L. (the six-spot burnet)
with yellow instead of red spots on the hindwings, always a great
rarity. Nearly all the species recorded for 1968 and 1969 reappeared
during the subsequent two years. A newcomer, however, seems to
have been Leucoma salicis L. (the white satin), as also were Miltochrista
miniata Forst. (the rosy footman), Hadena suasa Schiff. (the dog’s
tooth) and Tiliacea citrago L. (the orange sallow), all of which came
to the trap for the first time in 1971. Among the scarcer visitors was
Spaelotis ravida Hiibn. (the stout dart), also Gastropacha quercifolia
L. (the lappet) and Diarsia dahlii Hiibn. (the barred chestnut) which
seems well established in that area. A generally widespread species
Lycophotia varia Vill. (the true lover’s knot)*, oddly enough does
not seem to have been recorded before for v.c. 18, though Mr Grim-
wood has had it for the past three years. Procris statices L. (the
forester) occurs in quite a flourishing colony recently discovered in
one part of the vice-county. Hadena compta Schiff. (the varied
coronet) is now a definite resident throughout that part of Essex.
Other welcome reappearances during the past two years have been
those of the following species: Arctia villica L. (the cream-spot tiger), '
Eilema complana L. (the scarce footman), Eremobia ochroleuca Esp.
(the dusky sallow), Graptolitha ornithopus Hufn. (the grey shoulder
knot), and among the geometrids Ennomos autumnaria Wern. (the
large thorn), Selenia lunaria Schiff. (the lunar thorn) and Bapta
distinctata H.-S. (the sloe carpet), while the presence of Eupithecia
succenturiata L. (the bordered pug)* would seem to be new for v.c. 18.
Other species in the list with very few previous records for the vice-

de Worms — Macrolepidoptera of the London Area 35

county include Drepana binaria Hufn. (the oak hooktip), Drepana
cultraria F. (the barred hooktip), Euproctis chrysorrhaea L. (the
brown-tail), Harpyia bifida Brahm. (the poplar kitten), Rhizedra
Iutosa Hiibn. (the large wainscot), Apamea anceps Hiibn. (the large
nutmeg), Tiliacea aurago F. (the barred sallow), Ligdia adustata
Schiff. (the scorched carpet), Epione repandaria Hufn. (the bordered
beauty), while both Euschesis interjecta Hiibn. (the least yellow
underwing)* and Semiothia liturata Clerck (the tawny barred angle)*
are also apparently new for v.c. 18.

As before Mr D. O’Keeffe reports some interesting records for
WEST KENT (v.c. 16) from his home at Bexley. He mentions that
Hadena compta Schiff. (the varied coronet) is now of regular occur¬
rence in his area and that the larvae infest Dianthus barbatus (sweet
william) in his garden. A few years ago this insect was unknown in
this region. Another species which has greatly increased with him is
Cirrhia ocellaris Borkh. (the pale lemon sallow) which is now annually
abundant in the larval state in the catkins of black poplars along the
River Cray. A specimen of Aporophyea nigra Haworth (the black
rustic) in October 1971 was quite a notable event for v.c. 16 as it is
still a rarity in this region, as also was the appearance of Amathes
ditrapezium Borkh. (the triple spotted clay) in 1970, but it seems this
latter insect is now on the ascendancy there. Cucullia aster is Schiff.
(the starwort shark) and Cucullia absinthii L. (the wormwood shark)
maintained their footholds in the district.

From nearby at Dartford Mr B. K. West lists a number of Para-
scotia fuliginaria L. (the waved black) in 1971, an insect which is
definitely colonising that part of Kent. Another rarity noted was
the appearance of Gortyna petasitis Doubleday (the butterbur) of
which there are only apparently three other records for v.c. 16.
Other species seen in the 1970 and 1971 for which there seem to be
only old records include Comacla senex Hiibn. (the round winged
muslin), Craniophora ligustri F. (the coronet), and Xanthorhoe quadri-
fasciaria Clerck (the large twin-spot carpet). Further noteworthy
captures were an Apatele alni L. (the alder)*, apparently new to
v.c. 16, taken in June 1970 and also a female Saturnia pavonia L. (the
emperor) in May 1970, and for 1971 Lygephila pastinum Treits. (the
blackneck), Zenobia subtusa F. (the olive kidney), Lophopteryx
cucullina Schiff. (the maple prominent), and Panolis flammea Schiff.
(the pine beauty).

From Lee Mr C. G. Bruce records a further Kent record of
Aporophyla nigra Haworth (the black rustic) in October 1970 and a
hibernated Lithophane semibrunnea Haworth (the tawny pinion) in
May 1970, an insect with very few previous records for v.c. 16.
Records from West Wickham sent in by Mr M. Chalmers-Hunt
during 1971 comprise Eilema deplana Esp. (the buff footman)*,
Leucania pudorina Schiff. (the striped wainscot), Polia nitens Haworth
(the pale shining brown), Laspeyria flexula Schiff. (the beautiful

36

The London Naturalist , No. 57, 1972

hooktip), and Enpithecia satyrata Hiibn. (the satyr pug)*, yet another
novelty for v.c. 16. Another rare visitor to West Wickham was a
Biston betularia L. (the peppered moth) ab. grisea Smith, on 4 July
1971. In this form the black peppering is replaced by pale grey
coloration (vide Entomologist' s Rec. J. Var. 83: 282). Mention has
already been made of the brown form of Catocala nupta L. (the red
underwing) taken by Mr P. SokolofF in August 1971 at Orpington,
where a record has come to light of a Harpyia bicuspis Borkh. (the
alder kitten) taken in 1966 by Mr I. Watkinson.

From Selsdon in SURREY (v.c. 17) Mr E. H. Wild reports in
June 1970 the alder kitten, already noted, with only one other record
for this vice-county. Also in 1971 Polia nitens Haworth (the pale
shining brown), Hadena compta Schiff. (the varied coronet) and
Sterrha vuipinaria F. (the least carpet), the last with only one previous
record for v.c. 17, from Dulwich in 1957. This little moth was taken
by Miss Marshall at Waddon in Croydon and is evidence of its spread.

Reference too has previously been made to two further rarities
Lampides boeticus L. (the long-tailed blue) near Wisley in September
1971 and to Calophasia lunula Hufn. (the toadflax brocade) at
Bookham in July 1970. Other migrants include Herse convolvuli L.
(the convolvulus hawk) seen by Mr M. Klein at Coulsdon on 9 Sep¬
tember 1970, one of the few of this sphingid noted for the period
under review. At Cheam on 27 August 1971 Mr C. B. Ashby took
Rhodometra sacraria L. (the vestal), again very scarce in the past two
years.

In the West Norwood district Mr B. Skinner has noted the
comparative abundance of Plusia festucae L. (the gold spot) in 1970.
Hypena rostralis L. (the buttoned snout) reappeared in 1970 after
many seasons. In 1971 he took there Apamea unanimis Hiibn. (the
small clouded brindle) and Celaena lencostigma Hiibn. (the crescent)
as well as the little Perizoma bifaciata Haworth (the barred rivulet).
On Mitcham Common in 1971 he found stems of reed riddled with
the larvae of Apamea ophiogramma Esp. (the double-lobed). He also
took Eustrotia uncula Clerck (the silver hook) on the Common in
August 1971.

From the Reigate area Mr D. Trembath says that he had several
Antitype flavicincta F. (the large ranunculus) in 1970 and again in
1971, while Apatele alni L. (the alder) was very common in June 1970.
Also Lysandra bellargus Rott. (the adonis blue) was abundant on the
Downs bordering the southern boundary of the Area near Dorking
in June 1971.

In 1971 Professor J. V. Dacie published a supplement to his
moths of Wimbledon (vide Entomologist's Rec. J. Var. 83: 204)
which has been brought up-to-date from the original list which
appeared in 1962. In the recent list he enumerates thirty-two species
not previously recorded by him. Some of these have been noted in
this review for the intervening years, but there have been a number of

de Worms — Macrolepidoptera of the London Area 37

interesting additions during 1970. These include Hyloicus pinastri L.
(the pine hawk) in July of that year. This fine moth is steadily
penetrating the London Area. (Other species worthy of note for
1970 were Euschesis inter jecta Hiibn. (the least yellow underwing),
Cosmia diffinis L. (the white-spotted pinion), Chesias legate/la Schiff.
(the streak), and Ectropis crepuscularia Schiff. (the lesser engrailed),
but for 1971 the only newcomers were Harpyia furcula L. (the sallow
kitten), new to Wimbledon, and Lygris fulvata Forst. (the barred
yellow).

A most impressive list has been submitted by Mr P. J. Baker who
has recently gone to live almost on the Area boundary between
Thorpe and Virginia Water. Reference has already been made to
his two most outstanding records there, that of Leucania unipunctata
Haworth (the white-speck wainscot) in October 1971 and of Oria
mnsculosa Hiibn. (the Brighton wainscot) in August 1970 with only
one earlier record in the Area, at Weybridge in 1953. A rare species
for v.c. 17 is Leucoma salicis L. (the white satin) of which three came
to light in 1970. Arctia viliica L. (the cream-spot tiger), Odontosia
carmelita Esp. (the scarce prominent) and Edema deplana Esp. (the
buff footman) were also uncommon visitors for that part of Surrey.
Some of the noctuid species were most unexpected such as Hadena
conspersa Esp. (the marbled coronet), a chalk and sandhill insect;
also Heliothis maritima Graslin (the fulvous clover) from heathland
and Chilodes maritima Treits. (the silky wainscot) from a thick reed-
bed, each type of terrain being far removed from the site of capture.
Other moths seldom seen in that district included Anaplectoides
prasina F. (the green arches), Hadena lepida Esp. (the tawny shears),
Agrotis vestigia/is Rott. (the archer’s dart), Aparele alni L. (the alder)
with one in 1970, and Cirrhia ocellaris Borkh. (the pale lemon sallow),
a new locality for this very local insect. Further scarce noctuids
were Lithophane semibrunnea Haworth (the tawny pinion), Spaelotis
ravida Hiibn. (the stout dart), two in 1970, Dasycampa rubiginea F.
(the dotted chestnut) and the little Hapalotis venustula Hiibn. (the
rosy marbled), a new arrival in the district. The geometrids provided
an equally remarkable series. One new to v.c. 17 w^as Xanthorhoe
biriviata Borkh. (the balsam carpet)* only discovered in the British
Isles in 1955, but found more recently along canals just outside the
boundary of the Area in north-west Surrey. Yet another unusual
insect w;as Melanthia procedata F. (the pretty chalk carpet), normally
a denizen of the Downs where its larva feeds on traveller’s joy
( Clematis vitalba). Another moth with similar habitat was Horisme
vitalbata Hiibn. (the small waved amber). Other visitors such as
Thera firmata Hiibn. (the pine carpet), Abraxas sylvata Scop, (the
clouded magpie), Eupithecia venosata F. (the netted pug) and Gnophos
obscurata Schiff. (the annulet) only occurred singly in the trap and
are all uncommon in this part of Surrey.

Among the butterflies in this region Mr Baker saw several
Strymonidia w-albnm Knoch. (the white-letter hairstreak) in July

38

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

1970 near Thorpe, while Mr W. G. Tremewan noted a single specimen
near Chertsey in the same year. Further east in the vice-county
Mr Chalmers-Hunt reports two Cupido minimus Fuessl. (the small
blue) near Addington in June 1970.

As usual for BUCKS (v.c. 24) Sir Eric Ansorge has sent in several
records of species new to his area at Chalfont St Peter all taken in
1970 in which year Apatele alni L. (the alder)* was in spate, and
visited his trap for the first time with a half-dozen examples. Eilema
griseola Hfibn. (the dingy footman)* was another newcomer as was
also Apamea scolopacina Esp. (the slender brindle)* and Eremobia
ochroleuca Esp. (the dusky sallow)*. The second Par ascot ia fuli-
ginaria L. (the waved black) for the district appeared in July 1970 as
well as his second record of Aporophyla nigra Haworth (the black
rustic) in October of that year. There were also a couple of Harpyia
furcula Clerck (the sallow kitten) and also Episema caeruleocephala L.
(the figure of eight) in October 1970. He mentions that 1971 was a
much less productive year at Chalfont with very few red admirals and
no painted ladies, though several holly blues. Among the rather
meagre number of moths at light were a few Apatele alni L. (the
alder), Apamea hepatica L. (the clouded brindle), Lygephila pastinum
Treits. (the blackneck) and Semiothisa notata L. (the peacock), all
uncommon in that area.

Up to the end of 1971 the total number of species of macro-
lepidoptera for the London Area would appear to stand at 729, out
of 935 valid species recognised for the whole of the British Isles. The
percentage therefore remains just short of 78.

39

Survey of Bookham Common

THIRTIETH YEAR
Progress Report for 1971

General (G. Beven)

The survey team was very pleased to act as hosts to several societies
visiting the Common during the year, including the South-west
Middlesex Section of the L.N.H.S. on 22 May, the Weybridge
Natural History and Aquarists’ Society on 1 3 June, the Leatherhead
History Society on 26 June, and the Quekett Microscopical Club on
11 July.

A. E. Le Gros has compiled “notes on the insect fauna of Bookham
for survey workers'’, a copy of which has been placed in the Research
Hut library. In these notes he gives the references to published
records and suggests the most useful standard works for identification.
He has also presented to the library a collection of Xerox copies he
has made of the accounts of meetings of the British Entomological
Society on Bookham Common since 1902. We are also most
grateful to Dr A. S. Thorley for arranging the erection of a netting
screen to protect the Research Hut windows, and also to Phillip
Palmer for kindly making an enlargement of a 1968 aerial photograph
of the Common, to be kept in the Hut.

Pollution (G. Beven)

Forty gallons of paint stripper were emptied in error into the Isle
of Wight ditch just off the Common (Sq. 88) on 5 July 1971. The
water became milky and smelt strongly. Dead fish were found in
Bookham Stream and the Paver Mole next day. On 11 July J. W.
Coles examined the water at ref. 857 and found dead dipterous larvae
but no signs of life except for one mite Oribatella quadricarinata
(Michael), identified by K. H. Hyatt. This is not an aquatic mite
and could easily have blown into the stream by accident. The only
living creatures which A. E. Le Gros could find on this date at ref. 81 1
were Simulium dipterous larvae. Several live water beetles were
present at ref. 815. The water looked clear and did not smell.
On 5 September J. W. Coles found a beetle larva, diptera larvae,
a Chaetogaster sp. ( Oligochaeta ) and a Plectus sp. ( Nematoda ) alive.
He reports that by 12 September conditions seemed to have returned
to normal. Samples taken then included two living Agabus didymus
Olivier, family Dytiscidae, identified by M. J. D. Brendell.

Vegetation (Ella M. Hillman)

1. Revision of the plant list. This has not progressed steadily
and without interruption, but thanks to Dr A. S. Thorley and R.
Stern who have made extra visits, and by concentrating effort on trees

40

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

and shrubs, enough data have accumulated on the card index of
records (kept by E.M.H.) to enable a short paper on the changes in
the distribution of these species to be produced in this issue.

The recording of other species is too slow at present; more
recorders are needed, but perhaps by again concentrating on a
special group of plants some worthwhile results may be obtained.

2. Survey of Ruscns aculeatus (butcher’s broom). Mrs A.
Warren is carrying this out almost single-handed in the field, and
E.M.H. has visited the British Museum (Natural History) library to
collect information on this species, about which some contradictory
statements have been made. With the help of Dr P. Yeo of the
University Botanic Gardens, Cambridge, to whom we are most
grateful, the chief difficulties have now been met. Interesting facts
are emerging concerning flowering periods, fructification, and manner
of growth; in all about sixty clumps have been mapped and examined.
Pollinating agents of this winter-flowering species remain a mystery
to be solved, and there is an opportunity here for any interested
entomologist. It is hoped to produce a full report at the end of 1972.

3. Control of bracken Pteridium aquilinum. As P. A. Moxey
has been unable, owing to pressure of work, to visit the quadrats on
Eastern Plain for comparison of cut and uncut bracken areas, there
is no report for 1971.

4. Ponds and marshy areas. As plans are being made by the
National Trust for the clearing of the Isle of Wight Pond and the
chain of ponds draining into it, the botanical team interrupted its
work of tree recording to produce a brief report for the Bookham
Commons Management Committee. Much of the aquatic flora has
disappeared, and this is probably caused by an accumulation of
decayed matter in the ponds. It was found that the most interesting
marshy areas are near Upper Eastern Pond and on Isle of Wight Plain,
but these areas are shrinking, perhaps as a result of improved drain¬
age, and recommendations were made for their conservation. Upper
Eastern Pond is the only station on the Common for Equisetum
fluviatile , but this plant has now spread so as to cover the greater part
of the pond, and some control is needed.

5. Other observations, (a) D. Macer-Wright, Hon. Commons
Manager for the National Trust, pointed out an area on Western
Plain in which bracken was shrivelling in early August. The decay
was found to be due to fungal attack by an undescribed species of
Phoma , as determined by the Commonwealth Mycological Institute.
Similar attacks were noticed in Kent and Sussex by survey members,
and two others had been reported to the Institute. There was a
freak frost in southern areas on the night of 17/18 July, and this may
have injured the bracken and made it liable to fungal attack, (b) Two
species not previously recorded were noticed this year on the Com¬
mon: cherry plum Primus cerasifera by Miss M. E. Robins, and
eared willow Salix aurita by R. Stern.

Survey of Bookham Common

41

Thanks are expressed to all the recorders named above and to
Miss J. Stoddart for regular field work, and to others who have
helped occasionally with plant recording.

Insects (General) (A. E. Le Gros)

Attention is being given to the plant galls, leaf mines and insects
associated with birch, hazel and pedunculate oak. In particular the
Cecidomyiidae (gall-midges) and the Auchenorhyncha (leaf-hoppers)
are to be studied. A preliminary account of the gall-midges of the
pedunculate oak is given elsewhere. . A list of seventy-eight leaf-
hoppers has been received from Mr D. Collins.

The writer is acting as recorder of the micro-moths of Bookham
and would like records from members so that the meagre list of
fifty-six species compiled to date from published and other sources
may be greatly extended.

Mecoptera (A. E. Le Gros)

In 1904 Pcmorpa germanica L. was recorded from Bookham but
in the last twenty-five years only the common scorpion-fly P. communis
L., common from May-July, has been seen. This insect thrives in
thick undergrowth, abounding in bramble cover on the edges of the
woods and at the side of woodland paths. In 1971 it was seen in
the untidy vegetation surrounding some of the gun pits on Eastern
Plain.

Diptera (A. E. Le Gros)

The following additions are made to the lists published by
Parmenter :

Culicidae. Aedes cinereus Mg. Reared from larvae from Gun Pit F
on 10 May 1970. Dixa amphibia De Geer. Reared from larvae
collected in September 1969 from Lower Eastern Pond and Sheepbell
Pond, and from Lower Eastern Pond in April 1970. Mochlonyx
culiciformis (De Geer). The larva of this species was common in the
gunpits in spring 1970 and 1971.

Psychodidae. Psychodci albipennis Zett., P. parthenogenetica Tonnoir
and P. spr eta Tonnoir. These three species were swept from the
Hollows in May-June 1965.

Pipunculidae. Mr A. M. Hutson tells me that there are specimens
of two species in the Parmenter collection that have not been
recorded. These are Cephalops titania Coe, male and female,
10. ix. 1961. LP, and Eudorylea obliquus Coe. females, 10.x. 1948 and
20.vi.1960, LP.

Pitfall Trap Survey (M. Towns)

Some pitfall ground traps have been in operation since February
1970 on Eastern Plain and in an adjacent area of bracken. John

42

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

Coles, A. E. Le Gros, Derrick Hall and Michael Towns have been
sorting large collections of invertebrates obtained by these traps.
Eastern Plain had been overrun by bracken and attempts are being
made to eradicate it. This provides an opportunity to record
invertebrate colonisation. The bracken traps are being used to give
a “species baseline’ ’ for comparison with yields from the Eastern
Plain traps. Help from other members, both in trapping and sorting
the collections, would be most welcome. A large variety of creatures
have been caught, including woodlice, centipedes, millipedes, earth¬
worms, nematodes, ants, bees and wasps, flies, spiders, mites,
harvestmen, springtails, beetles, plant bugs and ground hoppers.

Birds (G. Beven)

Oak-wood ( Eastern Wood )

The breeding season census was repeated in this sixteen hectare
(forty acre) sample of dense interior oak-wood. The number of
territories of singing males of selected species over the last nine years
was as follows:

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

Great tit

12

17

17

12

16

19

14

13

13

Blue tit

19

19

22

17

16

20

19

20

15

Coal tit

2

5

4

3

8

6

7

5

4

Marsh tit

3

1

1

3

3

3

3

3

2

Long-tailed tit

0

0

1

2

?

1

1

2

3

Nuthatch

2

5

5

5

7

5

3

5

5

Tree creeper

1

1

2

2

2

4

4

3

5

Wren

1

5*5

11

17

25

26

24

25

17

Mistle thrush

2

2

3

2

1

1

2

2

2

Song thrush

4

7

7

8

10

7

7

7

9

Blackbird

8

10

12

11

12

11

13

9

14

Robin

21 -5

32

37

37

42

43

44

36

44

Blackcap

5

3

4

7

/

6

3

6

1

3

Garden warbler

2

2

4

1

1

1

1

1

0

Willow warbler

2-5

1-5

4

4

2

6

2

2

0

Chiffchaff

2

5

7

6

6

3

3

4

1

Dunnock

4

5

5

4

8

6

6

3

2

Starling

5

5-5

10

6

8

12

7

8

8

Chaffinch

5-5

7

8

7

6

4

4

3

6

The decrease in the wren population is interesting. The previous
winter was not particularly cold, in fact we classified it as fairly mild.
The population had been very high for four years, with territories
compressed to about one-and-a-half acres, which seems to be about
as small as the bird will tolerate, minimum territory sizes in woodland
being given as one-and-a-half to two acres by E. A. Armstrong (1955.
The Wren. London). The blackbird population seems to be the
highest for the last twenty-six years (no counts were made in 1947,

Survey of Bookham Common

43

1948, and 1957) and the robin numbers remain apparently maximal.
The chaffinch population continues to wax and wane, now rising
again for the third time since 1946.

Scrub and Grassland

The spring census of the number of territories of singing males
was again made on thirty-nine hectares (ninety-six acres) of scrub and

grassland in 1971 (G.

B. and W.

D.

Melluish).

The

number of

territories of selected species over the last eight years

was as follows:

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

Pheasant

2

2

3

3

2

7

3

5

Wood pigeon

1

2

4

1

1

6

3

5

Turtle dove

5

4

3

5

3

7

4

8

Green woodpecker

0

1

4

4

4

1

1

1

Long-tailed tit

2

3

4

5

6

6

5

4

Wren

2

3

9

10

15

14

18

14

Song thrush

8

8

7

10

9

9

14

15

Blackbird

15

8

13

17

15

15

20

15

Robin

23

23

15

21

23

23

22

18

Nightingale

1

0

2

3

4

4

5

4

Grasshopper warbler

2

4

6

4

5

6

5

5

Whitethroat

12

17

17

22

16

11

14

12

Willow warbler

20

14

19

27

21

26

14

18

Dunnock

11

15

13

18

12

12

13

10

Linnet

1

4

4

4

1

2

0

1

Redpoll

2

3

5

4

4

6

6

4

Chaffinch

18

13

13

14

9

12

17

11

Yellowhammer

9

7

9

7

8

7

5

8

Reed bunting

3

2

5

6

5

3

3

5

Under the policy of conservation management about thirty acres
of scrub have been partially cleared from various parts of these
ninety-six acres since 1959. In 1969, 1970 and 1971 about seven-
and-a-half hectares (eighteen acres) of the long grass have been
repeatedly cut. During these thirteen years, in spite of scrub
clearances of one fifth or more of the scrubland, it is interesting to
find that apparently long-tailed tits, wrens, robins, nightingales,
grasshopper warblers, dunnocks and chaffinches have all increased,
the yellowhammer numbers have remained much the same, while
whitethroats, willow warblers and reed buntings have decreased.
(See also Surrey Bird Report 18 : 17-20 (1971).)

Other Notes on the Birds

At least one little grebe was present in the spring, and two pairs
of mandarin ducks were observed about the ponds in November and
December. A pair of mute swans nested on the Isle of Wight Pond,
successfully conducting their three cygnets in due course to a pond in

44

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

the village. At least one woodcock was roding in the spring, four
young in down being discovered by Michael Towns in Central Wood
(527) on 11 April 1971. A greenshank flew across Western Plain on
8 August 1971 (D. V. Freshwater). One barn owl pellet on Kelsey’s
Farm, just north of the Common, contained bones of two field voles
and a small passerine bird. At least two tawny owls hooted in the
spring, but there were probably more as few observations were made
at night. Lesser spotted woodpeckers were recorded on or near the
Common in each month from July to December. The number of
pairs of long-tailed tits during spring in an area of about forty-nine
hectares (120 acres) of grassland and scrub during 1971 was four.
There were four singing nightingales in the spring, and a young bird
was seen being fed on 13 June 1971. There were five singing grass¬
hopper warblers, and a wood warbler sang in Sheepbell Wood (329)
on 18 May 1971. Two male tree pipits were singing on Western
Plain on 19 April 1971 (K. Gold) but apparently did not remain
there. A hawfinch was eating haws on 12 December 1971.

Mammals (M. Towns)

A dead badger was discovered on the railway line in Great
Mornshill Wood, just off the Common, near Bayfield in September
1971 (M. Towns).

David Warren is making a survey of water voles. So far he has
been mapping their distribution and their burrows along the water
courses.

Michael Towns is examining the faeces of fox, rabbit and water
vole for the presence of ova and oocysts of some intestinal parasites.

45

Changes in the Distribution of
Trees and Shrubs on Bookham Common,

1953 - 1971

by E. M. Hillman

Summary

The twenty lettered areas on the vegetation map of Bookham Common are used
to indicate the distribution of trees and shrubs.

A table of the forty-three species which were not present in all twenty areas
in 1953 is presented, listing the new areas in which each appears in a 1968-1971
census, and showing the net increase in the number of areas as a measure of the
increase of its range on the Common.

The areas are compared. All but two have gained from one to thirteen
species. A new woodland is developing on the west side of Bayfield Plain where
no scrub clearance has taken place.

Forty-three distribution maps, of which twenty-two are illustrated, give
information on the most usual distance of the dispersal of trees and shrubs from
their origins on the Common during eighteen years. Wind and animals are of
equal importance as dispersal agents. Vegetative propagation alone may result
in local abundance, but not, in eighteen years, in a widespread distribution.

The species are compared. About half of the forty-three species have
extended into three or more areas. Five species have lost ground. Of casuals
and escapes not included, four are no longer found and four remain rare and
confined to their original locations in one area each. Notes on some individual
species are given.

Introduction

In 1953 a list of vascular plants of Bookham Common was compiled
by A. W. Jones and his team (Jones 1954) and their distribution was
indicated by dividing the Common into twenty areas, usually of about
8 hectares (20 acres) each, lettered A - T. Their abundance was also
assessed. The present survey from 1968-1971 was carried out by a
team of observers. Dr A. S. Thorley has been able to make extra
visits, and without the data accruing from these the number of
observations would be insufficient. R. Stern, a Forest Officer, has
also made extra visits, and a considerable contribution in recording
all kinds of plants. His valuable knowledge and experience have
been available to the rest of the team, and I am indebted to him for
almost all the comments on abundance and status of the species in
this paper and for other ideas in sentences followed by his initials.
Miss J. Stoddart, Miss M. E. Robins and the author have recorded
regularly. Mrs A. Warren and Dr G. Beven have added a few
records to the list.

Maps for the forty-three species in Table 1 have been drawn,
showing (a) the areas in which they occurred in 1953 and again in
1968-1971, (b) those in which they have been found in 1968-1971
but not formerly, (c) those in which they occurred in 1953 but from
which there is no later record. Twenty-two of these are chosen to

46

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

illustrate this paper; information on these and the remainder is
given in Table 1 and below. Scientific names and order follow
Clapham, Tutin and Warburg (1962).

Table 1. Changes in the distribution of trees and shrubs on Bookham Common, excluding those found
in all twenty areas in 1953.

New areas are those from which the plant has been recorded in 1968-1971 only. The former areas are to be
found in the plant list of 1953 (Jones 1954).

Tree or shrub

English name

New areas

Status

Net gain or

No. of

No. of

No. of

loss (L)

areas

1953

new

No. of areas

in 1953

areas

areas

where now

in

absent

1968-71

Pinus sylvestris

Scots pine

S

1

+ 1

1

Taxus baccata

Yew-

AEFINR

10

— 1

+ 6

5

Tilia x europaea

Lime

EQ

1

+ 2

2

Acer pseudoplatanus

Sycamore

HIJKLMOQT

9

+ 9

9

Acer platanoides

Norway maple

AERS

1

+ 4

4

Acer campestre

Common maple

CHINPQT

11

— 1

+ 7

6

Aesculus hippocastanum

Horse chestnut

ADFJS

5

+ 5

5

Ilex aquifolium

Holly

OP

17

— 2

2

Euonymus europaeus

Spindle

BDHLNQS

7

— 2

+ 7

5

Frangula alnus

Alder buckthorn

GO

4

— 4

+ 2

(L) 2

Genista anglica

Petty wiiin

—

9

— 5

(L) 5

Ulex europaeus

Gorse

IT

10

— 1

+ 2

1

Ulex minor

Dw-arf gorse

—

13

— 7

(L) 7

Sarothamnus scoparius

Broom

E

2

— 1

+ 1

0

Rubus idaeus

Raspberry

AGMNQRS

4

_ 2

+ 7

5

Rosa arvensis

Field rose ABCDGHIKMPQS 8

+ 12

12

Rosa canina agg.

Dog rose

DGMNPQS

7

+ 7

7

Prunus spinosa

Blackthorn

BL

18

— 1

+ 2

1

Prunus cerasifera

Cherry plum

DO

0

+ 2

2

Prunus domestica

Wild plum

E

0

+ 1

T

„ ,, ssp. institia

Bullace

O

1

— 1

+ 1

0

Prunus avium

Wild cherry

DMNS

2

— 1

+ 4

3

Crataegus oxyacanthoides

Midland hawthorn

FGHQ

3

_ 2

+ 4

2

Sorbus aucuparia

Mountain ash

DFHIJKMS

5

— T

+ 8

7

Malus sylvestris

Crab apple

AFGHOPQ

13

— 4

+ 7

3

Ribes rubrum agg.

Red currant

BCDEFGL

9

— 1

+ 7

6

Ribes nigrum

Black currant

Q

7

— 4

+ 1

(L) 3

Cornus sanguinea

Dogwood

BFOP

16

+ 4

4

Ulmus procera

English elm

—

9

— 1

(L) 1

Betula pendula

Silver birch

OP

18

+ 2

2

Be tula pubescens

Downy birch

AFGIJOS

3

— 1

+ 7

6

Alnus glutinosa

Alder

S

0

+ 1

1

Carpimis betulus

Hornbeam

FGHIKLST

5

— 1

+ 8

7

Corylus avellana

Hazel

OPR

17

+ 3

3

Fagus sylvatica

Beech

FIKLNR

13

_ 2

+ 6

4

Castanea sativa

Sweet chestnut

BCHLQS

2

+ 6

6

Quercus cerris

Turkey oak

JKOST

10

+ 5

5

Populus tremula

Aspen

BCDLOQR

10

— 3

+ 7

4

Fraxinus excelsior

Ash

KMST

16

+ 4

4

Ligustrum vulgar e

Privet

P

5

— 1

+ 1

0

Sambucus nigra

Elder

GKM

17

+ 3

3

Viburnum opulus

Guelder rose

GNQR

3

2

- J

- 4

1

Ruscus aculeatus

Butcher’s broom

Q

16

+ 1

1

Bramble ( Rubus spp.), hawthorn ( Crataegus monogyna ), pedun¬
culate oak ( Quercus robur), and willow ( Salix spp.) were found in all
twenty areas in 1953 and again in 1968-1971 ; they are widespread and
common and will not be discussed further. Mock orange ( Phila -
delphus sp.), gooseberry ( Ribes uva-crispa), whitebeam ( Sorbus aria )
and Cotoneaster simonsii are casuals which have not been recorded
since 1953 and are therefore omitted from further discussion. Snow-
berry ( Symphoricarpos rivularis), garden privet ( Ligustrum ovalifolium),
white poplar ( Populus alba) and cultivated rose (Rosa spp.) are

Hillman — Trees and Shrubs on Bookham Common

47

planted trees or escapes from cultivation which have persisted but
have not increased their range of one area; they, too, are omitted
from further discussion.

The Areas

Most areas have lost some of their former species of trees and
shrubs, but have gained others, and Table 2 shows the net gains.

The planting of a row of trees on a burnt area in 1957 is respon¬
sible for the fact that area S has the largest number of gains. These
were listed at the time as cherry, beech, sycamore, hornbeam, labur¬
num, and alder (Castell & Jones 1958). The laburnum has probably
not survived as it has not been found in the recent survey, and the
“sycamores” would appear to have been Norway maples.

Table 2. The areas in order of numbers of species gained.

Net gain

No. of species

Areas

Net gain

No. of species

Areas

Net gain

No. of species

Areas

13

s

8

D K

4

N R

11

o G

7

I

3

C T

10

Q

6

H L P

7

nil

9

F

5

A B

I

— 1

E

J M

Of the areas which have gained eight species or more, O and Q
were formerly grassland and scrub types, but G, F, and D were
mainly inner woodland and K was woodland bordering marshy or
aquatic habitats. Thus the reception of new species by a section
seems to be dependent on too many chance factors to be in any way
correlated with its habitat type. One of these factors is the position
of a section in relation to others, for it will be seen from the maps that
the spread into new areas is nearly always into those adjacent to areas
already colonised (e.g. horse chestnut), or into a chain of adjacent
areas (e.g. hornbeam).

It is worth noting, too, that the only two sections, J and M, to have
fewer species recorded in them now are those flanked by dwellings and
containing car parking space. From houses and cars emerge not
only humans but dogs to be taken for walks; whether these biotic
factors are in any way responsible for the situation in these sections
cannot be known without special study.

Area Q is of interest in that whereas it is still mainly a grassland
and scrub habitat, not only have thirteen new species of tree or
shrub come into it (the highest number, but with three species lost
the net gain is ten), but two of these, midland hawthorn and butcher’s
broom, are essentially woodland species. In fact, a new woodland
area is developing here on the Common, discontinuous with the
existing woods. As it is on the western side of area Q, it might well
be named Bayfield Copse or South-west Copse. In addition to the
outward growth of hedgerows and trees from the boundary of the
Common on the w7est, there must have been some colonisation which

48

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

is attributable to the eastern woods by the usual agencies of birds,
mammals, wind. The colonisation of the grassland (Plains) areas by
scrub began as the grazing by farm animals diminished, to cease
altogether in 1949. The space between this copse and the main
woodland areas has, however, been the subject of much clearing by
various methods over a period of many years, and the comparatively
new copse in area Q may well illustrate what the whole of the Plains
would look like had no clearing taken place. The older scrub areas
are developing into oak “high forest”; the thorn species are the
principal colonisers, together with birch and the two scrub willows
in some areas; the oak becomes easily established in these conditions,
competes very successfully and soon dominates. (R.S.)

Area O. also on the Plains, is encroached on chiefly from the east,
but some dense shrub thickets in the west reached the stream and
were then cleared. Another part of the Plains, area R, also contains
Station Copse which has not greatly enlarged perhaps because of the
clearing of scrub on its boundaries.

The Species

Care must be taken in interpreting the maps; they give no indication
whatsoever of abundance, as an area is filled in regardless as to
whether one or hundreds of individual plants occur in it. Never¬
theless, looking at the results as a whole, it is reasonably certain
that most of the trees are increasing their range on the Common, and
Table 1 shows to what extent.

Five species, silver birch, dogwood, hazel, ash, and elder, which
were found in sixteen sections or more in 1953 are now found in all
twenty areas. As they have made the maximum possible extensions
of their range by invading at most four areas they are not considered
when comparing species regarding the amount of spread.

Of the remaining thirty-eight species, nineteen have added three
or more areas to their range. The greatest spread has been that of
the field rose adding twelve areas to its former eight, and the sycamore
adding nine areas to nine. The only tree to be found in fewer areas
than in 1953 is the English elm. It must be remembered that the
number of new areas actually invaded is often more than the net gain,
since allowance has been made for the fact when a species appears to
be absent from its former locations. It is possible that it still exists
there, but as recording progressed, special searches were made for
missing species, and they were not found. It is, of course, difficult
to search thoroughly even one of the twenty acre areas for every plant
classed as a tree or shrub. In fact a few species must have been
overlooked by the team of 1953, as trees over twenty years old are
now recorded for the first time. These records are few, of the order
of one per area (R.S.), and it seems likely when all conditions are
taken into consideration that the net gain figures show no more than

Hillman — Trees and Shrubs on Bookham Common

49

the minimum extensions in range for most species, except perhaps for
the Turkey oak.

As has been stated, a new section for a species is usually adjacent
to the one in which it already occurs. This is not attributable to
vegetative propagation. Although this method of reaching an
adjacent area cannot be entirely ruled out, success thereby would
depend on the position of the parent plant in its area, the direction of
the suckering roots and their rate of growth, and perhaps the most
important element in this context, their ability to cross boundaries
between sections, which consist of well-used paths and streams. It is
noticed that the stands of holly in the woods which are formed
largely by vegetative reproduction are usually each contained within
an area and do not continue on the other side of boundary paths.
The main agents of dispersal into new areas at Bookham are animals,
chiefly birds, and the wind, and the proportion of trees and shrubs
which use these agents in the whole Bookham population of these
species is about 2\ : 1. The proportion among the species now to
be found in 20 or 19 sections is also about 2\ : 1, and together with
Table 3, in which the ratio is again 2-^:1, this demonstrates that
animals and wind are of about equal importance in distributing the
more successful species into new areas.

Table 3. Plants which have extended into five or more new areas and their dispersal agents.

Wind dispersal

No. of new areas (net) Animal dispersal

No. of new areas (net)

Sycamore 9

Common maple 6

Downy birch 6

Hornbeam 7

Field rose 12

Dog rose 7

Mountain ash 7

Red currant 6

Sweet chestnut 6

Five species (Table 1) 5

By study of the maps, consideration of the furthest distance
from a parent plant at which its offspring is likely to be found after
eighteen years, suggests that the modal ( = most frequently occurring)
distance for trees and shrubs dispersed in these ways would seem to
lie between 300 metres and 500 metres. This leap could, of course,
be made in one year, e.g. by means of a jay carrying an acorn from the
wood to the Plains and burying it, as has been observed, then not
retrieving it, but broadly speaking the offspring must reach maturity
and produce seed before further leaps take place, and for trees this
may take at least several years. Of course, there are some wide
variations from the mode, for some species (e.g. downy birch) may
have reached distances three or four times as great from their origins.

Notes on individual species are given below. An asterisk (*)
denotes that the species is illustrated in Fig. 1 .

Scots pine is very rare; the soil is not suited to the spread of this
tree.

Yew. The gain of five areas is greater than the average, but its
distribution consists of scattered trees, and it does not form large
stands in the woodlands.

50

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

*Sycamore is spreading rapidly, and in places may be hindering
the regeneration of oak-wood (R.S.).

*Norway maple is another successful species of Acer, having
spread from one tree in area D into two adjacent areas. The tree in
area S was planted, but it has also been recorded from the adjacent
area R.

* Common maple. Another Acer to have shown a greater than
average spread on the Common. It is more widely distributed than
the Norway maple, and has as wide a range as the sycamore but is
not as abundant.

* Horse chestnut, raspberry, *downy birch, * mountain ash,
*hornbeam and sweet chestnut have at least doubled the number of
areas in which they are found, with increases of from five to seven.
The trees are not, however, equal in their performance for whereas
saplings of horse chestnut and downy birch are plentiful, those of
hornbeam and sweet chestnut are scarce (R.S.).

Holly is common in the woods and in some places is the dominant
shrub. It has three methods of reproduction: by layering, by
suckering, and from seed. The first method was observed at Book-
ham where, in the denser parts of the woodland, there is a tendency
for the branches to elongate and droop, forming roots on reaching
the soil. This method is mentioned in Peterken & Lloyd (1967).
Suckers and seedlings are common.

*Spindle and ^Turkey oak appear to have substantially extended
their distribution by five areas, but the spindle is rare and less
abundant than Turkey oak where it occurs. The latter species was
probably missed in 1953 from some areas in which it has recently
been recorded, and saplings are few (R.S.).

The leguminous shrubs are not doing well. *Gorse has in¬
creased its range by only one new area and is thought to be less
abundant now. Broom, a casual, remains in two sections. *Dwarf
gorse and *petty whin have seriously declined. These, preferring
open habitats, might be expected to disappear as woodland invades
their habitats, but it is largely bracken Pteridium aquilinum which
has overrun them.

* Field rose has apparently invaded more than twice as many new
areas as the *dog rose, though there was not much difference in the
number of areas occupied by each in 1953.

Of the Prunus species, blackthorn is now found in nineteen
divisions. Wild plum and wild cherry are too few in number to
be important members of the woodland community except to add to
its variety and beauty in the spring. An unrecorded species, cherry
plum, has been found by Miss M. E. Robins.

The species of Ribes are interesting: Gooseberry seems to have
died out completely though present in three divisions in 1953.
* Blackcurrant, present formerly in seven sections, is now found

Hillman — Trees and Shrubs on Bookham Common

51

only in four, and is one of the few species whose range has con¬
tracted, whereas *red currant, formerly in nine divisions, is now
found in fifteen.

The *English elm is found, as formerly, only on the boundary in
all the western areas. The elm has a light wind-dispersed seed, and
the prevailing winds would carry these on to the Common, but
seedlings are rarely found in Britain as few seeds germinate (R.S.),
and the chief method of propagation is by suckers. It is significant
that this is the only tree whose range has contracted ; its reliance on
vegetative propagation coupled with its unfavourable position for
reaching other areas by this means is no doubt responsible. Tansley
(1939) remarks that it does not enter into semi-natural vegetation at
all. The main constituent of Station Copse is elm, arising from
suckers from a line of old planted trees (Jones 1959).

* Beech has made an average spread into four more areas but it is
not successfully competing with oak in the woods. Tansley (1939)
states that on heavier soils oak has an advantage over beech, and this
is true at Bookham where oak is the dominant tree.

As far as is known, there is only one alder tree on the Common.
This was planted in area S four years after the first survey.

Alder buckthorn and *guelder rose are a little puzzling as they
seem to be absent from all their former sections and are found in new
ones. Both these shrubs are scarce or overlooked.

* Butcher’s broom, as can be seen from the map, is found in all
the woodland sections and is one of the species which has been
carried across intervening grassland and scrub into the new western
copse of area Q. A special study is being made of this plant.

The willows, of which there are several varieties on the Common,
have presented too much of a problem to the less expert members of
the survey team; as the recording is incomplete they have been
neglected in this account, but would merit further study in view of
their importance for insects. A species new to the Common, the
eared willow, Salix aurita, was found by R. Stern in 1971.

I am grateful to all those recorders who have made this account possible,
namely, those mentioned in the first paragraph, and the team who made the
original census: A. W. Jones, E. B. Bangerter, the late C. P. Castell, Mrs J. F.
Hall and P. C. Hall. I thank R. Stern for comments on this paper.

References

CASTELL, C. P. & JONES, A. W. 1958. The survey of Bookham Common,

Sixteenth Year. Progress report. Vegetation. Loud. Nat. 37: 56.
CLAPHAM, A. R., TUTIN, T. G. & WARBURG, E. F. 1962. Flora of the

British Isles. Ed. 2. Cambridge.

JONES, A. W. 1954. The flora of Bookham Common. Lond. Nat. 33: 25-47.
JONES, A. W. 1959. The flora of Station Copse, Bookham Common. Lond.

Nat. 38: 61-63.

PETERKEN, G. F. & LLOYD, P. S. 1967. Biological flora of the British

Isles. Ilex aquifolium L. J. Ecol. 55: 841-858.

TANSLEY, A. G. 1939. The British Islands and their Vegetation. Cambridge.

52

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

Fig. 1. Changes in the distribution of
1953-1971.

Euonymus europaeus
Spindle

trees and shrubs on Bookham Common,

Key to the maps

Recorded in 1953
and in 1968-1971

Recorded in 1968-1971
and not before

Recorded in 1953
and not since

Never recorded

J

500 m

Hillman— Trees and Shrubs on Bookham Common

Ulmus procera
English elm

54

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

Rosa canina
Dog rose

Ribes nigrum
Black currant

Ulex europaeus
Gorse

Crataegus oxyacanthoides a
Midland hawthorn

55

A Rabbit Survey of the Bookham Commons

by M. Towns

Summary

The rabbit, formerly more widespread on the Bookham Commons, is now mainly
associated with the soft grasslands maintained through the intervention of man.
Their populations appear to be highly dependant on the pastures grazed by
domestic animals. With the gradual withdrawal of these animals from the
Common, there followed many changes in the character of the Plains rendering
them unsuitable for intensive occupation by rabbits. It is noteworthy that even
at their peak the rabbits were on the whole unable to prevent this development
and it is possible that the present pattern of distribution may have been evolving
even before myxomatosis produced its profound effects.

Examination of the wetter regions revealed little evidence of extensive surface¬
living and at two sites where feeding grounds were available numerous burrows
had been excavated. These burrows were on land marginally higher than that
of the surroundings, a height sufficient to prevent flooding in the burrows and so
obviate any necessity for the pursuance of a surface-living existence.

The regular shoots carried out by the Box Hill and Headley Rabbit Clearance
Society has resulted in the rabbit communities being maintained in individual
sub-groupings of burrows rather than massive interconnected warren systems.
The shoots have also been concentrated at the locations of Warrens B and C and
the Bank’s community of Warren E, creating a population vacuum in these areas.
It seems likely that rabbits from the thriving Warren E, along the railway line,
are continually moving into these areas.

Introduction

A survey of the rabbit, Oryctolagns cuniculus (Linn.), population of the
Bookham Commons was conducted over a period of two years
1969-1970. The objects of the investigation were:

1. To plot the location of the rabbit burrows in order to:

(a) examine their structure;

(b) investigate their association with the feeding grounds;

(c) investigate their association with the environment.

2. To undertake an assessment of the habit of “surface-livingA
This habit was thought to be due to the high water-table of
the Common, which because of the ever-present danger of
flooding makes the excavation of burrows impractical.
Such a situation might lead to the rabbit population pursuing
a surface existence similar to that of the hare, Lepus capensis
Linn.

One of the first results of the survey was the discovery that,
although rabbits are present on all parts of the Common, the major
part of their population is confined to several small areas of favourable
habitat. These areas have been delineated on the accompanying
map (Fig. 1). All boundaries are approximate and are based on
signs of obvious rabbit activity and by the location of the collections
of rabbit pellets which serve to mark individual and group territories
(Mykytowycz 1968). Such collections are easily distinguished from
other randomly deposited faeces. At Bookham the mounds of the

56

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

yellow meadow ant, Lasius flavus , and patches of burnt or bare ground
are often utilised for the deposition of pellets.

Each warren is considered separately and comparisons and
dissimilarities described where appropriate. The question of surface-
and burrow-living is discussed for each habitat, and the results of the
investigations on burrow structure, habits and colonisation follows
the description of the warrens.

The Warrens

Warren A

Warren A is the largest of the rabbit colonies on the Common.
Its main burrow system is located at the edge of Hill House Wood at
approximately the 130 ft contour level. Seven other smaller burrows
are ranged up the slope of the hill as far as the 1 75 ft contour. Owing
to the relative steepness of this slope, the burrows ramify deeply

Towns — Rabbit Surrey of the Bookham Commons 57

underground. Since a policy of digging out burrow systems was
avoided during these investigations, much of the information on these
burrows has been obtained by detailed observation from the outside.

The main burrow system was made up of three subgroups with
(at the time of writing) eight, ten and ten entrances respectively. It
could not be fully ascertained whether these groupings were inter¬
connected, but their close association suggested this. It seemed
possible, therefore, that each one of the subgroups w^as once an
individual colony and that these colonies had merged as their popu¬
lations and excavations had expanded. The other burrows had five
to eight extrances and this gave extra weight to the hypothesis that
the larger system was originally three smaller separate systems. A
similar process of haphazard expansion of an existing warren was
described by Thompson and Worden (1956).

All of the burrows were located very close to the Common
boundary, allowing ready access to two large permanent pastures
w'hich abut the Common at this point. These pastures are the feeding
grounds for the rabbits of this Warren. Little foraging takes place
in the surrounding woodland, except in the immediate vicinity of the
burrows, and this lack of utilisation of the woodland is a notable
feature of the Common.

Warren B

Warren B is situated partly on Bank’s Plain and partly on
Western Plain. Jones (1954) classified Bank's Plain as an open area
without a dominant species and Western Plain was shown to be
dominated by Deschampsia caespitosa. In the northern areas of
each Plain were scattered clumps of hawthorn ( Crataegus monogyna)
and blackthorn ( Primus spinosa) scrub. This scrub has spread
spectacularly since then, particularly between Bank's Stream and
Bookham Stream, and has interspersed within it a number of small
open spaces. These open spaces are heavily grazed and are main¬
tained in their present form solely by the activities of the rabbits of
Warren B.

The Warren lies at approximately the 100 ft contour level and has
been excavated predominantly in the London Clay lying between the
belts of alluvium which flank the courses of Bank’s and Bookham
streams. Much of the London Clay is slightly, but significantly,
elevated above the surrounding alluvium.

The structure of the burrows here is very different from those of
Warren A. They are usually small, their entrance tunnels only
rarely exceeding five in number, forming individual colonies, most of
them encircling the bases of hawthorn shrubs. Other burrows of
simple structure w'ere found which were merely open-ended passages,
usually passing beneath a tree root or, occasionally, below a mound
of the yellow meadow' ant. Burrows of this type would appear to be
nest-stops in the process of enlargement.

58

The London Naturalist, No. 51, 1972

Three-quarters of the burrows of Warren B were sited on the
perimeter of the grassland clearings, the remaining quarter being
positioned deeper in the scrub but still maintaining unhindered access
to the local feeding ground.

As was mentioned earlier, the area of London Clay within Warren
B was slightly elevated above the flanking alluvium. This increase in
height is sufficient to place the bulk of the London Clay above the
normal winter water-table and it is here that virtually all of the
burrows are located. Only a few nest-stops were seen on the alluvial
belts and these became flooded when the water-level rose near the
surface. Such flooding of burrows was never encountered on the
London Clay during the course of the survey.

Warren C

Warren C presents a habitat similar in many ways to Warren B,
but on a reduced scale. The burrows of this Warren are also grouped
around the perimeter of a closely-cropped grass clearing and, again,
are excavated at the base of some hawthorn bushes. The area as a
whole lies in the belt of alluvium where it enters the Common by
Bookham railway station. At this point it lies at approximately
140 ft, a height which again appeared adequate to prevent the flooding
of burrows from the normal fluctuations of the water-table.

In Beven (1966, 1968) it was suggested that the lower-lying wetter
areas of Bank’s, Central and Western Plains could only support
populations of rabbits which led an existence predominantly or
entirely on the surface, a change in behaviour which was presumed to
have been brought about by the presence of a high water-table in
these Plains. If the rabbit population was uniformly distributed
across the Commons, such a suggestion would receive some support.
However, the map (Fig. 1) shows that the rabbit population of
the Commons at the present time is far from uniformly distributed.
Investigations carried out in and around the low-lying areas, which
are chiefly the alluvial regions, revealed little evidence of a continued
occupation or even presence of rabbits. On other parts of the
Common which supported a rabbit community, some grazing
invariably takes place on the mown grass of the paths within the
warren territory. Evidence for this is provided by the collections of
pellets and the presence of “scrapes”, small holes about 2 cm deep
produced by the rabbits, possibly for feeding or as a displacement
activity. Also frequently seen in the winter months were hawthorn
bushes from the bases of which bark had been stripped. These
features were extremely uncommon or non-existent in the low-lying
belt, except for the areas adjoining Warrens B and C.

Significantly the burrows at both Warrens B and C have been
excavated on ground which rises above the general level of the
surrounding land. At both Warrens the wetter areas are avoided
as places for continuous occupation and are utilised primarily as

Tow ns — Rabbit Survey of the Bookham Commons 59

feeding grounds. The central region of the alluvial belt, where it
passes through Central and Isle of Wight Plains, is flat and without
any measurable difference in height and at present supports very
few rabbits.

All this points to the rabbit populations as being fully able to
exploit the inconsistencies of their environment to full advantage,
thus obviating any need to pursue a surface-living existence in the less
favourable habitats presented by the low-lying plains.

We must now consider the individuals which are pursuing a
surface existence and review the results of the investigations at
Warren D. Individual animals are present in small numbers across
all parts of the Commons, although notably less frequently in the
interiors of Bayfield and Isle of Wight Plains and in the interiors of
Central and Eastern Woods. Thompson and Worden (1956) found
that, on the whole, the bucks were more likely to take to surface¬
living, and that towards the end of the breeding season there was
generally an increase in the numbers of surface-living individuals.
This increase was presumably precipitated by the break-up of breeding
hierarchies and by the numbers of young animals which had yet to
settle into a burrow system. Although it was not possible to carry
out operations to verify if this was also applicable to Bookham
Commons, it seems reasonable to assume it.

Warren D

Warren D is the only Warren on the Common which is almost
certainly surface-living. Its rabbits are centred on an area of almost
impenetrable bramble ( Rubus spp.) and sapling birch ( Betula ver¬
rucosa). Several attempts to penetrate this thicket met with varying
degrees of success and did reveal evidence of the presence of rabbits,
although a burrow has yet to be located. It is a small community
and probably a vestigial one. with the dense bramble affording
protection for its members. In all likelihood a larger community
had previously existed on what was once the large open tract between
Hill House Wood and Central Wood, which has now become greatly
overgrown and less attractive to the animals.

Warren E

Finally, there are the colonies of Bank's Common (Warren E).
Although this Common is not usually considered by the Bookham
Common Survey, it is nevertheless important in the context of this
survey. There are two main foci for the rabbits; one in the region of
Bank’s Farm, and the other in the lower region of Bank's Stream and
the railway embankment.

The Bank's Farm colony is established on the southern boundary
of the farm. Burrow structure here is similar to that found at
Warrens B and C, although the individual burrow systems tend to be

60

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

rather more complex. One of these burrow systems has assumed a
form comparable to the burrows of Warren A and has been excavated
below and around a large heap of dead wood, with entrance holes
passing well below the surface. Feeding grounds for this colony are
provided by the meadows of Bank’s Farm and, in part, by the
extensive pastures below Bank’s Cottage and Five Halls.

The second Bank’s community is largely centred on an extensive
area which borders the railway line west of the Common and is
heavily grazed by the rabbits. As far as can be ascertained this
Warren does not suffer from interference by man and in consequence
supports a considerable number of rabbits. The railway embank¬
ment is the site of numerous nest-stops, and sub-communities can
frequently be found along the lower reaches of Bank’s Stream. This
site is of considerable interest. It may be from this centre that a
degree of “restocking” of the Common takes place. There is ready
access to the Five Halls pastures and several burrows are located
here and along the river close by the burrows of Bank’s Farm.

The burrows of Warren E are of a comparatively uniform size,
their entrance holes rarely exceeding ten in number, usually with an
average of six or eight, forming the typical sub-communities seen in
the other warrens. Some of the burrows are excavated at the bases
of shrubs and some in the open woodland, with seemingly no prefer¬
ence of habitat.

Population Changes

In previous years, the rabbit benefited from the large-scale grazing
of domestic animals which maintained extensive regions of the
Common as soft grassland. With the withdrawal of these animals
there was a gradual increase of scrub, bracken and tufted hair grass
on the open areas. Except in a few favoured districts, it appeared
that the rabbits were unable to check this widespread increase of
vegetation (Beven 1968) and as the species concerned appear un¬
palatable to rabbits, they may even have assisted in their spread.
Eventually it had become apparent that many of their former feeding
grounds had become unavailable to them. Finally, the outbreak of
myxomatosis and the regular control measures instituted since then
by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has meant a
continued reduction in their numbers on the Bookham Commons,
generally rendering them too few and too subject to population
fluctuations to produce any substantial effect on the vegetation.
The result has been a concentration of present populations on the
available meadow land within and predominately outside the
Common.

Bank’s Plain still contains enough soft grassland to support
Warren B, and the meadows of Bank’s Farm, Five Halls and Hill
House provide for the large expanding Warrens A and E. Warrens

Towns — Rabbit Survey of the Bookham Commons 61

C and D are probably the remnants of the original warrens of the
grazed plains, and they are now themselves in a state of degeneration.

Another interesting development, possibly brought about by the
reduction in numbers of the rabbits, can be seen in the construction
of the burrows. They have tended to remain small, forming indi¬
vidual sub-communities. At the bases of shrubs, as in Warrens B
and C, the entrance holes to a sub-community rarely exceed five in
number, and for those of the open woodland and woodland edges
the entrance holes may number from five to ten. This suggests that
there may be an optimum number of members to a social grouping
and that the sub-community is the basic units of a community.
Only once were these sub-groupings found to be inter-connected (at
Warren A) and this seemed to be more as a result of competition for
space in a favourable habitat, than for any other reason.

It is worth considering whether the present situation differs
substantially from that before the onset of myxomatosis. There is an
unfortunate lack of information about the rabbits on Bookham
Common but it is assumed that the animal was more abundant than
at present and that larger, more complex warrens were usual. It has
been shown that these warrens (which often reached a considerable
size) were enlarged haphazardly, often when a developing nest-stop
at its periphery connected with its tunnels. At Warren A three sub¬
communities became joined in much the same manner, showing that
the capacity for similar expansion is still present. Given an in¬
creasing population other instances would, in all likelihood, be
recorded. However, numbers were greatly reduced by myxomatosis
and have remained at a low-level through the twin agencies of control
and the occasional epizootics of myxomatosis, outbreaks of which
were known to have occurred in 1958, 1966 and 1969.

The rabbits appeared to recover rapidly from the 1966 and 1969
epidemics of myxomatosis and the disease does not seem to be as
potent a factor as it has been in the past, but there can be no doubt
about the effectiveness of the manner in which the Box Hill and
Headley Pest Control Officers carry out their tasks. After a shoot in
February 1969, it was found that a greater part of the Bank’s com¬
munity of Warren E had been exterminated, a small community in
South-East Wood had been destroyed by gassing and a number of
sub-communities in Warrens A and B subsequently fell into disuse.
The total number of rabbits taken on this shoot was 89. Another
less thorough shoot was carried out in the autumn of 1969 and
shortlv afterwards three well-established sub-communities at Warren
B were found unoccupied and Warren C appeared to have been
seriously disturbed. Since then the species has recovered rather
well and the numerous earthworkings and activity indicates that
numbers are almost back to the level noted before February 1969.
Only Warren C has failed to show any further signs of increase in
activity.

62

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

This greater likelihood of the death of some or all of the members
of a sub-community with the subsequent decay and possibly des¬
truction of the burrow system, has acted to prevent expansion into
larger burrows, and has maintained a sub-community structure.
The siting of the burrows is as follows:

Open grass Grassland Deep scrub Grassland Deep wood
scrub edge wood edge

1 21 3 16 2

The figures given are for the numbers of burrows with four or more
entrances, and are the total number recorded as occupied in December
1970. All of the burrows are sited at the edge of a feeding ground
and, where both scrub and woodland are available at a site, neither
habitat is colonised in favour of the other.

Finally something must be said about the future of the rabbit
on Bookham Commons. A great deal of clearance is being under¬
taken by the Conservation Corps: they have been removing scrub
from the areas it has recently invaded, and cutting back the pure
stands of bracken ( Pteridium aquilinum) and the extensive areas of
tufted hair grass on Bayfield and Central Plains. Much of this
activity has resulted in an increase in the softer grasses which are
attractive to rabbits. So far utilisation of this new source has been
slow, and it still remains to be seen whether or not these grasses will
serve as foci for rabbit colonisation. In fact this increase of feeding
grounds may favour an increase in numbers, and a more widespread
population will certainly present a more difficult task for the Pest
Control Officers. Recent spread has been mainly at or near the sites
where the rabbit is already abundant, as at Bank’s Plain, Kelsey’s
Wood and in South-East Wood, or at districts where pasture is
already available, as at Hazel Copse.

I would like to thank Dr G. Beven and Miss M. Pilot for their criticism of
this paper, Mrs A. Warren for typing the manuscript, and Mrs P. A. Moxey for
drawing the map. Thanks are also due to Dr A. S. Thorley for his numerous
records.

References

BEVEN, G. 1966. Survey of Bookham Common. Twenty-fourth year.

Progress report for 1965. Mammals. Loud. Nat. 45: 55.

BEVEN, G. 1968. Survey of Bookham Common. Twenty-sixth year. Pro¬
gress report for 1967. Mammals. Lond. Nat. 47: 93-94.

JONES, A. W. 1954. The flora of Bookham Common. Lond. Nat. 33: 25-47.
MYKYTOWYCZ, R. 1968. Territorial marking by rabbits. Scient. Am.
218 (5): 116-126.

THOMPSON, H. V. & WORDEN, A. N. 1965. The Rabbit. Collins, London.

63

Gall Midges of the Pedunculate Oak

by Arm and E. Le Gros

Barnes (1951a) remarked on “the appalling lack of knowledge
concerning the biology and bionomics of oak gall midges” and the
section on this subject is perhaps the least satisfactory in his important
work. Some work has been done partly at Bookham and partly
in the north-west of Kent to elucidate life histories of the midges of
the pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur L.) and this preliminary paper
endeavours to summarise what is known at present of these flies in
Great Britain. Most of the insects found on Q. robur are also found
on the durmast oak ( Q . petraea (Mattuschka) Liebl). On the
Continent a number of midges have been recorded as galling the
Turkey oak ( Q . cerris L.) but in the London Area I have found that
few insects attack this tree. It would seem that when it was intro¬
duced here few of its associated insects were brought with it.

In the following key to the recorded galls I have tried in some
cases to attribute them to the correct midge species but as Barnes has
pointed out many of the named midges are known only by a des¬
cription of the gall or the gall and the larvae, and the adult insects
have not been described. Some of the midges discussed here are not
to be found in our national collections. Species starred (*) have been
found at Bookham and most of them are new records for the Com¬
mon. The B numbers refer to Hermann Buhr’s great compilation
on European galls.

1. Acorn aborted and/or acorn cup distorted. Gregarious reddish

larvae. Not recorded in Buhr.

* Dasineura sp.

Galls of the buds and shoots 2

Galls of the leaves 3

2. Terminal internode shortened, leaves crinkled and loosely

bunched in a tuft. Leaf nerves thickened and hairy. Yel¬
low-white gregarious leaping larvae. B5403.

* Contarinia quercina (Rubsaamen)
Leaf bud closed. Reddish larvae. B5406.

Janetia quercicola (Kieffer)

3. Irregular swellings along main and secondary veins. B5512A.

Dasineura panteli (Kieffer)
Swellings on the leaves 4

Rolling or folding of the leaf margin 5

4. Swelling above the leaf, circular depression below, 5 mm dia¬

meter. Larvae free. B5516.

* Dasineura libera (Kieffer)
Slight swelling on the blade of the leaf. B5486.

Dasineura malpighi (Kieffer)

64

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

Circular gall 3 mm diameter, on underside of leaf. White
larva (Burkill 1930).

Cecidomyiidae spp.

5. Lobe of leaf thickened and folded downwards, green sometimes
with yellow or red patches. Single white larva. B5507.

*Macrodiplosis dryobia (F. Low)
Narrow part of the leaf margin between two lobes discoloured,
rolled upwards. One or more pale to yellow larvae. B5506.

* Maerodiplosis volvens Kieffer

Reddish or salmon coloured gregarious larvae have been reported
from deformed acorns and acorn cups by Cameron (1891) and
Bagnall & Harrison (1917). I have found galled acorn cups with
several reddish larvae on occasions at Bookham. Bagnall & Harrison
(1922) also recorded white solitary larvae in acorn cups and attributed
them to Dasineura ( Perrisia ) squamosa Tavares. Barnes (1955)
having reared midges from distorted acorns and acorn cups suggested
that four species are likely to be found in this habitat. Firstly a
Dasineura sp. which attacks the acorn when it is soft and immature;
then a Contarinia sp. which arrives later when the acorn is hard but
can live in the space between the acorn and the acorn cup; and
finally a pair of probably polyphagous species: an inquiline Clino-
diplosis sp. and a predatory Lestodiplosis sp. Unfortunately Barnes
did not live to establish specific names for these four.

Several species have been recorded as attacking buds and shoots.
I have only occasionally met with galls of Contarinia quercina which
Buhr says has two generations a year. Dasineura dryobia Rubs, is
said to be an inquiline in these galls. I have never met with the
galls of Arnoldio/a quercina (Binnie), B5404, which deform shoots,
or Arno/diola quercicola (Kieffer), the adults of which have not
been described.

The only oak midges Niblett recorded from Bookham have been
the two Maerodiplosis species. He found the solitary white larva
of M. dryobia in the gall in May and June, after which it dropped to
the soil for pupation, the adults emerging in the following May.
There is only one generation a year. He reared also M. volvens
finding only one generation a year, the galls being found in June-July
and the adults appearing in the following May and June. There is,
however, evidence from continental workers (Skuhrava & Skuhravy
1963) that under favourable conditions a second generation of galls
could appear in August-September. The galls of both species
usually contain one or more larvae of an inquiline * Monodiplosis
liebeli (Kieffer). I have found the galls rather uncommon at Book¬
ham of recent years.

I have occasionally come across, in June and July, small depres¬
sions on the underside of a leaf occupied by a small free-living white
larva. On the other side of the leaf are barely perceptible swellings.

Le Gros — Gall Midges of the Pedunculate Oak

65

Buhr suggests this gall to be that of Dasineura libera (Kieffer), which
Bagnall & Harrison (1918) recorded from Lancashire. D. v. Leeuwen
(1957, No. 821) says that wfien the larva leaves to pupate in the soil
the site of its feeding dries up and breaks aw7ay, leaving a small hole.

Burkill (1930) recorded a circular gall about 3mm diameter on the
underside of the leaf containing a white larva. The gall resembled
that of the sexual form vesicator of the cynipid Neuroterus numismalis
Fourcr. but lacked radial striae. He found the galls in Kent, Shrop¬
shire and Surrey, but was unable to suggest the causer. He said that
the larva eats its way out of the gall to pupate in the soil.

Kidd & Brindle (1959) recorded the galls of Dasineura malpighi
from Lancashire and Cheshire as circular pustules 2-3mm across,
raised only slightly above the surface of the leaf.

Midges have been reported at different times as inquilines living
in the leaf rolls made by beetles but I have never met with these. As
Aphids are sometimes common on the undersides of leaves I have
been surprised that the aphidivorous cecid larvae have not been
reported from oak by Nijveldt (1957) or by Wood-Baker (1965).

In previous notes (Le Gros 1963, 1971) I have referred to the
reddish gall midge larvae associated with the oak apple galls of
Biorhiza pallida (Olivier). These larvae may be found sparsely from
June on the outside of the gall near the point of attachment. Later
they enter the gall through the exit holes of the gall’s inhabitants and
in the winter months may be quite common. Most larvae belong to
*Clinodiplosis biorhizae Kieffer, which feed on the gall tissue, and
pupate mainly in the gall but occasionally in the soil. I have managed
to rear specimens in different months from August to May. The
midge is probably polyphagous and associated with other woody
galls on oak (see below), and there is probably more than one
generation a year. The other larvae belong to a predator of the
larvae of C. biorhizae which Mr W. Nijveldt of the Institute of
Phytopathological Research, Wageningen, Netherlands, informed
me was an undescribed *Lestodiplosis sp.

One frequently finds similar reddish larvae in the scales of the
outer gall of the cynipid Andricus fecundator (Hartig) from August
onwards. Bagnall & Harrison (1921) attributed them to Arnoldia
gemmae Rubsaamen. Niblett (1952) reared some also and attributed
them to Clinodiplosis gallicola Rubsaamen, finding that they pupated
both in the gall and in the soil, and that the adults emerged in August-
September of the first year or lay over until April in the second year.
I have reared a Clinodiplosis sp. and a Lestodiplosis sp. from decaying
galls of A. fecundator which I was unable to distinguish from the pair
reared from oak apple galls. Blair (1940) records rearing cecids from
decaying damaged Andricus kollari galls, and I have also found
Clinodiplosis larvae in bird-pecked marble galls and also in A. inflator
galls. It seems likely that all these woody galls are the various
habitats of a single species of Clinodiplosis and its predator. The

66

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

presence of these inquilines does not affect the gall causer as they only
begin to flourish after it has left the gall.

The spangle galls of Neuroterus quercusbaccarum (L.) agamic form
lenticularis (Olivier) are usually abundant most years on oak leaves
in the autumn. From August onwards many of the galls are attacked
by larvae which live between the gall and the underside of the leaf.
They are attributed to *Parallelodiplosis galliperda (F. Low) by D. v.
Leeuwen (No. 836) and Buhr (p. 957) who call the larvae red, but I
have found them mainly deep yellow to orange red, densely papillate,
with the terminal segment of a typical Clinodiplosis pattern. P.
galliperda was first recorded as British by Bagnall & Harrison (1916)
from Yorkshire but their comment that the galls are slightly swollen,
pale and irregular with whitish wriggling larvae leads me to think
that they had another species before them.

In 1969 I examined over 2,000 galls taken from several localities
in Kent and Surrey and found 300 Parallelodiplosis galliperda larvae
on them, the percentage of infestation varying from 2 • 5 at Bookham
to 44 at Chislehurst, Kent. Usually there was only one larva to a
gall, rarely two or three. On three occasions I found a larva with an
ectoparasitic chalcid larva. Attempts to rear the cecid and chalcid
larvae failed due to mould and in 1970 and 1971 galls were scarce.
Both D. v. Leeuwen and Buhr note that the larva deforms the gall.
The feeding of P. galliperda is in fact disastrous to the gall’s inhabitants
(gallcauser, inquiline or parasite). It feeds deeply into the underside
of the gall working in a circle round the central point of attachment,
causing the gall to darken, dry and shrivel, compressing the central
cell and crushing the occupant. I opened forty of the distorted galls
and failed to find a live insect. The unattacked galls break away
from the leaf in late September-October and remain light in colour
with yellow-green undersides right through the winter. Attacked
shrivelled galls are to be found still attached to the leaf in late
December.

Another discoid gall, that of Neuroterus albipes sexual form
laeviusculus Schenck, is also attacked by a larva attributed to *Xeno-
diplosis laeviuscu/i Rubsaamen by Bagnall & Harrison (1917).
Niblett (1940) has reared the larvae, finding that the fly emerged in
July of the second year. The gall is not common at Bookham being
found in ones or twos as compared with the hundreds of the form
lenticularis. I have found the larvae, which have the look of a
Clinodiplosis but I did not rear them. Buhr (p. 956) says that the
larva causes deformation of the gall.

Barnes (1951b) discusses eight species of midges reported by
J. Kieffer attracted to the cut surface of stumps of freshly felled trees,
where the larvae feed on the sap. Mr R. W. J. Uffen tells me that
he saw cecidomyiids collecting on a freshly cut stump at Bookham
in early autumn 1971. Very little is known about these midges or
about the larvae of * Mycodiplosis spp. which may be found on

Le Gros — Gall Midges of the Pedunculate Oak

67

moulds which sometimes attack oak leaves. The same may be said
about the larvae to be found under damp bark. Usually the larvae
belong to the subfamily Porricondylinae, and are sometimes quite
numerous.

I thank K. M. Harris and A. M. Hutson for discussion on some of the points
raised.

References

BAGNALL, R. S. & HARRISON, J. W. H. 1916. Records of some new
British plant galls. Part 4. Entomologist's Rec. J. Var. 28: 247-252.
BAGNALL, R. S. & HARRISON, J. W. H. 1917. Records of some new
British plant galls. Part 5. Entomologist' s Rec. J. Var. 29: 12-15.
BAGNALL, R. S. & HARRISON, J. W. H. 1918. A preliminary catalogue of
British Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) with special reference to the gall-midges of
the north of England. Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 65: 346-426.

BAGNALL, R. S. & HARRISON, J. W. H. 1921. New British Cecidomyidae.

I. Entomologist's Rec. J. Var. 33: 151-155.

BAGNALL, R. S. & HARRISON, J. W. H. 1922. New British Cecidomyidae
4. Entomologist's Rec. J. Var. 34: 149-154.

BARNES, H. F. 1951a. Gall Midges of Economic Importance. 5. London.
BARNES, H. F. 1951b. The occurrence of xylophilous gall midge larvae
(Dipt. Cecidomyiidae) Entomologist's mon. Mag. 86: 241.

BARNES, H. F. 1955. Gall midges reared from acorns and acorn cups.
Entomologist's mon. Mag. 91: 86-87.

BLAIR, K. G. 1946. On the economy of the oak marble gall ( Cynips hollar i
Hartig). Proc. S. Lond. ent. nat. Hist. Soc. 1945-6: 79-83.

BIJHR, H. 1965. Bestimmungstabellen de G alien {Zoo- and Phytocecidien )
an Pflanzen Mittel- und Nordeuropas. 2: 922-968. Jena.

BURKILL, H. J. 1930. Some notes on midge galls 1929. Entomologist
63: 59-61.

CAMERON, P. 1891. On the galls of mid-Cheshire. Part first. Trans, a.
Rep. Manchr. micr. Soc. 1891: 65-72.

KIDD, L. N. & BRINDLE, A. 1959. The Diptera of Lancashire and Cheshire.
Part 1.

LEEUWEN, D. v. 1957. Gallenboek. 2 ed. Zutphen.

LE GROS, A. E. 1963. Notes on the plant galls of north-west Kent. Lond.
Nat. 42: 21-24.

LE GROS, A. E. 1971. The inhabitants of oak apples. Entomologist's Rec.

J. Var. 83: 391-392.

NIBLETT, M. 1940. Some notes on the cynipid genus Neuroterus. Ento¬
mologist 73: 254-258.

NIBLETT, M. 1941. Notes on the cynipid genera Biorhiza and Megaptera.
Entomologist 74: 153-157.

NIBLETT, M. 1952. Some notes on Andricus fecundator Htg. (Cynipidae,
Hym). Proc. S. Lond. ent. nat. Hist. Soc. 1951-52: 134-136.

NIBLETT, M. 1957. The gall midges (Cecidomyiidae) of Bookham Common.
Lond. Nat. 36: 51-54.

NIJVELDT, W. 1957. Aphid-eating gall midges (Cecidomyiidae), with special
reference to those in the Barnes collection. Ent. Ber. Amst. 17: 233-239.
SKUHRAVA, M. & SKUHRAVY, V. 1963. Gallmucken und ihre Gallen auf
Wildpfianzen. Wittenberg.

WOOD-BAKER, C. S. 1965. Aphidivorous Cecidomyiidae (Dipt.). An
investigation into the occurrence and bionomics of aphid-eating gall midges,
mainly in Britain. Entomologist's mon. Mag. 100: 212-231.

68

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

The Arachnida of Bookham Common

by Armand E. Le Gros

A Revised List of Spiders

In a previous list (Le Gros 1951) 100 species exclusive of linyphiids
were recorded. I was not able to visit the Common regularly between
1954-1967 but I was able then to prepare a working list of 171 species
including linyphiids. When I began to revise this list, I received
from D. Macer-Wright a list of eighty-seven species collected between
1951-1953. He was the first to collect Dysdera erythrina , D. crocota,
Clubiona lutescens, Xysticus kochi, Pardosa prativaga, P. hortensis,
P. proximo, Xerolycosa nemoralis , Trochosa robusta (believed to be a
county record), Pirata Iatitans, Steatoda phalerata, Singa sanguined
and Cercidia prominens. Nellist (1969) records a visit of the British
Arachnological Society on 24 August 1968 when among sixty-seven
species recorded the following were new : Zelotes petrensis , Clubiona
subtilis, Evarcha arcuata, Pardosa nigriceps, Antistea elegans,
Walckenaera cuspidata , Entelecara acuminata , Pocadicnemis pumila,
Cnephalocotes obscurus, Maro minutus, Kaestneria pullata, Taranucnus
setosus and Linyphia minutus.

In the present note 201 species are recorded; the nomenclature is
in accordance with that proposed by Locket and Millidge in their
third volume of British Spiders. Detail of distribution is not given
because I think that information from random collecting may be
misleading. In a large area like Bookham Common with its many
types of habitat there is a constant movement of casuals from one to
another and from outside, and many of the species records are based
on single individuals. Only an assessment of the spiders in a detailed
comparative study of several habitats over a period would give
distributional data of value. Some such work has been done in a
bracken area and it is to be hoped that more will be done in the future
in other major habitats.

Family Amaurobiidae

Amaurobius fenestralis (Stroem), A. similis (Bl.), A.ferox (Walck.)
Family Dictynidae

Dictyna arundinacea (L.), D. uncinata Thor., D. latens (F.),
Lathy s humilis (Bl.).

Family Oonopidae

Oonops pulcher Temp.

Family Dysderidae

Dysdera erythrina (Walck.), D. crocota C.L.K., Harpactes
hombergi (Scop.), Segestria senoculata (L.).

Family Gnaphosidae

Drassodes lapidosus (Walck.), D. cupreus (BL), D. signifier C.L.K.,
Zelotes apricorum L.K., Z petrensis (C.L.K.), Micaria pulicaria
(Sund.), M. subopaca Westr.

Le Gros — Arachnida of Bookham Common

69

Family Clubionidae

Clubiona corticalis (Walck.), C. reclusa O.P.-C., C. stagnatilis
Kulcz., C. pallidula (Clk.), C. phragmitis C.L.K., C. terrestris
Westr., C. neglecta O.P.-C., C. lutescens Westr., C. compta C.L.K.,
C. brevipes BL, C. diversa O.P.-C., C. subtilis L.K., Cheira-
canthium erraticum (Walck.), Agroeca brunnea (Bl.), A. proximo
(O.P.-C.), Phrurolithus festivus (C.L.K.).

Family Zoridae

Zora spinimana (Sund.).

Family Anyphaenidae

Anyphaena accentuata (Walck.).

Family Thomisidae

Diaea dorsaxa (F.), Misumena vatia (Clk.), Xysticus cristatus
(Clk.), X. audax (Schr.), X. kochi Thor., X. erraticus (Bl.),
X. Janio C.L.K., X. sabulosus (Hahn), Oxyptila trux (Bl.), O.
atomaria (Panz.), Philodromus dispar Walck., P. aureolns (Clk.),
P. caespiticolis Walck., Thanatus striatus C.L.K., Tibellus oblongus
(Walck.).

Family Salticidae

Salticus scenicus (Clk.), S. cinguiatus (Panz.), Heliophanus cupreus
(Walck.), H. flavipes C.L.K., Marpissa muscosa (Clk.), Bianor
aenescens (Sim.), Ballus depressus (Walck.), Neon reticulatus (BL),
Enophrys frontalis (Walck.), E. aequipes (O.P.-C.), Sitticus
pubescens (F.), Evarcha falcata (Clk.), E. arcuata (Clk.).

Family Lycosidae

Pardosa monticola (Clk.), P. tarsalis (Thor.), P. pullata (Clk.),
P. prativaga (L.K.), P. amentata (Clk.), P. nigriceps (Thor.),
P. lugubris (Walck.), P. hortensis (C.L.K.), Xerolycosa nemoralis
(Westr.), Alopecosa pulverulenta (Clk.), A. barbipes (Sund.),
Trochosa ruricola (De Geer), T. robusta (Sim.), T. terricola Thor.,
Pirata piraticus (Clk.), P. hygrophilus Thor., P. latitans (Bl.).

Family Pisauridae

Pisaura mirabilis (Clk.).

Family Agelenidae

Argyroneta aquatica (Clk.), Agelena labyrinthica (Clk.), Tegenaria
saeva BL, T. domestica (Clk.), T. silvestris L.K., Coelotes atropos
(Walck.), C. terrestris (Wid.), Cicurina cicur (F.), Antistea elegans
(BL), Hahnia montana (BL).

Family Mimetidae
Ero fur cat a (Vill.).

Family Theridiidae

Steatoda phalerata (Panz.), S. bipunctata (L.), Anelosimus vittatus
(C.L.K.), Achaeranea lunata (Clk.), A. simulans (Thor.), Theridion
sisyphium (Clk.), T. pictum (Walck.), T. varians Hahn, T. melanu-
rum Hahn, T. tinctum (Walck.), T. pallens BL, T. bimaculatum
(L.), Enoplognatha orata (Clk.), Robertus lividus (BL).

70

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

Family Nesticidae

Nesticus cellulanus (Clk.).

Family Tetragnathidae

Tetragnatha extensa (L.), T. montana Sim., T. obtusa C.L.K.,
Pachygnatha clercki Sund., P. degeeri Sund., Meta segmentata
(Clk.), M. mengei (Bl.), M. merianae (Scop.).

Family Araneidae

Araneus gibbosus (Walck.), A. diadematus (Clk.), A. quadratus
Clk., A. cornutus Clk., A. umbraticus Clk., A. redii (Scop.),
A. triguttatus (F.), A. cucurbitinus Clk., A. inconspicuus Sim.,
Zilla diodia (Walck.), Singa pygmaea (Sund.), S. sanguinea C.L.K.,
Cercidia prominens (Westr.), Zygiella x-notata (Clk.), Z. atrica
(C.L.K.), Mangora acalypha (Walck.), Cyclosa conica (Pall.).

Family Linyphiidae

Cera tine l la brevis (Wid.), Walckenaera acuminata Bl., W. antica
(Wid.), W. melanocephala (O.P.-C.), W. nudipalpis (Westr.),
W. unicornis O.P.-C., W. cuspidata Bl., W. vigi!ax( BL), Dicymbium
nigrum (Bl.), Entelecara acuminata (Wid.), Moebelia penicillata
(Westr.), Gnathonarium dentatum (Wid.), Gongylidium rufipes
(Sund.), Dismodicus bifrons (BL), Hypomma bituber culatum (Wid.),
H. cornuta (BL), Gonatium rubens (BL), G. rubellum (BL), Maso
sundevalli (Westr.), Peponocranium ludicum (O.P.-C.), Pocadic-
nemis pumila (BL), Oedothorax gibbosus (BL), O. tuberosus (BL),
O. fuscus (BL), O. retusus (Westr.), Cnephalocotes obscurus (BL),
Pelecopsis parallela (Wid.), Tiso vagans (BL), Thyreosthenius
parasiticus (Westr.), Savignia frontata (BL), Diplocephalus cristatus
(BL), Araeoncus humilis (BL), Erigone dentipalpis (Wid.), E. atra
(BL), E. longipalpis (Sund.), Porrhomma pygmaeum (BL), Syedrula
innotabilis (O.P.-C.), Agyneta subtilis (O.P.-C.), Meioneta rurestris
(C.L.K.), M. saxatilis (BL), Microneta viaria (BL), Maro minutus
O.P.-C., Centromerus sylvaticus (BL), C. dilutus (O.P.-C.),
Centromerita concinna (Thor.), Macrargus rufus (Wid.), Kaest-
neria dorsalis (Wid.), K. pullatus (O.P.-C.), Diplostyla concolor
(Wid.), Bathyphantes gracilis (BL), B. nigrinus (Westr.), Drapetisca
socialis (Sund.), Tapinopa longidens (Wid.), Taranucnus setosus
(O.P.-C.), Labulla thoracica (Wid.), Stemonyphantes lineatus (L.),
Lepthyphantes nebulosus (Sund.), L. leprosus (OhL), L. minutus
(BL), L. tenuis (BL), L. zimmermanni Bertkau, L. mengei Kulcz.,
Linyphia triangularis (Clk.), L. montana (Clk.), L. clathrata Sund.,
L. peltata Wid., L. pusilla Sund.

A Note on Some Cribellate Spiders

Young Amaurobius similis were the first spiders to colonise the
outside walls of the Research Hut, being followed by the orbweb
spinner Zygiella x-notata and the jumping spider Salticus scenicus.
When Amaurobius spins its web it lays down non-adhesive threads
strung tightly across the substrate as support for strands of clinging

Le Gros — Arachnida of Bookham Common

71

adhesive blue meshed silk which it uses as a trap for its prey. When
the adhesive threads age they lose the blue colour, bleach, dry and
collapse inwards, then the spider lays down a fresh web. On this
web there are caught a number of small insects which are too small for
the attention of the spider. In the orbspinners such insects are
chewed up by the spider when it removes its old web before spinning
a fresh one. On the Amaurobius web these insects become the food
of a small scavenging spider, Oonops pulcher , which is often an
associate of all three Amaurobius species. At Bookham many
oribatid mites are trapped on the web, where they are left to die, as
their cuticle is too hard to be penetrated by the fangs of Oonops
pulcher. Eventually the old webs form close sheets and where they
are spun on uneven surfaces like the underside of a clod, a brick, or
an old stump, the sheet does not lie close to the surface but encloses a
space two or more millimetres deep, which is used as a shelter and
passageway by mites, springtails and other small invertebrates. I
have found that such spaces are often used as a hunting ground by
false scorpions, one web sometimes sheltering as many as five indi¬
viduals. Bristowe (1958) thought U. Gerhardt was incorrect in
thinking that the males of A. similis die after mating. I have found
adult males through the winter months until February, long after
they had become mature.

Dictyna arundinacea , which is the most common species in the
genus at Bookham, spins its webs in late April and early May on the
tips of plants in open areas and places its egg-sacs behind a screen of
meshed silk. The males remain on the webs in friendly relationship
with the female, although under abnormal conditions, as when
examining a web under the microscope, the heat of the microscope
lamp will disturb the female and she becomes aggressive to her mate
who flees to the extremity of the web. The production of the egg-sacs
in May is dependent on the food supply and the spider will keep
laying eggs while food is plentiful. At Bookham egg laying coincides
with the emergence from the soil of large numbers of certain groups
of flies, especially the Bibionidae, which do not fly directly into the air
after leaving the pupal cases, but crawl up to the tips of plants and
blunder into the Dictyna web. Their bodies are left attached to the
web, after the spider has sucked their juices; they are otherwise
undamaged and may be readily identified. After the eggs have
hatched the adults leave the web, and the young, which have survived
the attacks of the egg predator Habrocytus platyphilus , disperse,
although if one opens old webs a month later they nearly always
contain one to two young. In the early instars the young are hunters
and not trappers of prey and operate at grass-root level. In fine
seasons like that of 1970 the young spiders are nearly full grown by
the late autumn, and some take to the trees, as I have beaten them
from oak and hawthorn in September and October. I have not
found adult males later than July.

72

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

An Aquatic Oribatid Mite

The oribatid mite Hydrozetes lacustris (Michael) was found in some
numbers on Lemna minor in Sheepbell Pond in 1970 and again on a
mixed Lemna minor/Riccia fluitans growth in South-east Pond on
28 February 1971. The genus Hydrozetes appears to be the only
truly aquatic one in the Oribatei, and in America it has been reported
that when abundant it has caused considerable damage to duckweed.
When the ponds dry up the mites survive by passing periods of
desiccation, like waterfleas and copepods, in the egg stage.

The Eriophyidae or Gall-mites

H. J. Burkill, a keen student of gall-mites in the first half of this
century, wrote an account of the plant galls of the Common (Burkill
1946) in which he named twenty-five species of gall-mites, and
referred to other unnamed mites. He made a number of microscope
slides of gall-mite material from the London Area but because of
inadequate mounting techniques these are of little value today.
M. Niblett (1959) also studied these arachnids over a similar period
and recorded twenty-two species from Bookham. Neither was
concerned with the free-living eriophyid mites and both told me how
they were handicapped by the lack of a British monograph on the
group. They used the works of Houard (1908-13) and Ross-Hedicke
(1927) to identify the galls.

When I began in 1968 to check on the gall-mites now present on
the Common I used Buhr (1964-5) for help with the galls and I found
Farkas (1965) useful for descriptions of the mites. The abbreviations
HJB and MN are used when referring to Burkill and Niblett, and the
B numbers refer to Buhr, whose nomenclature I have generally
followed.

Subfamily PHYTOPTINAE

Phytoptus avellanae Nal. This mite causes “big bud” on Corylus
avellana L., B2031. The buds swell to a globular mass up to
10 mm diameter, the scales thickening considerably, and with
several successive generations of mites very large populations
build up in a few months. Sometimes Cecidophyes vermiformis
(Nal.) is present in the galls as an inquiline.

Subfamily E RIO PH YIN AE

Eriophyes gibbosus Nal. Nearly all green parts of Rubus sp. are
covered with a silky felt of pointed, cylindrical whitish hairs.
B 5903. Widespread on the Common but only occasionally
abundant.

E. goniothorax Nal. B 2075, 2076. This mite affects the leaves of
Crataegus in two ways. The edges' of the lobes are rolled down¬
wards and becomes yellow. The inside of the roll becomes full of
short club-shaped hairs, at first white, later brown. Usually a
common gall. More rarely the mite causes a violet or white
patch of club-shaped hairs on the underside of the leaf.

Le Gros — Arachnida of Bookham Common

73

E. piri crataegi Nal. Not uncommon on Crataegus. B2079.
Forms numerous (often up to a 100) lenticular swellings on one or
both sides of the leaf, often coalescing, with colours ranging from
pale green to orange and dark brown. Galls 2 mm diameter.
The “E. pyri crataegi (Can.)” of MN and “E. crataegi Can.” of
HJB.

E. similis prunispinosae Nal. Causes pouch galls on the leaves of
Prunus spinosa , irregular swellings 4 x 2mm, normally close to the
margin. When many are present the leaf gets very distorted.
Usually abundant on the sloes in the clump. B5245. The
“E. similis ” of MN and HJB. The latter reported the gall on
P. domestica in area 57. The mite on this latter tree is usually
considered the typical form of E. similis.

E. sorbi (Can.). The galls are small swellings up to 5mm diameter
raised on both sides of the leaf of Sorbus. B6747. This is the
“ Eriophyes pyri Pagnst.” of HJB. It was not recorded from
Bookham by MN who knew it as “E. pyri variolatus (Nal.)”.
I noted it only once.

Aceria dispar (Nal.) The mite causes the leaves of Populus tremula
to roll up. At the same time the leaves are generally smaller than
usual, the petioles are shorter and the internodes of the twig
shorter. Often the galls initiate the formation of a witches'-
broom. B5120. Recorded by MN only. I have found it only
occasionally.

A. filiformis (Nal.) Small green to brown, irregular, roundish
swellings up to 5 mm across on the upper side of Ulmus leaves.
B7333. Recorded only by HJB, not seen by MN or the writer.

A. hippocastani (Fockeu) Causes the dense growth of long multi¬
cellular hairs in the nerve angles of the leaf of Aesculus hippo-
cast an am. B194. Uncommon at Bookham and elsewhere in
the London Area.

A. macrochela (Nal.) There is some controversy regarding the mite
known to HJB and MN as “ Eriophyes macrochelus ”. It has
several forms causing different types of gall. Farkas considers
them to be varieties and there does seem little difference in the
structure of the different forms of the mite. Buhr considers some
of the forms to merit specific rank, and I have somewhat
reluctantly, in the absence of a British check-list, followed him.
Causes pedunculated ball-shaped red galls in the nerve angles of
Acer campestre leaves, on the upper side. On the underside of
the leaf the opening of the gall is surrounded with multicellular
hairs. B47.

A. macrorhyncha (Nal.) Causes a similar but smaller and much
more numerous gall on the leaves of Acer. Connold (1909)
estimated normal-sized leaves could hold from 600 to 1,400 galls.
The opening on the underside of the leaf is surrounded by single-

74

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

celled hairs. The typical form is considered to attack A. pseudo-
platanus , and the var. cephalonea (Nal.) to attack A. campestre.
B 48, 51.

A. plicator trifolii (Nal.) Generally deforms flower-heads and rolls
leaflets of Vida tetrasperma. B 7549. A rare gall which MN
recorded from no other location in the London Area. HJB
recorded another unnamed mite associated with the galls. This
may have been Vasates retiolatus (Nal.) which causes leaf rolling
on other species of Vida.

A. pseudoplatani (Corti) Causes patches of felt on the underside of
the leaves of Acer pseudoplatanus. The hairs of the felt are white,
later brown, cylindrical, with swollen tips. B 54. The record of
HJB of “ Eriophyes macrochelus var. erinea Trott” is probably
referable to this species, which MN records. Uncommon.

A. rudis (Can.) The cause of “big bud" on Betula. The buds are
swollen up to 10mm diameter, the leaf scales green to brown, with
paler inner scales. It also causes felt patches of white to reddish
club-shaped hairs on the underside of the leaf. The galls of this
mite were regarded by 19th century writers on plant galls
as the initiators of the witches’-brooms on birch but these
are now known to be caused by the fungus Taphrina betulina
Rostr. Buhr attributes the “big bud” galls to A. calycophthira
(Nal.) (B 1046) and the felt galls to the typical form of A. rudis
(B 1089), but I have followed the concensus of authoritative
opinion. The var. longisetosa (Nal.) (B 1093) causes irregular
rounded, hairy swellings on the upper surface of the leaf, between
the veins, red, often coalescing, and opposite depressions with
white club-shaped hairs on the other side.

A. tenuis (Nal.) This mite is usually free-living in the laminar
furrows of many grasses, but frequently causes deformation of the
flower head. It was first noticed at Bookham by Miss H. Franks
on Dactylis glomerata (Burkill 1947) B 2248. I have found the
mites free on Molinia coeru/ea but they did not seem to have
caused any damage.

A. tetanothrix (Nal.) The small red galls from 0.5 to 2 mm high on
the upper side of the leaves of Salix which were attributed to this
mite by older writers are now believed to be caused by a complex
of species. B 6099. Inquilines are often present and some
species of willow may be attacked by one or other of the mites,
and other willows by other mites. I have not yet analysed the
species involved at Bookham but Buhr states that the galls may
be caused by or be inhabited by A. tetanothrix and its var. laevis
(Nal.), A. iteina (Nal.), A. truncata (Nal.) or Vasates myrsinites
(Roiv.). A similar situation exists with the mites stated to occupy
the witches’-brooms on Salix attributed to Eriophyes triradiatus
Nal. by HJB and MN, which has not yet been found at Bookham.

Le Gros — Arachnida of Book ham Common

75

A. ulmicola (Nal.) On Ulmus. B 7328. For many years I have
known the elms on the Common heavily infested by this mite,
being most conspicuous in Station Copse where every leaf of the
trees in summer seems to be attacked. Fresh leaves which appear
in August seem to be free of the mite. Other mites may be present,
but are generally free-living species. The galls are 1 mm across,
swellings covered with hairs, which project from both sides of the
leaf. The part on the upper side of the leaf is hemispherical, pale
turning brown, and the more hairy part on the underside is keg¬
shaped. Generally the galls are numerous and coalesce, greatly
deforming the leaf.

A. varia (Nal.) B 5089. The “£. varius Nal.” of HJB. The galls
are small patches of felt of reddish club-shaped hairs on both
sides of Populus tremula. I have seen it on Eastern Plain.

A. xylostei (Nal.) The galls are long, narrow (1-1.5 mm) grooves on
the upper side of the leaf of Lonicera periclymenum running close
to the margin. HJB wrote “Known for some years in two
places in area 83. The gall was very abundant on a big bush on
Bank’s Common in 1943 but not so plentiful in the last two sum¬
mers.” MN did not record the mite from elsewhere in the London
Area. In 1971 I searched several bushes in the east of the Com¬
mon but failed to find the gall.

Cecidophyes atrichus (Nal.) The leaves of SteUaria are rolled
lengthways and discoloured. B 6848. HJB found it “abundant
in 1942 and 1945 on 5. graminea L.” Not uncommon.

C. galii (Karp.) On Galium. B 2929. HJB described its gall:
“Terminal parts of plants and flowers intensely proliferated and
metamorphosed, viridiscent, containing enormous numbers of
Eriophyes galii. Very abundant in 1945”. Not uncommon.

C. psilaspis (Nal.) The axillary buds of Taxus baccata swell to form
round or oval galls up to 6 mm long. B 6968. When I was
introduced to plant galls by Niblett in 1947 the first he showed me
were these galls and those of the midge Taxomyia taxi on yew in
Central Wood. They are still to be met with occasionally but
generally they are uncommon in the London Area.

C. ribis (Westwood) The cause of “big bud” in Ribes. Reported
by MN but I have seen it only in a garden just outside the survey
area. B 5780.

C. vermiformis (Nal.) A vagrant species on Corylus avellana
frequently met with in galls of Phytoptus avellanae. It is said to
cause hairy patches on the underside of the leaves of Carpinus
betulus but I have never seen them.

Subfamily PHYLLOCGPTINAE

Epitrimerus trilobus (Nal.) On Sambucus. Causes rolling of the
leaf edges, which are yellowed. The leaves become very crinkled.
B6215. Frequent.

76

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

Phyllocoptes populi Nal. The galls are oval or round depressions up
to 5 mm across on the underside of the leaves of Populus. Hairy.
B 5086 Species of Vasates sp. may be present in the galls as
vagrants.

Vasates anthobius (Nal.) On Galium. The flower heads are
deformed, growing together in a mass with some rosetting of the
leaves. B 2945. Not uncommon in some years.

HJB mentioned the following galls caused by unnamed eriophyid
mites. On Achillea “Buds swollen and distorted while leaf margins
were rolled upwards”. Causer unknown. On Galium he noted
“Bud galls not opening. Houard 5270”. This gall has been
recorded on the continent more than once but the species responsible
is still unknown. B 2926. On Pyrus malus he found “ Eriophyes sp.
rolling up the margins of the leaves 67”. This may have been caused
by Eriophyes piri marginemtorcjuens Nal. B 5344. On Salix “A long
roll on the margin of the leaf” may have been caused by one of a
number of mites that attack willows. On Ulmus “ Eriophyes species
among white hairs on the underside of the leaves.” Farkas lists
fifteen species and varieties of gallmites attacking elm, the greater
number being vagrant species, which occasionally induce growth of
hairs or cause some damage referred to as “browning”. I have
found vagrant mites, frequently in numbers, in the laminar furrows of
grasses, sedges and on the undersides of the leaves of Quercus ,
Urtica and Taraxacum.

1 am sure that a great many more species may be recorded,
especially if some concentrated effort is made to study plants not
mentioned in this list. Glancing through the pages of Buhr it would
seem that every common plant has its own particular gall mite.

References

BRISTOWE, W. S. 1958. The World of Spiders. London.

BUHR, H. 1964-5. Bestimmungstabellen der Gallen {Zoo- und Phytocecidien )
an Pflanzen Mittel- und Nordeuropas. 2 vols. Jena.

BURKILL, H. J. 1946. Plant galls of Bookham Common. Lond. Nat. 25:
63-67.

BURKILL, H. J. 1947. Plant gall records for 1946. Lond. Nat. 26: 78-79.
CONNOLD, E. T. 1909. Plant Galls of Great Britain. London.

FARKAS, H. 1965. Spinnentiere. Eriophyidae (Gallmilben). Tierwelt Mittel-
europ. 3, Lief. 3: Neubearb: 1-155.

HOUARD, C. 1908-13. Les Zoocecidies des Plantes dEurope et du Bassin de la
Mediter ranee. 3 vols. Paris.

LE GROS, A. E. 1951. The spiders of Bookham. Lond. Nat. 30: 44-54.
NELLIST, D. R. 1969. Report on the field week at Juniper Hall Field Centre
August 1968. Bull. Br. arach. Soe. 1: 55-60.

NIBLETT, M. 1959. The gall mites (Eriophyidae) of the London Area.
Lond. Nat. 38: 51-54.

ROSS-HEDICKE, E. 1927. Pflanzengallen ( Cecidien ) Mittel- und Nordeuropas.

2 ed. Jena.

77

Report on European Conservation Year 1970

by L. M. P. Small

Early in 1969 Council decided to arrange special activities to mark
European Conservation Year 1970 and Mrs Small was asked to
undertake this. £200 was voted to cover the expenses. With the
help of Miss Joan Small as Secretary a preliminary meeting of
Sections was called and plans made for a variety of events. The
Society received many congratulations on being the first to issue a
complete programme booklet, which appeared shortly before
Christmas.

The first meeting, arranged by the Ecology Section, was very
appropriately on pollution and Mr John Gooders, Mr Jack Laundon
and Dr Francis Rose gave most interesting accounts of the effects of
London’s cleaner air on lichens, mosses and the food of Hirundines.
All are sensitive to smoke, fumes or sulphur dioxide, and the re¬
appearance of the Hirundines nearer the heart of London suggests
that the decline in smoke is having a beneficial effect.

The high-light of the whole programme was the public meeting
at the Royal Institution when Mr Robert Boote, Deputy Director of
the Nature Conservancy, gave a stimulating address entitled “Con¬
servation and Man”, which included references to conservation work
going on all over the world. This was followed by a lively discussion,
with Sir Landsborough Thomson in the chair. The film made for
the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Trust “Today and Tomorrow”
completed the evening. Thanks are due to the secretary and staff of
the Institution, who were most kind and helpful.

Mr Pat Sellar arranged for the Society’s film “London’s Birds” to
be shown at the New Gallery, Regent Street, and with the com¬
mentary spoken by Mr Stanley Cramp the event was assured of
success. We are grateful to Mr Taylor and his staff for their co¬
operation.

Mr M. Wells of the South-west Middlesex Section arranged the
first field meeting of the year at Bushy Park and this was open to the
public. Much work went on beforehand and there was good
publicity and an interesting handout for those who came. On a
bright but cold day the Chairman, Mr George Parker, welcomed
seventy members of the public and five parties were conducted over
the planned route.

As might be expected when Miss Springett led her usual popular
walk over Hampstead Heath on the following Saturday, 18 April,
over sixty people came and many birds, including wheatear, redstart,
goldcrest and redpoll, were seen.

The Ramblers Section arranged a visit to the area of the Lea
Valley Regional Park. Seventeen people attended and were con¬
ducted to a number of points of interest by Mr Lihvall of the Lea

78

The Loudon Naturalist, No. 51, 1972

Valley Park Authority. A large sports and leisure centre is taking
shape at Pickett’s Lock and a nature trail is proposed for the Turn-
ford area. There is a large tree nursery at Waltham Cross and it
is hoped that a nature reserve and field study centre will be esta¬
blished at Nazeing.

The Epping Forest Field Section invited Mr Kenneth Hoy to lead
a meeting in the Forest for spring migrants and the seventeen who
attended saw many birds.

The President, Mr Butler, did his share by taking a party over the
North Downs on 16 June to study the geology and scenery of the
Chalk and Greensand.

Mr Stan Jermyn, Secretary of the Essex Naturalists’ Trust, talked
to the Botany Section about Essex flowers and conservation on
1 1 June. A large and appreciative audience had a most interesting
evening and saw a beautiful film.

The Nature Conservancy invited the Society to their open day at
Wye, and in June, on a fine sunny day, the Warden of Crundale
Downs National Nature Reserve took a party of nearly a hundred
over the area, showing the work of conservation and management in
a most practical manner. The highlight was a single late spider
orchid, carefully protected by a wire cage which was removed for the
procession of photographers who took away a fine memento of the
trip. Unfortunately this delay caused them to be caught in a very
heavy shower.

Twenty people joined Mr Don Turner for a towpath walk from
Kew to Kingston on 28 June. Many interesting plants were seen
including some established garden escapes. The small blue clematis
Clematis viticella and the large angelica, from which the confection is
made, were both seen.

July 11-12 saw a most ambitious effort by the South-west Middle¬
sex Section. Practically the whole membership joined in and
conducted parties of the public over a previously planned route on
Staines Moor. Saturday’s attendance was poor but on Sunday there
were over sixty participants. The weather was fine and many plants
and birds were seen. The visit coincided with a massive hatch of
seven-spot burnet moths. A comprehensive handout bad been
prepared and the whole plan was most efficient. Thanks are due to
the Secretary, Miss M. Smith, and all the members who took part.

The Botanical Section meeting to Wisley was, unfortunately,
poorly supported, but those who went had an enjoyable day.

The highly successful nature trail on Bookham Common in
mid-July was attended by over 1,000 people; it is reported in The
London Naturalist 50.

On a beautiful day in September, Mr Freddie Reynolds, Con¬
servation Officer of the Surrey Naturalists’ Trust, took parties over

Small — European Conservation Year 1970

79

Thursley Common visiting different areas in the morning and after¬
noon. The event was well attended and so many leaders were
present that visitors could choose what they would do. The party
taken by Mr Reynolds devoted itself to practical conservation and
management. It was indeed a privilege to have so well-informed a
speaker showing what was being done or needed to be done in the
field.

Dr Bruce Campbell was responsible for co-ordinating the series of
lectures which began in September at the rooms of the Linnean
Society in Burlington House with their help and co-operation. This
course entitled “Aspects of Conservation” was attended by about
fifty people. The first lecture, “The Road to 1970”, was given by
Dr Campbell, who traced the history of the conservation movement
from its earliest beginnings to the present time. Dr Duncan Poore,
Director of the Nature Conservancy, was in the Chair for a most
lively discussion.

Lord Cranbrook took the Chair for the second lecture “Four-
footed and Four-flippered” when Mrs Grace Hickling, one of our
foremost authorities on the grey seals of the Fame Islands, talked on
the difficulties and problems of their management. She also spoke
about the wild Chillingham cattle, whose survival is in danger.

Dr Max Walters, co-editor of Flora Europaea was well qualified
to speak on “Botanical Conservation”. He mentioned Teesdale and
showed the progress of the reservoir dam. Professor Heywood was
in the chair.

The subject of the next lecture “South Wales Coast and Country¬
side” provided Mr John Barrett of the Pembrokeshire Countryside
Unit with a challenging title. He spoke of an area where he has
lived and worked for many years, with real insight into the many
conservation problems. Mr Grenville Lucas, from Kew, deputised
as Chairman (for Dr Prime) at very short notice.

Dr David Snow, of the Bird Room at the British Museum (Natural
History), was in the Chair for the fascinating and well-illustrated
talk by Mr Stanley Cramp “The Threats to Europe’s Birds”. He
spoke of the problems confronting the ornithologists of both the
Continent and our own country.

Mr Milne-Redhead, Chairman of our London Nature Conserva¬
tion Committee, took the Chair for the last lecture “Beyond 1970 and
the New Awareness”, when Mr David Streeter wound up the series.
He gave a reasoned forecast of the work which must be done by
naturalists if any wild life is to continue to exist.

We are much indebted to all these distinguished naturalists who
so cheerfully gave up their time to us.

On 6 September Professor Kirkaldy took a large party on a
geological ramble in Hertfordshire which included the swallow holes
at Water End.

80

The London Nawralist, No. 51, 1972

The last indoor meeting of the year was the film show organized
by the South-west Middlesex Section. Dr Bruce Campbell opened
the programme with a brief talk on the history of conservation and
introduced the films “The Private Life of the Kingfisher” and “The
Wealth of the Chalk”. The latter, made for the Wiltshire Naturalists’
Trust, was a beautiful conclusion to a most successful evening. Over
two hundred attended and as it was during the council workers’
strike the Section had to do everything themselves in order that the
event should not be cancelled. This included putting out and
stacking away all the chairs and preparing and serving refreshments
at a small reception held for the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of
Hounslow who honoured us with their presence.

At the Peri vale Community Centre a joint meeting was arranged
with the Selborne Society. Over a hundred people listened to a talk
on “A Naturalist’s London” given by Mrs Pearl Small, illustrated by
slides taken by Miss Joan Small. This was followed by the film
“People and Leisure”.

The last event of the year was a field weekend directed by Dr
Barrie Goldsmith of University College. Over thirty attended and
under the guidance of Dr Goldsmith visited Hindhead, Old Win¬
chester Hall, Kingley Vale and Butser Hill. This was a successful
effort, the warden at Rogate Field Centre was most helpful, and there
was general praise for the cooking and accommodation. It is hoped
to repeat this venture in future years.

Although not occurring within European Conservation Year the
visit of Mr Stanley Jeeves, Secretary of the Lancashire Branch of the
Council for Protection of Rural England was directly connected with
the programme. He spoke on “Conservation and the Photo¬
grapher” and gave a detailed account of the work of his organization,
illustrated by his own magnificent slides.

Our thanks are due to all who helped to make the year a success.
It is impossible to mention everyone but Miss Amy Tsuji and Mr
Edward Dawson who assisted the organizer and secretary at every
meeting both indoors and out, dealing with tickets and publications
and anything else that came to hand, certainly deserve special praise.
Without them things would not have run nearly as smoothly as they
did in the event.

81

Conservation Report 1971

by E. J. Dawson

This has been a year in which some parts of the Society’s area have at
last been represented on the Committee but we still need more
representatives, especially in the north, and north-east and south-east
of the G.L.C. area. The best news is that at last the Hertfordshire
and Middlesex Trust are seeking representation on the Committee
and we hope to welcome them in the New Year.

The most important area of work has been the threat of gravel
extraction on Staines Moor. This is a S.S.S.I. and a metropolitan
Common with public access rights, and yet for private profit the
gravel interests hope to receive planning permission to destroy the
whole habitat with promises of re-instatement which we know are
quite impractical. We have v/orked closely with the Nature Con¬
servancy and the Surrey County Council Planning Officer and we are
hoping that when the Planning Committee meet in January the
application will be refused. This is a good example of how naturalist
and amenity bodies may well work together and we are taking part
in a working party on which both are represented.

Many meetings and much talking have gone into the plans of the
Metropolitan Water Board to allow some sailing on their reservoirs
and although we must now pay towards the administrative costs of
bird-watching permits we have been very pleased with their
co-operation and hope that in due course some of the reservoirs may
be declared nature reserves. Our comments and suggestions for
the safety and welfare of the birds have received sympathetic con¬
sideration.

We have been approached by several bodies concerned with
conservation within the G.L.C. area and although we have not
necessarily been able to help we have always gone into the subject
in detail. The Dulwich Society asked for help in protecting wood¬
lands from housing development but when the area had been visited
we found that there was no nature conservation case to put forward.
This too was the case with the problem of Witanhurst in Highgate.
It is hoped that the grounds may be added to Hampstead Heath but
on consideration this too was found to be a matter of amenity alone.

We have been concerned with the incidence of Dutch elm disease
but so far although we have offered help to the G.L.C. we have
found no way of doing anything practical in this serious situation.

Our Bookham Common team have been much concerned with the
threat to take part of the Common for the new M25 motorway and
although the public enquiry was held last June we still do not know
the result. This road also threatens Headley Heath and we are most
concerned about it.

82

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

We have welcomed the Orpington Field Club to our Committee
and through them have helped to deal with various matters including
Lullingstone Castle grounds, housing plans for an area near Keston
ponds and the building of a school at Crofton Heath.

The Selborne Society sought our help in preventing the careless
spraying of canal banks which skirt their reserve at Perivale in Ealing
and the spraying has now been taken up nationally.

At Ruxley Gravel Pit in the London Borough of Bromley,
despite the efforts of Mr Frank Holroyde, dumping and other threats
continue to spoil this interesting reserve of the Kent Trust for Nature
Conservation.

The Colne Valley Liaison Committee, on which we are rep¬
resented, continues its work to preserve at least four primary sites of
importance in the proposed Colne Valley Regional Park. The
Committee has now visited all these sites. It has also added its voice
to the other objectors to the proposed Staines Moor gravel ex¬
tractions.

Orlitts Lake, a reserve of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and
Oxfordshire Naturalists’ Trust near Iver, has been threatened by
an application for water skiing but fortunately Eton Rural District
Council turned this down and it is hoped that it may be possible to
buy or rent the Lake as a nature reserve.

We are co-operating with the Nature Conservancy and investi¬
gating possible new S.S.S.I.s in the Greater London area. It is
hoped that the provisional list will soon be ready.

We thank the four Trusts already represented on our Committee
for their interest and support, and hope that Society members will
report anything in their areas which may need the help of either the
Committee or the Trusts.

83

Obituaries

JAMES FISHER, 1912-1970

James Fisher, a member of our Society for many years, died in
September 1970, as the result of a car accident.

From the age of two, when his father used to catechise him on the
pictures in Saunders’ Manual of British Birds , James Fisher had an
obsessional interest in all forms of wildlife, especially birds. He
took a degree in zoology at Oxford, did some teaching, became
assistant curator at the London Zoo under Sir Julian Huxley, and
then, during the War, worked at the Edward Grey Institute at Oxford
on the food and distribution of rooks, a project for the Ministry of
Agriculture. Older London bird-watchers will remember taking
part in the rook enquiry, master-minded by James Fisher who used
the newly-formed British Trust for Ornithology as the organisational
framework for one of the first attempts on the mass census of a
common species.

James Fisher was very much involved, in an honorary capacity,
in the early years of the British Trust for Ornithology and helped to
start the Nest Record Card Scheme and the national censuses of the
gannet and the fulmar. Indeed, he took a leading part in most of the
many ornithological organisations to which he belonged, and the
three leading societies in Britain, the British Ornithologists’ Union,
the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the British Trust for
Ornithology, each gave him their highest award — a unique achieve¬
ment.

In the preface to his second book, the Pelican Watching Birds ( 1 940),
James Fisher forecast that after the War “ordinary people . . . will get
the opportunity, hitherto sought in vain, of watching wild creatures
and making discoveries about them.” He was, of course, completely
right. Public interest in and concern for wildlife, especially birds,
has expanded enormously, probably at a faster rate than in any other
outdoor activity, and saturation is still not reached. James Fisher
was in all senses the prophet of this expansion. Fie had the rare
combination of meticulous scholarship and a flair for unpompous
exposition ; he always made you feel that he found wildlife absorbingly
interesting and therefore it was reasonable that you should too. He
believed that amateur bird-watchers could make and were making a
significant contribution to the science of ornithology. In the thirties
and forties there was at times an antipathy between scientists and
bird-watchers; occasionally this could be sensed at London Natural
History Society meetings and at meetings of the 1937 Bird Club, of
which James Fisher was a founder member. James Fisher was in
both camps and saw that any such antipathy was a waste of time:
bird-watching is fun and it can also be invaluable to science. This
was his message, and with skill amounting to genius he used to the
full the new media of mass communication to put it over. He wrote

84

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

numerous books and papers, he made over 1,000 radio and television
broadcasts, he was one of the editors of Collins’ “New Naturalist”
series, and he took part in other publishing activities. He became
famous internationally for his ability to communicate his own
tremendous enthusiasm for birds and animals and his special feeling
for their place in nature.

Naturally, James Fisher became an impassioned protagonist of
planned conservation and he was Vice-Chairman of the Countryside
Commission when he died. His last work, Wildlife Crisis, written
in collaboration with Prince Philip, is a fitting memorial to a lifetime
spent in persuading ordinary people that nature is to be enjoyed
and conserved.

E. R. Parrinder

JOHN BIRKHEAD FOSTER, 1894-1970

John Birkhead Foster died on 25 May 1970. He was a keen member
of the Society and held several offices over the years. He was also a
regular attendant at Council meetings, of which he was an ex-officio
member for some time.

John Foster was born in 1894 and was educated at Westminster
School and Caius College, Cambridge, where he took an honours
degree in natural science, and the Diploma of Agriculture. For
thirty-five years he was an official at the headquarters of the National
Farmers’ Union.

He joined the Society in 1921 with interests in archaeology and
ornithology. In 1927 he was appointed Syllabus Secretary and
served in that capacity until 1938, when he was appointed President,
a position which he retained for the period of the War. In 1958 he
took over from Mr Hale as Librarian, a post he had to resign from in
1960 because of ill health. He was then elected an honorary Vice-
President, in recognition of his services to the Society.

Mr Foster was interested in all branches of natural history and in
his younger days contributed several papers on various subjects.
During his presidential term he inaugurated a close union with the
school teachers of the London County Council and was influential
in the appointment of Miss H. Franks as Schools Liaison Officer.
Her appointment led to many teachers becoming interested in the
work of the Society.

J. B. Foster

LYDIA J. JOHNS

Miss Lydia J. Johns who died in her 79th year on 26 November 1970
had been in failing health for some time. The eldest of a family of
seven, she was born at West Ham from where the family moved in
1902. Nearly all her working life was spent with one firm, Harden
Brothers the tea merchants. Besides natural history her other

Obituaries

85

interest was the Alexandra Choir and under Mr Proctor she sang
on many public occasions at the Albert Hall.

Miss Johns joined the London Natural History Society in 1933
and like many other well-known members of that period was a good
all-rounder, taking an active interest in the Archaeological, Botanical,
Ornithological and Ramblers Sections. It is this last Section that
owes so much to her quiet efficiency, for she held the post of Secretary
of the Ramblers Section for fourteen years, and indeed, without her
the Section would probably not be in existence today, for she alone
held it together during the difficult war years. In addition she was a
committee member of the Ramblers Section for nine years.

Living most of her life in Enfield, Johnnie loved the adjacent
Hertfordshire countryside and being of a quiet and retiring dis¬
position she enjoyed lone explorations. On these she found
interesting houses, unusual plants and a great variety of birds. Above
all she found ideal routes on which to lead the Ramblers, which she
did frequently from 1939 for the next twenty years.

Miss Johns was a great reader and it was typical of her, that,
carried away by the description of Blewbury, then a lovely village,
she had immediately to plan a visit there for us.

We who knew Miss Johns appreciated the valiant work and the
great amount of time she gave to the Society; it is because of her, and
those officers of the past, that the Society owes its importance today.

Rosa Davis

MARGARET SCHOLEY

The death of Miss Margaret Scholey on 31 March 1971 was deeply
felt by many older members of the Society. Her religious convictions,
dry wit, and charm, seemed to belong to an earlier age, yet she was
always ready to help anyone with the wisdom of her natural history
background.

Miss Scholey joined the Society in 1946 and served for a number
of years on the committee of the Epping Forest Field Section. She
became an honorary member late in her life, which she regarded as
her crowning achievement.

Julie Small

86

The London Naturalist, No. 51, 1972

Books

British Snakes. By Leonard G. Appleby. 150 + xiv pages. John
Baker, London. 1971. £2.75.

The author of this book has been keenly interested in his subject
for twenty-five years and his enthusiasm, together with his flair for
careful natural history observation, is evident on almost every page.

After introductory chapters on identification and general biology,
the greater part of the book deals with various aspects of snake
behaviour; the text being admirably supported by good and rather
unusual photographs, all of which seem to have been taken of
captive snakes but which lose none of their value for this fact.

Mr Appleby points out that snakes are notoriously difficult to
observe in the wild and that in order to study them properly it was
necessary to watch them in captivity, although under fairly natural
conditions wherever possible. The animals used were returned to
the wild, often within a fortnight of capture. This approach resulted
in vivid and informative descriptions of courtship and mating,
reproduction, feeding, skin shedding and basking.

The author’s snakes were obviously well cared for and repaid
careful observation; however, I think that amateur herpetologists
ought to be discouraged from collecting our wild reptiles, and taking
them home as pets, often to be housed under unsuitable conditions
so that they refuse to feed. Mr Appleby points out that snakes are
declining in many areas and suffer greatly from disturbance and
habitat destruction, but does not, in my opinion, make a strong
enough plea for their protection from collectors.

Generally speaking the book is informative and easy to read and
will be welcomed by both the beginner and the specialist. It is
sometimes a little anthropomorphic in approach; for example the
adder is referred to as being “supremely confident in the lethal power"’
of its venom (p. 21). The chapters on how the adder bites and on
the effects and treatment of snake bite are especially interesting, and
even here the author writes with first-hand experience.

I find both the absence of a bibliography, and the use of capital
initial letters in specific names, irritating. However, I do not hesitate
to recommend this useful addition to the sparse literature on British
reptiles, although it is rather expensive.

P. C. Tinning

Experiments for Young Botanists. By C. T. Prime. 128 pages +
12 plates, 53 text figs. G. Bell & Sons, London. 1971. £1.40.

This is the fifth in a series of books for young experimenters, and
is packed with ideas for investigations into plant nutrition, germina¬
tion, transplantation, seed dispersal, breeding, etc. These are

Books

87

worked naturally into simple accounts of the processes which the
experiments ought to demonstrate, and throw out hints for the
devising of further experiments.

Few school libraries are likely to find the book expensive, but it is
not easy to decide quite who it is expected will read it. There cannot
be many children with the resources to buy Millon’s reagent, obtain
Aponogeton seed, or germinate coconuts in a warm greenhouse.
However, not all the experiments make such demands, and any
young botanist who has managed to mark with paint all the keys on
my neighbour’s sycamore tree will be very welcome to come into my
garden to plot their subsequent dispersal! Dr Prime’s book is
clearly written to be read by children, but it is the biology teacher
short of practical ideas who will find it most useful.

R. M. Burton

88

The London Naturalist, No. 51, 1972

The Society’s Rules

Many members mil recall that the Society adopted new Rules on 2 Nov¬
ember 1967. At that time all members received copies. Since then a
number of alterations have needed to be made and these have been
approved by Special General Meetings from time to time. It has not
always been possible for new members to receive up-to-date copies as a
result of the alterations and it has therefore been decided to print the
Rules as they stand at present.

LONDON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

RULES

NAME

1. The name of the Society shall be the LONDON NATURAL
HISTORY SOCIETY.

OBJECTS

2. Its objects shall be the study of natural history, archaeology and
kindred subjects especially within twenty miles of St Paul’s
Cathedral, the promotion of scientific investigations, nature
conservation and the publication in the Society’s journals of
scientific and educational papers relating particularly to the
Society’s area.

MANAGEMENT

3. The affairs of the Society shall be managed by a Council whose
members shall be the Honorary Vice-Presidents and elected
officers of the Society, one representative from each Section and
six other elected members. The elected officers of the Society
shall be :

a) President who shall be elected for two years

b) Vice-Presidents who shall be nominated by Council

c) Treasurer and Secretary who shall not be the same person

d) Editors of the Society’s journals

e) Librarian

f) such other officers as Council may at any time designate.

4. The Society may have a Patron if at any time Council shall so
decide.

5. An Annual General Meeting of individual members of the Society
shall be held in the month of December or thereabouts in every
year to transact the following business:

The Society's Rules

89

a) receive and if approved adopt annual reports and a
statement of the accounts to the end of the last preceding
financial year

b) elect from the members of the Society the officers and
members of Council, other than Section representatives

c) elect auditors

d) deal with any special matter which Council desires to
bring before the members and to receive suggestions from
members for consideration by Council.

Nominations for election shall be submitted in writing to the
Secretary at least ten days before the Annual General Meeting.
The date of this meeting and the last date for nominations shall
be published in the Society’s programme.

6. Council shall have power to:

a) co-opt

b) fill any casual vacancy which may occur in any office or
its number until the next Annual General Meeting

c) appoint Honorary Vice-Presidents who shall be Honorary
Members

d) appoint Honorary Members

e) appoint other officers, committees and working parties

f) regulate its own and the Society's procedure subject to
these rules.

7. a) There shall be not less than four ordinary meetings of Council

in any year and not more than six months shall elapse between
meetings. A Special Meeting of Council shall be convened
within twenty-one days upon the requisition of not less than
five members of Council addressed to the Secretary and
specifying the purpose for which the meeting is to be called.

b) A notice with the Agenda for the meeting shall be sent to
each member of Council at least ten days before any ordinary
or special meeting of Council is to take place.

c) Ten members of Council shall form a quorum.

8. Minutes shall be taken at all formal indoor meetings of the
Society including its Sections.

9. a) The President shall be ex-officio member of ail working

parties and committees of the Society and its Sections.

b) The Treasurer and Secretary shall be ex-officio members of
all committees of Council (but this rule shall not apply to
working parties appointed by Council for a particular
purpose).

c) The President, Treasurer and Secretary shall receive notice of
meetings and copies of the minutes of (a) all Committees and
working parties of Council and (b) Committees of Sections
of the Society.

90

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972
FINANCE

10. If the office of Treasurer shall at any time become vacant the
accounts shall be audited immediately.

1 1 . The income and property of the Society and all money received
by or on behalf of the Society shall be applied solely towards the
furtherance, promotion and execution of the objects of the
Society and no portion thereof shall be paid by way of dividend,
bonus or profit to any member of the Society, provided that
nothing herein expressed or contained shall prevent the payment
in good faith of remuneration or expenses or both to any member
of the Society, or other person or persons for services actually
rendered by him or them to the Society. All claims for expenses
must be sent to the Treasurer and he may require such informa¬
tion in regard thereto as he may think fit. All monies payable
to the Society shall be received by the Treasurer or such other
officer as shall be appointed to receive same. All funds
belonging to the Society shall (unless invested) be deposited in
banking accounts in the name of the Society or such other names
as Council may authorise and no sum shall be drawn from these
accounts except by cheque signed by such person or persons as
Council shall direct. Any monies not required for immediate
use may be invested by Council as herein authorised. Council
shall cause true accounts to be kept of the receipts, expenditure,
assets, credits and liabilities of the Society and shall place before
members of the Society at each Annual General Meeting a
properly audited Account and Balance Sheet made up to the
end of the previous financial year.

PROPERTY OF THE SOCIETY

12. The Society may receive and disclaim property of any nature
whether or not it is subject to any express conditions or trusts.
The Society may purchase or otherwise acquire and hold property
of any nature. Any property belonging to the Society may be
invested in the names of not more than four or less than two
Trustees who shall be appointed from time to time by Council
and any vacancy amongst such Trustees shall be filled by Council.
Such property may also be invested in the name of a limited
company established by and under the control of the Society for
trust purposes or in the name of a nominee company or with the
Official Custodian for Charities. Such investments may be in
or upon such shares, stocks, funds, securities, investments and
property, real or personal, freehold or leasehold, movable or
immovable, in any part of the world upon such terms and
conditions (if any) as Council shall in its absolute discretion
think fit and in all respects as if Council were the sole beneficial

The Society's Rules

91

owner thereof. Council may from time to time direct the
Trustees to sell, vary and transfer such investments and property.
Council may deal with the said investments as if it were the sole
beneficial owner thereof and without prejudice to the generality
of this power may borrow for the general purposes of the Society
such sums as may be required by it at such a rate of interest as
may be thought fit and may charge the payment of the sum upon
any property of the Society and the Trustees shall give effect to
any decision of Council about a loan. If legal proceedings of
any kind are resorted to or defended by the Society the Trustees
shall on the instruction of Council but not otherwise prosecute or
defend such proceedings either in the name of the Society or in
the name of the Trustees or otherwise on behalf of the Society as
may be necessary. The Trustees shall in all respects act as
required by Council and a copy of a Minute of Council signed
by the Chairman and Secretary of the meeting be conclusive
evidence of its decision.

Any Trustee may be removed from office by a Resolution passed
at a meeting of Council by a vote of not less than two-thirds
majority of the members of Council present and voting at the
meeting. The Trustees shall be effectually indemnified by the
Society from and against any liability, costs, expenses and pay¬
ments whatsoever which may properly be incurred or made by
them in relation to the trusts of the property and investments of
the Society or in relation to any legal proceedings or which
otherwise relate directly or indirectly to the performance of the
function of a Trustee of the Society.

MEMBERSHIP

13. a) Application for membership is open to all. Applicants

shall become members after approval by Council and on
payment of a first subscription and (if required) an entrance
fee.

b) Any person who ceases to be a member of the Society
howsoever shall automatically cease to hold any office of,
or to be a member of any Committee of, the Society.

14. The following are the categories of membership:

a) ORDINARY MEMBERS

b) JUNIOR MEMBERS — persons under the age of eighteen
or if receiving full-time education under the age of
twenty-five. Such members pay a subscription the
amount of which shall be determined by Council from
time to time.

c) HONORARY MEMBERS — persons who have been
appointed by Council under Rule 6(d). Such members
do not pay an annual subscription and are entitled to all
the privileges of ordinary membership.

92

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

d) LIFE MEMBERS — those who have paid a lump sum for
membership under previous rules and enjoy the privileges
of ordinary membership. No new life members shall be
accepted.

e) FAMILY MEMBERS — members of the family of an
Honorary, ordinary or life member who live at the same
address may become members of the Society on payment
of half the annual subscription payable by ordinary mem¬
bers; such family members do not receive copies of the
Society's journals.

f) SUBSCRIBER MEMBERS — other natural history soci¬
eties, libraries, museums, botanical gardens, schools and
similar bodies which pay the same subscription as
ordinary members. They are entitled to send not more
than one representative to any meeting of the Society and
only accredited representatives of such bodies may vote.

g) SENIOR MEMBERS — persons over the age of 65 and
who have been continuous members of the Society for ten
complete years shall be entitled upon application to the
Treasurer to pay a reduced rate of subscription. Such
members pay a subscription the amount of which shall be
determined by Council from time to time. Such members
are entitled to all the privileges of membership.

15. The annual subscription payable on the first day of January and
entrance fee shall be an amount recommended by Council and
approved by the members at a Special General Meeting or an
Annual General Meeting.

16. The annual subscription of members who first join the Society
on or after the first day of October in any year shall extend to
the period ending on the thirty-first day of December of the
following year, but such members shall be entitled to receive
copies of the Society’s journals relative only to the year following
that in which they joined.

17. Any member whose subscription shall be in arrears for one year
on the first day of January shall cease to be a member.

18. Members of the Society whose current subscription has been paid
and Honorary members are entitled to :

a) receive a copy of the Society’s journals and programmes
as issued (except as provided under Rules 14(e) and 16)

b) attend all meetings of the Society and its Sections, to vote
in person and to introduce visitors

c) have access to the Society’s Library and Collections for
borrowing or reference in accordance with arrangements
laid down by Council.

The Society's Rules

93

19. Council may expel from the Society any member who refuses or
fails to abide by these Rules or who is guilty of conduct which in
its opinion is prejudicial to the Society. Every resolution for
expulsion must appear on the agenda and must be passed by the
votes of not less than two-thirds of the members of Council
present. At least ten days before any such resolution is discussed
the member whose conduct is in question shall be informed of
the nature of the complaint and be given an opportunity of
appearing before Council for the purpose of giving an explana¬
tion or denying the truth of the complaint. Every vote under
this rule shall be conducted by ballot and no ballot paper shall
contain any indication of the voter’s name. All discussion on
any resolution appearing on the agenda under this rule shall be
secret and there may only be published the name of any member
who is expelled hereunder.

SECTIONS

20. The Society shall be constituted in such Sections as shall be
sanctioned from time to time by Council which may at any time
disband a section.

21. The affairs of each section shall be managed by a Committee
consisting of Chairman, Secretary (who shall not also be Chair¬
man) and not less than three other elected members.

22. The Sectional officers and members of the Committee including
the representative to Council shall be elected annually at the
Section’s Annual General Meeting which shall be held each year
before the Annual General Meeting of the Society. The
Committee shall have power to fill any vacancies and to co-opt
during its term of office.

23. The Committee shall meet not less than twice in any year and
not more than nine months shall elapse between meetings.

24. A report recording a Section’s activities during the preceding
year shall be submitted for adoption by the members at the
Section’s Annual General Meeting. Subject to the approval of
Council this report or extracts therefrom may be published in
one of the Society’s journals.

25. A Section shall manage its own finances from grants made by
Council. A financial statement shall be submitted for adoption
by the members at the Section’s Annual General Meeting and a
copy sent to the Treasurer who may require it to be audited.
Sections shall observe and act in conformity with any directions
published by Council from time to time. Any property acquired

94

The London Naturalist , No. 51, 1972

by a Section shall be held on trust for the general objects of the
Society. If any Section is disbanded its accounts shall be
audited by the Society’s auditors and all money, property, books
and papers of which it had the use administered and directed by
Council.

SPECIAL GENERAL MEETINGS

26. A Special General Meeting of the Society shall be convened
upon the requisition of Council or of ten per cent, of the member¬
ship; such requisition shall be addressed to the Secretary, and
shall specify the purpose for which the meeting is to be called.
A notice shall be sent to each member of the Society at least
twenty-one days before the meeting is to take place.

ALTERATION TO RULES

27. The Rules of the Society may be altered only at a Special General
Meeting and at least twenty-one days’ notice of any meeting to
consider a proposed alteration shall be given to all members.
The notice shall state the proposed change or changes. In order
to effect an alteration of a rule, a majority of the members
actually present and voting at the meeting shall vote in favour of
the proposed change. No amendments to any proposed
alteration shall be allowed.

No amendment to Rule 2 (Objects) or Rule 30 (Dissolution)
shall take effect without the written consent of the Charity
Commission thereto.

28. Any ambiguity or difference of opinion concerning the purport
or interpretation of any Rule or any other matter not provided
for in these Rules shall be referred to Council whose decision
shall be final and binding.

NOTICES

29. The accidental omission to give notice of a meeting to or the
non-receipt of notice of a meeting by any member shall not
invalidate any proceedings or resolutions at any meeting of the
Society or any Committee or Section thereof.

DISSOLUTION

30. A motion to dissolve the Society may only be made at a Special
General Meeting and to effect a dissolution at least three-
quarters of the members actually present and voting at the
meeting shall vote in favour of the dissolution. If a motion to
dissolve the Society is carried by the said majority the Society’s

The Society's Rules

95

surplus funds, property and assets (if any) shall be disposed of
for charitable purposes in connection with education and
research particularly for such charitable purposes of education
and research in connection with natural history as the members
may at the said Special General Meeting decide to the intent
that no member of the Society shall receive any of the said funds,
property and assets by virtue of his membership. A statement of
the reasons for advocating dissolution shall be sent to each
member with the notice of the Special General Meeting.

RECORDS AND MINUTES

31. Records shall be taken and minutes kept in such forms as
Council may direct of the proceedings at all General Meetings,
at all meetings of Council and of every committee, sub-com¬
mittee or working party of the Society and its Sections and the
minutes of every such meeting shall be confirmed at and signed
by the Chairman of a subsequent meeting and when so confirmed
and signed shall be conclusive as to all matters and things
therein recorded and purported to have been done or directed
to be done. A resolution in writing signed and agreed to by all
members of Council for the time being in the United Kingdom
shall be as valid and effectual as if it had been passed at a
meeting of Council duly called and held and may consist of
several documents in the like form each signed by one or more
members of Council.

96

The London Naturalist , No. 57, 1972

Statement of Affairs

31.10.70

The Hindson Bequest

14,224

8

0

Balance at 1st November 1970 .

14,538-49

—

—

—

Add: Amount received in current year

11,266-09

314

1

9

Interest on Investments ...

597-92

14,538

9

9

26,402 • 50

Accumulated Fund

( 75

2

9)

Balance at 1st November 1970...

47-44

122

11

7

Transfer from General Account (deficit)

172-41

47

8

10

(124-97)

Premises Fund

1,965

4

9

Balance at 1st November 1970 .

2,122-44

157

4

0

Add: Interest for year ...

170-11

2,122

8

9

2,292-55

Life Composition Account

300

0

0

Balance at 1st November 1970

270-00

30

0

0

Less: Transfer to General Account ...

30-00

270

0

0

240-00

Library Cataloguing Fund

200

0

0

Balance at 1st November 1970 .

200-00

Ornithological Research Fund

189

11

11

Balance at 1st November 1970...

175-63

11

0

8

Add : Interest for year .

8-84

200

12

7

184-47

25

0

0

Less: Grant to Atlas Scheme .

25-00

175

12

7

159-47

Other Reserves

—

—

—

L.N. No. 49 Add. Reserve .

94-95

1,000

0

0

L.N. No. 50 Reserve .

850-00

650

0

0

L.B.R. No. 35 Reserve .

650-00

—

—

—

Programme

225-46

—

—

—

Honoraria .

100-00

175

0

0

Plant Mapping Scheme Publication ...

200-00

1,825

0

0

2,120-41

19,178 19 11

£31,289-96

Statement of Affairs

97

at 31 October 1971

The Hindson Bequest Investments

10,000

0

0

Quoted Investments at cost .

10,000-00

431

16

5

Bank Deposit Account .

11,966-08

4,106

13

4

Central Investment Company ...

4,436-42

14,538

9

9

26,402-50

Current Assets

359

0

4

Balances at Bank: Current Account ...

401-74

1,525

12

7

Deposit Account ...

1,509-47

2,755

17

3

Central Investment Company .

2,976-25

4,640 10 2 4,887-46

Report of the Auditors to the Members of the
London Natural History Society

We have verified the accounts with the books and records
of the Society and certify them to be in accordance
therewith.

Finsbury Circus House,

Blomfield Street, NORTON KEEN & CO.

LONDON, EC2M 7BA Chartered Accountants

1 December 1971

19,178 19 11

£31,289-96

98

The London Naturalist, No. 51, 1972

General

Payments

263

15

0

Hire of Halls etc .

223-35

196

1

6

Sectional Expenses including L.N.C.C .

142-97

52

16

6

Subs to other Societies .

33-75

49

13

7

Printing and Stationery .

57-29

22

7

8

Library .

54-79

2

15

1

Castell Research Centre .

34-06

225

0

0

Honoraria .

150-00

64

8

10

Postage and Telephone .

85-62

28

7

6

Sundries .

14-10

110

18

10

Carnegie Scheme .

—

160

10

0

European Conservation Year Grant .

—

—

—

—

Cost of Services (Auditors Fees, Bank Charges,

Insurance) .

82-86

—

—

—

Advertising Society .

34-28

1,928

12

10

Grant to Publications Account .

2,157-11

3,105

7

4

Transfers to Reserves:

3,070-18

—

—

—

Honoraria .

100-00

100

0

0

Plant Mapping Scheme Research and Publication

Fund .

25-00

122

11

7

Excess of receipts over payments (Transferred to

Accumulated Fund) .

—

3,327

18

11

£3,195-18

Publications

312

14

2

Programme .

192-06

—

—

—

Programme Reserve .

225-46

101

17

11

London Naturalist No. 48 Excess Expenditure

—

—

—

—

London Naturalist No. 49 (Excess Exp. over Reserve)

(£1,156— £1,000)...

156-77

—

—

—

London Naturalist No. 49 Reserve for Excess Expend

94-95

1,000

0

0

London Naturalist No. 50 Reserve .

850-00

80

2

3

London Bird Report No. 34 (Excess Exp. over Res.)

(£850-76— £650)...

200-76

650

0

0

London Bird Report Reserve No. 35 .

650-00

2,144 14 4

£2,370-00

Statement of Affairs

99

Account

Receipts

2,472

5

8

Subscriptions — Current .

2,477-76

32

2

6

Arrears .

28-50

41

5

0

Advance .

72-50

40

15

0

Entrance Fees

41-80

2,586

8

2

2,620-56

31

18

11

Donations .

.

72-47

146

11

7

Tax Recovered from Deeds of Covenant ..

.

159-90

5

8

0

Interest on Investments .

• • • •

—

25

15

6

Profit from sale of securities .

—

56

12

1

Deposit Acc. Int. (Nat. Westminster Bank)

66-09

44

1

11

Deposit Acc. (Central Inv. Co.) Ex. Premises Fund

50-28

1

11

4

Sundries including Bird Film Receipts

—

—

—

—

Refund of E.C.Y. Expenses .

• • • •

23-47

30

0

0

Transfer from Life Composition Account ..

• • • m

30-00

200

0

0

Castell Research Cen. (Carnegie Sch.)

—

100

0

0

Hire of Halls Reserve

-

50

0

0

E.C.Y. Reserve

.

—

10

10

0

Sale of Mailing List in respect of E.C.Y. ..

.

—

39

1

5

Receipts from Film Show

• • • •

—

—

—

—

Excess of payments over receipts (Transferred to

Accumulated Fund) .

.

172-41

3,327

18

11

£3,195-18

Account

156

1

6

Sale of Publications .

212-89

10

0

0

Donation towards cost of London Naturalist

—

50

0

0

Transfer from Reserve London Naturalist Reprints

—

1,928

12

10

Transfer from General Account

2,157-11

2,144 14 4

£2,370-00

Instructions to Contributors

Submission of papers

Papers relevant to the natural history and archaeology of the London area
should be submitted to the editor, Mr J. R. Laundon, Department of Botany,
British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, before
the end of January if they are to be considered for publication in the same year.
They should be typed, with double spacing and wide (three cm) margins, on one
side of the paper. Authors must retain a duplicate copy. Papers should include
an abstract, summary or synopsis.

Text

Spellings are to follow Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary; locality
spellings should follow the latest editions of the maps published by the Ordnance
Survey. Capitalisation should be kept to a minimum. Common names of
animals and plants must begin with lower-case initials, and scientific names must
be underlined. Genus names should appear in full where first used within each
paragraph. In descriptive matter numbers under 10 should be in words. Dates
should follow the logical sequence of day, month, year (i.e. 25 December 1971).
Measurements should be in metric and follow the SI system (Systeme International
d’Unites), with imperial equivalents in parenthesis where appropriate. There
should be no full point following Dr, Mr, Mrs or St. Lists should be in natural,
alphabetical or numerical order.

References

Reference citation should be based on the Madison rules (in Bull. Torrey bot.
Club 22 : 130-132 (1895) except that a colon should always precede a page
number. Capitalisation in titles of papers in journals should be kept to a mini¬
mum. Journal titles should follow the abbreviations in the World List of Scien¬
tific Periodicals and be underlined. Examples are as follows:

In text :

Meadows (1970 : 80). (Meadows 1970).

In references:

MEADOWS, B. S. 1970. Observations on the return of fishes to a polluted
tributary of the River Thames 1964-9. Lond. Nat. 49 : 76-81.

MELLANBY, K. 1970. Pesticides and Pollution. Ed. 2. Collins, London.
WHITE, K. G. 1959. Dimsdale Hall moat, part II. Trans, a. Rep. N. Staffs.
Fid Club 92 : 39-45.

Illustrations

Distribution maps should be submitted in the form of a Recording Map with
symbols in Indian ink or Letraset. Solid dots are used to indicate contemporary
or recent presence, circles for old records and crosses (not pluses) for other
information, such as introduced species. Tetrad dots and circles should be
4-0 mm and tetrad crosses 5-0 mm, with a line thickness of 0-8 mm; all monad
symbols should be 1*6 mm with a line thickness of 0-5 mm. The legend should
be written outside the frame of the map and will be set up by the printer. The
Mapping Schemes Secretary can provide Recording Maps, advice and dyes for
printing distribution symbols.

Line drawings should be in Indian ink on Bristol board, preferably twice the
printed size. Place names, etc., must be produced with stencils or Letraset.
Legends should be separate as they will be set up by the printer.

Photographs should be glossy black-and-white prints, of good contrast,
preferably half-plate in size.

Proofs

Galley proofs will be sent to authors for scrutiny, but only essential correc¬
tions can be made at that stage.

Reprints

Up to twenty-five free reprints will be supplied on request. Additional copies
may be purchased if ordered when the proofs are returned.

RAINFALL annual

x

z

Crown Copyright roserved. Printed by F.H. Drown Ltd. H.A.Snndford dol.

Jeb biolbne2.A.H .blJ nwoiS.H.l Yd befnil9 .beviaeei MofiyqoD nwoiO

JAUUHA jj a=j m Afl

I

The London Naturalist

No. 51 1972

Officers for 1972 2

Contents . . . * * * . * . • . • « » . « * . ... . « » 2

Report of the Society for 1971 ...^ — , . — ... 4-6

Brown, Evelyn P. — Studying wild life in Holland Park ... 7-19

Sandford, H. A. — Recording maps and overlays . 20-21

Towns, M. — The albino form of the grey squirrel in the

London Area ... ... ... ... ... ... 22-25

Wheeler, Alwyne — The status of the silver bream in the

River Thames ... ... ... ... ... ... 26-27

de Worms, C. G. M. — A review of the macrolepidoptera of
the London Area for 1970 and 1971 . 28-38

Survey of Bookham Common : thirtieth year
Progress report for 1971 .

Hillman, E. M. — Changes in the distribution of trees and
shrubs on Bookham Common, 1953-1971

Towns, M. — A rabbit survey of the Bookham Commons

Le Gros, Armand E. — Gall midges of the pedunculate

o^lv . . . ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Le Gros, Armand E. — The Arachnida of Bookham
Common

Small, L. M. P. — Report on European Conservation Year
1 Q70

1 y / ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• •••

Dawson, E. J. — Conservation report 1971 .

Obituaries :

James Fisher, 1912-1970

John Birkhead Foster, 1894-1970 .

Lydia J. Johns

Margaret Scholey .

Boo ks ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

The Society’s Rules

Statement of affairs at 31 October 1971 .

General account and publications account ...

© London Natural History Society 1972
Published November 1972

39-44

45-54

55-62

63-67

68-76

77-80

81-82

83- 84

84

84- 85

85

86-87

88-95

96-97

98-99

/

I