Nature in Avon

Volume 70

Bristol Naturalists’ Society

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Editorial

Change is the only constant in the natural world, and monitoring the processes of
change is essential to understanding the world around us. Recording the natural
world, and reporting what has been discovered, has always been a key function of
the society, and the longer the duration of regular monitoring the greater the value
of the results. This is demonstrated in a remarkable manner by David Trump’s last
summary of mammal records for the region. There are a series of maps taken from
the National Biodiversity Network’s website demonstrating how the records
gathered by him from a small band of enthusiasts and sent on to the Bristol
Environment Record Centre, have ensured that there is much better coverage of
mammal distribution for this region than for those around. It is only unfortunate
that our region is not formally recognised by them, so that two distribution maps
have to be created for each species.

The 2009 Botany report is published here, but personal circumstances have
prevented the 2010 report being produced in time- it will be printed next year.
Changes in plant life in response to the unusually cold conditions of this year is the
main subject of the phenology report.

Lichens are an important and ubiquitous form of life that is often ignored, and is
the subject of two articles, one, by xxxxxoutlining the development of a Lichen
Trail on the Downs, the other recording the details of the curating by Rhian
Rowson of the City Museum of an astonishing international collection of over
4000 lichens gathered by Adolph Leipner, the founder of the BNS, whose German
origins ensured wide European links. It not only shows the extraordinary breadth
of his interests, but may also be the only survivor of early nineteenth century
collections, many of which were destroyed in the last war.

There are summaries of two dissertations by members examining possible causes
of House Sparrow decline. They demonstrate how simple studies can shed light on
the processes of change among even the most common of species, and follow up
Lorna Shaw’s thesis, summarised last year. The recent decline of the House
Sparrow teaches the lesson that nothing should be taken for granted, and that it is
just as important to record the ordinary as it is to twitch the rare and strange.
Common species play a far greater role in the structure of life than rare ones do.

Weather report for 2010
R.L.Bland
Richard.bland123@btinternet.com
Data sources

The BNS began publishing weather data in 1872 with GF Burder’s paper on
rainfall in Clifton since 1853, and that led me to search for temperature data back
to that date. From 1920 until its closure in 2002 the Long Ashton research station
provided that data that was published, and since then I have used the Times daily
report for Bristol, though since 2000 I have used my own rain gauge in Clifton.
There is an excellent website at www.afour.demon.co.uk which has also traced
records from some other sources back to 1853, and I have used these to fill in gaps.
A long series is crucial to any understanding of the continuous process of climate
change, which is normally defined as the average of the previous thirty years. I use
the term “long-term average” to mean the average back to 1853. The term “since
records began” is often used without a clear date reference, which can create
confusion. Most meteorologists use the mean daily temperature as the basis, but
many sources only quote the daily maximum and so I have used that figure
throughout.

The annual average temperature in 2010 was cooler than 2009, and close to the
long-term average of 13.6C. It was also the driest year since 1978. It began with a
cold winter, the coldest since 1979, and continued with an average spring, a wet,
warm summer, an average autumn, and the coldest December since 1916, the
second coldest since 1853. Rainfall was exceptional in August. Overall rainfall was
747mm compared with the average since 1853 of 894mm.

13.8 | 14.3 | 15.0 | 14.3 | 14.4 147 14.5 | 13.7 | 14.6 | 14.2

eee 14.0 142:) 142144 43 [3] 43.
ss ©
feta

832 1058 | 758 | 945 | 896 | 952 | 1107 | 1150 | 986 | 747

year av. | 995 | 995 | 963 1005 | 993 | 943
mm

Table 1 Average mean maximum temperature and rainfall. The second row is the
average for the ten years up to and including the year referred to.

Seasons.

The average for the winter (Dec. to Feb.) was 5.3°C, the coldest since 1962/63.
Rainfall at 59mm per month was below average. There were 51 frost nights
(October to April), the last on May 4th. There were 35 nights cold enough to create
ice, and 16 days with snow lying, including, unusually, six days before Christmas
2009. The coldest spell was of 13 days below 5°C from Jan. Ist to 13th, preceded
by nine days from Dec. 17th to 25th in 2009.

Spring (March to May) Average temperature was 14.3°C, a little above the long
term average of 12.9°C. Rainfall at 38mm per month was drier than average, and
the driest since 1990.

Summer (June to Aug.) Average temperature was at 22.8°C, warmer than 2009,
but it was the third wet summer in a row, and August was the wettest since 1992.

Autumn. (Sept.-Nov.) Average temperature at 14.8°C was normal, and September
was unusually dry.

Seasonal Comparisons To put the 2010 seasonal average temperatures into
perspective, Table 2 shows the seasonal temperature extremes, with their year, the
average since 1853, and the difference between 2010 and the long term average.

ae a
1887-10.4 1893-16.6
Fawn [ae fioisins [rosise | 59 | 09

Table 2 2010 seasonal average temperature compared with minimum, maximum
and average since 1853.

1995-11 1879-140
1978-26 | 1935-173
1864-49 | 1882-104

Table 3 Average 7 rainfall in mm for each season in 2010 showing the
maximum, minimum and average since 1853, and the difference between 2010 and
the average since 1853.

Monthly percentage deviation in 2010 from the average since 1853.
Temperature Both January and December were very much colder than normal.
Rainfall Nine months were below average, but August was much wetter than
normal.

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Table 4 Monthly percentage deviations in 2010 from the norm

Monthly Summary 2010

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January The first two weeks were exceptionally cold, with frost every night. Snow
fell on 6th and stayed until 15th. Winds were easterly around a high pressure
system. The rest of the month was generally sunless, with northerly winds and
temperatures around 8°C.

February Generally dominated by high pressure, low temperatures, sunless days
and northerly winds, but there were only seven frost nights.

4

March The first ten days saw high pressure, bright sun, north-east winds and
frosts, and temperatures around 8°C. Temperatures rose from 12th as winds
switched to the south and west, briefly reaching 14°C on 17th, with winds from the
south east, but only a little rain fell.

April Dominated by high pressure, north-east winds, and sunshine, averaging 6.9
hours a day, greater than the long term average for June. Temperatures were
around 14°C, but peaked at 20°C on 28th.

May. The pattern of dry sunny days continued- there were only five sunless days
in the month, and north winds dominated until 12th when westerlies took over, and
in the warmest spell of the year from May 20th to 26th the temperature reached
26°C for two days.

June Began with a hot sunny spell from 4th to 6th, but it was much cooler with
north winds until 20th. It was another unusually dry month, such that total annual
rainfall was 90mm below normal by the end of June. The last ten days were hot,
dry and sunny with southerly winds.

July The fine warm dry spell continued for the first ten days, and then a much
needed wet spell followed on the 12th and culminated with 36mm on 23rd. The
final week was dry. It was a remarkably sunless month, with only 60% of normal
sunshine hours.

August There were only six sunless days, but temperatures were around 24°C, and
there was a very wet spell from 19th to 28th when 101mm of rain fell.

September. A dry month with above average temperatures and mostly westerly
winds.

October The first ten days were warm, and dry with southerly winds, which then
shifted to the north as high pressure took over and temperatures fell. The first frost
was on 17th, followed by four others. Temperatures rose under the influence of
southerly winds in the last ten days.

November The first twelve days were wet and windy, with a small storm on 12th
associated with a deep depression. On 21st the winds shifted to the north, high
pressure built up over Iceland, temperatures fell abruptly, and on 27th snow fell,
the first November snow since 1952.

December A wholly exceptional cold month, with an average temperature that
was the coldest since 1916, and the 6th coldest since. There were 23 frost nights
and 19 days with snow cover.

Weather Extremes.

The table below gives figures for extreme annual events over the past decade,
enabling the extreme events of 2010 to be put in perspective. There seems to be no
pattern in these figures, except for the number of days without any sun to increase
from around 50 to around 100. It is also interesting that, contrary to common
perception, two days in every three have no rain at all The number of snow days
and frost days in 2010 is unprecedented in recent years.

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Bristol Botany in 2009
Clive Lovatt
clivemlovatt@yahoo.com

“I am grateful for your most friendly and (I fear) flattering letter concerning my
book. Such an appreciation is most encouraging and does one good.” (J. W.
White, 24 May 1912, soon after the publication of his Flora of Bristol, replying to
H. J. Riddelsdell who had already been working on the Flora of Gloucestershire
for several years.)

Introduction

J. W. White’s letters were treasured by their recipients and in 2009 I acquired my
fifth, which is transcribed and annotated in our December 2009 bulletin. Written
on 24 May 1912, it responds to H. J. Riddelsdell’s comments on White’s recently
published Flora of Bristol. The letter reads as one half of a botanical conversation
between these two fine field botanists and authors as they ‘talked’ about their
predecessors, their plant finds locally and abroad, and debated the naming of some
difficult plants. On 30 December at our Botanical Section members’ evening Mark
Kitchen and I took our parts and read out my expanded dramatisation of an
imagined botanical walk “Under Cook’s Folly Wood” (BNS Bulletin for February
2010).

With only a passing reference to my African tax work, I was featured in Deloitte’s
recent global annual review under the title of ‘the botanist’, with a photo showing
Libby Houston and me on Observatory Hill, talking about Scilla autumnalis, and
admiring Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge and Leigh Woods. Brunel’s part in
the conservation of that rare plant is now well-known, when in the early 1830’s he
was persuaded to transplant a turf containing the some bulbs from the building site
(once apparently known as Hyacinth Point) to the cliffs below.

Quite plausibly, Brunel was predisposed to this act through connections with
naturalists in his wife’s family. One of his brothers-in-law was a Fellow of the
Geological Society. By another he was the Uncle to one of those rare lady
members of the Botanical Society of London, Sophia Brunel Hawes (1822-1870),
so she might have even heard the story from Brunel. Sophia later married the
future Governor of Ceylon, Charles Justin MacCarthy (1811-1864) and there met,
if they had not met before, G. H. K. Thwaites, who was in charge of the botanic
gardens at Peradeniya. Thwaites was the dominant figure in Bristol botany in the
1840’s and had been the Bristol secretary of the BSL. In 1855 he named “the most
beautiful orchid on the Island”, after her as Dendrobium maccarthiae, or Mrs
MacCarthy’s Dendrobium. It appears on a Sri Lankan postage stamp issued in
1994 (see BNS Bulletin for May 2009).

Another postage stamp with connections to Bristol botany appeared in Britain in
May 2009. Allium sphaerocephalon, Round-headed Leek was one of ten of
Britain’s rarest wild plants separately illustrated in the set produced for the Royal
Mail’s on-going “Action for Species” series on the occasion of the 250th
anniversary of the founding of Kew Gardens. The opportunity was taken by
Bristol Zoo to highlight the Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project and their Plant
Conservation Week. Times have of course changed: referring to publicity of the
same plant in 1935, H. Stuart Thompson wrote, “I firmly believe silence is better”.

Overview of plant records .

Three new whitebeam species endemic to Cheddar Gorge, S, were described in
August 2009: Sorbus cheddarensis, Cheddar Whitebeam; S. eminentoides Twin-
Cliffs Whitebeam; and Sorbus rupiculoides, Gough’s-Rock Whitebeam. Our
BNS member Libby Houston recognised the species - less than 20 known
individuals in each case - during surveys and they are published under her name
(the third with Tim Rich). Otherwise, only one native plant appears to be new to
the Bristol area and v.c.6: Callitriche brutia var. brutia, Pedunculate Water-
starwort (S). However, it remains possible that the novelty owes more to
taxonomic reorganisation in this difficult group.

There are a number of reports of the persistence of species at known sites, or the
refinding of species thought lost to the region. The variety compositarum of the
Common Broomrape Orobanche minor has, after a deliberate search, been shown
to persist at Berrow dunes. Gagea lutea, Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem has
remarkably been refound at Lily Combe - on private land - where it was thought to
have been destroyed in 1989 by “in-filling of the valley and the levelling of the
ground”. Reseda alba, White Mignonette, has once more been found at Bristol
Docks, having apparently last been seen in the region in 1977. Medicago
polymorpha, Toothed Medick was known from about 1880 to 1945 about the
Avon Gorge but it has only been seen at Weston-super-Mare in recent years; it has
again turned up in the northern part of the region. Molinia caerulea, Purple
Moor-grass used to occur as a native on the Bristol Downs, but died out after
1920; it has now turned up as an adventive in a quarry under Leigh Woods. The
apparent loss of Arabis scabra, Bristol Rock-cress from Penpole Point is reported,
rather in the hope that the converse will prove to be revealed another year.

The following alien plants are not reported in the main text of Flora of the Bristol
Region (FBR) or in Bristol Botany 2000 or subsequently. They are therefore either
new to the Bristol district or have not recently been seen there, or were overlooked
during the compilation of the Flora. Where specified, they are new to one or other
county, vice-county or part of the Bristol region.

The list begins, remarkably, with four ferns from Bath basements new to Somerset
(though one had just earlier been found, but not identified, in woodland in Ashton
Court): Pteris nipponica, Table Fern; Preris umbrosa, Shady Brake-fern;
Cyrtomium fortunei, Fortune's Holly-fern; and Polystichum tsus-simense Korean
Rock-fern.

Other alien additions to FBR are: Corydalis cheilanthifolia, Fern-leaved
Corydalis (S); Reseda alba, White Mignonette; E/aeagnus umbellata, Spreading
Oleaster (Somerset); Coriandrum sativum, Coriander; Nicotiana x sanderae (N.
alata x forgetiana), a Garden Tobacco; Forsythia x intermedia, Forsythia;
Knautia macedonica, Crimson Scabious (Somerset and perhaps new to Britain);
Pilosella flagellaris ssp. flagellaris, Spreading or Few-headed Mouse-ear-
hawkweed (v.c. 34); Sasa palmata, Broad-leaved Bamboo; Pontederia cordata
Pickerelweed (Somerset, but perhaps planted). Cordyline australis, Cabbage-
palm (v.c. 6).

At a finer scale, several records are apparently new to the 10 km squares in which
they occur, so far as the standard published sources reveal. These are marked with
a * preceding the grid reference in the main text. Many are casuals but
Potamogeton trichoides, Hairlike Pondweed in ST58 is notable - JPM had plainly
got his eye in. There are a number of species reported here which are new to the
flora of the Avon Gorge, and several apparently new to Steep Holm.

Studies in Sorbus

In August 2009, three further papers on whitebeams were published in Watsonia
27:4. Correcting an oversight in the February 2009 paper describing five new
Avon Gorge taxa (one species and four hybrids, see BB 2008), Tim Rich validated
the names with explicit references to (holo)type specimens (page 370). These are
all at the National Museum of Wales. A paper on the diversity of Sorbus in the
Lower Wye Valley (Rich, T. C. G, Houston, L., Charles, C. A. & Tillotson, A. C.,
pages 310 — 313) needs to be noticed here because it has some comparisons to the
Avon Gorge, where it states there are 22 taxa, the richest British site.

On pages 283-300, there is an account of the Whitebeams of Cheddar Gorge, with
description of three new species (Houston, L., Robertson, A., Jones, K., Smith, S.
C. C., Hiscock, S, & Rich, T. C. G.). Eight species and several possible hybrids
were recognised there.

Sorbus cheddarensis L. Houston & Ashley Robertson, Cheddar Whitebeam, was
nicknamed “pinstripe” when Libby first began to recognise it in 2005 from the
prominence of the veins on the greenish-white underside of the leaf. It is
somewhat akin to S. porrigentiformis but has elliptical rather than obovate leaves.
19 individuals were confirmed on the northern side of the gorge in ST4654 and
ST4754. Six had been damaged by goats.

S. eminentoides L. Houston, Twin-Cliffs Whitebeam, was recognised by Libby in
the field in 2006. As the name indicates, it is somewhat akin to S. eminens,
Round-leaved Whitebeam but the leaves are not quite so round, and are more
coarsely and irregularly toothed. 15 individuals have been confirmed, all on the
south side of the gorge in ST4653.

Whether or not S. eminens occurred at Cheddar had been the subject of speculation
and it was still unmentioned in the Somerset Atlas of 1997. My own attempt at
collecting it at Cheddar around 1980 proved (det. T. Rich) to be a roundish Sorbus
aria, Common Whitebeam. Libby managed to identify 200 individuals of S.
eminens.

Sorbus rupiculoides L. Houston & T. C. G. Rich, Gough’s-Rock Whitebeam, was
also recognised by Libby in 2006. It has narrowly obovate leaves, greenish-white
below, and unlike S. rupicola (which does not occur at Cheddar or Bristol) the
leaves are acute rather than rounded. 12 trees were identified in a small area on the
south side of the gorge in ST4653.

Bristol Botanists

I have managed to continue my monthly essays on Bristol botanists for the BNS
Bulletin. They remain somewhat ephemeral (the electronic copies remain online
only for a year) and are therefore summarised here, continuing from April 2009 to
February 2010. A note on Noel Sandwith, for many years the compiler of Bristol
Botany, is added.

Miss Martha Maria Atwood (c.1810-1885)

In the September 2009 Bulletin I described my identification of the remains of
Miss Atwood’s personal herbarium, which had previously been regarded as lost.
The website Herbaria@home (http://herbariaunited.org/atHome/) has photographs
of tens of thousands of herbarium sheets, one of which was the eyebright specimen
mentioned in Swete’s Flora Bristoliensis with Miss Atwood’s comments, in her
distinctive hand. The particular use of printed labels and names cut out of a book
are also characteristic. At the time of writing over 100 of her specimens have been
catalogued, going back to 1836.

10

Noel Y. Sandwith (1901 -1965)

The name of Noel Sandwith first appears in print as the finder of Carum carvi,
Caraway, by Hotwells Station in 1911, and as White marks it with a sign of
exclamation, he and his mother Mrs C. I. Sandwith may well have shown it to his
predecessor compiler of Bristol Botany. In BSBI News for September 2009 (no
112: pages 25-17) David Allen tells the story of the “abortive ‘Penguin’ Flora of
the British Isles”. It seems this was at first intended by Frances Partridge, one of
the Bloomsbury Group, to be a 20-volume series on the scale and plan of
Sowerby’s English Botany, with the art-work by the young Richard Chopping.
Around 1946, Noel Sandwith was brought in as a professional advisor and
accompanied them in their quest for specimens for illustration. In one particular
trip to look at rare orchids in Wiltshire in 1954 she describes him as walking “with
a long springing tread, his eyes flashing with expectation behind his gold-rimmed
spectacles” (see Peter Marren’s book, Britain’s Rare Flowers (1999) and compare
another recollection in the first paragraph of BB 2008). It seems the artist asked
him why he had never married, to which he replied, “Because of my great love for
the flowers”.

Nothing was ever published of this Flora but a proof copy of the first volume was
known (in 2005) to be in a Kew bookseller’s stock. Sandwith also hoped to write a
new Flora of Bristol, to judge from the extensive card index he compiled. This
was passed on to A. J. Willis and is now in the BNS Library.

E. Horace Swete (1827-1912)

In the October and November 2009 bulletins I wrote about what became of the
author of the Flora Bristoliensis of 1854 when he left Bristol soon afterwards.
Swete was a member of the Bristol Microscopical Society where he would have
met Stephens and Rootsey, authors of earlier Bristol plant lists. He also became a
supernumerary 13th member of the Bristol Medical Reading Society in 1855,
rather supporting the later piece of gossip by Thomas Flower: that he wrote to
Flora hoping it would “introduce him to practice”.

Swete had a large family and an inventive mind, and a social outlook on medical
practice, and moved successively to Wrington and Weston-super-Mare,
Leamington Spa, and Worcester, where he seems to have been a successful Public
Analyst, working no more than half a mile from where Miss Atwood then lived.
He certainly remained in touch with Robert Etheridge (later President of the
Geological Society), who had helped him with the introductory material in the
Flora, and who in a testimonial stated that Swete had preceded him as the lecturer
in botany to Bristol medical students. (White had been unable to confirm this.)
Swete was a member of the Geological and the Anthropological Societies and a
regular letter-writer to The Lancet. He had simply moved on.

1]

H. Stuart Thompson (1870-1940)

In the May 2009 Bulletin I told the story of a picture of Caltha palustris painted by
Thompson’s Bridgwater relative, Miss Gulielma Stephens. The article shows the
picture on Thompson’s wall (probably in his Clifton apartment around 1922)
together with his herbarium, plant press and vasculum, and some of his books. In
my possession for about 30 years, the painting is now (as shown) with Kay
Ungless, a grand-daughter of Thompson’s sister Agnes, who is buried with him
and their father at the Wembdon Road Cemetery near Bridgwater. Some of
Thompson’s papers are in our Society’s library, including scrapbooks of his many
newspaper and journal articles and the proofs of one of his books of Alpine
flowers.

George Henry Kendrick Thwaites (1812-1882)

With the April, May and July/August 2009 newsletters I reached the ninth part of
my account of Thwaites as a “naturalist pure and simple”. The short preface of his
Enumeratio Plantaurum Zeylaniae (1864), an enumeration of Ceylon plants,
reveals two aspects in which his thoughts were of England: it draws on his
correspondence with Charles Darwin and includes a list of seven alien plants,
introduced with grass seed, all of which would have been familiar to him around
Bristol. I also described something of Thwaites’ entomological interests, both in
Bristol and in Sri Lanka, where he was Director of the botanic gardens. Whilst
Swete was putting the finishing touches to his Flora Bristoliensis in 1854,
Thwaites wrote, “I often wish each day were double its length” so that he could
pursue entomology as vigorously as botany.

Bristol botany bibliography

Nature in Avon Volume 68, our Proceedings for 2008, has (apart from BB for 2007
and 2008) two papers with botanical records. Richard Bland’s Phenology report
reveals that during a New Year’s Day’s walk on the Bristol Downs he has found
nine plants in flower on at least seven of the nine walks since 2000, amongst a
running total of 45. Richard Bland also contributed an account of the Tyntesfield
Arboretum.

In a paper in the Journal of Applied Ecology for 2008, (45, 1419 - 1427) entitled,
“Pollinator networks, alien species and the conservation of rare plants: Trinia
glauca as a case study”, L. G. Carvalheiro, E. R. M. Barbosa and J. Memmott, all
of the School of Biological Sciences, Bristol University, mapped out the network
of insect pollinators of the rare Honewort at its main remaining site in the Avon
Gorge and confirmed that ants are the main pollinators.

Is

A third of the visits of these ants whilst 7rinia was in flower were to alien plants,
mainly Cotoneaster horizontalis, Wall Cotoneaster, (for feeding) raising the
interesting question - if this invasive alien were removed, would this limit the
pollinator population and accordingly jeopardise the seed set necessary for the
survival of this monocarpic dioecious species? My own view is that the plant is
highly attractive to the pollinators and that in the Avon Gorge habitat stability is far
and away the main conservation challenge as its sites continue to succumb to road
safety works, shading and unwitting trampling.

The third volume of Sell and Murrell’s Flora of Great Britain and Ireland was
published in 2009. It includes the legumes, umbellifers, and the dead-nettle and
figwort families. It is hugely valuable for alien and native varieties and forms of
our native plants, particularly for coastal variants, which are begging out for
attention in our area. Do we, for instance have the var. neglectus of Wild Thyme
(leaves with few eglandular hairs on the upper surface; inflorescence rounded and
not elongate)?

Plant records

The area covered by this report remains that defined and mapped in White’s Flora
of Bristol (1912); in turn this reflected the scope of interest of the Society almost
from its inception. White described the area as an irregular right-angled triangle of
720 square miles from Dursley in the north southwards to the east of Bath to
Frome, and thence west to the Severn at Huntspill, south of Burnham.

Following White, the part falling into the Watsonian vice-county of West
Gloucestershire (v.c.34) is designated G. Except for a small portion south of the
New Cut, the boundary follows the Avon to Swineford, and from there it proceeds
north of easterly, five km north of the centre of Bath. The southern part,
designated S, falls within North Somerset (v.c.6). The Flora of the Bristol Region
(2000) mapped the vascular plants of the former administrative county of Avon
and therefore excluded a strip of White’s triangle some 13 km south of Brean
Down; that area is mapped at a lower scale in the At/as Flora of Somerset (1997).

The plant records are arranged into two groups, Natives and Archaeophytes, and
Aliens. Archaeophytes are plants that behave as natives but were or seem to have
been anciently introduced by man. Neophytes (also known as aliens) are plants
found in the wild but which are more recent introductions. These are often merely
casual — neither surviving long nor regenerating. Ideally the groups would be
distinguished at the local rather than the national level. It is becoming increasingly
difficult to separate planted from accidentally arrived alien species using the
definition “found in the wild”.

I

The plant names and sequence within both lists follow the second edition of
Stace’s New Flora of the British Isles (1997) are therefore compatible with the
Flora of the Bristol Region. Accordingly, the Latin names (in italics), which
necessarily take precedence, despite the standardisation of English names (in bold
type), can be unambiguously cited without authors’ names, except for the
occasions when something new is reported. The vice-county catalogues, online at
the BSBI website, and their New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora (2002) and its
CD and online update are also useful for assessing the importance of the plant
records. A reasonable familiarity with the contents of a contemporary botanical
library is assumed. In many cases online or unpublished resources are used.

Where new to Gloucestershire or Somerset, or to the vice counties v.c.34 (West
Gloucestershire) or v.c.6 (North Somerset), this is stated. The symbol * before a
grid reference designates a record apparently new to the 10 km square; it can be
difficult to be sure. Where the symbol * appears before G or S, or a site name such
as the Avon Gorge, it indicates the species is new to that part of the Bristol area,
having previously been recorded only in the other district. For aliens new to the
region a brief description is often given, with more detail where not mentioned in
Stace’s New Flora.

Following the practice commenced in Bristol Botany in 2006, 1 km grid references
are again given. The plant records are more precisely localised- geographically or
by habitat- where possible, and where it seems important to do so. Multiple records
for the same species are consistently sequenced from south to north in G, and from
north to south in S, going from west to east. This roughly corresponds with
White’s lists.

Names of the principal contributors of the 1200 or so plant records received are
abbreviated as below, listed alphabetically by surname. The full list of submitted
records may be obtained from the author or office bearers of the Botanical Section.
FBR refers to the Flora of the Bristol Region, published in 2000 and unattributed
comments are those of the author (CML). BB abbreviates this title, Bristol Botany
which has been issued in that name for almost an unbroken century.

14

|DB__| DavidBrookman | CK & MARK | Clare and Mark Kitchen
RJH Rupert Higgins i
PH
LH
NH

Q
<

mis

e
| SRPG | Somerset Rare PlantsGroup | PM | PamMillman
| RJH | RupertHiggins LEN | Edward Niblett
|PH | PeterHilton FR sFred Rumsey
|LH | LibbyHouston LAGS Anthony (Tony) Smith

NH | Nick Hudson

I have received a quantity of new and unusual alien plant records from David
Brookman of Bristol, some of which had previously been announced in his online
plant-hunter’s diary at http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/. These include garden
plants and casuals which have escaped the eyes of our Society members and
familiar friends. Many are undoubtedly correct, within the routine difficulties of
botanical identification of garden plants, but some might have been too close to
gardens, or are in allotments, or might have been planted, and may not yet qualify
as “in the wild”. I have not done justice to these records by including just a few of
them so far; they will be given their proper space and precedence in these pages in
years to come.

> Py fo [|
ZI 1G

NATIVES AND ARCHAEOPHYTES

Equisetum fluviatile Water Horsetail Boggy pool by Smitham chimney, East
Harptree Woods, ST5554, S, RSC, where also noted by SRPG in 2008, with
large patches of atypical more branched plants beside nearby rides.

Botrychium lunaria Moonwort Still in Goblin Combe, ST4765, S, as reported in
FBR, one fertile frond under Yew, JPM. Four fronds in two places in the GB
Gruffy nature reserve of the Somerset Wildlife Trust, south east of the swallet,
ST4756, S, HJC & FR.

Gymnocarpium robertianum Limestone Fern Still at Goblin Combe, ST4764, S,
JPM, who reports 60 fronds on lightly shaded scree over five square metres.
This is the only site in FBR and a photo there shows about 15 fronds over about
a quarter of a square metre.

Dryopteris carthusiana Narrow Buckler-Fern One plant in a wet field, NW of
Beacon Hill, ST6446, S, RSC.

ls.

Blechnum spicant Hard-fern Scattered along West Twin Brook, Blackdown,
ST4757, S, RSC. Along shady banks of field margins, Beacon Hill, ST6446, S,
RSC, who reports a good amount, first seen by him in 1976 (see BB 1976).

Nymphaea alba White Water-lily, Clevedon, *ST3970, S, RLB.

Ceratophyllum demersum Rigid Hornwort In fenced pond south of Home Farm,
Tyntesfield National Trust, ST5071, S, PM.

Ceratophyllum submersum Soft Hornwort In good quantity in the pool where
first found, fruiting, in 1976, Kenn, ST4168, S, RSC (see BB 1976). Common
in a ditch on Puxton Moor, ST4163, S, JPM. Pool by Island Hide, Westhay
Moor, ST4544, S, HJC & Jim Crouch. The vegetative character which HJC
refers to - leaves forked 3 times - was first pointed out by Mrs C. I. Sandwith in
our Proceedings in 1927. White (1912) had remarked that without fruit, the
two species could not be reliably separated.

Helleborus foetidus Stinking Hellebore North Road Leigh Woods, ST5673, S,
DB; confirmed by CML and MARK in early January 2010 as scattered plants
along the very edge of Nightingale Valley, where it is relatively new. Still in
Burwalls Wood, ST5672, S, JPM. Charlton Field, ST6365, S, MW. Three
plants in the only square shown in FBR for 10km around.

Helleborus viridis Green Hellebore A single plant near a field gate, just north of
Cadbury Camp Lane West, near Clevedon. Tickenham Ridge, ST4372, S, EN.
See BB 2006 for another site in ST 47; FBR has none. Still at Pilton Wood,
ST5841and in nearby Flat Wood, ST 5842, both S, RSC and as recorded in the
Somerset Atlas.

Ranunculus lingua Greater Spearwort Kenn, ST4168, S, RSC. White had
written of the site “very splendid in swamps near the railway between Yatton
and Clevedon”. As RSC points out, the plant has outlived the railway.

Ranunculus flammula_ Lesser Spearwort Moat House Farm, ST4873, S, PM &
MW.

Ranunculus ophioglossifolius Adder's-tongue Spearwort About 20 plants
flowering at Inglestone Common, ST7588, G, in 2009, Hazel Wilmott, per
JPM.

Ranunculus aquatilis Water crowfoot Pond, Westerleigh, ST7078, G, RLB. On
the muddy margins of a recently cleaned out pond, Hoar Gout, ST5380, G,
JPM. In the same habitat in 2002 but not persistent, above Paradise Bottom,
*Leigh Woods, ST5474, S, CML.

Thalictrum flavum Common Meadow-rue_ Orchard Pools, Severn Beach,
*ST5483, G, JPM.

16

Glaucium flavum Yellow Horned-poppy 12 plants at Brean Down this year (late
2008, 40-50, see BB 2008), ST2958, S, RSC. One plant at top of beach (2008,
1), Berrow Dunes, ST2951, S, MW. At the BNS Botanical Section members
evening in December 2009, Margaret made a presentation of her observations
of the plant this year at Sand Bay, ST3364 and ST3365, S, and showed the
survival of individual plants against an environment of shifting sands is
precarious. As she later described it, “The G/aucium situation at the end of
2009 was 2 plants left on Sand Bay and one on Berrow beach (of those that I
was observing). After the high tide at the end of March 2010 the count is 0!”

Fumaria officinalis Common Fumitory, Weston-super-Mare, ST3358, S, RLB.

Betula pubescens Downy Birch Crown Hill, Winford, ST5363, 8, MW. White
did not systematically separate the two birches and recorders and taxonomists
still find them difficult. There are relatively few records of this species in FBR,
and none in this 10 km square, though it is shown there in the BSBI Atlas. The
situation for STS7 is similar; Garlick had a specimen from Leigh Woods
confirmed by E. F. Warburg in 1956 and it is easily found at the river end of the
northern valleys and in quarries | and 2, ST5475, ST5574.

Chenopodium rubrum Red Goosefoot Tyntesfield, ST7071, 8S, RLB.

Chenopodium polyspermum Many-seeded Goosefoot Moat House Farm,
ST4873, S, HJC, PM & MW.

Atriplex prostrata Spear-leaved Orache Moat House Farm, ST4873, S, PM &
MW.

Atriplex littoralis Grass-leaved Orache Berrow Dunes, ST2951, 8S, HJC & RSC.
A large plant at top of beach, on first low dune. Reported by RSC in BB 2007
by the River Brue at Burnham, a few km south. In a flower bed in the housing
estate on the former site of Ham Green Hospital ST5375, S, SRPG in 2008.

Stellaria palustris Marsh Stitchwort Well scattered across a wet field, Chilton
Moor, ST3743, 8S, RSC.

Sagina nodosa Knotted Pearlwort Still at Dolebury Warren, as reported in FBR,
in small quantity on the ramparts, ST4559, S, JPM.

Sagina maritima Sea Pearlwort Several rosettes on sea wall at Burnham-on-Sea,
ST3048, S, RSC.

Spergula arvensis Corn Spurrey Six plants in corner of arable field, Moat House
Farm, ST4873, S, PM & MW.

Spergularia marina Lesser Sea-spurrey For about | km, occasional to locally
frequent in the central reservation of the A4 near Keynsham, *ST6469 and
ST6569, S, JPM.

Silene uniflora Sea Campion On an old mining slag heap, in a woodland
clearing, East Harptree Woods, ST5554, S, RSC. The Somerset Atlas has a
1991 record and describes it as sporadic there.

17

Persicaria amphibia Amphibious Bistort Horton, ST7784, G, RLB

Limonium binervosum aggregate Rock Sea-lavender A single plant on stabilised
dunes, Berrow, ST2952, S, RSC. Recorded over many years but last seen
there by RSC in 2001. FBR gives sites at Portishead (2002!), Sand Point
(2003!), Swallow Cliff and Steep Holm in the aggregate name of L.
binervosum. In 2006 SRPG found it abundant on the south-facing cliffs there
and Simon Leach determined it as L. procerum (C. E. Salmon) Ingr. ssp.
procerum. Given the restricted distributions of the other segregates, this is
likely to be the name for all of our Rock Sea-lavenders.

Hypericum pulchrum Slender St John's-wort Walton Moor, ST4373, S, RSC.

Malva moschata Musk-mallow A white-flowered plant beside B3129 at Failand,
STSI71,S, PM.

Malva neglecta Dwarf Mallow A small amount near the Barracks, Steep Holm,
ST2260, S, JPM.

Tilia platyphyllos Warge-leaved Lime One in a hedgerow, Cleaves Wood,
*ST7657, S, JPM. FBR mentions its occasional occurrence as planted
specimens without indicating the sites.

Althaea officinalis Marsh-mallow Four plants at Sand Bay, ST3365, S, RSC.
Discovered there, apparently new to the site, by SRPG in 2005.

Viola arvensis Field Pansy Moat House Farm, ST4873, S, PM & MW.

Arabidopsis thaliana Thale Cress Dundry Hill, ST5667, S; River Avon, Bath,
ST7462, S, both RLB and not adjacent to squares recorded in FBR.

Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum Watercress Pond near Westerleigh, *ST7078, G,
RLB.

Arabis scabra Bristol Rock-cress It has been known to LH for some time on and
below the ridge between Quarry | and Quarry 2, Leigh Woods, ST5574, S. I
was taken there to see it in early January 2010 in hazardous conditions and
believe I must have overlooked it here, as apparently had all previous
surveyors. There is an unconfirmed record for Quarry 3 (as a grid reference) in
Margaret Pring’s Bristol Ph. D. thesis (1958). Libby adds that a few plants
have occurred on the upper part of St. Vincent’s Rocks between the
Observatory and the Suspension Bridge, ST5673, G, as indicated by a 1972
survey. White, who we suspect was not a fearless climber (at page 592 of his
Flora he mentions a “plucky lady” who climbed the southern cliffs without
shoes), had “found nothing conclusive to show that this plant ever grew on St.
Vincent’s Rocks as limited to the Observatory Hill or limestone south of the
Great Fault” (Flora p. 70). Libby also tells me that she believes the species is
no longer to be found at Penpole Point, ST5377, G, having observed as few as
two in recent years. It had been known there since at least 1878 and in 1884
White noted 15 plants on the SW face of Penpole Point and about 100 on the
NE side by the quarry. In 1978 I counted about 125 rosettes in the quarry. 146
individuals were reported in four sub-populations by I. Taylor in 1990 (Red
Data Book, 1999).

18

Cardamine impatiens Narrow-leaved Bitter-cress On a track-side at the margin
of Leigh Woods in Abbots Leigh parish, south-east of the forest entrance road,
ST5573, S, NH. Although well-known and sometimes abundant after
disturbance in the Long Ashton portion of the woods, I do not recall seeing it
north of the parish wall.

Cochlearia danica Danish Scurvy-grass Weston-super-Mare, ST3359 and
ST3461, S, RLB; Farmborough ST6560, S, HJC, and ST6660, S, HJC & PW;
Marksbury, ST6662, S, HJC & PW. Still spreading.

Erophila majuscula Hairy Whitlowgrass A good colony on bare ground near
Stocker Hole at Stoke St. Michael, ST6647, S, RSC. A second confirmed
record for the southern part of our region after a single plant found last year,
also by RSC (see BB 2008).

Thlaspi arvense Field Pennycress Wickwar, ST7188, G, RLB.

Lepidium draba Hoary Cress By A38 at Rooks Bridge, ST3652, S, MW det.
HJC.

Primula x polyantha (P. veris x vulgaris) False Oxlip A few with the parents, in
a field north of Prior's Wood, Portbury, ST4975, S, EN. Two on bank beside
footpath through field, one pale, one deep yellow, Leighdown Farm, Winford,
ST5463, S, MW. Single plants at Cleaves Wood, ST7557, S and Blagdon
Lake, ST5159, S, both JPM. It is always a delight to see and little wonder that
Victorian naturalists were puzzled by it.

Hottonia palustris Water-violet Puxton Moor, ST4162, S, JPM. Recorded in ST
4262 in FBR but the present record is unquestionably distant.

Lysimachia vulgaris Yellow Loosestrife Tormarton, *ST7777, G, RLB.

Anagallis tenella Bog Pimpernel Still at Walton-in-Gordano, ST4272, S,
reported by both EN and RSC, but in different places.

Potentilla erecta’ Tormentil Barrow Lane meadows, ST5366, S, BNS field
meeting led by MW.

Rosa rubiginosa Sweet-briar Hedgerow in a lane in the housing estate on the
former site of Ham Green Hospital ST5375, S, SRPG in 2008. A large bush
with many fruits on verge of A4 near Newton St Loe, ST7065, S, RSC. One or
more on steep south-facing slopes of Dolebury Warren fort, ST4558, S, JPM.
Presumably only native in the last site (see also BB 2005 and 2007).

Lotus glaber Narrow-leaved Bird's-foot-trefoil Several plants at Severn Beach,
near gate on to beach, ST5384, G, NH & LH. Still at Hengrove, ST5968, S,
where mapped in FBR, RLB.

lhe

Ornithopus perpusillus Bird’s-foot Occurring in large quantity in acid turf at the
AXA headquarters near Bristol Parkway Station, ST6279, G, RJH. Associated
with the following plants not recorded there in FBR: Aira caryophyllea, Silver
Hair-grass; Aira praecox, Early Hair-grass; Cerastium semidecandrum,
Little Mouse-ear; Erigeron acer, Blue Fleabane; Erodium cicutarium,
Common Stork's-bill; Geranium columbinum, Long-stalked Crane's-bill;
and Rumex acetosella, Sheep's Sorrel.

Vicia lathyroides Spring Vetch Brean Down, ST2958, S, RSC, who reports it
still in good quantity.

Lathyrus sylvestris Narrow-leaved Everlasting-pea Hinton Charterhouse Pit,
ST7757, S, JPM.

Medicago polymorpha Toothed Medick In acid turf at the AXA headquarters
near Bristol Parkway Station, ST6279, G, RJH. Associated with various
calcifuges (see Ornithopus perpusillus above). FBR has only one record, a
putative native at Weston-super-Mare whereas White’s Flora has it (under M.
denticulata) as a recent but somewhat persistent colonist, especially from the
Cumberland Basin and beside the Avon through the Gorge, where it survived
from the 1880’s to at least 1945.

Medicago arabica Spotted Medick St George's Flower Bank, ST5075, S, PM at
BNS field meeting. On mown bank on side of B3130, Winford, ST5365, S,
MW.

Trifolium ornithopodioides Bird’s-foot Clover Severn Beach, ST5383, G, JPM,
locally abundant in short sparse turf near the outfall pipes in the old tip. FBR
has just three records and White wrote “unless specially hunted for it will rarely
be perceived”. JPM reported it “in flower so quite easy to spot”.

Trifolium fragiferum Strawberry Clover Severn Beach, locally abundant in
grassland behind sea wall, ST5384, G, NH & LH. Field east of Winford,
ST5464 and ST5465, S, MW.

Trifolium scabrum Rough Clover Severn Beach, ST5484, G, in small quantity on
fine ballast by the station, JPM.

Trifolium squamosum Sea Clover Particularly abundant along the seawall south
of Clevedon this year, ST3869, S, or thereabouts, RJH.

Myriophyllum verticillatum Whorled Water-milfoil Weston Moor, ST4473, S;
Clapton Moor in 2008, ST4573, both PM, confirming sites mapped in FBR.
Myriophyllum spicatum Spiked Water-milfoil ‘Biddle Street’ west of

Congresbury, ST4164 S, JPM.

Epilobium palustre Marsh Willowherb Beacon Hill Wood, ST6345, S; Westhay

Moor, ST4543, S, both RSC.

20

Epilobium tetragonum Square-stalked Willowherb Crown Hill, Winford, |
ST5363, S, MW. Not otherwise within several km according to the maps in
FBR. |

Epilobium roseum Pale Willowherb Severn Beach, *ST5383, JPM, a single plant
on the sea wall.

Viscum album Mistletoe Tyntesfield, ST5071, S, RLB; Dundry Hill, ST5665, S,
MW; in grounds of council salt depot, Clutton, ST6158, S, HJC; single plant on
hawthorn near top of east-facing side of Cross Plain, ST4155, S, MW; many
clumps in two apple trees, Mells, ST7248, S, I. P. Green & P. R. Green, per
HJC.

Euphorbia serrulata Upright Spurge Still in churchyard and nearby at roadside,
Upper Cam, ST7599, G, L. P. Alder per CK & MARK, where previously
reported by them in BB 1996.

Euphorbia exigua Dwarf Spurge Dyrham, ST7574, G, RLB. Reported from
adjacent square ST7474 in BB 2007. Two plants 100m apart at edge of wheat
field, south-west of long barrow, Wellow, ST7357, S, CVWG per HJC.

Rhamnus cathartica Purging Buckthorn Eastwood Farm, Broom Hill, ST6371,
S, RLB.

Linum bienne Pale Flax Middle Ground, Weston-in-Gordano, ST4474, S, EN.
Persistent in square reported in FBR. CK & MARK report that the patch on the
Zoo banks, Clifton Down, ST5674 extends for 14 metres and the flowers close
by 5pm; which may to some degree explain its infrequent notice.

Hydrocotyle vulgaris Marsh Pennywort Beacon Hill, ST6446, S, RSC.

Smyrnium olusatrum Alexanders A small patch by footpath by railway, Little
Stoke, ST6179, G, CK & MARK.

Sium latifolium Greater Water-parsnip Clapton Moor, ST4573, S. PM reports
that the original introduction site has virtually failed due to competition and
cattle access. 25 plants noted in bank of rhyne and 19 growing well in second
introduction site.

Crithmum maritimum Rock Samphire’ Berrow Dunes, a very large clump,
ST2951,S, MW. Not shown there in the Somerset Atlas.

Foeniculum vulgare Fennel Hanham Court, ST6470, G, RLB.

Bupleurum tenuissimum Slender Hare's-ear Many hundreds of plants along the
top of the bank on the north side of Littleton Pill and a few on south side,
ST5891, G, NH.

Calystegia soldanella Sea Bindweed Berrow Dunes, ST2951, 8S, RGC, per HJC.
A large patch 500m away from the site in the same square reported in BB 2008.

pn |

Lithospermum officinale Common Gromwell Below Conygre Wood, Old
London Road, Wotton-under-Edge and in Westridge Wood, both ST7594, G,
RSC; two large clumps on open ground at the edge of the path leading from
Clevedon Court to the gamekeeper's cottage; Norton's Wood, Clevedon,
ST4272, S, EN; Walton Common, ST4274, S, EN, several plants on the
northern end of the common, but in a different place from where seen
previously; Woolverton, ST7954, S, RSC; Cleaves Wood, ST7657, S, RSC.

Lithospermum purpureocaeruleum Purple Gromwell Hutton, just in ST3458, S,
RSC who has known it there since 1987. Included in FBR in adjacent squares
ST 3558 and ST3658. St Brody’s Flora of Weston (1856) records it in a
coppice wood near Hutton.

Myosotis scorpioides Water Forget-me-not Horton, ST7784, G, RLB. Around
pond north-east of Winford, ST5465, S, MW.

Myosotis secunda Creeping Forget-me-not A single plant, south east of the
pond, Beacon Hill, ST6446, S, RSC. Included in this tetrad in the Somerset
Atlas.

Verbena officinalis Vervain Clevedon, ST3970, S, RLB.

Lamium hybridum Cut-leaved Dead-nettle Arable field margin by Hinton
Charterhouse pit, ST7757, S, JPM.

Galeopsis tetrahit Common Hemp-nettle Prior's Wood, ST4873, ST4874 and
ST4974, S, EN. Not recorded here in FBR. Also near Moat House Farm in
ST4873, 8S, PM & MW.

Marrubium vulgare White Horehound On the south side of Brean Down, above
the Bird Gardens, ST2958, S, RSC. Several clumps on a sandy cliff, associated
with a rabbit warren and a different site from that observed by RSC between
1989 and 1998. White knew it on Brean Down “in plenty” but it is much
reduced in localities and quantity since his day. A few plants of Anchusa
arvensis Bugloss nearby, RSC.

Scutellaria minor Lesser Skullcap’ Several plants in a boggy field below
Blackdown, ST4756, S, RSC. Recorded in this tetrad in the Somerset Atlas.
Thymus pulegioides Large Thyme On the Stony Littleton Long Barrow, ST7357,
S, CVWG per HJC. Scattered along quarry cliff, Binegar ST6249, S, RSC.
Callitriche brutia Petagna var. brutia Pedunculate Water-starwort Near
Rowberrow Farm, Priddy, ST5252, *S, HJC & FR. A small amount on mud at
edge of more northerly of two small ponds north of B3135. First record for
v.c. 6 of a plant previously known as pedunculata although perhaps the records
for C. hamulata (two in each division) in FBR could have been undifferentiated

sub-specific records covering what are now treated as varieties of C. brutia.

Callitriche stagnalis Common Water-starwort In plenty in dried up pond,
Sutton Wick, ST5758, S, MW.

Plantago coronopus Buck's-horn Plantain Beside A37, south of Clutton outside
council salt depot, *ST6158, S, HJC.

22

Chaenorhinum minus Small Toadflax Dyrham, ST7574, G, RLB. Field
gateway, Dundry Lane, Winford, ST5465, 8, MW.

Kickxia spuria Round-leaved Fluellen Unsown arable land, Dyrham, ST7574,
G, RLB.

Veronica catenata Pink Water-speedwell Meadows by Barrow Lane, north of
Winford, ST5366, S, BNS field meeting led by MW.

Lathraea squamaria Toothwort EN has recorded its frequency over the past four
years in two woodlands. The counts are listed latest first. In Prior's Wood,
Portbury, ST4874 and ST4974, S, 122, 71, 111 and 89; in Weston Big Wood,
ST4574, S, 200, 100, 40, 120.

Orobanche hederae Ivy Broomrape St George's Flower Bank, ST5075, S, PM
and BNS field meeting. Also Orobanche minor Common Broomrape.

Orobanche minor var. compositarum Pugsley Common Broomrape_ Berrow
Dunes, ST2951 and ST2952, S, SRPG. 13 spikes identified in three places.
The variety differs from var. minor in having narrower corollas more angled

~ upwards than outwards on the stem and is substantially confined to hosts in the
composite family. Reportedly more frequent in East Anglia than elsewhere in
Britain but it has, for example, been recorded on Crepis capillaris in Wiltshire
and on Hypochaeris radicata on the Berkshire chalk. It was refound after a
deliberate search at a place where it was last certainly recorded in 1923 (SRPG
newsletter for 2009, pages 11-12).

Utricularia vulgaris Greater Bladderwort Weston Moor, a second recorded area
in ST4473 with 59 flowering spikes, S, HJC & PM, conf. FR. Growing with
dense Potamogeton trichoides Hairlike Pondweed, this species a little
distance from the two ditches mentioned in BB 2008.

Campanula patula Spreading Bellflower Still at East Harptree Combe, ST5655,
S, JPM, who noted four plants on banks near old ramparts and one about 50 m
away. In 2000, SRPG could only find two plants at its only site in FBR.

Campanula rotundifolia WHarebell Siston Common, ST6674, G, NH, very tall
plants over 1m growing up through brambles.

Galium odoratum Woodruff Bitham's Wood, in the small part in ST5564, S,
MW.

Valerianella locusta Common Cornsalad A single plant growing out of a crack
in a wall in Battery Road, Portishead, ST4676, S, EN.

Valeriana officinalis Common Valerian Bath, ST7463, S, RLB.

Valeriana dioica Marsh Valerian Occasional to frequent in rich fen-meadow
vegetation, north shore of Blagdon lake, ST5159, S, JPM.

Dipsacus pilosus Small Teasel Banks of the River Avon at Hanham Court,
ST6470, G, and Bath, ST7464, S, both RLB, two squares not in FBR.

ZS

Cirsium eriophorum Woolly Thistle Dyrham, ST7474, G, RLB. Several plants
on Walton Common, ST4373, S, EN.

Picris hieracioides Hawkweed Oxtongue Weston-super-Mare, ST3359, S, RLB.

Lactuca serriola Prickly Lettuce Engine House, Crown Hill, Winford, ST5363,
S, MW.

Lactuca virosa Great Lettuce Moat House Farm, ST4873, S, PM & MW.

Gnaphalium uliginosum Marsh Cudweed Moat House Farm, ST4873, S, PM &
MW.

Chrysanthemum segetum Corn Marigold A large straggly plant in grass by track
outside holiday houses below Brean Down, ST2958, S, MW.

Alisma plantago-aquatica Water-plantain Westerleigh, ST7078, G, RLB; Moat
House Farm, ST4873, 8S, PM & MW.

Potamogeton natans Broad-leaved Pondweed Westerleigh, ST7078, G, RLB;
ponds to the west and south-west of Kingdown, *ST5263 and ST5264, S, MW.

Potamogeton pusillus Lesser Pondweed ‘Biddle Street’? west of Congresbury,
ST4164, S, JPM.

Potamogeton berchtoldii Small Pondweed In pond in corner of field, Moat
House Farm, ST4873, S, HJC, PM & MW, conf. FR.

Potamogeton trichoides Hairlike Pondweed Hoar Gout, *ST5380, G; Puxton
Moor, ST4163, S, both JPM.

Groenlandia densa Opposite-leaved Pondweed Dyrham Park, ST7476, G, JPM.
Around edge of pond in corner of field, Moat House Farm, ST4873, S, PM &
MW.

Zannichellia palustris Horned Pondweed Inglestone Common, ST7588, G, JPM.

Juncus foliosus Leafy Rush Three plants beside the Cyperus fuscus ditch, Walton
Moor, ST4372, S, HJC & FR. There is one locality in FBR and two in BB
subsequently.

Juncus bufonius Toad Rush Barrow Lane meadows, ST5366, S, BNS field
meeting led by MW.

Juncus subnodulosus Blunt-flowered Rush Locally abundant in rich fen-meadow
vegetation, north shore of Blagdon lake, ST5159, S, JPM.

Luzula multiflora Heath Wood-rush St George's Flower Bank ST5075, S, PM
and BNS field meeting.

Eriophorum latifolium Broad-leaved Cottongrass At the well-known site at Max
Bog ST4057, S, where it was discovered by Miss Roper in 1919, RSC this year
noted twelve heads and three in the adjoining meadow 100m away. It was
presumably describing a hunt for this species, that the young Noel Sandwith
wrote to H. Stuart Thomson in 1919, “we failed hopelessly at Max Bog; [we]
could not even find the bog.”

24

Eleocharis palustris Common Spike-rush Tyntesfield National Trust, in fenced
pond south of Home Farm, ST5071, S, PM. Beside pond above Paradise
Bottom, Leigh Woods, ST 4574, S, 2002 and occasionally since, *new to the
Avon Gorge, CML.

Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani Grey Club-rush Hoar Gout ST5380, G:;
Orchard Pools, Severn beach, ST5483, G; Puxton Moor, ST4162, S, all in
small quantity, JPM. Considered under-recorded in FBR.

Isolepis cernua Slender Club-rush Six small plants near the site of Cyperus
fuscus on Walton Moor, ST4372, S, HJC & FR. Persistent at its only site in
FBR, where last recorded in BB 2003.

Eleogiton fluitans Floating Club-rush Clapton Moor, ST4573, S, PM, who
reported that there was more than she had previously seen: a rhyne was almost
covered with it for about 100m.

Cyperus fuscus Brown Galingale HJC & PM counted eight flowering plants on a
poached area at its well-known Walton Moor site, ST4372, S. Nine were
reported in BB 2007. White wrote of this rare plant, discovered here in 1900,
“the marvel is that this plant, an annual, continues to exist at all”.

Schoenus nigricans Black Bog-rush Still at Yanal Bog, ST4260, S, JPM, who
adds it occurs in a small area where it is very locally abundant.

Carex vesicaria Bladder-sedge One clump at edge of pond, Faulkland, *ST7354,
S, HJC, conf. FR.

Carex strigosa Thin-spiked Wood-sedge Several clumps at Harptree Combe,
East Harptree, ST5655, S, RSC.

Carex pallescens Pale Sedge Leigh Woods, on track-side at boundary of National
Trust holding, ST5573, S, NH. I have notes of it in three places in ST5574,
1987-2002. Of sporadic occurrence in the ancient Leigh Woods and normally
reported from pathways or open glades, probably always following disturbance.
In Oliver Rackham’s Ancient Woodland (2003) it is listed as a coppicing plant
from the seed-bank in one of his eight example sites; each wood has (or had) its
own characteristic suite of species. White (1912) specifically mentions
Hypericum hirsutum, Hairy St John’s-wort becoming plentiful in Leigh
Woods after cutting of the underwood. On the Mendips (p. 14) he recalled
after coppicing “wondrously gay drifts of bluebells, primroses, red campions,
yellow archangel, starry stitchworts and lilac spotted orchids in profusion”, but
added that in Cheddar Wood, “no woodman has cut a faggot within the
memory of man, [so] the flowers lie dormant and no gleam of colour breaks
the...gloom”’.

Carex pilulifera Pill Sedge Park Copse, Compton Dando, ST6364, S, NH, adding
to his nearby record for ST6363 in BB2008. Several clumps on NE-facing
slope of Highbury Hill, Clutton, ST6358, S, HJC.

Zo

Puccinella distans Reflexed Saltmarsh-grass On pavement by wall, Stoke Hill,
ST5675, G, PH. For about 1 km, occasional to locally frequent in the central
reservation of the A4 near Keynsham, *ST6469 and ST6569, S, JPM.

Poa infirma Early Meadow-grass RSC reports that the guttering sites mentioned
at Burnham-on-Sea, ST3049, S, in BB 2008 were cleaned out. However he
found a few plants on a pavement and elsewhere.

Glyceria maxima Reed Sweet-grass Tyntesfield National Trust, ST5071, S, PM,
in small pond in garden behind estate office.

Holcus mollis Creeping Soft-grass Engine House, Crown Hill, Winford ST5363,
S, MW. i

Aira praecox Early Hair-grass Dolebury Warren, ST4458, S, BNS field meeting.

Bromus commutatus Meadow Brome In a field north of Overscourt Wood,
Siston, ST687748, G, NH.

Molinia caerulea Purple Moor-grass On the floor of Quarry 2 under Leigh
Woods, ST5574, S, NH & LH. Now a tussock, but found here several years
ago as a small plant. An unusual adventive occurrence here, perhaps
introduced on botanist’s boots; not otherwise currently known in ST57._ It
seems to have been last noted on the Downs opposite (Clifton Down) by the
Sandwiths in 1920, according to an annotation in their copy of White’s Flora.
Part of a lost treasure of botanical riches (notably Pyrola minor, Common
Wintergreen) once occurring in a damp wood beside Sandy Lane, Abbots
Leigh, an area which I suspect has not been adequately searched in a century.

Gagea lutea Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem RSC reports just three flowering plants
at the Stoke St Michael locality which he now places just in ST6647, S. He
reported 31 in 2007 whereas Ian Green and SRPG found “lots of the plants
flowering nicely” in 2000; from 1995 to 1997 there was “‘a magnificent carpet
of yellow blooms” according to the Somerset Atlas. The Somerset Atlas
reported a site at Lily Combe, Litton (was this the eponymous Lily?) as having
been destroyed in 1989 by “in-filling of the valley and levelling of the ground”.
HJC tells me that in 2009 Mark Jannink refound it in five patches in rocky
woodland remaining around the perimeter of the combe, ST5853, S, and adds
that when she visited the spot there were hundreds of plants in two of the
patches, but the clumps were compact and small. There was just one flower in
one of the smallest patches.

Convallaria majalis Lily-of-the-Valley Bishop's Hill Wood, Wickwar, ST7387,
G, JPM. Recorded at the south side of this wood by F. Samson in White’s
Flora and not noticed in FBR. The current record has a “good patch” but is
more in the middle of the wood.

Paris quadrifolia Herb Paris Weston Big Wood, ST4575 and ST1574, S, EN,
who after further searching in 2008 and 2009 estimated a stable population of
between 200 and 250 stems in five places with another seen in 2001 not
relocated.

26

Ornithogalum pyrenaicum Spiked Star-of-Bethlehem On the basis of systematic
sampling, JPM estimated some 50,000 spikes in Cleeve Wood, Hanham,
ST6570, G.

Epipactis violacea Violet Helleborine A plant lacking chlorophyll and therefore
having the colour throughout of a tropical bromeliad, Lower Woods, ST7487,
G, Brian Lancastle.

Epipactis leptochila Narrow-lipped Helleborine A single flower spike found in
at the only site in FBR, Clarken Combe, ST5471, 8, RSC.

Neottia nidus-avis_ Birds-nest Orchid Three plants beside a public footpath
linking the B3128 with Cadbury Camp Lane, ST4772, S, EN conf. PM, a new
site. 12 flower spikes, Hunstrete, ST6462, S, RGM, (2 in 2008). Increasing at
Ammerdown Park, ST7052, S, RSC: 6 in 2004; 13 in 2006; 21 in 2007; 42 in
2008 and 54 in 2009.

Listera ovata Common Twayblade In the small part of Bitham's Wood, ST5564,
S, MW. Not shown in FBR for ST5664, which includes the greater part of the
wood.

Spiranthes spiralis Autumn Lady's-tresses Tyntesfield, ST5071, S, RLB.
Hundreds this year despite scaffolding.

Platanthera bifolia Lesser Butterfly-orchid Ashcott Heath, ST4439, S, where it
had a very good year according to RSC. “Many spikes” were noted there in
2008 by SRPG.

Anacamptis pyramidalis Pyramidal Orchid Continuing to spread as these five
records indicate. F'BR had 69 sites. Dyrham, ST7475, G, RLB, six plants. St
George's Flower Bank, ST5075, S, BNS field meeting per PM. Five plants just
south of sea wall, Portbury Wharf, ST4877, S, EN. Hengrove, ST5968, S,
RLB. 24 plants on grassy bank near sluice, West Huntspill, ST2945, S, RSC.

Dactylorhiza x transiens (Druce) Soo Heath Spotted-orchid x Common
Spotted-orchid St George's Flower Bank, ST5075, S, PM, BNS field meeting;
again (see BB 2005) near Herons Green, Chew Valley Lake, ST5559, S, RGM,
at least four spikes.

Dactylorhiza x grandis Common Spotted-orchid x Southern Marsh-orchid
Chew Valley Lake, ST5560, S, RGM; Blackmoor, Charterhouse, ST5055, S,
HJC, a large clump of 12 flowering spikes, near entrance from field.

Dactylorhiza maculata Heath Spotted-orchid Barrow Lane meadows, ST5366,
S, BNS field meeting led by MW. The pale var. /eucantha, is persistent near
Herons Green, Chew Valley Lake, ST5559, S, RGM - one seen in 2009, two in
2006.

27

Dactylorhiza praetermissa Southern Marsh-orchid St George's Flower Bank,
ST5075, S, PM, BNS field meeting. In a clearing at the eastern end of Norton's
Wood, Clevedon overlooking the M5 motorway, ST4372, S, EN, who adds,
“not a typical habitat for the plant: in tall grass on limestone but with unspotted
leaves and the labellum of typical praetermissa, so not D. fuchsii Common
Spotted orchid, as might have been expected from the habitat.”

Orchis morio Green-winged Orchid Blagdon Lake, ST5160 (new to FBR) and
still in ST5060, S, RSC, who reports a good number in two meadows NE side
of lake and 50 spikes in grass on W side.

Himantoglossum hircinum Lizard Orchid 38 rosettes in February 2009 at the
A432 G, site, ST6678, mentioned in BB 2006 and 2007, Brian Laney, per CK
& MARK.

Ophrys apifera Bee Orchid St George's Flower Bank, ST5075, S, BNS field
meeting per PM and 22 in ST5175 where one reported in BB 2007, EN. RLB
reports 26 spikes of the var. trollii at Dyrham, ST7475, G and RGM confirms
the persistence of var. friburgensis at Ubley Warren, ST5055, S, two spikes.

Ophrys insectifera Fly Orchid A single plant with flowers with a yellow edge to
the rather rounded labellum and no notch at the tip was photographed by RGM
amongst a known population by the towpath under Leigh Woods, ST5673, S.
The current consensus is that it is neither the var. /uteomarginata (which
requires a normally shaped labellum) nor a backcross to the hybrid with O.
apifera (as other features are normal).

ALIENS (neophytes)

Pteris nipponica Shieh Table Fern Bath, ST7564, *S, HJC & FR. Five young
plants in basement between 34 and 35 St James' Parade. New to Somerset.
Pteris umbrosa R. Br. Shady Brake-fern Bath, ST7465, S, CK & MARK det.

FR. One plant in basement of 26 Rivers Street. New to Somerset.

Cyrtomium fortunei J. Sm. Fortune's Holly-fern About a hundred well
established plants in Summerhouse Plantation, Ashton Park, ST5572, *S, RLB
det. HJC conf. FR. One tiny plant in basement between 34 and 35 St James'
Parade, Bath, ST7564, S, HJC & FR. RLB’s find predates the Bath record but
the determination was made subsequently. First and second records for
Somerset.

Polystichum tsus-simense (Hook.) J. Sm. Korean Rock-fern Bath, ST7465, *S,
HJC & FR. One plant in basement of 26 Rivers Street. New to Somerset.

Tsuga heterophylla Western Hemlock-spruce Planted in the 1950s in the
northern part of Leigh Woods and now considered to be regenerating in
Paradise Bottom, ST5474, S, JPM.

28

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana Lawson's Cypress Self-sown in Paradise Bottom,
ST5474, S, JPM.

Nigella damascena_ Love-in-a-mist Weston-super-Mare, ST3258, S; Norton St
Phillip, ST7758, S, both RLB.

Papaver somniferum Opium Poppy Moat House Farm, Wraxall, ST4873, S,
HJC, PM & MW.

Chelidonium majus Greater Celandine Doynton, ST7174, G; Avonmouth,
ST5277, G; Combe Down, Bath, ST7563, S, all RLB.

Meconopsis cambrica Welsh Poppy Leigh Woods, on track-side near edge of
wood north of parish wall, ST5573, S, NH; Combe Down, Bath, ST7563, S,
RLB; Norton Lane, ST7657, S, RLB.

Corydalis cheilanthifolia Hemsl. Fern-leaved Corydalis One plant in gutter at
edge of road, beside the wall of The Priory, Southstoke, ST7461, S, CVWG per
HJC.

Cannabis sativa Hemp A single plant, The Tumps, near Lansdown Monument,
*ST7170, S, JPM.

Ficus carica Fig On edge of path by River Avon, Bath, ST7464, S, RLB.

Quercus rubra Red Oak This oak was planted in the northern part of Leigh
Woods probably in the 1950s. Adrian Grenfell in his Review of the Alien and
Introduced Plants of the Avon Gorge in our 1987 Proceedings reported no
evident naturalisation. By 2007, Tony Titchen reported in his Tree Watch
column in our Bulletin for February 2007 that “the trees are producing acorns
and many young seedling trees are being produced”. JPM also this year reports
regeneration with seedlings and young trees at Paradise Bottom, ST5475, S.

Chenopodium ficifolium Fig-leaved Goosefoot Disturbed ground, The Tumps,
near Lansdown Monument, ST7170, S, JPM.

Amaranthus retroflexus Common Amaranth Common in field margins at SE
end of Tait Wood, near Hinton Charterhouse, ST7657, S, JPM.

Agrostemma githago Corncockle Sheepway, near Portbury, one plant on track
edge by rhyne, not far from gate, ST4876, S, NH.

Saponaria officinalis Soapwort Tyntesfield, ST7071, S, RLB; Plenty growing
through hedge by B3130, Winford, ST5365, S, MW; Norton St Phillip,
ST7656, S, RLB.

Fallopia japonica Japanese Knotweed Westerleigh, ST7078, G; Oatfield Farm,
ST5066, S, both RLB.

Fallopia x bohemica (F. japonica x sachalinensis) A hybrid Knotweed A large
patch on west side of track between Combe Hay and Odd Down, ST7360, S,
HJC & FR.

29

Fallopia sachalinensis Giant Knotweed Old Down Country Park, ST 6087, G,
Mathew Pickard, per CK & MARK.

Fallopia baldschuanica Russian-vine Hanham Court, ST6470, G, RLB.

Alcea rosea Hollyhock Avonmouth, ST5177, G, RLB.

S. cf. flava L. Yellow Pitcherplant Still at Westhay Moor, ST4543, 8, DB. HJC
reported in BB 2008 that this obviously planted alien was expected to be
removed.

Hesperis matronalis Dame's-violet Avonmouth, ST5379, G; Dundry Hill,
ST5666, S, both RLB.

Lunaria annua Honesty Hanham Court, ST6470, G, RLB.

Arbutus unedo Strawberry-tree A mature bush in Burwalls Wood, Leigh Woods,
ST5672, S, JPM, not far from the garden.

Reseda alba L. White Mignonette Bristol Docks, ST5771, G, RLB. The last
record in the Bristol Region appears to have been on the Bedminster Tip (BB
1977). Otherwise I only have old records to hand: it was collected at Ashton
Gate in 1922 by the Sandwiths and found in the same year at Portishead Station
yard by Miss Livett, and it is also reported at Avonmouth in Mrs Sandwith’s
Adventive Flora, (published 1932).

Ribes uva-crispa Gooseberry Gorse covert between Pucklechurch and Yate,
ST7178, G, RLB.

Sedum spurium Caucasian-stonecrop A patch on a rock face behind the
barracks, *Steep Holm, *ST2260, S, JPM.

Saxifraga hirsuta Kidney Saxifrage Still at Bourton Combe, ST 5068, S, JPM,
four or five flowering stems and leaves spread over several metres. When first
reported, by P. J. M. Nethercott in BB 1992, it was already well established and
thought likely to become permanent.

Tellima grandiflora Fringecups Established on roadside verges near housing,
Curtis Mill, Upper Kilcott, ST7988, G, CK & MARK. Five records in FBR
and one since in BB 2007.

Duchesnea indica Yellow-flowered Strawberry On the former railway line at
Lyncombe Vale, Bath, ST7563, S, RJH. Only five records in FBR.

Alchemilla mollis Garden Lady's-mantle Ubley, ST5357, S, RLB.

Malus domestica Apple Westerleigh, ST7077, G, RLB.

Pyrus communis Pear Westerleigh, ST7077, G, RLB.

Sorbus intermedia Swedish Whitebeam Cheddar Gorge, ST4754, S, LH. A
single tree, on the south side of the gorge, 5m tall.

Galega officinalis Goat's-rue Hengrove, ST5968, S, RLB.

Dorycnium hirsutum Canary Clover Abbey Wood Station, Filton, ST6078, G,
DB. One mature bush and one young plant, increasing from the one mature
bush the season before. Also noted tentatively here as not flowering by JPM in
2007. First reported in the region at Weston-super-Mare in BB 2005.

30

Lathyrus latifolius Broad-leaved Everlasting-pea Hengrove, ST5968, S, RLB;
St George's Flower Bank, ST5075, S, PM and BNS field meeting.

Vicia faba Broad Bean One plant in St Werburgh’s Churchyard, ST6074, G, DB.
One plant at edge of field, near Moat House Farm between Wraxall and
Clapton-in Gordano, ST4873, S, HJC, PM & MW.

Trifolium hybridum Alsike Clover Near Moat House Farm, ST4873, S, PM &
MW; plants scattered in crop, in field off Dundry Lane, ST5465, S, MW.

Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb. Spreading Oleaster Sand Bay, ST3364, 8S, HJC &
MW. Two plants on seaward side of fence at top of dunes, south-east of
“Danger Sinking Mud” sign. New to Somerset.

Oenothera glazioviana Large-flowered Evening-primrose By gateway into
field, Dundry Lane, ST5465, S, MW.

Euphorbia characias Mediterranean Spurge Avonmouth Docks, ST5180, G; by
River Avon, Bath, ST7464, S, both RLB.

Parthenocissus quinquefolia Virginia-creeper Hanham Court, ST6470, G;
Hengrove, ST5868, S, both RLB.

Parthenocissus inserta False Virginia-creeper One plant, Redding Pits, ST5363,
S, MW.

Rhus typhina Sumach In hedge at Doynton, ST7174, G, RLB.

Geranium endressii French Crane's-bill Bath, ST7366, S; in hedge at Abson,
ST7074, G; Flax Bourton, ST5069, S, all RLB.

Impatiens glandulifera Indian Balsam Two patches in damp woodland in East
Harptree Woods, ST5554, S, RSC.

Impatiens parviflora Small Balsam Bourton Combe on main path, ST5068, S,
RLB.

Coriandrum sativum L. Coriander Regil, ST5361, S, MW. Growing on a heap
of earth and rubble at the edge of a field near Walnut Tree Farm. Last recorded
in 1979 according to FBR, but probably referring to records in BB 1978. I have
a specimen dated 1981, from Avonmouth Docks, G, where it was pointed out
to me by Adrian Grenfell.

Heracleum mantegazzianum Giant Hogweed A few plants persisting on waste
ground, Stapleton, ST6176, G, AGS. Also 50 or more plants allowed to grow
on bank of River Frome but protected by high flood defence walls near M32
junction 3 at ST6073, while plants growing in adjacent amenity areas were
cleared by local authority at an earlier stage, before flowering.

Nicotiana x sanderae W. Watson (N. alata x forgetiana) A Garden Tobacco
Regil, ST5361, 8, MW. Three plants growing on a heap of earth and rubble at
the edge of a field. Flowers purple.

Solanum tuberosum Potato In full flower, on waste heap, Doynton, ST7174, G, RLB.

Symphytum orientale White Comfrey Flax Bourton, ST5069, S, RLB.

31

Borago officinalis Borage *Steep Holm, *ST2260, S, JPM.

Trachystemon orientalis Abraham-Isaac-Jacob Lower Hazel, Alveston,
*ST6287, G, CK & MARK. A small patch flowering at the woodland edge.
Verbena bonariensis Argentinian Vervain In gutter, Ambrose Road, Clifton,
ST5772, G, JPM. Tyntesfield, ST7071, S; Norton St Phillip, ST7758, S, both

RLB.

Stachys byzantina Lamb's-ear Avonmouth, ST5177, G, RLB.

Lamiastrum galeobdolon ssp. argentatum Garden Yellow Archangel Bath,
ST7366, S; Tormarton, ST7978, G, St Annes, ST6272, S, Combe Down,
ST7562 and ST7563. 8S, Weston-super-Mare, ST3259 and ST3358, S, all RLB.

Forsythia x intermedia Zabel Forsythia Flowering on dumped spoil by the
roadside, Orchard Pools, Severn Beach, ST5483, G; in a hedge, Pilning, ST
5585, both JPM. Not recorded in FBR but the authors of the earlier Somerset
Atlas (1997) took a broader view and mapped records of plantings and throw-
outs in the wild.

Campanula portenschlagiana Adria bellflower River Avon, Bath, ST7463 and
ST7365, S; Dundry Hill, ST5967, S; Bishop Sutton, ST5859, S; Weston-super-
Mare, ST3258, S; Ubley, ST5257, S, all RLB.

Campanula poscharskyana Trailing bellflower Broadmead, ST5973, G; Weston-
super-Mare, ST3258, S, both RLB.

Lobelia erinus Garden Lobelia Bath, ST7365, S, RLB, in gutter.

Leycesteria formosa Himalayan Honeysuckle River Avon Bath, ST7265, S;
Tyntesfield, ST7071, S, both RLB.

Knautia macedonica Griseb. Crimson Scabious One big plant on verge at the
start of Hollow Marsh Lane, south-east of Hinton Blewett, ST5956, S, JPM.
According to HJC, there are a few recent records scattered across the country,
but none for Somerset. It has red-purple flowers and has been a popular garden
plant recently. New to the Bristol Region.

Centaurea cyanus Cornflower Avonmouth, ST5278, G, RLB.

Centaurea montana Perennial Cornflower Dundry Hill, ST5966, S, RLB.

Pilosella flagellaris (Willd.) P. D. Sell & C. West ssp. flagellaris Spreading or
few-headed Mouse-ear-hawkweed Widespread and obviously long-
naturalised on old railway sidings, Ashton Gate, ST5771, G, RJH, and later,
JPM. This is easily distinguished from the common native Mouse-ear-
hawkweed, and from Fox-and-cubs with which it occurs, by its pale green
leaves and several darker yellow flowering heads on a stem up to 40 cm. New
to the Bristol Region; located in the small enclave of v.c.34 south of the New
Cut (contrary to the map in White’s Flora).

Pilosella aurantiaca Fox-and-cubs Bath, ST7366, S, RLB.

Solidago canadensis Canadian Goldenrod River Avon, Bath, ST7464 and
ST7465, S, RLB.

a2

Solidago gigantea Early Goldenrod On verge of B3124 near Portishead,
ST4674, G, JPM.

Conyza canadensis Canadian Fleabane_ By the River Avon, Bath, ST7265,
ST7464 S, RLB, and on wall in ST7366.

Conyza sumatrensis Guernsey Fleabane Two plants at Wapping Railway Wharf,
ST5872, G, JPM; one plant at edge of potato field south of Hallatrow, ST6356,
S, HJC & Jim Crouch; one plant by traffic island at bottom of Farrington Road,
Paulton, ST6456, S, HJC; near edge of quay, in industrial estate, Dunball
Wharf, ST3040, S, HJC & EJM.

Erigeron karvinskianus Mexican Fleabane’ Bath, ST7365, ST7366, S;
Brislington, ST6271, S; Weston-super-Mare, ST3258 and ST3358, S, all RLB.

Calendula officinalis Pot Marigold Lots of flowering plants growing in grass at
the top of a field, Dundry Hill, ST5665, S, MW.

Xanthium spinosum Spiny Cocklebur Paulton, ST6556, S, HJC. Appeared in
garden of 4 Gregory's Tyning, almost certainly arriving with bird seed.

Helianthus annuus Sunflower One plant on sea wall Severn Beach, *ST538, G,
JPM.

Galinsoga parviflora Gallant-soldier Portbury village, ST5075, 8, EN. The site
found in 2006 near Portbury Church and where the plant had been seen in 2007
and 2008 was ploughed up in 2009 and replanted with Trifolium pratense, Red
Clover. However there were still a few plants flowering in 2009. The extended
site had thousands in 2009, many more than when first seen in 2007, though
there were no plants seen there in 2008 after similar re-seeding. Also a
significant number in a field used for market gardening at Jubb's Court Farm,
Lower Failand, ST5173, S, EN.

Bidens frondosa Beggarticks Frequent at Wapping Railway Wharf, ST5872, G,
JPM. FBR gives no grid references but describes it as well-established along
the docks in Bristol, presumably in this square.

Elodea nuttallii Nuttall's Waterweed Moat House Farm, ST4873, 8, PM & MW.

Arum italicum \talian Lords-and-Ladies Stoke Bishop, in quantity, ST5676, G,
RLB. A single plant at roadside, North Road, Leigh Woods, S, DB, probably
derived from garden rubbishh MARK and CML subsequently (in January
2010) saw several plants within the boundary of Leigh Woods, ST5673.

Spirodela polyrhiza Greater Duckweed At Home Farm garden pond,
Tyntesfield National Trust, ST5071, S, PM.

Lemna minuta Least Duckweed In fenced pond south of Home Farm, Tyntesfield
National Trust, ST5071, S, PM.

Lemna trisulca Ivy-leaved Duckweed Moat House Farm, ST4873, 8S, PM &
MW.

33

Wolffia arrhiza Rootless Duckweed In ditch on west side of long thin field south
of River Sheppey, Godney Farm, ST4842, S, HJC & Chris Billinghurst.

Sasa palmata (Burb.) E.G. Camus Broad-leaved Bamboo Two clumps, Paradise
Bottom, Leigh Woods, ST5474, S, JPM. Not in FBR but there are 1987-1999
records in the BSBI Atlas for ST47 and ST 67 which should have generated an
entry.

Pseudosasa japonica Arrow Bamboo Established since before 1980 below
gardens in Leigh Woods near the Suspension Bridge, and visible from
Observatory Hill, *ST5673, S, CML, but not hitherto formally reported.

Avena fatua Wild-oat Moat House Farm, ST4873, S, HJC, PM & MW.

Lagurus ovatus Hare's-tail Sand Bay, in two places in, ST3364, S, HJC & MW:
Several hundred flowering spikes over an area 5m x 2m, on landward side of
dunes, opposite house no. 48; many plants on E side of road, just N of middle
car park, alongside a double 5-bar gate.

Polypogon viridis Water Bent Fishponds, ST6375, G, AGS. Growing in
pavement by house wall, several sites locally, early and late-flowering due to
spring rain and early summer drought. Near edge of quay, in industrial estate,
Dunball Wharf, ST3040, S, HJC & EJM.

Echinochloa crus-galli Cockspur Common in field margins at SE end of Tait
Wood, near Hinton Charterhouse, *ST7657, S, JPM.

Setaria pumila Yellow Bristle-grass Occasional in field margins at SE end of
Tait Wood, near Hinton Charterhouse, ST7657, S, JPM.

Pontederia cordata L. Pickerelweed Berrow Dunes, ST2952, 8, RGC. Three or
four plants at edge of pond on golf course. First record in the wild for Somerset
but possibly planted originally. RLB had earlier noted it in 2006 as a planted
exotic in a pond on the golf course at Westbury on Trym, ST 5677, G.

Hyacinthoides hispanica Spanish Bluebell Pucklechurch, ST7075, G; Rookery
Lane, ST7175, G, both RLB.

Muscari armeniacum Grape Hyacinth In gutter, Bath, ST7365, S; hedgebank,
Pucklechurch, ST7075, G; Avonmouth, ST5379, G, all RLB.

Allium triquetrum Three-cornered garlic Avonmouth, ST5277, G. RLB; a well-
established patch in hedgerow at east side of car park, Stratton-on-the-Fosse,
ST6550, S, CVWG per HJC; Weston-super-Mare, ST3259, S, RLB.

Allium paradoxum Few-flowered Garlick Newark Park, *ST7793, G, JPM.
Outside the garden, spreading from within.

Leucojum aestivum ssp. pulchellum Summer Snowflake Single roadside clump
near Midger Wood, ST7989, G, CK & MARK. Four records in FBR and one
since (BB 2008).

34

Cordyline australis (G. Forst.) Endl. Cabbage-palm Sand Bay, ST3364, 8, HJC
& MW. Two plants at top of dunes, on seaward side of fence. New to the
Bristol Region.

Acknowledgements

I would again like to thank all contributors for their interesting plant records, and
particularly the BSBI recorders, Clare and Mark Kitchen (G) and Helena Crouch
(S) for their records and comments, and assistance in determining the significance
of the finds. To Pam Millman, receiving secretary for the records I am also very
grateful.

Cinquefoil

BD

A 19TH CENTURY LICHEN COLLECTION OF GERMAN ORIGIN
IN BRISTOL MUSEUM (BMGA)

M. R. D. SEAWARD
Department of Archaeological, Geographical & Environmental Sciences,
University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 I1DP
R. ROWSON
Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, Queens Road, Bristol BS8 1RL
and
S. HALLETT
formerly Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, Queens Road, Bristol BS8 1RL

Abstract

An important collection of 4815 lichens and lichenicolous fungi was acquired in
the second half of the 19th century by Frederick Adolph Leipner. Although
virtually ignored since its arrival at Bristol, it has now been curated, the original
packets being cleaned and individually placed intact within transparent acid-free
packets, boxed and filed alphabetically according to genera/species. Modern
nomenclature has been employed where possible, but considerable further
taxonomic work needs to be done. Almost 100 collectors are represented, including
many of the most famous 19th century lichenologists of Germany and elsewhere.
The value of this collection lies not only on the basis of these collectors but also on
the fact that specimens may duplicate those sadly destroyed in Germany as a result
of enemy action during the Second World War.

INTRODUCTION

The former ownership of the collection (hereafter referred to as the “Leipner”
collection) was probably Bernhard Auerswald (b. Linz, Sachsen 19.3.1818, d.
Leipzig, 30.6.1870 — see Grummann 1974, Frahm & Eggers 2001, Tiirk & Riegler-
Hager 2003), who donated it to (or it was purchased by) Frederick Adolph Leipner
(b. Dresden 13.8.1827, d. Clifton, Bristol 1.4.1894). Leipner used only his second
name Adolph after he emigrated to England in 1848, but in reality his
naturalisation papers for 1863 (held at The National Archives, Kew) show that he
was formerly Friedrich Julius Adolph. According to Goodbody (1988) he did “not
seem to have held any university degree”, but by 1854 he was teaching German
and natural science at Clifton, and in 1856 became a member of the Bristol
Microscopical Society. He was appointed one of seven assistant masters at the
newly opened Clifton College in 1862 (Pippard 2002), and later trained at the
Bristol Medical School (but did not complete the course) whilst lecturing in botany
and natural philosophy.

36

In 1876 he was appointed as lecturer in botany, zoology and, interestingly, German
(Goodbody 1988) at University College (precursor to the University), but also
continued to lecture in the Medical School, and appointed the first Professor of
Botany in 1884. He founded the University’s Botanic Garden in 1882 (Delaney &
Winn 2002), and was a founding member of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society in
1862 (Anon. 1899), from when he held the honorary secretaryship until he became
its President in 1893 (Phillips 1962). It was through a fellow member of the Bristol
Naturalists’ Society, William Spicer, that Leipner was the recipient of the rare
cave-dwelling amphibian Proteus, which he exhibited at a Society meeting in 1868
(Shaw 1999).

Biographical information on Leipner is rather meagre (cf. Desmond
1994), particularly his earlier life (cf. Anon. 1899, Delaney & Winn 2002); he
appears to have published little, albeit on diverse subjects (e.g. Leipner 1857,
1876), and herbarium material is scarce — his mosses are in Bristol Museum (474
specimens according to the 1908 Museum Report), and his algae are in Wroclaw,
Poland (Chaudhri et al. 1972); some of his ietters are in the Broome and Giinther
correspondence in The Natural History Museum, London (Bridson ef a/. 1980) and
in the Alfred Newton correspondence in Cambridge University Library. However,
he was praised for the extended summer rambles he and George Burder organized
and conducted, which “were attended by a swarm of young people infected by the
enthusiasm of their leaders and attracted by the geniality, kindliness and sympathy
for which they were remarkable” (White 1912). In 2005, a blue plaque to celebrate
his life and work was unveiled at his home, 47 Hampton Park, where he resided
from 1870 until his death.

The earliest and latest collection dates are 1816 and 1865 respectively, so
the “Leipner” collection came to Bristol after 1865. If the collection was donated
by Auerswald himself, then Leipner received it between 1865 and 1870; any
posthumous donation or purchase was between 1870 and 1894. No record of this
transaction has come to light. Although it is briefly mentioned under “European
Lichens” in Trebilcock (2007), it would appear that since the collection’s arrival at
Bristol it has been virtually ignored, and therefore details of its scope (taxonomic,
geographical and biographical) have not been investigated. Almost 100 collectors
are represented (see below), including many of the most famous 19th century
lichenologists of Germany and elsewhere. The value of this collection lies not only
on the basis of these collectors but also on the fact that specimens (as yet not
evaluated) may duplicate those sadly destroyed in Germany as a result of enemy
action during the Second World War.

a7

The material of the “Leipner” collection has now been curated, the original packets
being cleaned and individually placed intact within transparent acid-free packets,
boxed and filed alphabetically according to genera/species. Modern nomenclature
(mainly according to Smith er al. 2009) has been employed where possible, but
considerable further taxonomic work needs to be done.

COLLECTORS (those represented by numerous packets given in bold)

Arnold, F.C.G. (1828-1901), Auerswald, B. (1818-1870), Aunier, J.J.N.A. (1781-
1859), Baenitz, C.G. (1837-1913), Bagge, H. (1817-1895), Bayrhoffer, J.D.W.
(1793-1868), Beckhaus, C.F.L. (1821-1890), Benesch, D. (?-1884), Bilimek, D.
(1812-1884), Breutel, J.C. (1788-1875), Bulnheim, C.O. (1820-1865), Clemencon
(??), Croall, A. (1809-1885), Cuming, H. (1791-1865), Delitsch, O. (1821-1882),
Ducommun, J.-C. (1829-1892), Durieu de Maissonneuve, M.C. (1796-1878),
Ecklon, C.F. (1795-1868), Eversmann, E.F. von (1794-1860), Fiedler, K.F.B.
(1807-1869), Flérke, H.G. (1764-1835), Flotow, J. von (1788-1856), Forster, A.
(1810-1884), Freidrichsthal, E.R. von (1809-1842), Fries, E.M. (1794-1878),
Fuisting, W. (1839-1870), Funck, H.C. (1771-1839), Garcke, F.A. (1819-1904),
Garovaglio, S. (1805-1882), Greville, R.K. (1794-1866), Gueinzius, W. (1814-
1874), Hampe, G.E.L. (1795-1880), Hausmann zu Stetten, F. von (1810-1878),
Hazslinszky de Hazslin, F.J. (1818-1896), Heufler zu Rasen, L.J. (1817-1885),
Hillardt, C. (??), Hochstetter, C.F. (1787-1860), Holl, C.F. (?-1850) , Jack, J.B.
(1818-1901), Juratzka, J. (1821-1878), Karl, W. (1802-1870), Kegel, H.A.H.
(1819-1856), Kérber, G.W. (1817-1885), Kotschy, C.G.T. (1813-1866),
Krempelhuber, A.von (1813-1882), Kiithlewein, P.E. von (1798-1870), Lahm,
J.G.F.-X. (1811-1888), Lambl, D.V. (??), Lang, O.F. (1817-1847), Laurer, J.F.
(1798-1873), Leiner, L. (1830-1901), Lenormand, S.-R. (1796-1871), Lojka, H.
(1844-1887), Lomler (??), Lundberg (??), Marsson, T.F. (1816-1892), Mettenius,
G.H. (1823-1866), Metzler, A.J. (1813-1883), Montagne, J.P.F.C. (1784-1866),
Mudd, W. (1830-1879), Miiller, J. [= Miiller Argoviensis] (1828-1896), Nitschke,
T.R.J. (1834-1883), Notaris, G.N. de (1805-1877), Opiz, M.P. (1787-1858), Pabst,
C. (c.1826-1863), Poeppig, E.F. (1798-1868), Poscharsky, G.A. (1832-1915),
Rabenhorst, G.L. (1806-1881), Rehm, H.S.L.F.F. (1828-1916), Reichenbach,
H.G.L. (1793-1879), Rossmassler, E.A. (1806-1867), Runkel, C. (??), Russ, G.P.
(1811-1879), Sauter, A.E. von (1800-1881), Schaerer, L.E. (1785-1853),
Schleicher, J.C. (1768-1834), Schliephacke, K. (1834-1913), Schmalz, E. (1801-
1871), Schubert, C. (??), Schumann P. (??), Siebenhaar (??), Sieber, F.W. (1789-
1844), Siegmund, W. (1821-1897), Stizenberger, E. (1827-1895), Strasser (??),
Veselsky, F. (1813-1866), Vetter, J.J. (1826-1913), Wallroth, [C.] F.W. (1792-
1857), Walther, A.W.H.F. (1813-1890), Webb, P.B. (1793-1854), Weigelt, C. (?-
1828), Wenck, E. (1811-1896), Wienkamp, G. (?-1875), Willkomm, H.M. (1821-
1895), Wilms, F.H. (1811-1880), Wimmer, C.F.H. (1803-1868), Winkler, M.
(1812-1889), Wiistnei, C.G.G. (1810-1858), Zwackh-Holzhausen, P.F.W.R. von
(1825-1903)

38

In addition, there are several packets of the following four Exsiccatae (see Sayre
1969, 1975): (1) Ferdinand Arnold, (2) Gottlob Rabenhorst, (3) Heinrich
Reichenbach & Carl Schubert, and (4) Unio Itineraria (sub Carl Kotchky).

GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE

Material from the following countries has been confirmed: Algeria, Angola,
Australia (as Nova Hollandia), Austria, Czech Republic (as Bohemia), Brazil,
Canada (Labrador), Chile, Cuba, Germany, Greenland, Guatemala, Hungary, India,
Greece (as Macedonia), Madeira, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco,
Norway, Peru, Poland, Russia (Kamchatka), Sardinia, Scotland, Slovakia, South
Africa (mainly Cape of Good Hope), Spain (Cadiz), Sumatra, Surinam, Sweden,
Switzerland and USA (Massachusetts, California); material has also been
tentatively assigned to England, France and Italy.

TAXONOMIC SCOPE

In all, there are 4815 packets of lichens and lichenicolous fungi (and some non-
lichenized fungi) currently filed under the following genera (numbers of packets,
with no duplications, indicated):

Abrothallus 13, Acarospora 21, Acrocordia 24, Alectoria 16, Allocetraria 6,
Amandinea 28, Amygdalaria 3, Anaptychia 15, Anisomeridium 4,
Architrypethelium 1, Arctoparmelia 9, Arthonia 86, Arthopyrenia 54, Arthothelium
8, Arthrorhaphis 6, Arthrosporum 6, Aspicilia 57, Bacidia 53, Bactrospora 2,
Baeomyces 9, Bagliettoa 1, Bellemerea 2, Biatora 60, Biatorella 2, Biatoridium |,
Bilimbia 23, Brodoa 8, Bryocaulon 1, Bryoria 15, Buellia 47, Bundophoron 2,
Calicium 83, Caloplaca 152, Candelaria 10, Candelariella 8, Carbonea 2,
Catapyrenium 6, Catillaria 15, Catolechia 2, Celidium 1, Cetraria 42,
Chaenotheca 84, Chaenothecopsis 15, Chiodecton 2, Chrysothrix 3, Cladia 2,
Cladonia 651, Clauzadea 9, Cliostomum 14, Coccodinium 1, Coenogonium 3,
Collema 156, Coniocybe 2, Cornicularia 7, Coscinocladium 1, Cresponea 3,
Cyphelium 20, Cyrtidula 3, Dacampia 4, Dactylina 2, Dactyospora 5, Degelia 1,
Dermatocarpon 29, Dibaeis 4, Dimelaena 3, Dimerella 8, Diploicia 3,
Diploschistes 43, Diplotomma 15, Dirina 1, Dirinaria 1, Endocarpon 14,
Endococcus 1, Enterographa 6, Eopyrenula 3, Ephebe 5, Epilichen 3, Evernia 17,
Farnoldia 2, Flavocetraria 12, Flavoparmelia 11, Frutidella 1, Fulgensia 8,
Fuscidea 9, Fuscopannaria 10, Glyphis 5, Graphis 41, Guignardia 2, Gyalecta 28,
Haematomma 9, Harpidium 1, Helvella 1, Heppia |, Heterodermia 10, Hymenelia
20, Hyperphyscia 3, Hypocenomyce 8, Hypogymnia 24, Hypotrachyna 3,
Icmadophila 17, Imshaugia 5, Ionaspis 2, Julella 4, Lasallia 6, Lecanactis 17,
Lecania 52, Lecanographa 10, Lecanora 250, Lecidea 54, Lecidella 69, Lecidoma
5, Leifidium 1, Lempholemma 8, Lepraria 4, Leprocaulon 5, Leptogium 90,
Leptorhaphis 14, Letharia 5, Lichina 6, Lithographa |, Lobaria 22, Lobothallia

59

14, Loxospora 7, Massalongia 2, Megalospora 3, Megaspora 4, Melanelia 35,
Melaspilea 2, Menegazzia 7, Micarea 26, Microcalicium 8, Miriquidica 1,
Moelleropsis 3, Mycoblastus 5, Mycomicrothelia 2, Myriotrema 5, Neofuscelia 2,
Nephroma 16, Neuropogon 1, Normandina 2, Ocellularia 3, Ochrolechia 31,
Opegrapha 145, Ophioparma 6, Pachyphiale 7, Pannaria 15, Parmelia 21,
Parmeliella 12, Parmelina 15, Parmeliopsis 16, Parmotrema 17, Peccania 2,
Peltigera 69, Peltula 3, Pertusaria 53, Petractis 10, Phaeographis 9,
Phaeophyscia 15, Phlyctis 6, Physcia 43, Physconia 19, Physma |, Placidiopsis 1,
Placidium 9, Placocarpus 7, Placolecis 2, Placopsis 2, Placopyrenium 2,
Placynthiella 16, Placynthium 6, Platismatia 15, Plectocarpon 1, Pleopsidium 8,
Pleurosticta 11, Poeltinula 2, Polyblastia 5, Polychidium 5, Polycoccum 1,
Polymeridium 3, Porina 21, Porpidia 27, Protoblastenia 11, Protoparmelia 6,
Pseudephebe 2, Pseudevernia 11, Pseudocyphellaria 4, Psilolechia 3, Psora 24,
Psorinia 1, Psoroma 7, Psorotichia 2, Pterygiopsis 1, Punctelia 4, Pycnothelia 9,
Pyrenastrum 1, Pyrenocollema 1, Pyrenotea 10, Pyrenula 34, Pyrgidium 1,
Pyrrhospora 9, Ramalina 73, Relicina 1, Rhizocarpon 53, Rhizoplaca 10,
Rimularia 2, Rinodina 54, Rinodinella 1, Roccella 27, Ropalospora 1, Sagiolechia
2, Sarcographa 5, Sarcogyne 13, Schaereria 6, Schismatomma 12, Sclerophora 7,
Sclerophyton 1, Scoliciosporum 11, Siphula 2, Solenopsora 1, Solorina 11,
Sphaeria 2, Sphaerophorus 12, Sphinctrina 20, Sporastatia 4, Sporodictyon 1,
Squamarina 32, Staurothele 12, Stenocybe 7, Stephanophorus 1, Stereocaulon 60,
Sticta 26, Strigula 8, Synalissa 5, Syncesia 1, Teloschistes 15, Tephromela 20,
Thamnolia 12, Thelenella 2, Thelidium 11, Thelopsis 2, Thelotrema 8, Thrombium
6, Thyrea 1, Toninia 34, Trapelia 11, Trapeliopsis 35, Tremolecia 1, Trypethelium
8, Tuckermanopsis 2, Tuckneraria 1, Umbilicaria 76, Usnea 56, Varicellaria 2,
Verrucaria 99, Vulpicida 9, Xanthoparmelia 19, Xanthoria 49

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The first author is most grateful to the British Lichen Society, Bristol Council and
the Bristol Naturalists Society for funding which enabled him to work on the
collection and to all those at Bristol Museum who supported this work.

REFERENCES

Anon. (1899) Adolph Leipner. Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society 9:
80-83.

Bridson, G.D.R., Phillips, V.C. and Harvey, A.P., eds. (1980) Natural History
Manuscript Resources in the British Isles. London.

Chaudhri, M.N., Vegter, LH. and Wal, C.M. de (1972) Index Herbariorum, Part II
(3) 1—L. Utrecht.

Delaney, R. and Winn, G. (2002) How did this garden grow? The history of the
Botanical Gardens of the University of Bristol. Bristol.

Frahm, J.-P. and Eggers, J. (2001) Lexicon deutschsprachiger Bryologen.
Norderstedt.

40

Goodbody, M. (1988) German studies in Bristol. The early years. German Life &
Letters 41: 323-331.

Grummann, V. (1974) Biographisch-bibliographisches Handbuch — der
Lichenologie. Lehre.

Leipner, A. (1857) On the presence of silica in the Rubiaceae and in Achillea
ptarmica. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science 5: 134-137.

Leipner, A. (1876) List of land and freshwater mollusca of the Bristol district.
Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society, 2nd ser. 1: 273-289.

Phillips, F.C. (1962) The first hundred years. A centenary history of the Bristol
Naturalists’ Society 1862-1962. Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society 30:
181-214.

Pippard, B. (2002) Schoolmaster-fellows and the campaign for science education.
Notes & Records of the Royal Society of London 56: 63-81.

Sayre, G. (1969) Cryptogamae Exsiccatae — An annotated bibliography of
published exsiccatae of algae, lichens, hepaticae, and musci. III. Lichenes.
Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 19: 107-174.

Sayre, G. (1975) Cryptogamae Exsiccatae — An annotated bibliography of
published exsiccatae of algae, lichens, hepaticae, and musci. V. Unpublished
exsiccatae. I. Collectors. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 19: 277-
423.

Shaw, T.R. (1999) Proteus for sale and for science in the 19th century. Acta
Carsologica 28: 229-304.

Smith, C.W., Aptroot, A., Coppins, B.J., Fletcher, A., Gilbert, O.L., James, P.W.
and Wolseley, P.A., eds. ( 2009) The Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland.
London.

Trebilcock, S. (2007) A Summary of the Botany and Mycology Collections in
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. Bristol.

Turk, R. and Riegler-Hager, H. (2003) Eine bemerkenswerte Flechtensammlung
im Karntner Landesherbar (KL). Wulfenia 10: 171-176.

White, J.W. (1912) The Flora of Bristol. Bristol.

4]

Book review

Trees in and around Nailsea by Terry Smith

Trees in and around Nailsea is a beautifully illustrated scholarly account which
costs £5 .and. may. be ~ obtained .. direct. from: the») jauthom,,./at
t.a.smith@blueyonder.co.uk. It was published in cooperation with Nailsea Council
and examines the history of tree planting in Nailsea, as well as the individual
species. It looks at some of the magnificent ancient trees that have survived, and at
the problems of maintaining trees safely in an urban area. It is particularly strong
on the fungi associated with some species, the various specific uses of the wood
from particular trees, and the complex relationship between trees and insects.

It not only details exactly where the trees mentioned can be found, with eight
figure grid references, but provides the detail of both height and girth that are so
often lacking. Because most deciduous trees grow at a more or less constant rate of
2.6 cm a year the girth gives a clear indication of the age of a tree. There is often
detail of the history in this country of the many species imported from abroad. It is
interesting that very few non-native species have managed to establish themselves
in the wild. Even Horse Chestnut, which dates back to the seventeenth century and
readily regenerates from seed, has never managed to create a Horse Chestnut
wood. However Holm Oak, or Evergreen Oak as he calls it, has formed pure
woodlands in the region, and Turkey Oak is also very vigorous. And both Laurel
and Rhodendron on acid soils are capable of dominating native species in some
situations.

As one would expect from a chemist there is also smattering of chemical formulae,
and an explanation of the complex roles that different chemicals play in the life of
trees, and the uses that we make of them. There is a section on Mistletoe, which is
a fascinating parasite that appears to be spreading quite fast in our region, and
another on Ivy, which emphasises the importance of this species in providing
nectar throughout the late autumn, and whose berries then ripen sequentially from
January to the end of March, at a time when all other berries have usually been
consumed.

Finally there are very valuable sections dealing with labelling trees, staking trees,
and measuring trees, and a note on the Tree Warden scheme. The colour
photographs are particularly striking, and there is an excellent section of 28 photos
of trees that are not otherwise covered in detail in the text. In other words this slim
paperback is packed with good things from which everyone can learn something. It
is also an exemplar that could and should be copied by other villages and
communities. Trees matter, and public support for them and understanding of them
is crucial to their long-term future.

42

An investigation into the effect of urban garden surface and
hedging on house sparrow Passer domesticus abundance in
Bristol.

Frances Thompson
Frances.thompson 1 @jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk

1 Aim

The aim of this investigation is to try to identify if there is any relationship
between the abundance of house sparrows Passer domesticus and the make up of
front gardens across the city of Bristol: in particular looking at the proportion of
front gardens that have been paved over, often to provide car standing space or for
ease of maintenance. In addition the proportions of front gardens that were
surrounded by hedges, or at least had some hedging, were looked at in relation to
the observed abundance of house sparrows. Other considerations were bird species
richness in relation to the above and also if the predominant house age / type had
an impact on the house sparrow population observed.

One of the reasons for undertaking this piece of work was a growing awareness by
the author of the increase in number of residential gardens across Bristol that were
being converted away from grass, trees, shrubs and flower borders to paving,
gravel, concrete or other hard standing surface. In investigating any research on the
environmental impact of these sorts of changes, a document which was
commissioned by the London Assembly Environment Committee was found to
result in a report entitled: Crazy Paving: The environmental importance of
London’s front gardens (Sept 2005). This research was obviously looking at
London residential areas but there is no reason to suppose that the finding would be
very different for a city such as Bristol. The report estimated that around two-thirds
of London’s gardens were, at the time of the report, at least partially covered by
paving, bricks, concrete or gravel instead of plants. This, combined with the ‘heat
island effect’ resulting in the increase of local temperature, was likely to be
contributing to a general loss of wildlife habitat and a reduction in the wildlife
associated with even tiny front gardens. If this is also occurring in Bristol this
might be a contributory factor for the decline in house sparrow numbers, either
directly from drop in suitable habitat or from a decline in available food supplies.

It was predicted that there would be lower house sparrow abundance in areas
where there was more paving and higher abundance where there was more
hedging. It was also predicted that bird species richness would not be affected in a
similar way.

43

2.Methods
This research was based on data collected by observation in the field, reinforced by
accessing information through Google Earth internet software.

All observations were carried out by the author across the city of Bristol. Initially,
the existing raw data from Bland,R.L. (1998) was used to identify 20 research
areas of 1-km? quadrats to be surveyed in the city. Ten quadrats were selected from
those having the highest number of house sparrows (over 50) in the square km,
labelled ‘high’ sparrow abundance, and ten having the lowest (under 10), labelled
‘low’ sparrow abundance. The areas identified were distributed widely, from
Shirehampton in the west to Horfield in the east and then from Henbury in the
north to Hartcliffe in the south.

All surveys were carried out between February and April 2010 which fitted in with
the desired timescale for the report but also being the months when the male house
sparrows start cheeping as part of their process of pairing up for breeding. Site
visits were scheduled for early morning — between 8am and 10.30am. This was
identified as the time for maximum house sparrow activity, thereby increasing the
chances of seeing as many of the local population as possible.

During these months the weather can be very variable but visits were not
undertaken in heavy or continuous rain or windy conditions, again to ensure that
the sparrows were out and about and not taking shelter.

Within each of the twenty quadrats, and using a city street map, transects of length
500m were chosen for the observational visits. Since the research involved
considering front gardens, wherever personal knowledge permitted, residential
streets were picked, avoiding features such as parks and school grounds.

On any one day, walks were planned so that the number of quadrats identified as
having high sparrow abundance surveyed were the same as the number having low
abundance. This counterbalancing was to ensure that any impact of the weather
conditions on the bird activity did not have an overall effect on the data. Walks
were only along streets and not down footpaths or side lanes as these could present
a different habitat.

Each transect was walked twice; during the first traverse data was collected on 1)
house sparrow numbers, 1i) starling numbers and iii) number of other bird species
identified (species diversity) and then on the return walk records were made of
house type and the proportion of each front garden that was paved over and the
proportion that was hedged. These were recorded as ‘No paving’, ‘Some paving’,
‘All paving’ and ‘No hedges’, ‘Some hedges’, ‘All hedges’.

44

Google Earth was used to check the number of houses for each transect to enable
housing density for each transect to be calculated. Predominant house types were
identified under 4 groupings, using the following categories: 1) historical
(Victorian/Georgian, mainly terrace/semi-detached) ii) inter-war (between 1919
and 1945, mainly semi-detached) i11) post-war (1960-1990s, small terraces and
semi-detached) and iv) modern (recent builds, whatever style) (Wotton 2002 and
Mason 2006).

Only details of front gardens that were actually along the transect street frontage
were recorded. Since only residential birds were of interest, it was decided not to
record those birds using the area as a corridor so birds seen flying over the area
were not noted, unless they were flying below roof height.

Initially it was thought that the number of cheeping male house sparrows could be
used as an index for the population size but after a trial run it was decided to aim to
count all individuals present. Because house sparrows tend to flit about from one
shrub or gutter to another and then back again it was still likely to be difficult to
count every bird. Following suggestions from a local bird expert, it was decided
that some measure of estimation was going to be necessary; extrapolating by
assuming that one individual seen meant that at least four were present, was carried
out when birds could be heard but not all of them seen (Drewitt,E., pers.comm.).

3. Results

Comparison with previous data

It was decided that any analysis should not separate out those transects identified
as having high house sparrow abundance from those have low abundance. The
reason for choosing quadrats of high and low areas based on Richard Bland’s work
(1998) was to ensure that a range of sparrow abundance would be found within the
transects. Analysing high versus low areas was not the focus of this study,
however it is of interest to see if the areas originally classed as high and low still
have high and low house sparrow abundance after 12 years.

For the ‘high’ transects the mean sparrow abundance is 16.3 with standard
deviation 9.06 and for the ‘low’ transects the mean is 1.6 and standard deviation
2.79. Therefore the mean sparrow abundance in areas originally classed as high
abundance by Richard Bland were also found to be high abundance areas in the
survey. The converse applied to low abundance areas.

45

House sparrows and starlings

The abundance of houses sparrows and that of starlings was found to be positively
correlated, again reflecting the findings from Bland (1998). Although the two bird
species seem to be linked, it remains unclear what the connection is. The main food
source for starlings is invertebrate, in particular leatherjackets Tipula larvae. In
searching for food for their hatchlings, parent house sparrows do not restrict
themselves to any particular species — therefore not directly competing with the
starlings (Crick 2002, Vincent 2006). Tests showed that there was no relationship
between starling abundance and either the paving score or the hedging score.
Research remains to be undertaken on this association between house sparrows and
starlings.

Paving, hedging and housing type

Purely from observation it seemed in streets with all four housing types that front
gardens were predominantly paved. From the data, the mean paving score was
higher for the older houses (historical and inter-war) — reducing as the house age
decreased. A limitation of the data collected was that it did not include the depth of
the front garden space, between the house building and the start of the pavement.
Of the houses passed, the historical houses in particular, had shallow front gardens,
perhaps more likely to be paved or concreted over; this might account for the
higher paving score for historical housing. Although the paving score was lowest
for modern housing, the degree of variation was greatest; but the sample size for
modern housing was only three. One of the quadrats with modern housing
consisted of a row of town houses, Culverwell Road with mainly paved, limited
front garden space and another comprised large detached houses, Glenavon Park,
with very large front gardens with only some paving. With these two extremes of
values and a sample size of only 3 there can be no case for drawing conclusions
about paving score and modern housing type. Hence there is little evidence that
housing type is related to the paving score.

The mean hedging score is highest for modern housing and lowest for post-war
housing. Here the variation is particularly high for the modern and historical types
— once again showing no evidence for any strong relationship between hedging
score and housing type.

Paving, hedging and house sparrows

The correlation test found there to be no association between house sparrow
abundance and the score given for each transect for paving. Consequently there
was no evidence to support the hypothesis that the reduction in green front garden
Space, as quantified by a score for paving, is related to the numbers of sparrows
found within the area.

46

Similarly no association was found between house sparrow abundance and the
score given for each transect for hedging. So again, no evidence was found to
support the hypothesis that the proportion of hedging in front gardens, as
quantified by a score for hedging, is related to the number of sparrows found.

Species diversity was measured by the number of bird species other than house
sparrows and starlings that were identified during each transect traverse. The
correlation test found that there was no association between either the paving score
or the hedging score and species diversity. Further information on what the
different species were and their abundance could be interesting to survey. These
species and their relative habits and habitats could be investigated in relation to the
proportion of greenery, and possibly the species of hedging plants found.

4 Limitations of this study

One of the limitations of this survey is that only front gardens were considered.
Looking at the mean of numbers of houses along each of the transects, there were
most houses along transects with inter-war housing and least with modern housing
but there was a similar degree of variability across all housing types. Consequently
if the mean number of houses along the 500m transects is not significantly
different, the width of gardens is not significantly related to the housing type.

So, if the width of the gardens and the proportion of paving or hedging is not
relevant, is it possible that there is something about the gardens at the back of the
houses that could be influencing the house sparrow numbers? With a regular home
range of sparrows being up to 1km (Summers-Smith 1963, Crick 2002), a circle of
diameter 1km would include both front and back gardens as well as alleyways and
back lanes. The transects with predominantly inter-war and post-war housing had a
higher house sparrow abundance; what it is about these areas that leads to greater
sparrow numbers? One possibility could be that these developments included
larger back garden areas as well as communal small green areas in between, in
front of and behind blocks of housing. These areas, and the habitat conditions they
present, were not considered in this survey, neither were depth of any gardens,
front or back.

5 Future study possibilities

Looking at the wider habitats available to house sparrows in Bristol, in particular
size and content of back gardens, could lead to further scientific research.
Wilkinson (2006) identified the house sparrow preference for native species and a
higher density of bushes and Vincent (2006) recorded that ornamental and
evergreen shrubs were avoided by the sparrows.

47

Could it be that these Bristol inter-war and post-war gardens have a higher
proportion of greenery in these preference groups in their possibly larger gardens?
It might relate directly to the selection of plants available for roosting, nesting and
perching or it might be the invertebrate populations that these plants support.
Vincent (2006) claims that the decline in house sparrow numbers is due to a
reduction of invertebrate food for the feeding of sparrow hatchlings in their early
stages; but what has led to this decline in invertebrate abundance?

There might be a clue in the approach taken by Shaw et al. (2008). It was proposed
that certain gardens presented a much more suitable habitat for house sparrows:
neglected areas with rough grass, nettles, weedy patches and more native shrubs.
These conditions present insect rich foraging — ideal for sparrows. Vincent (2006)
makes a link to socio-economic deprivation, not a connection that everyone might
be comfortable with. Nevertheless, it should not be ignored that neglected gardens
or green areas are attractive to sparrows. Could it be that the inter-war and post-
war housing type areas in Bristol have larger, more neglected gardens? Certainly
from observation, the gardens that were visible in the historical transects were
often well kept and tidy and maybe the gardens of the modern houses were
similarly maintained. Only a survey of house sparrow abundance in parallel with a
questionnaire to householders with regard to their garden maintenance habits could
identify such a relationship. Wilkinson (2006) has already identified that
insecticide use is not a factor associated with house sparrow decline. Maybe habits
of keeping gardens weed and scrub free, lawns short, with hedges and shrubs
tightly clipped, might all contribute to habitats less suited to house sparrows.

6 Recommendations

Through this research it has not been possible to make any progress to towards
identifying the causes of the decline in house sparrow abundance in Bristol. The
movement to pave over front gardens has been shown not to be related to the house
sparrow population. Many possible ideas have been put forward — but none has
been shown to be directly and only responsible. It is the author’s opinion that the
answer is likely to be a complex combination of many of the proposed
explanations discussed above. Emerging are some clear guidelines as to preferred
habitats of house sparrows: suitable native plant selection providing cover and
invertebrate sources, gardens and green areas that are left to develop with rough
grass, nettles and brambles and finally suitable nest sites, either in creeper, crevices
in buildings and under roofs or boxes. As with the Bristol Biodiversity Action Plan
for house sparrows (Bristol Biodiversity Action Plan 2010), maybe efforts should
be concentrated on the protection of existing house sparrow populations and
raising public awareness of measures that can be taken by householders and
councils to provide the best possible conditions to encourage house sparrows.

48

House Sparrows and Garden vegetation
Hazel Nicholson
hazelpnicholson@yahoo.co.uk

1 Reasons for Research

Private gardens provide substantial resources for urban birds. However recent
years has seen an increase in home improvements and demand for off-street
parking which has led to substantial change in habitat structure, especially in front
gardens (Pauleit, Ennos, & Golding).The presence of rough grass, nettles and
weedy patches is linked to increased bird diversity in urban areas (Chamberlain,
Toms, Cleary-McHarg, & Banks, 2007) which does suggest that tidy gardens with
high proportion of paving make a less suitable habitat for foraging birds. This may
cause problems for adult House Sparrows in the breeding season when insect based
food is required for nestlings. Vincent found that the fledgling success of House
Sparrows was higher in areas of high insect abundance, and chicks were less like to
starve when fed a high proportion of insects as opposed to vegetable food (Vincent,
2006). Her study indicated that urban House Sparrow success in fledgling young
was higher in areas containing a high proportion of native shrubs and traditional
council estates. Such estates, and in particular back-to-back terraced housing,
provide blocks of garden habitat which can provide both cover and insects for
foraging birds.

My research, done in early 2010, was based on the assumption that changes in
habitat structure to gardens might be a reason for House Sparrow decline. I would
study the plant composition and how it might influence House Sparrow numbers.

2. Aims of investigation

My intention was to examine the correlation between the level of species richness
provided by plant cover in urban gardens, which I would achieve by cataloguing
plants that were present: whether they be certain types of trees, scrub, native plants
or ornamental shrubs. I was looking for a link between the existence of sparrows
and their preferred habitat requirements. I did my best to record as much of the
content of all the front gardens but in the end for speed and to collect relevant data
I then recorded the greater percentages of paving etc. Where most gardens were a
mixture or mosaic of shrubs, tree, paving and grass, I had to make the decision to
record whether plants or paving occupied the greatest percentage of the garden.

Identifying different plant species proved problematical so, I refined my recording
to the main common species such as privet and holly, and recorded whether trees
were deciduous or conifers. Hedges included Privet, Bramble, Forsythia, Laurel
and Pyrancantha, ornamental grass and shrubs including Bamboo. Deciduous trees
were not easy to identify as leaves were not present at this time of year.

49

3 Correlation of Sparrow count with Habitat

Large populations of House Sparrows were found in high density areas (A) such as
Meadow Grove, Shirehampton, Ringwood Crescent, Southmead, Bideford
Crescent, and Filwood Park which consist of large council housing estates which
were built pre-war and post war to house families cleared from slums in central
Bristol. Council housing, now many privately owned, consisted of mainly low
density cottage style houses in pairs or short rows, with sizeable gardens
(Walmsley, 2005). Many of these areas retain a lot of privet hedging, which was a
commonly planted to establish boundaries between gardens in such estates. These
areas are associated with social problems which mean houses and gardens are often
not cared for.

In one area (Culverhill Road, Hartcliffe) where there was supposed to be a high
density of sparrows, I found none. This road consisted mostly of recently built
terraced housing with paved front gardens, few shrubs, trees or hedges, and short
driveways (around 8 to 9 metres) which mostly provided parking for a single car.
There was one house with a large scrub garden full of rubbish, four cars, a caravan
and a very high privet bush, but there were no signs of House Sparrows.

In the low density areas (B), sparrow populations were missing totally from a
majority of areas, although one area did contain eight. The common feature in all
these areas was not the age of the house, ranging from Victorian to modern, but
that the houses were largely well maintained and roofs generally closed off so that
sparrows could not nest there. The gardens were usually well maintained,
containing largely ornamental shrubs, some trees, cut lawns and large amounts of
paving and garaging for cars.

In the three areas De Clifford Road (B1), Abbey Road/Lyndhurst Gardens (B3)
and Arnall Drive, Henbury (B2), small numbers of sparrows were discovered near
to unattended scrubland bordering an embankment containing bramble and privet
next to Blaise Castle estate, which contained ample nesting areas for a wide range
of birds. The other portion of Abbey Road/Lyndhurst Gardens (B3), which had the
same features as other B category areas, contained eight sparrows located near a
dilapidated house with overgrown garden. Google Maps revealed there was a
substantial allotment behind the back gardens of some of these houses .

50

Two positive correlations were found, between the presence of scrub, as shown in
Table 1 below, and the presence of Privet hedges shown in Table 2

Area Scrub value | Area Sparrow nos

Table 1 The relationship — the scrub value a an area and the house sparrow
numbers.

po Sparrow nos _
| Noprivetareas [11] 0 4
Privet present areas a ae

Table 2 Relationship between the presence of privet in an area and house sparrow
numbers.

4 DISCUSSION

The data showed that sparrows like privet and scrubland, but not ornamental plants
and trees, although most deciduous trees had no leaves as it was early spring, and
so provided no cover.

Evaluation of methodology

The line transect method is popular because it allows the surveyor to cover more
ground in a fixed amount of time, and can generate large amounts of data or
samples. The method is used in the BBS (Breeding Bird Survey) carried out by
volunteers every year for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Its purpose is to
count all species of birds and define densities according to types of habitat in a
particular area. Comparisons can then be made between species abundance,
densities and types of habitats.

>

Figures of sparrows can only be approximate as sighting of sparrows are difficult
because they like to hide in foliage and often fly between favourite haunts. Counts
were often taken by listening to noise volume of sparrow cheeps, which had to be
approximate.

Limitations of the investigation

The habitat composition around an occupied nest-box can be an important
predictor of nesting success (Vincent, 2006). It would have been beneficial to have
more time to study areas of high numbers of sparrows and their habitat
composition. Habitat composition could have been mapped within 70 metre of
each occupied nest-box. House Sparrows will not usually fly more than 200 metre
from their nest site to forage for food (Summers-Smith J. D., 1963). More accurate
identification of plants might have led to more accurate assessment of what native
and non-native species were present. This might affect aphid abundance scores
located in these areas and give a good idea of availability of potential invertebrate
food for fledglings. However access to back gardens would have prevented gaining
accurate results.

Further work

Figures and comments from local residents suggest that sparrows may be returning
in smaller numbers. It is therefore imperative that more accurate survey counts are
undertaken each year. Also, garden centres could do more work in promoting
native species. It is still very apparent that ornamental shrubs are a popular buy,
and this needs to change if we are to attract wild life into our gardens. Thankfully
TV and Radio programmes are promoting this, as are local organisations such as
Wildlife Trusts and Local Government. The theme of the Chelsea Flower Show
this year was biodiversity, and one of the wildlife gardens recorded 3 species of
bees, 14 species of insects and 4 species of birds. However travelling through most
areas of Bristol it is apparent that the car takes precedence and many front gardens
suffer loss of green space. No official research here has been done to record the
impact.

However research has been done in the city of Sheffield (BUGS project) into
recording types of gardens and habitats, relationships with native species and
invertebrate populations. Understanding the composition and richness of garden
floras will help evaluate the relationships between these floras and the wider
environment. The composition and richness of vascular plant floras has been
measured in Sheffield where 61 urban domestic gardens were measured for their
content of native and non native species, the data of which can be compared with
invertebrate numbers and its subsequent effect on wildlife, such as garden birds.

52

Kate Vincent, senior ecologist, has done large amounts of work in promoting
nesting boxes to be incorporated into new build housing and turning buildings into
bird friendly habitats, by trying to engage architects into thinking about designing
modern buildings in order to protect wildlife such that ideally when new
development is being designed biodiversity is given priority. (www.Kate
Vincent.org — Provision for Birds in buildings).

CONCLUSION

Wild birds are commonly observed in private residential gardens in Great Britain.
However such areas are private which makes research difficult. Data from surveys
such as the BBS (Bristol Bird Survey) tend to be biased because only people who
are more interested in wildlife than others tend to respond. From this small scale
study, it is possible to see a correlation between the population of sparrows and the
socio-economic status of an area. Increase of paving did not seem to make any
difference to numbers. However sparrows do like native species in hedgerows and
unattended scrubland or wasteland. There does seem to be a correlation between
sparrows with the presence of Starlings but not with Gulls, Corvids and Pigeons.
However the survey was not detailed enough to produce strong evidence that
sparrows like species-rich gardens, although the trend is suggested and more
detailed research is needed.

Bibliography

Bland, R. L. (1998). House Sparrow Densities in Bristol, Avon Bird Report. Avon
Ornithological Group , pp. 145-148.

Chamberlain, D. E., Toms, M. P., Cleary-McHarg, R., & Banks, A. N. (2007).
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) habitat use in urbanised landscapes. Journal of
Ornthology (148), 453-462.

Churcher, P. B., & Lawton, J. H. (1987). Predation by domestic cats in an English
village. Journal of Zoology (212), 439-455.

Crick, H. Q., Robinson, R. A., Appleton, G. F., Clark, N. A., & Rickard, A. D.
(2002). Investigation into the causes of the decline of Starlings and House
Sparrows in Great Britain. BTO Research Report, DEFRA, Bristol.

Gregory, R. D., Newson, S. E., Woodburn, R. J., Noble, D. G., & Baillie, S. R.
(2005). Evaluating the Breeding Bird Survey for producing national population
size and density estimates. Bird Study , British Trust for Ornithology, 42-54.

Hey, C. (1985). Comparative ecology of the House Sparrow Pass domesticus in
rural, suburban and urban situations. PHd thesis, University of Amsterdam.

Hole, D. G. (2002). Agriculture: widespread local house sparrow extinctions.
Nature , 418:931.

London Assembly. (2005). Crazy paving: the environmental importanct of
London's fron gardens. London: London Assembly Environmental Report.
Macdonald, J. (1978). Cutaneous Salmonellosis in a House Sparrow. Bird Study ,
ees

53

McCarthy, M. (2000, March 18). Where have all the sparrows gone? The
Independent .

Mitschke, A., Rathje, H., & Baumung, S. House sparrows in Hamburg: population
habitat choice and threats. Hamburger avifaun (30), 129-204.

Newton, I. (1998). Population Limitation in Birds. Academic Press Limited.
Paston. (2000). the house sparrow in Norwich during autumn/winter 2000 - a
population study. Norfolk Bird Mammal Report (34), pp. 289-293.

Pauleit, S., Ennos, R., & Golding, Y. (n.d.). Modelling the environmental impacts
of urban land use and land cover change - a study in Merseyside, UK. Landscape
and Urban Planning (71), pp. 295-310.

Robinson, R. A., Siritwardena, G. M., & Crick, H. Q. (2005). Size and trends of the
house sparrow population in Great Britain. /bis , 147, pp. 552-562.

Ruxton, G. D., Thomas, S., & Wright, J. W. (2002). Bells reduce predation of
wildlife by domestic cats. Journal of Zoology (256), 81-83.

Shaw, L. (2009). Investigating the role of socioeconomic status in determining
urban habitat quality for the house sparrow, Passer domesticus. PhD Thesis,
University of Exeter.

Shaw, L. (2008). The House sparrow Passer domesticus in urban areas: reviewing
a possible link between post-decline distribution and human socioeconomic status.
Journal of Ornithology .

Smith, R. M., Thompson, K., Hodgson, J. G., Warren, P. H., & Gaston, K. J.
(2006). Urban domestic gardens (IX): Composition and richness of the vascular
plant flora and implications for native biodiversty. Biological Conservation , 312-
322%

Snow, D. W., & Perrins, C. M. (2003). Birds of the Western Palearctic (Concise
ed., Vol. 2). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Summers-Smith, J. D. (1999). Current status of the house sparrow in Britain.
British Wildlife , 381-386.

Summers-Smith, J. D. (1963). The House Sparrow (ist ed.). London: Collins.
Summers-Smith, J. D. (1988). The Sparrows. Waterhouses: T & AD Poyser.

Tully, J., & Bland, R. L. (2000, 2001, 2007). Nesting Survey, Avon Bird Report.
Avon Ornithological Group.

Vincent, K. (2006). Investigating the causes of the decline of the urban House
Sparrow population in Britain. University of Leicester.

Walmsley, P. M. (2005). 1/00 Years of Council Housing in Bristol. Faculty of the
built Environment, UWE.

Wilkinson, N. (2006). Factors influencing the small-scale distribution of House
Sparrows Passer domesticus in a suburban environment. Bird Study, 53 , pp. 39-46.
Woods, M., McDonald, R. A., & Harris, S. (2003). Predation of wildlife by
domestic cats (Felis Catus) in Great Britain. Mammal Review , 33 (2), 174-188.
Wotton, S. R., Field, R., Langston, R. H., & Gibbons, D. W. (2002). Homes for
birds: the use of houses for nesting by birds in the UK. British Birds , 95, 586-592.

54

Web sites

BTO Breeding Bird Survey http://www.bto.org/bbs/take_part/introduction.htm
RSPB: Birds in your garden at http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdidentifier/
Avon Wildlife Trust: sparrow survey at http://www.wildsparrows.org.uk/
Bristol Biodiversity Action Plan on sparrows at
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Environment-Planning/Parks-and-open-
spaces/wildlife-folder/bristol-biodiversity-action-plan-fsis/bristol-biodiversity-
action-plan-house-sparrow.en

Kate Vincent: Investigating causes of the decline of the House Sparrow thesis at

http://www.katevincent.org/thesis/HouseSparrows%20(final%20version).pdf

Kate Vincent: Provision for Birds in Buildings, presentation at

http://www.katevincent.org/parentpage4.htm

Hiba

55

Tail of a Trail
Sheila Quinn
sheilaquin@msn.com

ONCE UPON A TIME, as all good tales begin, and not too long ago, a mature
student embarked on a two year ‘Wild Life Biology’ Diploma Course at The
School of Biological Sciences, Bristol University. This course offered challenging
and stimulating modules with a dissertation as a final project.

So — it was in 2008 that I first began to think and look at lichens (never noticed
before). I was asked by Mandy Leivers, Avon Gorge & Downs Biodiversity
Education Officer, to provide documentation on the lichens of the Downs. This
held great appeal, as I regularly walked my dog in this area. Also I felt it was
important that my dissertation would be useful. One of my objectives was to
provide a resource, perhaps in the form of a trail, as an introduction to lichen
ecology for the general public.

Whilst working on this final assignment, my brother Derek, a clever research
scientist, died unexpectedly. The dedication of my lichen work is for him, and his
death gave me further motivation and inspiration to realise my ambitions and
helped to nullify the sadness and grief.

So — the idea of a Trail was born, and necessities regarding finance and format had
to be organised, and eventually the Trail was launched in January 2011. The
project was a team effort. Mandy Leivers, was instrumental as the coordinator,
having produced three other Downs Trails — Meadow, Bird and Tree. Finance was
a priority and The British Lichen Society and Bristol Naturalists’ Society
generously promised funding. The Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project
provided the balance.

My part, having initiated the idea was to devise a route, identify the trees and the
relevant corticolous lichens. This was indeed a treat as I am familiar with most of
the trees and shrubs on the chosen area of the Downs. Mandy and I walked the
route and some minor changes were made to avoid crossing roads to comply with
health and safety issues and using a circular route which would ‘map’ neatly.

A bright, calm day was chosen for Denice Stout to take photographs. The results
were amazing, surpassing all expectations with superb colours, forms and
substrates.

David Hill enthusiastically walked the Trail offering advice on the route and the
key features of the selected lichens. Later he edited the lichen data both for
accuracy and to ensure that the information could easily be understood by the
general public.

56

as

Having assembled the information, the leaflet could be designed and Clare from
Dandi Creative was commissioned. She was experienced having worked with the
other trails and was patient as draft after draft was revised. Finally after discussions
and deliberations a final document and tree and lichen marker discs were ready to
be printed. In total 3,000 leaflets were published and to date 1,000 have been
circulated.

The Trail was publicised in various ways; leaflets as already mentioned, A4
posters, a press release, a promotional talk ‘The Colourful World of Lichens’ given
by David Hill, and two Downs Lichen Walks led by myself. The response from the
local people has been enthusiastic with 45 people attending David’s talk and my
walks fully booked. A display illustrating the features of the Trail, first shown at
the AGM this year, was displayed in the local library promoting the circulation of
over 100 leaflets to date.

The leaflet briefly outlines the characteristics of ‘What is a Lichen?’ and describes
the three main thallus forms — crustose, foliose and fruticose. A plan of the route is
shown identifying six ‘stations’ naming the associated lichens and their key
features with detailed colour photographs. The most noticeable and pertinent trees
and lichens were selected, namely —

1) Mature oak in an open aspect with the trunk and lower branches heavily
encrusted with grey, green and yellow lichens - Punctelia subrudecta

2) Hawthorn with contorted twigs - Xanthoria parietina, Physcia tenella
3) Mature oak in a shaded habitat — Flavoparmelia caperata, Physcia aipolia
4) Blackthorn bushes — Ramalina farinacea, Evernia prunastri

5) Mature ash, lower branches at eye level — Lecidella elaeochroma,
Lecanora chlarotera

6) Hawthorn, exposed aspect — Ramalina fastiagata

I have adapted The Trail for the two walks organised as part of Mandy’s Events
programme, in that more trees are observed, a longer route is walked and time
allowed for questions, answers and opportunities at the end for ‘advancement’
suggestions. Having fired enthusiasm on the walk, an important aim of any
programme is to maintain and continue interest. My ‘advancement’ information is
low key and I look forward to a BLS professional package whick can be offered to
enthusiastic beginners.

Sf

Resulting from this interest and enthusiasm I have been invited to work with
students on a Vocational Diploma Course based in the Education Centre at Bristol
Zoo using ideas from ‘Opal Air Survey’. Many thanks to Richard Brinklow from
BLS who at my request sent ten packets of epiphytic macro-lichens found in an
area of low pollution levels for the students to handle. They were fresh and in
‘proper’ herbarium packets with data to demonstrate good practice. I really
appreciated this gesture as giving the students the opportunity to observe the real
thing is invaluable.

Hopefully, the story will not end there but continue with more projects, walks and
talks to demonstrate the fascination of lichens as a useful and unique resource.

Poa annua

58

BRISTOL MAMMAL REPORT 2010

Compiled by David P. C. Trump
Windrush, West End Lane, Nailsea, Bristol BS48 4DB
email: davidandmary@greenbee.net

INTRODUCTION

The intention of this mammal report is to be a wide-ranging review of the records
and studies of mammals in and around the Bristol area and to report on significant
issues and events affecting British mammals in 2010. The former county of Avon
covers an area of approximately 1300 square kilometres, and so the number of 1-
km squares for which records have been received gives an indication of the
abundance of each species. The more common species are likely to be under-
recorded. Where given, all grid references are for the 100 km grid square ST. The
differences between the years are likely to be due to changes in numbers and
locations of recorders rather than changes in mammal abundance or distribution.
Provided the submitter of a record gives permission, all records are submitted
annually to the Bristol Regional Environment Records Centre (BRERC)

(www.brerc.org.uk).

The sequence of Orders, Families Genera and Species now follows current
thoughts on evolution and phylogeny (Harris and Yalden 2008).

Hedgehog numbers continue to cause concern with the third lowest road casualty
count since recording first started in 1996 and equal second highest numbers of
badger road casualties in the same period.

This year for the first time, a selection of maps from the National Biodiversity
Network (www.nbn.org.uk) with data up to 2006, are shown. The maps are
presented at one-km resolution as ‘side-by-side’ pairs with the vice county of
North Somerset on the left and West Gloucestershire on the right. The maps show
the value of submitting records to BNS and then on to BRERC and finally onto the
NBN database; the Badger map in particular shows the boundary of the old county
of Avon particularly clearly! Note that the West Gloucestershire map fits
immediately to the north of the North Somereset one, and the river Avon is the
boundary. The North Somerset map extends southwards well beyond the limits of
the Bristol region.

59

REPORTS ON MAMMALS
Rodents: Order Rodentia

Grey squirrel Sciurus carolinensis

2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010
few [oto se[=lolals|[u[w

Records from JB, RLB. PC, CD, KG, HM, S&JP, JR, CT, DT, MT, MJT, DWa,
JW.

The lowest number of 1-km squares recorded (likely to be simply that they are not
reported). The majority of records are from gardens — particularly those where
birds are fed.

Hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius

Peoe | 0 | 0 .
+

reel fet: [> ]elef: :

Records from HB, MB, KH, SN, BNS.

Hannah Broughton reported on her Dormouse box checks at Leigh Woods (5573 &
5574). There are now 70 nest boxes in place and Dormice appear to be much in
evidence. The monthly counts were May 10; June 5; July 6; September 19;
October 14; and November 14.

Dormice featured in the ‘Urban Nature’ section of the Evening Post on 4
December. Joe McSorley of the Avon Wildlife Trust reported on finding dormice
hibernating in nest boxes at the Trust’s Goblin Combe Nature Reserve. 31
individuals were found in boxes on the reserve in just one survey in 2009.
Dormice have now been found in four of the Trusts’ nature reserves.

Figure 1. Hazel Dormouse distribution North Somerset and West Gloucestershire
© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved NERC 100017897 2004

60

The distribution map clearly shows the limited distribution of Dormice in our area.
The concentrations in the Cheddar and Cleeve/Kings Wood area are clearly shown
in the North Somerset map with the Wetmoor/Lower Woods locality showing
clearly in the West Gloucestershire map.

Bank vole Myodes glareolus

2000 | 2001 | 2002 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010
primed? fe Te |e ts | | es is |e Po |

Record from JR.

The only reported sighting for the year was of one attempting to cross a road in
Pilning — whether or not it succeeded was not confirmed.

Field vole Microtus agrestis

1
Record from JR.

Seen under bird feeders in a Pilning garden.

Water vole Arvicola aquatica

No records for the year.

A British Waterways survey of canals and rivers showed a doubling of the number
of sightings of Water Voles in 2009 compared to 2008. Most of the 90 individuals
were spotted on the Kennet and Avon Canal. The 2010 survey showed a further
increase of 33%. Mink on the other hand showed a 36% decline from 2009 to

2010. (BBC Wildlife 28 (3) March 2010 and www.waterscape.com/wildlifesurvey ).

Harvest mouse Micromys minutus

2002 | 2003 | 2004
fikmsq | 0 | 1 | o |] o | of] ti fi tot}otfto to |

No records for the year.

Wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus

2002
Lit i ae Sa Se aan eee a eae

Records from GB, S&JP, JR, DT, MJT, GW, JW.

The majority of records were from under garden bird feeders or in houses!

61

Yellow-necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis

Pdkmsqus [Oy jf oOo thy dol 0 denOe [eeiO utes Oval) sO sieht gl ONE ONE

No records for the year.

Small Mammals and Dry Stone Walls

John Dutton and Ben Welbourn reported on a study of small mammals and dry
stone walls on the Ebworth National Trust estate in the Cotswolds (Mammal
Habitats Mammal News Autumn 2010). Using Longworth live capture traps, they
compared the small mammal numbers in intact and relict dry stone walls and
between the bases and tops of the walls. Woodmice and Bank Voles were the most
numerous followed by Common Shrews. Low numbers of Yellow-necked Mice,
Water Shrew, Pygmy Shrew and a single Short-tailed Field Vole were also trapped.
Significantly more individuals were trapped at the base of the walls but there was
no difference between the intact and relict walls. The greater trapping success at
the base of the walls suggests that it is the association between the wall and the
adjacent habitat that is important.

House mouse Mus domesticus

| Tim square |

No records for the year.

Common rat Rattus norvegicus

2002

| Wikmisqu Fee 189 YO. ea eG Ue er
Records from RA, HM, S&JP, JR, DT, GWa, JW.

Almost all records from private gardens.

‘Rat catchers may lose out in cutbacks’ (Evening Post 10 September). Bristol City
Council is thinking of cutting the number of rat catchers in the city — at a time
when the rat population shows a long-term trend of going up. The official number
of ‘rat infestations’ quoted by the council are 3,193 in 2005/06, 3,817 in 2006/07,
4,924 in 2007/08, 4,778 in 2008/09 and 4,534 in 2009/10.

Rabbits and Hares: Order Lagomorpha

Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus

2003 2006

| Vkemsqu: "| 105— [19 =| 36" soe hos tenn RAs S| 623s esa One nee
Records from RLB, KG, S&JP, JR, DT, MT, GWa.

First record of juveniles was on 22 April in Pilning. A completely black juvenile
rabbit was reported from Leyhill (6992).

62

Only recorded in two 1-km squares this year, with single individuals at Corston
(6764) in February and Villice Bay (CVL) (5560) (regularly Marc, April and June
where one ran through shallow water when flushed.

Figure 2 Brown Hare distribution North Somerset and West Gloucestershire
© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved NERC 100017897 2004

Brown Hares appear to be fairly widely distributed in our region with apparent
concentrations in the Dyrham Park/West Littleton, Compton Dando/Corston and
Gordano Valley areas — probably due to being well visited areas by keen
mammal/bird recorders.

Insectivores: Orders Erinaceomorpha and Soricomorpha

Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus

2008 | 2009

al had
squ

Records from DMa, JR, DT, DWa, GWa.

There were 18 road casualty records in 2010, the third lowest since records were
first systematically collected in 1996. Figure 4 shows the annual number of road
deaths recorded since then.

63

120
80

AQ

0
1996 2000 2004 2008

Figure 3. Number of Hedgehog Road Casualty Records 1996-2010

Figure 4 shows the cumulated monthly totals for the past fifteen years, peaking in
July and August when young begin foraging for themselves.

120
80

40

0
Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov

Figure 4 Hedgehog road casualties 1996-2010 by month

‘Beryl’s a real hedgehog hero’ (Evening Post 31 August). Since 1996 Beryl
Casey, known in Portishead as the Hedgehog Lady, has cared for more than a
thousand hedgehogs. At any one time she looks after up to 40 hedgehogs, nursing
them back to health before releasing them back into the wild.

64

Flatworm. R Muston

Fortune’s Holly Fern R Bland See p 28

et .
i p oder

Moth Mullein: R Bland

Cepea Nemoralis. R Muston

Ta te ee

Weeping Silver Lime R Bland

Wych Elm seeds. R Bland

oo 2

Paris Quadrifolia Weston Big Wood

ee

June 11th

Oct 2
Horse Chestnut Leaf Miners at work

The last Huntingdon Elm on the Downs, July 2011, on its last legs

oy) a

.
Hl

HH)
Wh
AM

Tiger Moth R Muston

5 |

pili
Hip

df

ra
a AA *

Mole Talpa europea

2009
(ee Oe ee ee ee a ee
Records from RLB, PC, JR, DT, GWa.

The vast majority of records were of Mole hills, generally the only evidence that
they are present in a particular area. A single record of an individual crossing the
road at Belmont Hill (5170) in July.

Common Shrew Sorex araneus

2008
Mare | 3 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2] 1
Record from KG.

A individual seen alive in June and one found dead in September (both at
Tickenham Ridge (4472).

Pygmy Shrew Sorex minutus
PO ee eS ee ea

No records for the year.

Water Shrew Neomys fodiens

No records for the year.

65

Bats: Order Chiroptera

Greater Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum

[tk | Ps oa ae ee a ea ee

No records for the year.

as ®t
Figure 5. Greater Horseshoe Bat distribution in North Somerset and West
Gloucestershire.

© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved NERC 100017897 2004

The area around Brockley and King’s Wood/Brockley Wood north to Clapton
Moor and around Bath, well known strongholds for the endangered Greater
Horseshoe Bat, show up very clearly.

Lesser Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus hipposideros

ee

Record from KG.

One live individual and one dead found in woodland ‘cave’ at Tickenham Ridge
Nature Reserve (4472) on 13 April.

Whiskered Bat/Brandt’s Bat Myotis mystacinus/brandtii
2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010

[Then squ | 0) | od Seo | No ee aaa

No records for the year.

Daubenton’s Bat Myotis daubentoni

No records for the year.

66

Natterer’s Bat Myotis nattereri

Bechsteins Bat Myotis bechsteinii
No records for the year.

Leisler’s Bat Nyctalus leisleri

No records for the year.

Common Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Soprano Pipistrelle Pipistrellus
pygmaeus and Pipistrelle sp. Pipistrellus sp.

Records from DMe, HM, MM, JR, DT, GW.

Bat detector records from gardens, parks and allotments from May to August from
West End Nailsea (4569), Pilning (5585) and St Werburghs and Mina Road Parks
(6074) and Ashley Hill allotments (6075) and (5974).

Nathusius’ Pipistrelle Pipistrellus nathusii

2010

jikmsqu | 0 | 1 | 0 |

No records for the year.

Serotine Eptesicus serotinus

2004 2009
Ei oma Or a) Oe | al Oe a ee oh
Record from GWa.

One seen at Top Sutton (5859) in May.

No records for the year.

Bats in the news
‘Bat hotel has first flying visit’ (Evening Post 10 September). As mitigation for
the demolition of an old farmhouse at Bristol Airport, a specially designed bat
house was constructed. Weighing in at half a tonne and three metres in height, the
‘luxury bat hotel’ took two weeks to build. Twelve months on the first bats have
already moved in.

New bat species

A new bat species was added to the list of Britain’s native species list in 2010. The
Alcathoe Bat Myotis alcathoe was discovered at two autumn swarming sites in
Sussex and a further site in North Yorkshire by Professor John Altringham and
colleagues at the University of Leeds. Its finding at sites 350km apart suggest that
it is a resident species that has gone undetected because of its similarity to other
small Myotis species (Wildlife Reports British Wildlife 21 (5) June 2010).

Carnivores: Order Carnivora

Red Fox ee bes vulpes
Year ___ | 2000 | 2001

fe 7. oa
squares

Records from RA, JB, RLB, PC, CD, KG, SG, HM, JM, MM, TM, JP, S&JP, JR,
DT, MT, MJT, MPT, DWa, GW, JW, RW.

Judge lays down law on foxes after shoe attack’ (Evening Post 31 July). A former

judge warned homeowners to beware after a fox climbed into his home in Cotham
Hill through an open sash window 30ft above the ground, via a garden wall. The
fox chewed one of his leather shoes and left it in the garden, leaving behind a
strong foxy smell in the house.

Badger Meles meles

Pen SIL a Shoot el Seca 6
Records from the following RA, JB, RB, RLB, MJ, MM, S&JP, JR, DT, MT, MJT.

Fifteen years of Badger road casualty figures with 569 records to date show a large
peak around March/April (peak breeding season) with perhaps an indication of a
smaller peak in September (dispersal of young) (Fig 6). There are few records
between November and January. This is the time of year when Badgers are at their
least active with the pregnant females underground in their setts prior to giving
birth to cubs between January and March.

68

100

Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov

Figure 6. Number of Badger Road Casualty Records per month 1996-2010.

There appears to be an upward trend in the numbers of road casualty badgers from
the mid 1990s to the present, with a particular peak in 1999, 2000 and 2001 (fig 7).

60

AQ

20

0
1996 1993 2002 2005 2008

Figure 7 Road casualty badgers 1996-2010.

Since records of road casualty Badgers were collected on a regular basis (from
1996), a number of ‘hot-spots’ are apparent:

69

1-—km Number of road | Location/Notes
square casualty Badgers

appears to be particularly hazardous)
P4972 |) LG Pl BS 2S eae a |
| 5072 | 83128 Wika ae
ee eee Ee
Ashton
Pilning
| 5662, | 6 | B3114 Chew StoketoChewMagna

A further 12 1-km squares had 4 road casualty Badgers, 16 1-km squares had 3
road casualty badgers, 60 1-km squares had 2 road casualty badgers and 151 1-km
squares had | road casualty badger.
Table 1. Numbers of road casualty Badgers per 1-km square (1996-2010)

The results give an indication of the most hazardous places for Badgers (and for
road users) but are likely to be biased towards the routes driven by the regular
badger road casualty recorders. This is particularly true of the roads around
Nailsea, the M5 and the A370 where your county mammal recorder lives. Badgers
occupying the setts in the embankments of the M5 minor road over-bridges
between Clevedon Court and Clevedon Craft Centre (4270) and the Craft Centre
and the Hand Stadium (ST4169) have a particularly hard time with 23 of them
being run over since 1996. A further 5 were run over in the adjacent 1-km square
4170!

70

2010 Total

Road Name Location (in ‘Avon’) 2004-9

Hambrook to centre of Bristol ]

Tormarton to Second Severn Crossing 3

[Seve Beachio Avonmouth |
FFalfldtoLoxon ————SSSSSS~idCCO

ik

4

:

3
M4
5

N

4

4

3
3
3

2
9
8
6
7
8
39 Corston to Hallatrow

A362 Farrington Gurney to Radstock 4

A368 Banwell to Marksbury
A369 Bower Ashton to Portishead

2

A370 Ashton Gate to East Brent 3
A46 Starveall to Bathampton
Old A46 Lambridge (Bath)

Which were the most dangerous roads for Badgers in 2010?
]
]

Unspecified Chew Valley area

N
4

Bk

Table 2. Numbers of road casualty badgers on roads in the former county of Avon
in 2004-10.

—
1oS)

Minor roads Various locations

71

The most dangerous road overall continues to be the A370 (Ashton Gate to East
Brent). 37 Badgers have now been run over on this road in the seven years 2004-
10.

Jeff Rawlinson reported seeing badgers regularly throughout the year in his Pilning
garden (5585). Largest count was on four adults — seen on several occasions. First
report of young was when two adults were seen with a cub on 11 June.

An erythristic (gingery) colour form badger was found dead on the road at Winford
(5365) in March.

Badgers in the press

‘Student under investigation after badger shot with spear’ (Evening Post 1 July).
A law student at the University of Bristol is alleged to have shot a badger with a
spear gun in the grounds of Baydock Hall on 6 June. The incident was being
investigated by the police and the RSPCA.

Figure 8 Badger distribution in North Somerset and West Gloucestershire.
© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved NERC 100017897 2004

Not surprisingly badgers are found throughout the area with only a few ‘gaps’
where they have not been recorded — probably areas where there are few road and
hence few road casualty records. The border between the old county of Avon and
Somerset is particularly obvious — a clear indication of the success of BRERC at
data input and the potential dangers of under recording.

V2

Otter Lutra lutra

19+ | 28+ | 36+ | 28+ | 25+

Record from RB, PO.

Male found dead on the B3128/Portbury Lane (5072) on 19 January. One seen
mid afternoon on 19 November about 100m upstream from Weston Lock, Bath on

the Bristol Avon (7364).

Figure 9 Otter distribution© Crown copyright and database rights 2011 Ordnance Survey [100017955 |

The NBN distribution shows clearly the River Frome and Boyd in S Gloucs and
the rivers Chew, Cam and Wellow in North Somerset as well as the Gordano

Valley and Congresbury Yeo.

Stoat Mustela ermina

2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003

[Mansa [10 | 4) 3 | £. | of] 4] 4} 2 ps fT 3 8
Records from KG, DWa, GWa.

Individual animals seen at Westerleigh (7968), Tickenham Ridge Nature Reserve
(4472) and Heron’s Green (5559).

Weasel Mustela nivalis

| dione JO" | 3 | eee ie ae
Records from AB, MC, JM, LW.

Individual animals at Weston Sewage Treatment Works (3156) and Portishead
(4677).

13

European Polecat Mustela putorius

Etc ene ne ee eee
Record from GWa.

One road casualty found at Brassnocker Hill, Bath (7763) on 9 April.

American Mink Mustela vison

Ee ee eae es

No records for the year.

ae eae ee

Seals: Order Pinnepedia

Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus

2002
| dkmsqu | 8 hd 0] 1?
Records from CM, JR.

One — two individuals seen at Steep Holm in April, August and October. One seen
near the road bridge over the River Wye in Chepstow (5394) in May (technically
on the Gloucestershire/Monmouthshire border but only about 2% km from South
Gloucestershire).

Ungulates: Orders Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla

Reeve’s Muntjac Muntiacus reevesi

| Tisqa es Oe Pe ea 2 vt Serie ee eae eet
Records from CM.

All sightings from Steep Holm (2260) — 2 seen in April, 2 in August and 3 in
October.

Red Deer Cervus elaphus

2007
SS ee Oe Ger ee ery eo

No records for the year outside deer parks and deer farms.

Fallow Deer Dama dama

l

| Pheveqa Oo oe a a Eos)

No records for the year outside deer parks.

74

European Roe Deer Capreolus capreolus
2004
20+
Records from JB, RLB, KG, JM, H& SP, S& JP, DWa, GWa.

Groups of three or more Roe Deer seen at the following locations:-

Portishead (44766) - buck, does and two ’09 fawns — March.

Tickenham Ridge Reserve (4472) - doe and twin fawns, one doe and fawn and one
buck — summer

Marshfield (7774) — three individuals — July.

Woodford Hill (5661) — five animals — April.

Wick Green (5758) — buck and two does — April

Stratford Bay (5658) — three grazing in field.

MS5 (junction 17) (5680) — three grazing in field close to motorway — April.

© Crown copyright and database rights 2011 Ordnance Survey [100017955 |
Figure 10. Roe Deer distribution in North Somerset and West Gloucestershire.
© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved NERC 100017897 2004

Roe Deer are widely distributed throughout the region with the only distinct gap
being in the west of North Somerset around between Weston-super-Mare and
Clevedon.

Whales, dolphins and porpoises: Order Cetacea

Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena

Ans bs O24 00 | 0 0 fot 0.) ef | Ot
Record from CM.

A small number seen off Steep Holm on 28 August but positive identification not
certain.

is

EXOTICS/BEASTS/FORMER NATIVE SPECIES

European Wild Boar Sus scrofa

‘Cull needed to prevent wild boar population ‘explosion’’ (Western Daily Press 2
January). Forestry Commission rangers in the Forest of Dean are planning to start
a cull of the Forest’s wild boar population with the aim of maintaining an average
population of about 100 animals. The current population is thought to be in the
region of 90-150 individuals. The decision to undertake a cull follows a series of
incidents including boar damage to football pitches in Ruspidge and an incident at
Ruardean Primary School when a boar had to be shot dead after it became
aggressive. |

Big Cats

Reports of large beast/cats/panthers/leopards/pumas etc roaming the countryside
attacking livestock continue to circulate in the press but as yet there have been no
confirmed sightings.

Red-necked Wallaby Macropus rufogriseus

‘Missing wallaby is found dead’ (Evening Post 12 October). Bruce, one of a pair
of wallabies that escaped from a garden in Long Ashton on 2 October was found
dead at Keed’s Lane.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks to all those who provided records and information for this year’s report:

Rosemary Atkins (RA), Richard L Bland (RLB), Bristol Naturalists’ Members
(BNS), Alan Britton (AB), Hannah Broughton (HB), Matthew Broughton (MB),
Gill Brown (GB), Rob Buck (RB), John F Burton (JB), Paul Chadwick (PC), Mike
Cop (MC), Claire Dowding (CD), Keith Giles (KG), Simon Groves (SG), Kate
Henson (KH), Mrs Jaggard (MJ), Dennis Marsh (DMa), John Martin (JM), Chris
Maslen (CM), Mo McManus (MM), Harry McPhillimy (HM), Dan Merrett (DMe),
Tess Minns (TM), Sarah Nicholas (SN), Pernille Olsen (PO), John Phillips (JP),
Helen & Sarah Phipps (H&SP), Sue & John Prince (S&JP), Morf Pullin, Jeff
Rawlinson (JR), Chris Thirlway (CT), David Trump (DT), Mary P Trump (MPT),
Mary J Trump (MJT), Matthew Trump (MT), Giles Wagstaff (GWa), Jan Walters
(JW), David Warden (DWa), Guy Watson (GW), Larry Wheatland (LW), David
Wilcox (DW1), Ruth Williams (RW).)

REFERENCES

Harris, S. and Yalden, D.W. (eds.) (2008) Mammals of the British Isles:
Handbook, 4th Edition. Mammal Society.

76

First Flowering dates
R.L.Bland

richard. bland123(@btinternet.com

In 2007 I began to collect the first flowering dates for all the common species of
flowering plant, not including grasses, in the region. First flowering dates are
affected by temperature, and hence will alter as the climate alters. Reference
works, including White, usually refer simply to the dates during which the plant
may be found in flower, but, precisely because of the differences between different
years, this is always stated in broad terms, usually by month. Some plants have
very short flowering periods, which can be as brief as a week, and others are in
flower in every week of the year, but the average length of the flowering season for
all species varies with the weather conditions, and this will affect the total seed
production, and thus, for annuals at least, the likely population size the following
year. The structure of the flora of any site varies substantially from year to year
depending upon the fierce competition between species, and it follows that the
nature of the flora of any site or region will alter over time as the climate changes.
Climate is very far from being the only factor at work, of course, but it is one over
which humanity has no control, and which is very fundamental to the floral
structure of any region.

Since the nature of climate change is a matter of controversy and concern I felt it
would be useful in future to have a yardstick by which floral change could be
measured, and so I set out to establish the earliest date on which all common
species could be found in flower in the region. To seek to eliminate chance I have
tried to visit as many varied sites as regularly as possible, and, over five years,
have established what I believe is a fairly reliable first date for 530 species. In the
Flora of the Bristol region, 2000, there are 542 flowering species that occur in
more than 1% of the regions 1-km squares, so that I have established dates for all
but the rarest plants. The habitats I visit least often are ponds and coastal species,
and I also have very few orchid records.

Chart 1 shows, as bars, the number of species that come into flower in each ten-day
period in the course of a year. The total number of species is 530. The number of
species rises rapidly through April to peak in the first week of May, then falls back,
and there is a second peak in mid-June, followed by a very rapid fall off. 54% of
species come into flower by May 10" and three quarters by June 10".

at

MN ag
pene aN

Chart 1 The number of species coming into flower in each ten-day period, 2007-
2011

However the pattern varies in each year, depending on the weather, and Chart 2
shows the pattern for 2010, which was a late spring. It is based on 413 species.
Because of the cold January virtually no species came into flower before the

middle of March, there was a peak in mid-April and another in the last ten days of
May.

CECECEPEVADATT ECELL
CLE ENEL
Ma

J A

— 2010 ~@~ Farliest

Chart 2 The number of species coming into flower in each ten day period in 2010
compared with the figures for the earliest date over five years.

78

Because the number of species recorded in 2010 was fewer than the overall total,
the best way to see the difference that a late spring made is to compare the
cumulative percentage of the total number of species, and this is shown in Chart 3.
The figure of 50% of all species was not reached in 2010 until twenty days later
than the “earliest ever” graph, though 75% was reached just five days late. Perhaps
the real significance is the demonstration that a cold January influences the whole
pattern up to mid-summer.

—* Earliest ~“*- 2010

Chart 3 Cumulative percentageof total species, comparing 2010 with the Earliest
ever records.

In 1900 the thirty year average annual temperature had fallen to 13.19°C, and by
1950 it had risen to a peak of 14.05°C. Since then it fell to a minimum of 13.57°C
in 1993, and today is back to 13.94°C. These long-term swings may seem small,
but they can have a considerable impact on the structure of the flora, which we
need both to monitor and to understand.

79

BRISTOL & DISTRICT INVERTEBRATE REPORT, 2010
R.J. Barnett
City Museum & Art Gallery, Queen’s Road, Bristol BS8 IRL
ray.barnett@bristol.gov.uk

INTRODUCTION

After what seems like very many years of mild winters and with each winter
increasing reports of insects of various species active throughout those winter
months, 2010 proved to be somewhat different. A cold wintry spell with lying
snow in early January at the start of the year was complemented by an even longer
period of very low temperatures and snow at the tail end of the year in December.
Cold winters are thought in general to be beneficial for native species (ensuring the
over wintering stage is not truncated which may result in the insects becoming
active when nectar sources might not be available) but potentially bad news for
species which seem to have been increasing their range northwards in recent years
(not adapted to survive low temperatures). Consequently, there was speculation
that the cold January might impact on our insect fauna. As it transpired, there was
little evidence of native species doing well nor of recent arrivals to our region
suffering either. Perhaps the combination of a cold start and end to 2010 might
resulting such an impact on species during 2011?

As it was, 2010 was a fairly quiet year. Immigration of insects to our region (and
indeed across Britain) was very low with hardly any of the usual butterflies seen
(eg Clouded Yellow) and numbers of the regular moths (eg Silver Y) down on an
average year. Similarly there were no reports of other immigrants such as some of
the dragonfly species we have almost come to expect recently. One exception to
this dearth of immigrants was the arrival of the striking pyralid moth Diaphanus
perspectalis, with an individual appearing in the autumn in a Bristol moth trap,
coinciding with favourable winds from the Netherlands where this Asian native has
now has become established.

With regard to our resident species, there were anecdotal suggestions that the
Small Tortoiseshell butterfly was recovering from the very low numbers of recent
years but whether that was true and if so whether it might be related to a decline in
the population of the recent arrival of a parasitoid fly from Europe (Sturmia bella)
was impossible to tell from the information received.

80

One endemic species which did seem to be in much higher numbers that usual was
the Silver-washed Fritillary butterfly and the Invertebrate Section’s field meeting
to Lower Woods, Wickwar on 10 July 2010 was witness to that with very good
numbers on the wing. The amazing increase in the distribution and abundance of
the Scarlet Tiger moth has continued, so much so, that a red moth flying in the day
in Bristol is now more likely to be that species than the Cinnabar. Otherwise there
was a sprinkling of interesting records, as with last year, the Bioblitz event
generating several new sightings.

Across the region and indeed much of southern England, small ermine moths
(Yponomeuta species) were very noticeable with larval webs reaching considerable
size and defoliating many shrubs. Similarly the numbers of the Horse Chestnut
leaf Miner Cameraria ohridella (Ragonot) were very great locally and across
England. Several recently established species seemed to continue to consolidate
their populations, most noticeably the Harlequin Ladybird and the more recently
arrived Western Conifer Seed Bug.

One of the more unusual sightings was of an Atlas Moth Aftacus atlas on the wall
of a house in February. One wonders how many such creatures, purchased as
larvae or pupae from livestock suppliers, must be let out into the British
countryside to die a long way from home.

My thanks to all who have submitted records directly to the Society (particularly to
Robert Cropper, Paul Chadwick, Keith Giles, Jon Mortin, Andy Pym, Jane Cole,
Mandy Lievers, Mike Williams, John Martin, Richard Bland, Richard Mielcarek,
David Agassiz, Mike Bailey, Paul Bowyer, Neale Jordan-Mellersh, Ann Wookey,
Roger Symes, Glenda Orledge, Ted Poulson, Nigel Muilbourne, Martin Evans,
Robert Angles, Alan Bone, Bob Fleetwood, Chris Iles, Andrew Duff, Dave Gibbs,
Tony Cotterell, Peter Noyle, Rhian Rowson and John Burton) the Bristol Regional
Environmental Records Centre (BRERC), Clevedon Moth Group, Bristol &
District Moth Group and to the Bristol Wildlife E-group. The importance of
receiving, not just the records picked out here, but those of perhaps less noteworthy
species cannot be understated in terms of monitoring the ever changing status of
the invertebrate fauna.

Scientific nomenclature follows that used by the National Biodiversity Network
website (www.nbn.org.uk).

8 |

Addendum to 2009 report

When Environmental Impact Assessments are carried out, using paid professional
entomologists, on sites potentially being the site of building and development, the
richness of invertebrate assemblages within our area can be revealed. One such
survey on a small site at Avonmouth (ST 58, vice-county 34, one visit in May and
one in July 2009) produced three Red Data Book and 16 nationally scarce insects
from a total of 460 species recorded. Of these, 15 were associated with wetland
habitat. It is well known that the Water Vole has managed to remain in our region
(with a little bit of help) on the rhynes of the Avonmouth area, we should also
recognise how rich these locations can be for wildlife in general including sites
which others may regard as wasteland or ‘brown field’ and not worthy of
preservation. The species recorded on this survey included:

Coleoptera: Graptodytes bilineatus (Sterm)

Adonis Ladybird Hippodamia variegata (Goeze)

Diptera: Odontomyia ornata (Meigen)

Campiglossa malaris (Séguy)

A full species list has been deposited with the Bristol eee Environmental
Records Centre (BRERC).

Species of note in 2010
INSECTA
Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets)

Stripe-winged Grasshopper Stenobothrus lineatus (Panz.) Brown’s Folly,
Bathford Hill, Bath (vc 34) ST793 662 8 August 2010 Robert Cropper,
stridulating in good numbers.

Rufous Grasshoppper Gomphocerippus rufus (L.) Portishead Down, North
Somerset (vc 6) ST459 755 7 September 201 Robert Cropper. First found here in
1977.

Southern Oak Bush-cricket Meconema meridionale (Costa) Gloucester and
Winchester Roads, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset (vc 6) ST311 494 6 September
2010 Robert Cropper, apparently increasing with several ovipositing females
noted. Abingdon Street, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset (vc 6) ST305 488 4
November 2010 Robert Cropper, a male, almost a kilometre from original site.

82

Roesel’s Bush-cricket Metrioptera roeselii (Hagenbach) Newton St Loe, Bath
ST702 653 (vc 6) 2010 Mike Williams. Bath Racecourse (vc 6) ST7 6 2010
Mike Williams. Bannerdown, Bath (vc34) ST792 687 & ST793 688 8 August
2010 Robert Cropper. Signs that this recent colonist is starting to expand its range
locally. One to look out for as no doubt other colonies will appear in coming
years.

Great Green Bush-cricket Teftigonia viridissima Linnaeus Westbury Beacon,
Somerset (vc 6) STS0 50 4 September 2010 Robert Cropper, one, possibly two,
stridulating in scrub near road.

Hemiptera (true bugs)

Western Conifer Seed Bug Leptoglossus occidentalis Heidemann Clevedon,
North Somerset (vc 6) ST41 72 16 September 2010 Ann Wookey, det. Ray
Barnett, several seen. Abbots Leigh, North Somerset (vc 6) STS 7 3 January
2011 John Sparks, det. Ray Barnett, one photographed in house. Filton, Bristol (vc
34) ST60 79 13 October 2010 Andy Pym. Bath University (vc 34) ST7 6
autumn 2010 Glenda Orledge. Stockwood, South Bristol (ve 6) ST6 6 autumn
2010 Ted Poulson, det. Ray Barnett. Bitton, South Gloucestershire (vc 34) ST6 6
January 2011 Mike Williams. Apparently this new invader is now well
established in our region. It attracts comment on account of its large size and
appearance which is unlike any other common British bug.

Corizus hyoscyami (L.) Kilmersdon, Somerset (vc 6) ST699 525 19 September
2010 Robert Cropper, one in rough grassland. This species seems to be still on the
increase and appearing a considerable distance from its coastal haunts.

Bat Bug Cimex pipistrelli Jenyns Blagdon Lake, Bath & NE Somerset (ve 6)
STS 6 October 2010 Nigel Milbourne. Several found in bat boxes being inspected
by the local bat group. A very poorly recorded species, not really surprisingly
given its habitat, nationally let alone locally — this is probably the first record for
the Bristol region. Individuals found in bat box used by Natterer’s Bat.

83

Lepidoptera (butterflies)

Clouded Yellow Colias croceus (Geoff.) Clevedon, North Somerset (vc 6) ST41
72 30 August 2010 Roger Symes. A rare immigrant in 2010.

Small Blue Cupido minimus (Fues.) The Gully, Avon Gorge, Bristol (vc 34)
ST564 746 July 2010 Mandy Lievers. One of the few known sites in the Bristol
region.

Chalkhill Blue Lysandra coridon (Poda) The Gully, Avon Gorge, Bristol (vc 34)
ST564 746 July 2010 Mandy Lievers and 11 July 2010 Jon Mortin. Brean Down,
Somerset (vc 6) ST28 58 and ST29 58 28 August 2010 Robert Cropper, several
seen.

Lepidoptera (micro-moths)

Cosmopterix pulchrimella Chambers Portishead, North Somerset (vc 6) ST4 7 10
October 2010 David Agassiz. A species only recently discovered on the Channels
Islands and subsequently on the British mainland. First record for vice-county 6,
leaf mines in Parietaria.

Mirificarma mulinella (Zell.) Fishponds, Bristol (vc 34) ST63 74 28 August 2010
Neale Jordan-Mellersh. Very few records from our region of this species of
gelechiid moth.

Pammene argyrana (Hb.) Blaise Estate, Bristol (ve 34) ST558 785 21 May 2010
Ray Barnett. One caught at light trap as part of the Bristol ‘BioBlitz’, not recorded
in the Bristol region since the 19thC.

Cydia servillana (Dup.) Fishponds, Bristol (vc 34) ST63 74 22 May 2010 Neale
Jordan-Mellersh . A species for which the only previous record in the area that I
am aware of is one from 1985 at Sand Point (Martin Evans).

Diaphanus perspectalis (Walker) Stoke Bishop, Bristol (vc 34) ST55 75 8
October 2010 Martin Evans. First record from our region and only recorded a
handful of times previously in the British Isles. A striking species, native to Asia
but now established in the Netherlands, a potential pest of Box trees.

84

Lepidoptera (macro-moths)

Hornet moth Sesia apiformis (Cl.) Milton Road Cemetery, Weston-super-Mare,
North Somerset (vc 6) ST32 61 16 August 2010 Robert Angles. The first
confirmed record since the 19th C was in 2009 on the Bath University campus.
This current record suggests it is present elsewhere within our region although very
scarce or at least very difficult to find.

Small Eggar Eriogaster lanestris (L.) Shapwick Heath NNR, Somerset (vc 6)
ST447 397 5 June 2010 Robert Cropper, larval web of mature larvae on
Hawthorn bush.

Argent and Sable Rheumaptera hastata hastata (L.) Canada Farm, Shapwick
Heath, Somerset (vc 6) ST417 410 31 May 2010 Robert Cropper, seven counted
in flight.

Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth Hemaris titvus (L.) South of Bristol (vc 6)
ST5 6 5 June 2010 Nigel Milbourne, Alan Bone & Ray Barnett. Several seen
nectaring at trefoils. Subsequently also reported from a second site in the general
vicinity by another recorder.

Brown-tail Euproctis chrysorrhoea (L.) Sand Point, Weston-super-Mare, North
Somerset (ve 6) ST330 659 28 June 2010 Paul Bowyer. Very localised in the
region.

Jersey Tiger Euplagia quadripunctaria (Poda) Weston-super-Mare, North
Somerset (vc 6) ST32 61 21 August 2010 David Agassiz, one adult at light.
Having been firmly established in south Devon since the mid-19th C this moth has
now started to be reported from several sites across southern England suggesting a
limit imposed by climate has now been lifted.

Crescent Dart Agrotis trux (Hb.) ssp. /unigera Steph. Clevedon, North Somerset
(vc 6) ST4 7 30 October 2010 Bob Fleetwood. An unusual autumn record of this
summer species which is restricted to our coastline (also recorded at Sand Point,
Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset (vc 6) ST330 659 25 June 2010 Bristol &
District Moth Group and again on 28 June 2010 Paul Bowyer, a more usual flight
time).

Sand Dart Agrotis ripae (Hb.) Sand Bay, North Somerset (vc 6) ST3 6 28 June
2010 Paul Bowyer, 50 recorded. A coastal speciality.

White Colon Sideridis albicolon (Hb.) Sand Bay, North Somerset (vc 6) ST3 6
2010 Paul Bowyer. A coastal speciality not seen in the region since 1962.

85

Glaucous Shears Papestra biren (Goeze) Timsbury, Bath & NE Somerset (vc 6)
ST659 587 25 May 2010 Mike Bailey. The first record of this species in the
region for at least 40 years, as a moorland species, presumably a wandering
individual.

Small Ranunculus Hecatera dysodea (D. & S.) Fishponds, Bristol (ve 34) ST63
74 4 September 2010 Neale Jordan-Mellersh. The adult moth photographed at
light was a surprise as the usual flight time is June to early August. Charlotte
Street car park, Bath (vc 34) ST74 65 9 September 2010 Chris Iles, larvae feeding
on Prickly Lettuce. Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol (vc 34) ST575 783 2010 John
Martin larvae on Prickly Lettuce. Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset (vc 6)
ST32 61 20 August 2010 David Agassiz, adult at light.

Common Quaker Orthosia cerasi (Fabr.) Clevedon, North Somerset (vc 6) ST4 7
30 October 2010 Bob Fleetwood. An unusual autumn record of this spring species.

Double-line Mythimna turca (L.) Clevedon Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset
(vc 6) ST47 2010 Clevedon Moth Group. Again reported from Clevedon were
it has been seen for a few years now, representing a recent re-colonisation of the
Bristol region.

Shore Wainscot Mythimna litoralis (Curt.) Sand Bay, North Somerset (vc 6) ST3
6 28 June 2010 Paul Bowyer. A coastal speciality.

L-album Wainscot Mythimna I-album (L.) Sand Point, North Somerset (ve 6)
ST330 659 25 June 2010 Bristol & District Moth Group. First record for the
Bristol region. Later found to be well established as recorded again by Paul
Bowyer at the same site on 28 June 2010.

Coleoptera (beetles)

Carabus monilis Fabricius Field of wheat, Burnett, Bath (vc 6) ST669 664 = July
2010 Mike Williams, one in a_ pitfall trap, first Somerset record since 1993
(Nationally Notable Nb).

Staphylinus erythropterus Linnaeus Chew Valley School, Bath & NE Somerset
(vc 6) ST567 623 3 September 2010 Jon Mortin, one photographed. Only the 2nd
record in the BRERC database, few records across southern England.

Anthacomus rufus (Herbst) Berrow, Somerset (vc 6) ST29 51 31 July 2010

Robert Cropper, common along landward margin of dune marsh. A very localised
species in England.

86

Eyed Ladybird Anatis ocellata (Linnaeus) Goodeve Park, Sneyd Park, Bristol (vc
34) ST558 751 22 May 2010 Jon Mortin, one adult photographed. Only the third
record held on the BRERC database.

Cryptophagus acutangulus Gyllenhal Red Lodge Museum, Park Row, Bristol (vc
34) ST585 731 February 2010 Andrew Duff, one on ‘sticky’ trap. This tiny
species was recorded from a pest trap set at Red Lodge and passed to Andrew Duff
by Ray Barnett. Very few records on the National Biodiversity Network database.

Corticaria inconspicua Wollaston Red Lodge museum, Park Row, Bristol (vc 34)
ST585 731 February 2010 Andrew Duff, one on ‘sticky’ trap.. This tiny species
was recorded from a pest trap set at Red Lodge and passed to Andrew Duff by Ray
Barnett. Thought to be the first record for vice county 34 West Gloucestershire
and nationally very few records..

Agapanthia villosoviridescens (DeGeer) Old London Road Nature Reserve,
Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire (vc 34) ST755 942 20 June 2010 Robert
Cropper, one found. This is primarily a species of the Midlands and eastern
England and this record must represent one of its most south westerly sites..

Orchesia undulata Kraatz Blaise Estate, Bristol (vc 34) STS561 785 21 May 2010
(Bioblitz event) Ray Barnett, one swept. A dead wood associated species.

Hypulus quercinus (Quensel) Blaise Estate, Bristol (ve 34) ST561 785 21 May
2010 (Bioblitz event) Ray Barnett, one swept (RDB2). A very rare species of
ancient woods and veteran trees where the larvae are associated with rotting oak.
Only known previous records from the Bristol region are from Somerset in the
19th C and from a site on the Cotswolds in the 1990s.

Magdalis cerai (L.) Catcott Heath, Somerset (vc 6) ST40 41 29 May 2010 Robert
Cropper, one from Hawthorn. A very scarce (Nationally Notable Nb) species of
weevil with very few records for Somerset.

Hypera zoilus (Scop.) Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol (vc 34) ST591 755 26

June 2010 Jon Mortin, one photographed. First record for the Bristol region and
probably the most south westerly record for the British Isles.

87

Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants)

Temnothorax nylanderi (Foerster) The Gully, Avon Gorge, Bristol (vc 34) ST563
746 12 September 2010 Jon Mortin. One of the two sites known locally for this
species.

Gorytes laticinctus (Lepeletier) Berrow, Somerset (vc 6) ST29 51 3 July 2010
Robert Cropper, female from the foredunes. A nationally very localised species.

Colletes hederae Schmidt & Westrich Uphil, Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset
(vc 6) ST 316 580 2010 Robert Cropper, colony of 80-100 burrows on a SW-
facing slope, many bees foraging on ivy nearby and on Walborough Hill. This
recent colonist would appear to have become well established.

Bombus hypnorum (Linnaeus) Canada Farm, Shapwick Heath, Somerset (vc 6)
ST420 406 31 May 2010 Robert Cropper, a few workers at Common Comfrey.
Brightstowe Road, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset (vc 6) 21 June 2010 Robert
Cropper, nest in roof of garden shed. Max Meadow, Winscombe, North Somerset
(vc 6) ST407 574 24 June 2010 Robert Cropper, worker visiting Marsh Thistle.
Mangotsfield, Bristol (vc 34) ST 658 756 28 March 2010 Pam Gooding, one seen.
Weston Big Wood, North Somerset (vc 6) ST456 750 15 June 2010 Michael
Pocock, one seen. Thornbury, South Glos. (vc 34) August 2010 Rosemary Burton
det. Rhian Rowson.

Diptera (true flies)

Bombylius discolor Mikan Walborough Hill, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare, North
Somerset (vc 6) ST315 578 17 April 2010 Robert Cropper, female ovipositing
within colony of Andrena flavipes Panzer in quarry.

Villa modesta (Meigen) Sand Bay, North Somerset (vc 6) ST3 6 22 August 2010
Dave Gibbs. A localised Beefly of sandy coasts of southern England and Wales,
mainly in the west. This is the first record in Somerset since Dunster in 1916.

Callicera aurata (Rossi) South bank of the River Avon, Cumberland Basin,
Bristol (vc 6) ST568 721 2 August 2010 Tony Cotterell, one photographed. First
record for the Bristol region.

Criorhina ranunculi (Panzer) Lower Littleton, Bath & NE Somerset (vce 6) ST559

636 3 May 2010 Richard Mielcarek. A bumble bee mimic hoverfly which is
often overlooked.

88

Lucilia silvarum (Meigen) Chew Valley Lake, Bath & NE Somerset (ve 6) ST578
608 1 September 2010 Jon Mortin. Few records locally of this sparsely distributed
(or recorded?) species.

Chilipoda (centipedes)

Scutigera coleoptrata (L.) Weston-super-Mare (vc 6) ST3 6 18 April 2010 Peter
Noyle, one found alive in the recorder’s kitchen. Presumably accidentally
introduced on goods purchased with a European origin.

ARACHNIDA (spiders)

Spitting Spider Scytodes thoracica (Latreille) BRERC Offices, Central Library,
College Green, Bristol (vc 6) ST582 726 Jon Mortin. A species of caves and also
houses and offices.

Cow Parsley

89

Phenology 2010
R L Bland
richard.bland123@btinternet.com

2010 was the coldest year since 1996, had the coldest January since 1987, the
coldest November since 1993, and the first November snow since 1952, followed
by the coldest December since 1916. It was the driest year since 1978, but had the
wettest August since 1992. —

All the data used derive from a standard walk across the Downs done every week
by myself, recording all plant species in flower, and events such as tree bud-break,
and leaf fall.

pT Wiinter_— | Spring | Summer__| Autumn _|
Table 1 Seasonal temperatures 2010 compared with the average since 1853 and the
standard deviation.

Spring events

(In the charts that follow the dates on the Y axis are give in Julian days, ie days
after January Ist. It helps to remember that April Ist is Day 90, June 30th Day 181,
Nov. Ist Day 305).

Chart 1 shows the average date on which 18 spring flowers came into bloom. Their
average first date varies between day 17 (Jan. 17th) for Hazel Catkins, to day 144
(May 24th) for Dog Rose, which have all been recorded annually on the Downs
since 2000. The chart shows that 2010, with an average date of day 100 (April
10th) was almost as late a spring as 2006. The average date for these events over
eleven years is day 83, (March 24th) so 2010 was 17 days late. The events
recorded include the first flowering of Celandine, Alexanders, Blackthorn, Wild
Cherry, Sycamore, Cow Parsley, Elder and Hawthorn . Seven of the events
occurred on the latest date yet recorded, including all the earliest four, Hazel
Celandine, Prunus and Daffodil, because it was the coldest January (average
maximum 4.1C), and the coldest winter (Dec., Jan., Feb.) since the survey began in
2000.

90

110.0

100.0

90.0

80.0

0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Chart 1 Average date of 18 spring events, 2000-2010

Chart 2 shows the relationship of these events to the winter temperature. Roughly
speaking a one degree centigrade change in the average temperature of the three
winter months is associated with a seven day change in the average date of spring
events. Each species will react in its own way to temperature but the general
pattern is clear.

S 6.0 65 70 75 8.0 8.5 90 o>

Winter Temp C°

Chart 2. Relationship of winter temperature to average date of spring events 2000-
2010 The 2010 point is on the extreme left.

9]

Autumn events

Leaf fall

Chart 3 shows the average date when 18 tree species became bare between 2003
and 2010. A number of factors affect this, including temperature and rainfall, but
both storms and early frosts can have a marked impact. The autumn of 2005 was
both unusually warm and very wet, 2006 was warm but with average rainfall. 2007
had average temperature but was dry, 2008 was colder, but with more rain. In 2009
leaves fell two weeks earlier than the previous average because rainfall in August
and September was so low. In 2010 the temperature was average, and rainfall low.

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007" 2008 20092010

Chart 3 Average date when 18 species became bare, 2003-2010
Tree active life.

By comparing the average date of bud burst with the average date of becoming
bare one can calculate the average active life of tree species. This will affect the
overall ring width for each year, and thus the growth rate in the girth of a tree.
Though most trees manage to flower every year, some do not, and this must be
related to the plant’s basic physiology. The annual seed harvest of each species
varies every year, in part dependent upon the weather in the course of the year, and
in part on the amount of blossom produced. In 2010 the average active life of ten
species was 208 days, below the average since 2000 of 217 days because of the
cold January and hence late spring. Chart 5 shows the correlation between average
active life in days and the average of January and October temperatures. A degree
difference in temperature shows a change of ten days in the average active life of
the tree.

92

Chart 5 Average active tree life for 12 species compared with the average of
January and October temperature. The 2010 point is the extreme left one.

Survival.

Since the New Years Day survey began in 2000 45 species have been found in
flower on the Downs, though the maximum in any year has been 25. On Jan | 2010
only 11 species were in flower, the lowest total since 2000, though one, Rock
Rose, was new. Three species (Adria Bellflower, Daisy, and Gorse) have been
found every year, and 16 species have only been seen once. However the
exceptional cold of December 2010, which included nineteen days of snow cover,
had the consequence that only three species were in flower on Jan Ist 2011, Daisy,
Ivy and Gorse.

Dormancy

In most winters almost all species cease flowering at some point, but a few survive
throughout the winter. Records from the last ten winters show that Gorse is the
only species that has been in flower continuously from the start of October to the
end of March in every winter. In 2010-2011 even Daisy had weeks when it was not
flowering. Chart 6 shows the relationship between the number of species that never
became dormant and the winter temperature. Both 2006-07 and 2007-08 were very
warm, with winter temperatures of over 9C, and a total of 14 species survived
continuously in 2007/08, including Mexican Fleabane, Green Alkanet, and Smooth
Sowthistle. However the three winters starting in 2008/9 were cold, the 2009/10
winter being the coldest since 1995/96, and 2010/11 included the coldest
December since 1916, so that in 2009/10 only two species survived and in 2010/11
only one.

93

0
50 55 6.0 \6.5.. 70. (5.58.0, 6.5.9.0) goes

Temperature C

Chart 6 The relationship of the winter temperature to the number of species in
flower throughout the winter. The 2010/11 point is the extreme left one.

Since 1879 there have been nine harsh winters with an average of below 6C, and
the average gap between them has been 14 years. There have also been 22 winters
with an average of over 9.0C. The pattern is interesting- between 1860 and 1910
there were only three warm winters; 1910-1960 had twelve, and in the past fifty
years there have been nine. The thirty year winter average maximum temperature
climbed from 1890 to 1950, then dropped a little to 1992, and has since almost
climbed back to the previous level. From the point of view of being forced into
dormancy there appears to be a considerable difference between a winter with an
average of over 8.0C and one below it. Should winters become warmer the ability
of some species to flower continuously should have an impact of plant populations.

94

Obituary

Philip John Morton Nethercott (1918 — 2011)

P. J. M. Nethercott was Hon. Treasurer of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society from
1958 to 1992 and was a botanist of local and national standing. In 1982 he was
made an Honorary Member for his outstanding work for the Society. He passed
away peacefully at the Rhalt Nursing Home, Welshpool on Saturday 9 July 2011,
aged 92 years. His cremation on 26 July 2011 at Emstrey, Shrewsbury was
followed by a service at St Michael's Church, Chirbury. He is survived by his
younger brother Stephen.

As the 2010 Proceedings go to press, two of our members have combined to
provide an appreciation of his work for the Society and of his botanical interests.
Although not a formal obituary, the authors hope it helps fellow members of the
Society to remember him; and for those who may not have known him, they hope
it paints a picture of this Bristol Naturalist and Bristol Botanist. We hope to publish
a photograph of him at a later date.

Roger Symes, the Society’s Archivist, writes on Philip Nethercott, Bristol
Naturalist

Philip Nethercott joined the Bristol Naturalists’ Society on 17 March 1952 and was
thus a member for 59 years; and for some 34 of those years he was a significant
contributor to the Council of the Society as Hon. Treasurer, with responsibility also
for membership. His main interest and expertise was in botany, but he attended
indoor and field meetings of various sections and also General meetings, and he
was a leading light in the Library Committee until his later years.

Philip was a private individual and it has therefore been difficult to find sources
that might shed light on his upbringing or to indicate what stimulated his interest in
natural history in general and botany in particular. However genealogical
information in the public domain indicates that he was born in Bristol to Philip
Edward and Alice Ada Maud (née Evans) Nethercott and that his father, who died
in 1933 on a services pension when Philip was about 15, had forebears from
Dulverton, an old village on Exmoor.

It has been possible to trace Philip as a passenger with other family members on
the Southampton/Cape Town Royal Mail steamers no less than three times, twice
in 1922 and once, returning, in 1927. However, the duration of their stays in South
Africa and the underlying reasons require further research, along with details of
Philip’s education and, in that most defining period of a young man’s life in those
days, his wartime service.

22

He ultimately became a solicitor in Bristol with Tanner, Vowles and Cheshire,
working at their offices in Richmond Hill, Clifton, where he could observe the
comings and goings of a rare and long-established alien hawkweed on the garden
walls. Our records show that Philip lived in at least four addresses in Bristol, all
close to the Clifton and Durdham Downs. Philip used to travel to Shropshire
regularly to be with his brother (Albert) Stephen, and also until 1988 with his
mother, who was by then a centenarian.

The Minutes of Council for January 1958 indicated that “the Treasurer Mr Peach
was retiring due to ill health after many years of devoted service” but no successor
had been identified. The Council Minutes of 25th September that year recorded
*“...dt was noted that Mr PJM Nethercott had expressed his willingness to succeed
the Hon. Treasurer. He was proposed and seconded and elected unanimously.”
Philip attended his first Council meeting in October 1958, and so joined Mike
Taylor (who died a year ago) and Brian Frost, who happily survived being hit by a
motor car recently and is still a member of Council as our Bulletin Distribution
Secretary.

As Hon. Treasurer Mr Nethercott (Council members were then addressed by
surnames) was meticulous in his record keeping and in his budget forecasts. All his
records and financial statements were written in manuscript, but he did acquire a
computer later in his life. When responding to questions he exhibited some of his
legal expertise, gaining time by pausing and exclaiming “Well ...” before providing
a detailed answer. It could apparently be rather similar when he was faced with a
difficult plant specimen to name. The Society was most fortunate to have his
guidance when charitable status was being sought.

Two Society matters particularly seemed to rouse Philip’s passions. He was very
concerned to ensure that the Society’s finances were presented on time to Annual
General Meetings. He scrutinised and questioned them closely but nonetheless
generally managed to complete and sign off the calendar year accounts before two
weeks had elapsed in the new year. His other concern was over production of the
Society’s Proceedings. He was insistent that the Proceedings should be produced
on time, and he hounded the Editor of the time if there was likely to be any delay.
His concern related to quality of Society information, and particularly to having the
bill for the journal presented in time to include in the current accounts.

96

When Philip eventually retired as Treasurer in 1991/92 his role was split into two,
with Mike Taylor taking over Treasurer’s duties and a new post of Membership
Secretary being taken on by Mrs Ann Wookey, whose recollections are quoted
below.

“T knew that Mr Nethercott would be a hard act to follow, but his meticulous
record keeping and comprehensive and informative notes made taking over the
membership duties much more straight forward than I had expected, although how
he had managed to be Treasurer as well amazed me! Each member’s details,
including civil and academic qualifications, were hand written on 5 x 3 inch record
cards and their subscription payments recorded annually. When a member
resigned or died the reverse side of the card was used for a new member. These
record cards are now held in their original box in the Society’s archives.

Whilst I was Membership Secretary, and later also President, I did get to know
Philip perhaps a little more than some others, who seemed to find him difficult to
engage in conversation. Once the initial contact had been established I found
talking with him very worthwhile and he would tell me about his trips to
Shropshire to see his brother. He regularly attended Annual General Meetings
where his attention to detail and continued interest in the Society’s finances was
obvious in his close questioning of the Treasurer.”

Philip had a great interest in natural history books and had a significant collection
of his own. He was very much involved with the Society’s Library, serving as a
member of the Library Committee for much of his period of membership. He
seemed to be familiar with all the books and journals in the Library and would
regularly propose books for purchase, when he would often reveal that he had
already bought one for his own collection. He worked tirelessly on organisation
and cataloguing of books and was a tower of strength, with others, when the entire
Library collection had to be re-housed to the University for a couple of years (and
then returned) to allow decoration of the Library room in the City Museum.

In 1992 to recognise his retirement as Treasurer and as an expression of gratitude
for all that he had done for the Society, a collection was made without his
knowledge and he was presented at a social event with a paperweight engraved
with the Society’s crest and, it seemed to his embarrassment, with a cheque for
over £400. It was amazing that the lady who was approached to engrave the
paperweight instantly recognised the name as she had worked with him some years
before. It is ironic for such a meticulous man that Philip should have been
recorded in the Minutes in 1952 on joining the Society as Mr P.J.M. Neathercott,
and in his death notice in the Bristol Evening Post as Philip Nettercott. He would
never have missed such editing errors.

oF

Clive Lovatt, a regular contributor to the Society’s Bulletin on the History of
Bristol Botany, writes on P. J. M. Nethercott, Bristol Botanist

Mr Nethercott joined the Bristol Naturalists’ Society in 1952, initially being
interested in birds. In the Ornithological Notes in the Proceedings that year he was
one of those credited with sightings of Kingfishers. In 1954 he noted a Buzzard
near Cheddar and then and in 1956 he reported observations of the nesting and
breeding performance of Wheatears on Wavering Down. He also reported a
Cormorant overflying the Avon Gorge, this place of constant surprise to the
enquiring naturalist which for so long retained a fascination for him.

By 1956, the die of the botanist we knew was already cast: he was a close and
careful independent observer with a strong sense of the historical and geographical
context of our local wild plants. In Bristol Botany that year as one of his first plant
records he noted the orchid Epipactis helleborine on a wooded slope of Durdham
Down, a place from which it had not been reported since 1799.

But perhaps more significantly, at least for the more public profile of this private
man, he was making good use of the recently published and inspirational Flora of
the British Isles by Clapham, Tutin and Warburg (1952) and adding to the
understanding of the intricate variety of whitebeams to be found in the Avon
Gorge. The following year he joined the Botanical Society of the British Isles and
from 1966 and for many years he was their national Sorbus (whitebeam) referee.

In a letter dated November 1956, a fellow Bristol Naturalist, George Garlick from
Yate wrote to Noel Sandwith, the Kew botanist and co-author (with his mother) of
Bristol Botany, and reported some Leigh Woods localities which had been
confirmed by Dr Warburg, the British whitebeam expert of the day: “in Quarry
3...Sorbus eminens, S. porrigentiformis, S. bristoliensis and S. aria rub shoulders
together”. He added, “Mr Nethercott (he is a member of the BNS whom I know by
sight but never before by name) has also submitted samples of S. porrigentiformis
and S. eminens from the Glos side for Dr Warburg’s approval and had them
passed”.

Mr Nethercott (and how few of us could speak to him on first name terms?) was
long a member of the committee of the Botanical Section of the Bristol Naturalists’
Society. He never, so far as I am aware, gave us an indoor lecture or presentation:
the countryside was his theatre. He must have led about fifty field meetings for us,
sometimes as many as three in a year, and probably a dozen or more for kindred
societies. These were most commonly in or about the Avon Gorge, or on the
limestone downs of the Bristol region, or in their nearby woods, but he was also at
home on the peat moors and along the coast.

98

He also led meetings to Steep Holm and several times into South Wales. In 1984
he led a 350th anniversary walk, following in the footsteps of Thomas Johnson, an
apothecary responsible for the updating of Gerard’s Herbal; some of the plants
Johnson had recorded were shown to be still present.

Over some 50 years, Mr Nethercott made many contributions to the annual Bristol
Botany report in our Proceedings. His were selective and consequently rather few
but they were generally of the first order. One could mention his observations of
the less common rose species and hybrids on the limestone (1985), and finding
Carex humilis, the Dwarf Sedge, on Crook Peak (1964) and later Cross Plain
(1985) and Geranium sanguineum, the Bloody Cranesbill (1967, not seen there for
80 years) and Aster linosyris, the Goldilocks Aster on Brean Down (1965, locality
suppressed). Alien species were consistently only reported where they were
intrusive in the landscape, for instance Viburnum tinus, Laurustinus, (1956) and the
Red-hot Poker (1975), both in the Avon Gorge.

Despite the paucity of records preceded by his initials P. J. M. N., the late
Professor Willis would normally acknowledge Mr Nethercott for his help with the
compilation of Bristol Botany over his near 40-year tenure. Being for most of the
period non-resident, Willis would no doubt have relied on Nethercott’s expertise
and local knowledge to weed out errors and to prevent the inclusion of information
which was really of little value. In this respect we look forward to a critical review
of the two cardboard boxes of papers left by Willis to our Society, with the
correspondence and notes pertaining to the annual botanical reports.

In 1959 Mr Nethercott joined the British Lichen Society and the British
Bryological Society, and he assisted in leading their Leigh Woods meeting in 1963
and in preparing for publication the list from the foray of national experts. A few
of his own bryophyte records appear in Bristol Botany, and show evidence of
repeated observation.

He is mentioned as a contributor to several of the local floras published in his
lifetime, of Somerset (1981 and 1997) and Bristol (2000), though with the
exception of the first, it is likely that his records were of specific finds made
independently, rather than complete lists of one or more recording square.

Like many a naturalist, Mr Nethercott was also a book-lover. He could be seen,
bespectacled and if the weather required it in a fawn raincoat and holding his hat,
quietly scanning the shelves of George’s at the top of Park Street weekly in the late
1970’s as new stock came in; and even in recent years, antiquarian book fairs still
attracted him.

99

Little though is known of his book collection or indeed of any notebooks or
specimens he may have retained. Once when out of necessity our botanical
committee met at his apartment, it was possible to see a glass covered bookcase in
the narrow corridor full of immaculate New Naturalists, all in numerical order.
One of us was once brought out a copy of the Bath botanist William Sole’s
exquisite Menthae Britannicae of 1798.

Mr Nethercott had the interests of conservation at heart but perhaps in the sense of
preserving the historical connections of plants and places. He himself put it rather
well in a letter to the Economist in 1965: “there are still too few people in Britain
who will dispute industry’s claim to devour our natural heritage” - for such was
then the case. He was a founder and Life Member of the Somerset Trust for
Nature Conservation and was also long a member of the National Trust and their
now defunct Leigh Woods Committee of Management, of which he was chairman
from 1987 to 1993.

In the May 1974 edition of BSBI News, Mr Nethercott firmly expressed his views
on the conservation of British rare plants, on learning that they (the Botanical
Society of the British Isles) intended to publish a poster showing some twenty of
Britain’s rarest plants and fearing that it would stimulate (as he put it) inflated
curiosity: “Not all wild flower students can be trusted to refrain from collecting,
nor, worse still, from broadcasting indiscriminately among friends information
where such rarities are.” It was therefore something of a privilege that in the late
1970’s we looked together (albeit unsuccessfully) for the persistence amongst
overgrowth of Cotoneaster of what may have been the site of Brunel’s pioneering
transplant of Scilla autumnalis, the Autumnal Squill, high on St Vincent’s Rocks
near the Suspension Bridge, where he had seen it some years earlier. Another
Avon Gorge plant, a survival of over 200 years and in some danger of being
trampled on or buried by over-enthusiastic felling of alien pine trees, he showed
me for safety’s sake. Freed from shading, it now flowers regularly.

I believe he helped in the removal of a tree of Sorbus porrigentiformis from Sea
Walls on the Bristol Downs in 1974 when safety works were going on at Black
Rocks. It did not survive and over the years he witnessed more failures in
conservation: it is only now clear with the application of modern methods of
survey and taxonomy that the population numbers and diversity of the whitebeams
of the Avon Gorge and elsewhere were underestimated during his stewardship.

100

In his interest in the local whitebeams, Mr Nethercott takes his place: Martha
Atwood, Thomas Flower, James White, Charles Salmon, Alfred Wilmott, Max
Walters, ‘Heff’ Warburg, and Philip Nethercott. But as White had written, there 1s
no finality in field botany, and it is the keen anticipation of discovery that
stimulates each fresh generation of workers to outdo those that have gone before.
What did he make of the monograph of British Sorbus published in 2010? He was
well aware of un-named variation in the various whitebeam populations but also
had his opinion that not all variants were worth naming. He had once shown Dr
Warburg fresh specimens of plants resembling Sorbus eminens from Cheddar, but
they were not confirmed. In deferring to Warburg’s taxonomy as he continued to
do, he was left wondering if they were therefore a distinct species.

Libby Houston, who described to me a visit Mr Nethercott once made to her house
when she showed him some of her putative new species (some of which he
appeared reasonably convinced by), suggests that it probably was S. eminens -
which turns out to be rather common at Cheddar - after all.

Despite his scholarly - or perhaps, bookish - manner, he published little: in 1998
there appeared a few pages on the conservation status of Sorbus in the Avon
Gorge, issued after a conference at Kew covering the subject from a national
perspective at which he had spoken. It was entirely in character that he described
to the listeners the population size of Sorbus wilmottiana, Wilmott’s Whitebeam as
“x, where x represents a very small number indeed”. There are also a couple of
papers in our Proceedings, one (1973) describing his collation of the newspaper
reports and off-prints making up the First Series of the Proceedings (1862-1865)
and the other bringing out the local interest in Knapp’s Gramina Britannica of
1804 (1976). He also researched and wrote a number of members’ obituaries.

Mr Nethercott was a quiet man, and, like Noel Sandwith, he remained unmarried.
Perhaps it was as Sandwith explained of himself when rudely pressed, because he
so loved the flowers; and Mr Nethercott also loved the woods and the trees. Thus it
was perhaps fitting that his last contribution to Bristol Botany (for 2004) was again
a tree, and again from the Avon Gorge, which he could overlook from his
apartment at Sneyd Park. I had respectfully commented after the old proverb,
Bristol men sleep with one eye open, that I must have passed the place asleep, with
one eye cast down; Mr Nethercott was a closer observer.

101

A comparison with the botanist Thomas Bruges Flower (1816-1899) of Bath and
Clifton, himself something of a successful discriminator of the whitebeams of the
Avon Gorge, is almost inevitable. J. W. White, the author of the Flora of Bristol
(1912) described Flower as “punctilious, precise and extremely neat” and
“singularly wary and cautious, evading ...any kind of cross examination”. So too it
was with Mr Nethercott. Interested visitors were taken around Leigh Woods, and
armed with a sheet of leaf prints they were introduced to the diversity of the
whitebeams as then accepted; but they did not wholly succeed in marking the sites
accurately on maps.

Thus it took me many years to relocate the rare natural hybrid of the Rowan and
the Common Whitebeam he had shown me on our first meeting in 1977. And it
was to that place I returned, by chance, on the day Mr Nethercott passed away. We
had both been there and back again.

Herb Robert

102

Recorders

One of the key aims of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society is to maintain records of the
Flora and Fauna of the region, and to ensure that these records reach the
appropriate local and national bodies. This process has become vastly more
efficient with the development of the web in the past few years, but it has also
become more complex as a variety of organisations compete for records.

National Organisations involved in survey work include the British Trust for
Ornithology, the Botanical Society of the British Isles, Butterfly Conservation,
Mammalaction, the British Mycological Society

Locally The Bristol Environmental Record Centre (BRERC) www.brerc.org.uk
collates and maps all records of all species, sends them on to the national NBN,
and makes them available to all those who need them, and all recorde received
from BNS members go on to BRERC. BRERC runs a series of Recording Groups;
the Avon Reptile and Amphibian Group, The Avon Butterfly project, the Bristol
Region Dragonfly Recording Scheme, The Bristol and District Moth Group, the
Bristol and District Hoverfly Group.

Ornithologists are involved in both national and local survey work, and records of
common _ birds should — be sent electronically in excel to
Richardbland@blueyonder.co.uk for includion in the Avon Bird Report. Rare bird
records should be sent to John Martin at Avonbirdrecorder@googlemail.com

Plant records should be sent to pammillman2@yahoo.co.uk for inclusion in the
annual Botany record. Rare plants in North Somerset are the responsibility of
Helena Crouch at helenacrouch@sky.com and in South Gloucestershire of Clare
and Mark Kitchen, markarkitchen@yahoo.com

Veteran Tree Records are being collected by the Woodland Trust at
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk

Phenology records should be sent to www.naturescalendar.org.uk

Lichen records should be sent to David Hill at d.j.hill@bris.ac.uk

Insect, reptile and amphibian records should be sent to Ray Barnet at
ray.barnett@bristol.gov.uk

Bat records should be sent to Bob West at recorder@avonbatgroup.org.uk

Mammal records to David Brown at batnovice@gmail.com

Fungi and Slimemoulds are the _ preserve of Justin Smith at

justin.smith@bristol.gov.uk or at home justinhongos@yahoo.co.uk

Mosses and _ Liverworts records should go to Nick Hudson at

nick.hudson@hudec.co.uk

The Botany section have established a Lower Plants Group which includes Ferns,
Mosses, Lichens, and Horsetails. Details from Nick Hudson

103

BRISTOL NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY
Annual Report 2010

Organisation

At the AGM on Saturday, June 29th 2010 the following elections were made:

Bland Mr. RL
Muston Mr. R.
Symes Mr. RG
Wookey Mrs. AM
Davies Mr. DB

President.

Honorary Secretary
Honorary Treasurer
Membership Secretary
Bulletin Editor

Leivers Ms. M Publicity
Taylor Mr. SM Archivist
Strawford Mr. DWR Webmaster
Webster Mr. J Librarian
Barnett Mr. R Invertebrates
Hudson Mr. N Botany
Steer Mr. R Geology
Johnson, Mr. MS Ornithology
Corner, Mr. T. Member
Morris, Mr.HG Member
Pocock Dr. M Member
Hilton Mr.P Member

Society membership stands at 505.

The tone for the year was set by a special Council meeting in January which set in
motion groups whose advice led Council to alter the Constitution, decide upon a
Mission Statement and Strap-line, establish a series of clear goals, improve the
monthly bulletin, and create a new Website.

Mission Statement

To study the biodiversity and geology of the Bristol Region through talks, field
meetings, and environmental recording, supporting these activities with
publications and grants.

Strap line.
Discover your natural world

104

“

1 The Annual General Meeting was held on 29th June 2010, at 7.30pm at the
Guide Association Hall, Westmoreland Road.

The President, Mrs Ann Wookey welcomed 37 members. The Treasurer’s report
was approved by the meeting. The Treasurer, Mr Stephen Fay and the accounts
examiner, Mr Ray Gooding, were thanked for their work.

Award of Honorary Membership of the Society The President proposed Mr
Richard Bland should be awarded Honorary Membership of the society in
recognition of his distinguished services to Natural History in the Bristol District.
This was unanimously approved by the meeting, and a Certificate was presented.
He was then elected as President and other officers were elected en bloc.

New Constitution Copies of the new Constitution and rules had been circulated
earlier and were adopted unanimously.

2 Grants. In 2010 the Society made ten separate grants totalling £4,072. Funding
was provided for the following research projects; The Swallow Cliff geology
project; Rings for Peregrine falcons; A dormouse research project in Leigh Woods;
Leaflets for the Downs lichen trail; A bat research project in south Bristol.

Grants were also made towards; The Henleaze Phoenix hedge appeal. The St
George’s flower bank appeal. The Nailsea Environment and Wildlife conservation
appeal.

Funding was also provided to BRERC for the purchase of a card index cabinet for
bird records.

3 Library. 2010 has been an important year for the BNS Library with the
purchase of a new computer, which has set in motion the modernisation
programme, starting with bar coding of all books. Over the last fifty years the BNS
has changed greatly, which has required a re-evaluation of the value and purpose of
the library. An additional consideration has been the shortage of space to properly
store all the books and journals which have accumulated over the last 150 years.
After much thought and debate it was decided to limit the scope of the library, as
far as journals were concerned, to an area which could be visited by a BNS
member within a days travel. Sadly this has resulted in the breaking of long
standing, if tenuous ties, with other Natural History organisations abroad and in
Britain. Space will be gradually created by disposal or relocation to other
organisations of old runs of journals deemed not to be of value to either existing or
future BNS members. The Library Committee is committed to providing an
attractive and organised display of the modern Natural History and Geology
lending books, while at the same time carefully storing older “heritage” books and
intellectually valuable journals in less accessible areas reserved for serious
researchers. In addition, there is a lot of historically valuable material which has
been identified for careful preservation by the archivist.

105

4 General Meetings. In September 2009, Bill Morris, former society president,
spoke of his experiences as a Natural Trust Warden in Leigh Woods, and the
conservation wok which was being carried out there and in the Avon Gorge Itself.
The following month, we were visited my BernardTapp who gave a vivid talk
Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. This was accompanied by a sequence of
magnificent photographs. In December our booked speaker was ill and one of our
members, Peter Rendle, stepped in at very short notice to give a slide show of his
recent visit to Antartica. In February Vassili Papastavrou, a whale biologist for
IFAW (International Fund for animal welfare) spoke on Whales and Whale
migration. Vassili’s fee was for the Society to fund that planting of an English Oak
in the grounds of St Nicholas of Tolentine Junior school, BS5 OTJ

In March, Martin Davis, author of “The Farmer and the Goose with the Golden
Eyes” spoke of his father Howard Davis who was a local farmer and prominent
local ornithologist, who introduced Peter Scott to Slimbridge. He was also the
originator of what is now the “Avon Bird Report”.

5 Section reports

Botany. The Botany Section had an interesting and varied year in 2010. Our
indoor winter programme included talks on the flora of the Lizard and rare plant
conservation. The year’s outdoor events started with a trip to the Forest of Dean
followed with a March bryology trip to Leigh Woods. In April Pam Millman
showed us the flora of Burwalls and May saw trips to Kings Wood and the Avon
Gorge. During June visits were made to Max Bog looking for locally scare mire
plants, Stockwood Open Space which has an abundance of Bath Asparagus, the
AWT Walborough Reserve and grass species on the Downs. July was the busiest
month with visits to Priddy Mineries, Bristol University Botanic Gardens, Sand
Bay and several other local trips. Late in the month saw us leave the Avon area to
visit Kenfig NNR in search of the rare orchids found here. In August we made a
visit to Iron Action to search for Climbing Corydalis amongst others trips. A
further 4 meetings were held covering a wide variety of subjects.

Geology. The Geology Section has had an interesting and varied year. We have
had four outside speakers with talks on geology subjects from far and near;- The
Afar Valley of Ethiopia, which is the site of a proto-ocean that is in the process of
opening over the next few million years (watch this space!); The work of the
Gloucestershire Geology Trust; Geographical Information Systems; and_ the
collections of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, with details of the
Strawberry Bank, Ilminster, Jurassic fossil bed.

106

There was a members’ evening with a chance to see the crinoid panel that Simon
Carpenter is working on. There were fieldwlks in the Mendips, S. Glos. and around
Saltford. Further talks and visits are planned for 2011, including a very interesting
update on recent dinosaur research, by Mike Benton and a projected visit to Bath,
for a specially organised meeting to see the, normally un-displayed, Strawberry
Bank fossils.

Invertebrates. Ray Barnett and Tony Smith were re-elected Honorary President
and Honorary Secretary, respectively at the AGM held at the Guide Association
Hall, Westmoreland Road. Bristol. A fairly limited programme of meetings was
held because of shortage of volunteers and experts available to lead walks and give
talks.

The following indoor meetings were held:

19th January Section AGM & Presidential Address on Insect pests!

16th FebruaryThe plight of White-clawed Crayfish Maddy Rees

3rd November Dipteran deception by odiferous inflorescences Mark Pajak.

and the following field meetings:

Ist May Carrs Woodland, Bath Mike Williams

10th July Lower Woods, Wetmoor (Joint meeting with the Bristol & District Moth
Group) Ray Barnett & Tony Smith

18th JulyChew Valley Lake Ringing Station (Joint meeting with the Ornithology
Section) Mike Bailey.

Officers and members of the section participated in the Bristol Bioblitz held at the
Blaise Estate on 21st and 22nd May and the subsequent mini-bioblitzes held at
Brandon Hill (24th July) and the University of the West of England campus (20th
October). The officers thank all those who led meetings.

Ornithology. 2010 has been a year packed full of exciting trips to Bristol’s
birding hotspots. Throughout the year the team led 18 field trips from the Forest of
Dean to Cheddar Reservoir, and Oldbury Power Station to the Somerset Levels.
Members caught up with some of our scarcer farmland birds in Marshfield in
February while a hunting Peregrine at Newport Wetlands provided exclusive views
of this remarkable predator in May. Additionally, in the Forest of Dean in June,
nightjars revealed some rarely seen mating behaviour. Members were entertained
and absorbed by our three indoor presentations on storm petrels, house sparrows
and the Cotswolds Water Park. We took part in various field surveys including
monitoring blackcaps, listening for screaming swifts and counting birds for the
BTO’s bird atlas work, of which most squares are now complete.

6 Publications. The Avon Bird Report was published in October, with eleven
papers and some remarkable photos. Nature in Avon was published in November
with ten original papers. The monthly bulletin carried out a series of experiments
with a changing format and the use of photographs. Much effort was spent in
building a new website.

107

7 Archives Much of the archives, which include records of meetings and
committees, and contributions from members, such as notebooks, collections,
photographs, and mementoes, have now been entered onto a database. A
remarkable recovery was of the epidiascope purchased in memory of Miss Ida
Roper. Council authorised expenditure on refurbishing the projector and the
Society is grateful to Ray Gooding for undertaking that restoration and for
scanning some 2000 3 x 3 inch glass slides onto computer files. Michael Taylor
(Archivist) died during 2010. Mike had great historical knowledge of the Society,
and had made considerable progress in identifying items, and in proposing a
structure for the collection. Council agreed a working protocol for the future
management of the archives, and authorised the transfer to the Bristol Record
Office of materials from the Bristol Microscopical Society and the Bristol
Botanical Club, which are now available for public consultation.

8 Publicity. In March the 'Wild Sparrows Survey Project’ was launched and
received excellent publicity via newspaper and internet articles as well as radio
interviews. This Bristol Biodiversity Action Plan initiative was organised by Avon
Wildlife Trust with support from the Society, Bristol City Council and the Avon
Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project.

The Society attended the Bristol Festival of Nature in June and the society was
represented at the University Botanical gardens Bee event over August Bank
Holiday.

Later in the year, two successful public 'taster' events were organised to encourage
new members. A press release was issued advertising the ‘Identifying birds at
Chew Valley Lake' and 'Identifying trees in winter' events.

.With the aim of attracting new members, posters advertising Society events were
produced on a regular basis and displayed in libraries. The Society's website was
also re-designed. It now has an inviting and contemporary look.

The Geology Section also set up a blog on the 'Geology in the West Country'
website.

Relations with other organisations. The Society sends its records to the Bristol
Environmental Records Centre, and supports the Avon and Bristol Biodiversity
Action Plans. It is closely involved with the Avon Wildlife Trust, and its last
Garden Birdwatch survey, and its new Sparrow survey. It is involved with the city
Environmental Officer and the monitoring of the Avonmouth Wind Turbines, and
carries out surveys for The British Trust for Ornithology, and the RSPB.

Membership. At the end of the year there were 503 members of the society. In the
course of the year two former Presidents died, Mrs A Hollowell and Mr SM
Taylor, and we also lost Dr WE Stanton, Mr F Bryant, Mr TM Silcocks, Mrs J
Philips, and Mr RG Winn.

108

Thanks. The Society is grateful for the help and support it received from the Earth
Sciences Department, University of Bristol, and Mr Mark Moore, Headmaster of
Clifton College, for the use of their premises for meetings, and Ms. Kate Brindley,
Director of Museums, Galleries and Archives, Bristol City Council, for continued
support of the Society Library located within the City Museum & Art Gallery. It is
also grateful to all those members of the society who gave so willingly of their
time and energy in the course of the year to support the aims of the Society.

Spotted Medick

109

Accounts
BRISTOL NATURALISTS' SOCIETY

INCOME (Incoming resources)
Membership Subscriptions

Gift Aid

Bequests & Donations

Trading

Interest Received

Miscellaneous

Total

EXPENDITURE

(A) Direct Charitable

Meetings (Room Hire & Speaker Costs)
Books & Periodicals (Library)
Nature in Avon (Proceedings)

Avon Bird Report

Bulletin Production

White Sheet Production
Publications Distribution Costs
Subscriptions to other Organisations
Publicity

Grants Awarded

Total

(B). Administration

Print & Stationery

Postage & telephone

Council Meetings (Room Hire)
Insurance

Miscellaneous

Total

Operating Surplus (Deficit)

110

9,432.56

1,149.86
848.34
1,645.00
1575.00
1,142.27
44.00
292.27
138.00
1,370.05
4,072.30

13,277.09
174.74
138.45
150.00
137.65

2235.00
2,836.20

-6,680.73

2009

6,800.50
1,061.93
2,1 05230
187.78
319:20
0.00

11,134.72

1,036.96
524.05
1,545.00
1,750.00
1,396.30
92.00
1,235.40
230.00
280.68
450.00

8,540.39
118.05
32912
200.00
141.05
140.67
928.89

1,665.44

BRISTOL NATURALISTS' SOCIETY

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2010

ASSETS

Current Assets
Prepayments
National Savings
Bank (Lloyds)
Bank (CAF)

LIABILITIES

Creditors
Subscriptions Received in Advance

Total Assets less Total Liabilities

CAPITAL

General Fund 31/12/2009
Net deficit 2010

General Fund 31/12/2010
150th Anniversary Fund
Restricted Funds

je

Notes

2010

609.53
12,332.84
472.63
28,965.66

42,380.66

113.00

113.00

43,755.76
-6,680.73
37,075.03
150.00
5,042.63

2009

513.83
12,276.48
237.43
36,081.15

49,108.89

160.50

160.50

43,755.76

150.00
5,042.63

Prepayments

Meeting Rooms
Insurance
Periodicals
Other

National Savings

Opening Balance
Interest Received
Closing Balance

CAF

Opening Balance
Interest Received
Transfer to Lloyds
Transfer charges
Closing Balance

General Fund

Bank (Lloyds)
Bank (CAF)
NS & |
Prepayments
Creditors

275.00
41.57
288.00
4.96

Restricted

5,042.63

5,042.63

General
Fund

35,951.15
68.73
7,182.82
1.40
28,815.66

472.63
28,815.66
7,290:24
609.53
-113.00

bi

609.53

General
fund

7,233.85
56.36
7,290.21

150th

Anniversary

Fund
150.00

150.00

37,075.03

TOTAL
12,276.48
56.36
12,332.84

TOTAL
36,081.15
68.73
7,182.82
1.40
28,965.66

Instructions for authors

The editor welcomes original papers or short notes on the
natural history of the greater Bristol region for
consideration for publication in Nature in Avon All papers
for consideration should reach the editor by the end of
November for publication in the following year. All Society
Reports and Biota should reach the editor by the end of
February in the year of publication.

Whenever possible, text should be submitted electronically
in Word. The data for graphs should be sent in Excel,
separately from the graph, as graphs have to be recreated to
fit the page size of the journal. Any other illustrations
should be submitted electronically.

The Editor welcomes digital photos of any natural history
subject taken in the region, whether relevant to an article or
not. They should be of the largest pixel size possible.
However as the number of colour illustrations is strictly
limited he cannot promise to print any.

The copyright of all newly published material will belong
to the Bristol Naturalists' Society, whose Council may
authorise reproduction.

STITUTION LIBRARIES

TL

01

VOLUME 70 (2010)
CONTENTS
Page
l Editorial
2 Weather 2010 R L Bland
7 Bristol Botany 2009 C Lovatt
36 The Leipner lichen collection R Rowson

!

42 Review 'Trees in Nailsea

43 House Sparrows F Thompson
49 House Sparrows H Nicholson
36 The Lichen Trail S Quinn

49 Bristol Mammals 2010 DPC Trump
Sai First flowering dates R L Bland
80 Invertebrate Report 2010 R Barnett
90 Phenology Report 2010 R L Bland

95 Obituary; P Nethercott
103 ~Recorders
104. ~=Annual Report

110 Annual Accounts.

Rerum cognoscere causas - Virgil

Cover. Common Frog R Muston

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