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a ‘he Reading Naturalist |

No. 26

Published by the Reading and District
Natural History Society
1974

Price to Non-Members

25p including postage

THE READING NATURALIST

bo. &2& for the year 1972-3

The Journal of
The Reading and District Natural History

Society

President:

Mr. His Jac Carter, M.Aes B.SC ety A.M.A.

Hon. General Secretary: | Hon. Editor:
Mise J. Toothill, B.Sc., Ph.D. Miss E. M. Nelmes
15 Birdhill Avenue Dormers
Reading 194 Cainscross Road

RG2 7JT Stroud
GLosi.

a as “dl Sub-Committees:

The Editor, 3. R. Baker, Miss L. E. Gobb,
A. Price, Mise: J. M. V. dousden,
Miss. S. Y. Townend

Honorary Recorders:
Botany: Mrs. B. M. Newman, Earley Cottage, 25 Beech Lane,
Earley, Reading
Entomology: Mr. B. R. Baker, 5 Dovedale Close, The Mount,
Caversham, Reading

Vertebrates: Mr. H. H. Carter, 82 Kennylands Road,
Sonning Common, Reading

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
‘Naturalists' Trust:

Hon. County Secretary (Berks.): Mr. B. R. Baker,
The Museum, Reading

~ CONTENTS

Obituaries
Editorial
Meetings and Excursions, 1972-73

Presidential Address:

The Even Mead
Memories of Kingsmere and Heath Pool

Albinism in frogs (Rana temporaria L.)

breeding from single recessives
Report on Aston Upthorpe - 1973
Fungus Foray at Harpsden woos
Note: Amanita solitaria

Honorary Recorders! Reports:
Botany
Vertebrates

Entomology
Weather Records in 1973
Monthly Weather Notes 1973
Atmospheric Pollution 1973

Membership

. E.

As

Cobb

Butler

Price

Sell

M.

Trembath

Trembath

Newman

Carter

Baker

‘Moon

Moon

Moon

Page

20

21

24

ey

28

29
33
37

k6

4?

48

#9

“i ow
Mrs. Ada Chandy

By the death of Mrs. Ada -Chandy.in August 1973, our Society
lost one of the two people who must have worked hardest for its
welfare. The other was, of course, Mr. Fishlock. When he relin-
quished the Secretaryship to become our President in 1953 after
twenty years, devoted service, it seemed that the gap would be
impossible to fill, but Mrs. Hasker, a friend of his and a com-
paratively new member of whom we knew little, stepped in and,
under his guidance, filled the office with efficiency and
enthusiasm for eleven years, making it her very life.

Carrying out the duties now shared by the general, winter
programme 'and membership secretaries, Mrs. Fishlock, as she became
in 1958, spared no trouble to ensure the smooth running of our
affairs, brought a distinguished panel of speakers to address us
meeting by meeting year after year, and was always at hand to
extend to members the friendly welcome to which she attached the
highest importance. She was unfailing in her attentiveness to
elderly and sick members.

She was particularly interested in the South-eastern Union of
Scientific Societies to which we were affiliated and at whose
meetings she represented: the Society for many years. It was
largely as a result of her hard work and efficiency that. the
Union's 1958 congress, held'in Reading at the joint invitation of
this Society and the Zoological Department of the. University, .was
generally acclaimed as one of the most successful ever held.’

Shortly after Mr. Fishlock's death, she endowed an annual
prize in his memory to encourage the love of natural history among

the younger school children of Reading. In 1967, Mrs, Chandy, as
she had then become,:was elected an Honorary Member of the Society,

and although;her failing health has prevented her from coming
among us frequently of late, we. welcomed her each year when she
came to the A.G.M. to present. the Fishlock prize.

She was deeply interested. in the countryside, nature and
rural, life and showed a particular interest in Reading's trees.
Nature, lovers in the town’mourn an ally who did not spare herself
in serving their cause.

An Appreciation, or Random Recollections of Every Day Life
with the late George: Thomas Vear | .

by J. Bowden

Mr. George Thomas Vear, who died: on 27th November 19735 an his
1O2nd year, was born near gvheeos in Lincolnshire on 12th March
1872. I think he believed that his ancestors came from the little
town of Veere on the Island of Walcheren in South Holland, but he
had no proof of this. We know, however, that the Dutch did come
here to help with drainage work on the Fens.

He commenced work with Wm. Ridley & Sons, Timber Merchants in

poe ee

Reading, at the age of 13 in 1885. He was told at his interview
that he must always be polite and punctual and neatly dressed "as
you are now"! - they were his best clothes that he wore. Office
hours were from 6 to 8 for dusting, 8.30 to one o'clock and 2.15
to 6,30 "or when work was finished", payment being £1 per month.
One morning he was told that he was one minute late.

I first met him in 1911 when office work started at 8.30 -
money still the same. I was rather apprehensive of him; he looked
so severe when he wore pince=nez. I remember so well when he was
trying to explain some intricate (to me) figures of the trade. I
kept saying "yes, yes er - yes sir", he would say "don't say yes if
you don't understand, I am trying to help you". What long hours we
worked in those days. Some years llater he had arranged for us to
go to the Theatre, a Shakespeare play I think; we were still at the
office at 7.30. much too late to go. Another late evening to
retell - about 8 o'clock, raining hard, only the governor and T.V.
there. He had no coat or umbrella but seeing what he believed was
the office "gamp" said goodnight and took it. The next morning he
was reproved. "Oh" said he, "I took it to be the office umbrella".
Mr. Ridley replied"You knew it wasn't yours"!

Before he married he enjoyed a cycling tour with two or three
companions thro' Holland. . He also went to an Exhibition in Paris
in 1900. In his early married life he did well over a hundred
geometric drawings (designs) which he coloured. He had an intimate
knowledge of the work of Charles. Dickens, a general knowledge of
Shakespeare's plays - some in detail =- and of poetry, including
some by American writers. He had read most if not all of Jules
Verne's stories in French, could read Dutch, he had some knowledge
of Greek (knew and recited by heart the Greek alphabet with his
sisters from the age of six). He was a member of the Reading and
District Natural History Society, and knew the Latin names of many
birds, butterflies and flowers. He was particularly interested in
the engravings of Gustav Dore and had thousands of his illustrations.

One might think perhaps that I am over-egging the pudding in
my praise of him, but having known him for sc many years I can
assure the reader this is not so. His knowledge was quite fantastic
and infinitely varied; as Goldsmith says in "Deserted Village" .. ©
“Nand still they gazed and still the wonder grew that one small head
could carry all it knew". It became a household phrase among his
acquaintanceSin time; any difficulty in spelling, history, etc.

"ask Mr. Vear"'. He wrote beautiful Pitman shorthand, even at
speed, which others could read readily.

When we were timber-measuring together in the woods, usually
during the winter months, we dressed in old clothes and boots for
walking thro! brambles, barbed wire and ditches - we looked far
from smart. I recall being on a Gentleman's estate one rough wet
windy day. We met the owner and some conversation arose between
them. I could see the gentleman looked impressed at my old
friend's knowledge; various subjects arose upon which they warmed
together, and eventually we were invited into the house. My
friend soon spotted a pair of Louis (?XV) French Clocks; he was
told they had been purchased quite independently and what a for-
tunate find the second one was. They then discussed the various
pictures and naturally my old friend knew something of the old
masters and the two were entertaining each other admirably - I

~~

might add, with a glass of whisky apiece (but T.V. was no drinker)
But to be realistic in my admiration of him, I must strike a lower
note. He freely admitted he knew nothing whatsoever of music and,
like John Jorrocks which fills the bill, he only knew two tunes -
one was God Save the Queen and the other wasn't!

He had an expert knowledge of timber, the identifi ation of
trees and measuring and had been appealed to at the Courts more
than once to arbitrate on disputed valuations. Some years ago he
handed over to the Reading Museum a fine collection of woods,
neatly prepared and labelled by himself and they appeared like
books when stacked on shelves. . Once when he was being driven by
one of the Mr. Ridleys (a rare thing) they saw a very large tree
some distance from the road. Stopping, he was asked about its size
while sitting in the car. “Probably 30" % girth" he said. "Well,
measure it'' he was told, which le did. On returning he said "Oh,

I find I was wrong, it is 29%''. <A dealer showing Mr. Vear a large
tree lying in a ditch said “What will you give me for that ...(a
bad word)?". "Oh, an Elm, I see" said T.V., "I did not recognize
it by your description". fe had to see a country Parson about a
tree to be felled and remarked "It surprises me that a man of God
should wish to dispose of the Tree of Heaven" (Ailanthus Glandulosa).
He retired at the age of 70 on 12th March 1942.

He was twice President of the Reading and District Natural
History Society and was elected an Honorary Member in 1945. He had
a moment of pride one evening when he was President in the chair.
His wife was in the audience, his younger son was about to deliver
a lecture, and the older one was operating the lantern slides. My
dear cld friend was delighted that the Vears were in so much
evidence that evening.

For many years since his blindness I visited him weekly and
read many books of his choosing to him. On departing I invariably

said -"Well, goodbye, Mr. Vear, take care of yourself" - "TI do"
said he; -"and don't mess about" - "I don't." -"and God bless you,
Mr. Vear" ="He does, He most certainly does"; - "hope to see you

next week" =- "Oh I hope so",

He was a fine, honourable, gentlemanly fellow, very modest,
often saying that he had only a smattering of quite useless inform-
ation. He had been a regular Church goer all his life, had an
undoubted faith, and was convinced of a life after death. God
rest him.

att 6
Editorial

Naturalists who have lived in or around Reading ince before
the war have seen many and at times devastating changes. occur,
sometimes with unbelievable swiftness, in the local flora, fauna
and countryside. Following the high example set by Miss Cobb in
her Presidential Address, which appears in this number of the
Reading Naturalist, it has been suggested that at this point in its
history a useful function of the Society would be to put details
of such changes on record, as has been done by Miss Butler in
another article. We accordingly invite members who have relevant
personal recollections of any area to put them on paper for
publication in future numbers.

Notice to Contributors

All available records for inclusion in the Honorary Recorders!
Reports should reach them by September 30th. Supplementary
records can be submitted up to the date of the Annual General
Meeting, but any received after that may be held over until the
following year.

Original papers can be submitted to the Honorary Editor at
any time up to the beginning of October and short reports and
notes not suitable for inclusion in the Honorary Recorders!
Reports by the middle of November.

-7-

Meetings and Excursions 1972-73

The winter season of evening meetings opened with the Annual
General Meeting, at which Miss L. E. Cobb delivered her President-
jal Address entitled 'The Even Mead! (attendance 4 0). The
lectures given at other meetings during the season were 'Some
Aspects of the Ecology of Chalk Grassland' by Dr. C. J. Smith (32);
"Ecological Studies on the River Lambourn' by Dr. J. F. Wright
(41); ‘Succulent Plants in Habitat' by Mr. G. D. Rowley (39);
'Falconry and Conservation! by Mr. R. Upton (40); 'The Role of the
Mediterranean in the Huropean Flora', by Professor V.H.. Heywood
(37); ‘Berkshire Bumble Bees', by Dr. I. H. H. Yarrow (42); and
'Man, Beaches and the Sennen : by Dr ed dP ¢ Loli ffe j033).».,, One
of the remaining meetings was devoted to films (26) and the other
two to members! films, talks and exhibits (47 and 43).

Winter walks were taken on December 2nd, for birds (3),
February 10th, to Swallowfield (c. 8) and March 10th, for mosses
(c. 30). On November 4th. a meeting was held in Mr. R. Gamble's
garden at Woodley for.soil insects (3) and on January 13th Mr. A.
Price conducted a Microscopical Afternoon at his house in Reading.

The summer field meetings were: April 14th, Great Chalk
Wood, near Goring (23); April 28th, Burghfield Common (30);
May 12th, Swyncombe Hill (35); May 16th, an evening excursion to
Wargrave Marsh (12); May 26th, Ivinghoe Beacon and Tring (17);
May 30th, evening excursion to Whitchurch Hill (15); June 9th,
Bix Bottom (21); June 135th, evening excursion to Whiteknights
Park (c. 25); June 23rd, coach excursion to the Forest of Dean
(46); July 7th, Lodge Hill area (8); July 20th, evening excursion
to Pamber Forest (9, rain stopped activities); er elst,
Thatcham Marsh (16); August 4th, Grangelands and other B.B,.O.N. r.
reserves (16); August 18th, eek Estate (c. 15); September
lst, Englemere Pond,. near Aas (17); September 15th, Fence Wood,
Hermitage and disused railway line (c. 12); September 29th,
riverside and woods, Pangbourne to Goring (c. 12); October 13th,
Virginia Water (6); and October 30th, fungus foray at Harpsden
Woods (c. 30). o :

a Ota

The Even Mead

The Presidential Address
to the Reading and District Natural History Society
12th October 197e

by L. E. Cobb

When I addressed you at the A.G.M. a year ago I drew on the
experience of more than thirty years of membership to tell you
something of the Society over that period, and I thought it might
be of interest if to-night we turned our thoughts outwards to the
country around us and considered! the changes, and perhaps now and
again the lack of change, to be seen over the same period in the
countryside of Reading and District “and in its flora and fauna.
To make this survey more representative than it could be if I
relied on my impressions only, I have supplemented these with notes
kindly provided by two other members of long standing, whom I
should like to thank very warmly for their co-operation.

Inevitably the tale is in many ways a sad one, but it is not
without its consolations. I suppose we can be considered com- °
paratively fortunate so far in that most of the places we visited
on our excursions thirty years ago are still fairly open country,
and it would prebably be possible to repeat much of a season's
programme of those days. How long that state of affairs will con-
tinue’ when the development plan for the south-east gathers
momentum I do not know. I think anyone giving such a talk as this
in ten years! time would probably have a very different tale to
tell.

And although much of the countryside is still there, what of
its quality from the natural-history point of view? The picture
here is less rosy. It is perhaps rather an anomaly that virtually
none of Britain's 'natural countryside' is in fact natural.

Though it is seldom fully realised, all except the small tracts of
relict forest in this sophisticated island is man-made. High
altitudes and extremes of temperature produce their characteristic
flora and fauna, and thus create diversity, but in our humid and
equable climate, the climax vegetation is always forest. The
flowery meadows and road verges, primrose-carpeted copses, gay
railway banks and heather moors and heathland are all the result of
the activity of man and his domestic animals in the interplay of
ordinary rural and semi-rural life as it was lived for centuries
and continued to be lived until times that many of us can remember.
Changes in man's habits can quickly affect diversity and reduce
numbers of species. The change from grazing to arable farming,
ploughing subsidies, mechanisation, the use of insecticides and
herbicides and the decline in rural industries have all taken
their toll, which must be added to the sweeping losses to towns,
roads, power stations and car parks.

Even leaving the countryside to itself reduces variety of
species or substitutes the less desirable as Shakespeare told us:

Pa: ali

'The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover
Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank,
Conceives by idleness, and nothing teems

But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, PRR
Losing both beauty and Meo

We are very fortunate in this area in the wide range of
habitats and types of country within easy reach.e The main ones
are: the acid heathlands, the chal« downland, woodland, stream-
Side and finally the homely, lived-in countryside, compounded of
lanes, arable and pasture fields, hedgerows and, formerly, the
farm or village pond. What has happened in each of these?

The heathlands were never rich, botanically at least, but
made up in beauty what they lacked in variety when the bell heather
was at the height of its glory. I remember Finchampstead Ridges
and Burghfield, Mortimer and Bucklebury Commons, when they were
sheets of purple as far as the eye could see. A French friend,
whom I took to Finchampstead Ridges shortly before the last war
was incredulous before the intensity of the colour. Now one has
to search for heather in all these places among the -all-invading
bracken or birches. At Inkpen Common, where management has Frec-
ently passed to B.B.O.N.T., efforts are being made to return part
of the area to heather by discouraging the invading gorse, birch,
and bracken, but the task is not proving. a simple one even when
only a small area is involved. An early attempt produced not
heather but thistles.

Chalk grassland is one of the saddest losses because it for-
merly seemed to me, and to many botanists, incomparably our most
beautiful habitat. The typical, charming flowers of the chalk in
their delicacy and variety can still be found in many of their old
Sites, but generally they are struggling to maintain themselves.
among a rank growth of coarse grasses andj there is little resem-
blance .to the spectacle of a multi-coloured profusion of flowers
starring short-cropped turf - Shakespeare's 'even mead'. This
turf we owed first to grazing by downland sheep and then to the
activities of rabbits, which were to.be decimated by myxomatosis
in the 1950's. Both sheep and rabbits are regarded with disfavour
by conservationists in many areas where their activities were
excessive and prodused near-desert conditions, but in Berkshire
they performed to near-perfection a task at which we make but an
indifferent showing when we try to do it without their aid.
Happily, I think I see signs this year of the beginning of a
return of sheép to the Downs. .

Copses were among the best habitats for the all-round natur-
alist, providing, in addition to a sheltered environment for the
much loved spring flowers (primroses, wood sorrel, wood. anemones,
moschatel and many more), nesting sites for a: Ch tiebttst of birds.
and cover for badgers, foxes, and indeed most of our relatively
few wild mammals. Copses have suffered severely in two ways.
Many have. undergone complete annihilation, being merged ina matter
of hours into the surrounding arable land by. the ruthless action .
of the bulldozer. Bottom Copse at Arborfield, my favourite. child-
hood haunt, is one of these.. -A.small copse at Woodley that
delighted me each spring as I looked at it every day from the

es a

windows of the London train has given place to a school playing
field. Others, left undisturbed, either because their siting did
not make an alternative use economically desirable or through a
well-intentioned wish to consider amenities, have been left
entirely to their fate, as there is no longer a market for the
products of coppicing. They have therefore become an impenetrable
tangle, too dark to allow any ground flora to develop and too
thick even to harbour many species of birds. Perhaps the mammals
still find them hospitable. I hope so.

One of the most complete losses and a sad one is the village
pond = victim of the mechanical age. At one time, the pond was an.
essential part of the make-up of any village, where it served the
needs of thirsty horses and was the delight of small children with
its inevitable flotilla of ducks and an interesting variety of
animats to be fished out from the shelter of the weed. This often
included sheets of water crowfoot that in summer turned it into an
inverted milky way. With the passing of the horse'as a normal
means of transport and haulage, and changes in farming methods,
the pond became redundant, and, far from being considered a desir-
able amenity, became the object of dislike and attack by the
majority who considered it untidy, unsightly, unhygienic or danger-
ous and applauded any move to fill it in, generally for replacement
by concrete or bricks and mortar in one form or another.

Finally, waysides! They were and are the most generally
accessible of habitats, there to be enjoyed or ignored by virtually
all except the house-bound or at least the town-bound. Waysideg
with the hedgerows behind them were formerly a source of delight
in almost any rural area with a succession of flowers according to
the geology, from the cow parsley of early spring through the
seasons of hawthorn, elder, stitchwort, honeysuckle, roses, cam-
pions, scabious, knapweeds, vetches and toadflax to the berries of
autumn. The hedges provided shelter for birds' nests and innumer-
able insects and the verges for small mammals. The hedges have
fallen victim to labour costs and the verges to herbicides and
mechanical cutters combined with a passion for tidyness that leads
many people actually to prefer a country roadside that looks like
a poor attempt at a suburban lawn. Waysides are still potentially
one of the best repositories of our fast-disappearing wildlife, and
in this area much is being done in establishing good relations
with local authorities and securing the abandonment of the use of
herbicides on verges and co-operation in fixing cutting times to
ensure the minimum loss of beauty. One nevertheless wonders
whether the colourful waysides of our childhood are gone for ever
from south-east England and fears it may be so. They have not
disappeared everywhere, however, and on holiday in Northumberland.
this year I found the hedgerows a riot of hogweed, elder, roses,
honeysuckle and tufted vetch. They were a sheer delight.

What of some of our old haunts? In the 1940's and 1950's,
the first excursion of the season was very often to Padworth
Gulley, and if this repetition seems a little unenterprising, I can
assure members who did not know the sulley in those days that to
walk up the path under the budding trees and look down on tHe
anemone-covered sides of the gulley and the marsh marigolds in the
Stream below was an experience that certainly bore repeating year
by year. Alas! as the "60's advanced, our beautiful gulley became
choked with brambles and quite impenetrable. However, I visited

ek i

it again this spring and found that all the undergrowth had been
cleared and a bed cut for the stream. All was in perfect order.
The ground was largely bare, but the species that formerly graced
it - marsh marigolds, anemones, wood sorrel, golden saxifrage -
were all represented in small numbers. Conditions seem ideal for
re-colonisation, and it is a site to be watched with keen interest.
The surrounding area has a rich early spring flora. _

Bix, of course, though farther afield and more difficult of
access, was all the more appreciated when we reached it. With
its wonderful. flora, it was.always a highlight for the botanists.
Happily, through the.vision and untiring efforts of Vera Paul, this
magnificent site has become B.B.O.N.T.'s most extensive and highly
prized reserve and is as safe as it can be made in these uncertain
and ruthless days. If some of us nostalgically regret the need
for 'management', nature trails, car parks and wardens, these are
a very small price to pay for the continued existence of the site.

_ Greenham Common provided a favourite August excursion for its .
bog flora until it disappeared under the concrete of an American
airfield during’ the later years of the war, and we must count our-
Selves lucky that we still have Snelsmore. The Kennet remains as
a haven for water flora and fauna, though my last sight of a king-
fisher was before the hard winter of 1963 and the insect life here
as elsewhere seems to me to be much reduced in quantity and
variety. Brian Baker tells me that he fears for the scarce
Burnished Brass moth in the marshes between Newbury and Thatcham

and that gravel extraction will be taking place over some of_this
ground. However, there has been consultation between naturalists,

planners and contractors, and it is hoped that reservoir areas

will allow continuance of the rich pattern of wildlife in this area.
Beenham Woods were the scene of the first excursion in 1948 and
again in 1971, and the Loddon Valley and Aston Rowant, visited in
1918, Checkendon visited in 1949 and Watlington Hill visited in
1951 featured on our programme again this year.

Thus much of our countryside remains to be visited and enjoyed
for its relatively unpolluted air and comparative freedom from
bricks and mortar, but what has happened to the plants and animals
found in it? Here the situation is generally much less satisfact-
ory. The gloomiest record of all is that of pondlife. At one of
our meetings last winter we heard of the deterioration of Wokefield
Common pond, which was famous among entomologists as the site of
Philip Corbett's work on the life history of the Emperor dragonfly
(Anax imperator). We heard that in the 1950's as many as 3,000
of these splendid creatures emerged in a single season from that
comparatively small pond. -For many years, members of this Society
provided a working party each winter to clear the pond of rubbish
and try to keep it in a biologically’ satisfactory condition. Now,
it appears that with the pollution resulting from heavy building
development and the activities of gipsies, the battle is being
lost and a valuable site will probably have to be written offf.. I
visited it in August and it looked a far from happy place. Arthur
Price has supplied me with particulars of six other habitats around
Reading that are disappearing or have already gone. Ponds and
ditches at Tilehurst Potteries, another local site for the Emperor
dragonfly, are being filled in with rubbish and severe pollution
from paint drums is affecting, in addition to the dragonfly, the
water bug Ranatra linearis and frogs, toads, and common and crested

i ae

newts. Colliers Claypit is being levelled for housing. Housing
development has destroyed an extensive and valuable site at
Coleman's Moor, Woodley, which had a rich and unusual flora as
well as interesting birds and insects and was often visited and
studied by members of this Society. The water violet (Hottonia
palustris) has gone, the fate of the very rare beetle Ilybius
subaeneus and of the uncommon Hydaticus seminiger and Ranatus
grapii is problematical, and several species of Wainscot moth and
interesting Caddis and dragonflies have been lost. The flow of
the ditch at Little John's Farm.behind the Oxford Road has been
greatly reduced by work near Cow Lane. It is now overgrown by
horn-wort (Ceratophyllum), and the water violet, forg-bit
(Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) and bladderwort (Utricularia vulgaris)
are greatly reduced. The level of the water meadows by Cow Lane
has been raised 6 ft. by dumping and levelling, and four species
of water beetles including the rare Dytiscus circumcinctus are
affected, as well as the liverwort Riccia fluitans (Crystalwort).
At Kingsmere near Finchampstead, water skiing with the consequent
oil pollution is damaging the water spider Argyroneta aquatica,
the fate of which is unknown, and also the uncommon water beetles,
Ilybius senescens and Jlybius guttiger. The only slight ray of
light in this direction is the fact that Heath Pond, now conserved
and the property of the National Trust maintains a small popula-
tion of some of the species endangered (or worse) at Kingsmere.

The change in insect life must be apparent to all. Every-
one, not just the naturalist, is aware of the lack of the colourful
butterflies (Peacocks, Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshells and even
Commas in good numbers) that used to jostle one another on our~-
buddleias and michaelmas daisies. Now, we usually have to count
ourselves lucky to see ones and twos. On a Whitsuntide outing
twenty or so years ago, I always relied on seeing an Orange-tip
butterfly, the handsome black and red froghopper Tomaspis
vulnerata, several kinds of ladybirds, dragonflies and brightly
coloured weevils and a Cardinal beetle. Now, I am pleased to see
one or two of these. The soldier beetles still frequent the umbels
but not in the dense masses of those days. One of my most inter-
esting early entomological experiences with the Society was
visiting Greenham Common on a brilliantly sunny day in high summer
and having pointed out to me innumerable Grayling butterflies
resting on the ground tilted over until they almost lay flat and
cast no shadow. The white and gray mottled undersides of their
wings provided such a perfect camouflage that it was hard to pick
them out on the rough soil. It is many years since I last saw a
Grayling butterfly. I was delighted to see a Wall butterfly at
Upton this summer. It was my first for years. I used to have
them in the garden every summer and Small Coppers too.

I had another exciting experience reserved for a very new and
uninformed lepidopterist, when having watched a nondescript little
brown butterfly settle on a grass stem on the Downs and seemingly
disappear, I discovered on closer examination of the spot that the
underside was green and was able by rapid consultation of South to
confirm that there was indeed such a butterfly and that I was see-
ing my first Green Hairstreak. This charming little butterfly was
common enough, and a visit to the chalk Downs at the right season
would generally be rewarded with a sight of one, but, though they
are probably still not rare, I am not so favoured nowadays. Also,
although a walk on the Downs. at the appropriate season can still

ine

be fairly well relied upon to yield a Blue, it is usually a Common
Blue. It was not always so. Brian Baker reports that the south-
facing chalk slope overlooking the Thames at Hardwick held our
closest colony of the Adonis Blue until it was ploughed during

the war and the colony lost. The north-facing slope of Hardwick
Hill formerly held the Chalkhill Blue and Marbled White butterflies
in quantity. On this ground, nature is taking its own course and
with the loss of the rabbits a coarse grass cover has developed and
hawthorn scrub has encroached at the expense of the food plants of
these butterflies. The story is the same at Streatley Hill where
the northern face is rapidly ‘scrubbing up' and the Adonis Blue and
Silver Spotted Skipper have long since disappeared. The same
applies to other slopes and trackways on the Berkshire Downs, and
though valiant efforts have been made by Martin Sell and his
helpers from R.D.N.H.S. to redress the situation at Aston Upthorpe,
the Chalkhill Blue butterfly colony has not yet re-established
itself. The higher ground above Padworth Gulley used to be fine
ground for High Brown and Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries. The
former was especially abundant in 1941. The ground seemed beyond
cultivation, being plateau gravel close to woodland fringe with
deep alder gullies. However, an attempt was made at cereal growing,
followed by the introduction of pigs, and this finished the local-
ity as far as fritillaries were concerned.

. Brian ends his contribution on a more cheerful note and
strangely starts with a statement that seems to be in contradiction
with Arthur Price's remarks! Perhaps every cloud really has got a
silver lining! He feels that we can turn towards the credit side™
in considering aquatic habitats. He is thinking especially of the
many artificial lakes now existing west of ey Although these
were stark when first excavated, some have now 'matured' and pro-
vide rich breeding grounds for dragonflies such as the Scarce
Aeshna. Brian also cites the unexpected arrival in the Burghfield
area of the Pine Hawk Moth, for which a favourable habitat is
assured by the policy of continued coniferisation in this area
where local lepidopterists first saw it in July 1944, Since that
time, it has become a steady resident, though the peak numbers of
the '50's have not been reached of late. However, it still occurs
widely across the heathlands of South Berkshire and North Hampshire
and has recently been taken at light in the Chiltern beechwoods at
Goring Heath. The monoculture of cereals covering much of the
Downs to the detriment of Blue butterfly colonies has’ provided a
habitat for the Brighton Wainscot, formerly only to be found with
certainty upon the wheat-fields of Salisbury Plain. Much good
country remains, and it is heartening to know that some of those
concerned with the forestry operations on extensive estates in
Berkshire and Hampshire have realised how easy it is to wipe out
long established colonies of woodland butterflies and are now
anxious to promote their conservation by Lear Ane, viable reservoir
areas.

It“is hard ‘to assess the position as regards mammals, which
are comparatively seldom seen even when present, but it is obvious
that the urban sprawl must have driven most kinds further from us,
and presumably the decrease in: broad—leaved woodland, copses and
hedgerows must have reduced the number that can find living space
in the neishbourhood. However, badger setts are still to be ‘found
in’ many copses, hedgehogs still accept gifts ‘of milk in town gar-
dens in’ spite of the high toll on the roads, and the fallow deer

PS ge

has been joined by the muntjac. The near disappearance of the
alien rabbit made way for a much increased population of the native
hare, and the fortunes of the rabbit itself are now, I think, on
the mend. The temerity of the grey squirrels knows no bounds (and
pests and intruders though they may be, yet they have great charm),
and the fox, no doubt finding modern farms unprofitable, comes more
and more boldly into town to raid the more fruitful dumps and
dustbins.

Birds are under pressure from many directions, notably from
pesticides, pollution and destruction of scrub and hedgerow, as
well as predators and the hazards of weather, which struck with
savage ferocity in the early months of 1963. The wrens, which
suffered particularly at that time have made a good recovery, but
I do not think that the kingfisher, which came near to extinction,
has approached its former numbers. I do not know why it is that
the cuckoo, which formerly, having delighted us each year by
announcing the return of spring, soon threatened to drive us crazy
with its monotonous call, is now so rarely heard that the sound of
its voice is always an excitement. The scarcity of the nightingale
is easier to explain, for it is exacting in its habitat require-
ments and coppice of the desired density is scarce. It is strange
to reflect that thirty years ago one had only to open a window in
Northcourt Avenue on a warm May night to hear the stillness broken
by the sweet notes of a nightingale from Leighton Park, and, in
Whitley Wood, the inhabitants complained bitterly that the night-
ingales prevented them from sleeping. The wryneck, though I have
never seen it, was recorded year by year from Caversham gardens in
those early years, and more recently it nested regularly in
Tilehurst, I believe, but I do not think that it has occurred
locally for many years. Rooks built up to large numbers during the
war as a result of the increased acreage under cereal crops, and
though some of the nearest rookeries are no more, there has been
one in the town centre within the last few years and one has to
travel only a few miles out on an early spring day to be sure of
seeing activity on the skyline and hearing the fascinating call.
On an excursion to the heronry at Coley Park in March 1960, we saw
twelve nests, some twenty-five herons standing in the field and
several leaving and returning to nests and standing in the tree
topse The following year, I noted twenty nests, of which at least
twelve were large and occupied, and similar activity, but the
building of high blocks of flats very near the site hds disturbed
the birds severely. Against the losses, we can set the short-
eared owls that regularly winter at Aston Upthorpe in increasing
numbers. Whether they have formed this habit comparatively
recently or we have become aware of them comparatively recently, I
do not know.

I have already referred more than once to Aston Upthorpe.
This is a magnificent piece of chalk downland over which B.B.O.N.T.
has a twenty-five year agreement with the owner for the mainten-
ance of a habitat for. juniper and some rich chalk flora, mainly
the pasque flower (Anemone pulsatilla). We, as a Society, have
undertaken to carry out the necessary conservation work, which has
been in progress for several years. Here, as over the ee of the
Downs, the 'even mead', wanting sheep and having only a modest
population of rabbits, has gonceived by idleness and brought forth,
not docks and thistles certainly, but a rank growth of coarse

Phi (ae

grass. To combat this.and encourage the sheep's fescue and the
freckled cowslip, burnet and the rest, Martin Sell, supported by

a small band of rakers, annually in late winter wields not a scythe
but a 'Flymo'. A vast improvement in the appearance of the turf
has resulted. In 1970, there were two very large colonies of. cow-
Slips, Polygala calcarea (chalk milkwort) was widespread, and
candytuft appeared. Senecio campestris (field fleawort), the frog
orchid and the pyramidal orchid occur there, as does also Orchis
ustulata. This.attractive little plant had been shown in the
Museum in 1917, and I heard rumours that it grew at Streatley, but
it was not until B.B.O.N.T. acquired the Reserve that I came to
know it in England. It now flourishes on the Reserve, and in good =:
years has been plentiful.

The story of the pasque flower itself, however, is to me a
baffling and sad one. This beautiful flower has always been
extremely local in our area, but we used to have a site off the
Fair Mile above Streatley where it could be described as locally
abundant. The Aston Upthorpe site was not then widely known. I
first had the thrill of seeing pasque flowers on a Discussion Group
outing to the Fair Mile site very early in the war. The plants ~
grew scattered fairly plentifully over the crown of a hillock, the
purple and gold flowers making a picture of great splendour. When
we found that the forces had taken over the area for shelling
practice and that the targets were on top of our cherished hill,
we felt that the pasque flower in Berkshire was doomed. But we
were quite wrong. As the ground in which it grew was torn up
month in month out, the pasque flower flourished and increased.

The plants covered the top and sides of the hill so thickly that

on approaching, one could discern a purple haze from far away.
Although the site was locally well known and there was consider-
able picking, the colony increased, for the plants still set
quantities of seeds. The property changed hands and all access

was forbidden, so I have not seen the site for many years, but I
understand that the colony has almost died out and that there were |
no flowers at all this spring. <At Aston Upthorpe, we have suffered
from the activities of voles, which nibble off the flowers. We
must be grateful that the pasque flower survives there, but it does
so only in small numbers in spite of our efforts, and I feel that
we have not found the complete answer. There should be a way of
stimulating it to form a more prolific colony.

Another of our specialities, the fritillary (Fritillaria
meleagris) has fared better. In my childhood, long before I was
associated. with this Society, a visit to the fritillary field at
Stanford End Mill near Riseley was an annual delight. The farmer
and his wife had the welfare of the flowers very much at heart.
They kept the cattle out of the field until the plants had died
down, and they sat on guard at the gate during the flowering sea-
son, charging visitors a modest 6d a bunch. They waged a hard
battle with the gipsies who tried to outwit them each. year and
strip the flowers for sale. Every year, all flowers in one section
of the field were left to set seed.. Recently, I have visited the
field much less often. In 1957, I went and was confronted with a
Sorry sight. The flowers, many fewer than usual, were almost all
deformed. The suggested explanation was that the buds had been
attacked by wood pigeons. For several years, I heard. gloomy
reports from -fellow. members on the poor showing of the plants.

«16 =

In 1970, with the Wiltshire Naturalists' Trust, I visited a field
near Cricklade, where, helped by the traditional system of land
tenure, fritillaries grew so thickly that it was hard to avoid
treading on them and they stretched as far as the eye could see.
When I visited Stanford End a few days later, I was delighted to
find that, though the field was much smaller than the Wiltshire
one, the flowers were growing as thickly and were in equally good
condition. The situation seemed to me to compare quite favourably
with what it had been forty years earlier. This spring I found
good, of not spectacular, numbers. This seems to me to be an
example of highly successful management, for which we must be
thankful, for the fritillary is now known from not more than thir-
teen localities I believe, whereas before 1930, it was known from
more than a hundred.

I find it difficulltt to assess the position with regard to our
very own speciality the summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum) or as
it is best known to us, the Loddon lily. It spreads with ease,
bulbs that are washed downstream readily becoming established to
found new colonies, but the green-tipped white bells, rather like
outsize snowdrops, are extremely attractive and have always been
a prey to mass picking both by gipsies for sale and by the ever
increasing numbers of local dwellers and visitors for their own
enjoyment. I am told by boat owners that it flourishes in the
relative safety of islands on the Thames, but on its native Loddon,
I find it elusive. On a memorable evening, 14th May 1948, with
the Editor I took a path southwards from Loddon Bridge to a meadow
where the river was fringed by a band of Loddon lilies several
feet wide. Those on the landward side had been cut off, appar-
ently grazed, but beyond this was a wide belt in all its beauty -
an unforgettable sight but the only such view of Loddon lilies
that I have ever had. That evening was memorable for two other
things. The riverside vegetation was covered with the sparkling
metallic blue and green of recently emerged adults of the damselfly
Agrion splendens, a sight I have never seen repeated, and a little
later I walked along Shinfield Road listening to nightingales. To
return to the Loddon lilies - some years later when a party of
visiting naturalists came to see some of our specialities we were
able to show them just one flower of the Loddon liiy at Sandford
Mill. Years later, on an excursion to Woodley that I was unable to
attend, many Loddon lilies were seen. A few days later, I care-
fully followed the route that had been taken. An entry that had
been open then was now closed with barbed wire, building operations
were in progress on the site and I was able to find only two or
three Loddon lilies in a ditch. Near Sandford Mill, they survived
in some numbers but in conditions that to me seemed hardly to
qualify as truly wild. However, I am assured that they are still
quite plentiful.

Cornfield weeds deserve a special mention. Whatever the far-
mers may think, cornfields have deteriorated badly from the
naturalists' point of view. Hardly a weed! Apart from the showy
expanses of poppies, they used to produce in modest numbers an
assortment of less conspicuous but very attractive flowers.

Venus' looking glass (Specularia hybrida) can still be found here
and there and the two Kickxia's sometimes in fair numbers, and
Venus! comb or shepherd's needle (Scandix) turns up very occasion-
ally, but others have virtually disappeared. As a child,I used to
come upon the corn buttercup (Ranunculus arvensis), with its

st EF oe

attractive fruits from time to time, but I have not seen it for
some forty years, though our Secretary found one plant this year.
It is shattering to know that this species was recorded as abundant
in meadows and fields in the little local Flora published in 1900.
In the same book, larkspur (Delphinium ajacis), which I have never
found, is recorded from cornfields near Streatley and corn cockle
(Agrostemma githago) and cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) from corn-
fields unspecified. I saw my only corn cockle in 1926 and I have
never seen a cornflower in an English cornfield.

Cowslips have retreated before the plough, but I do not think
that the decrease in the last fifty years has been nearly so rapid
as in the late years of last century. When I was a child in
Shinfield, I heard tales from local people of cowslips growing in
profusion in the meadows near the Loddon when they were boys, but
I certainly never saw a cowslip in that area, though they were
plentiful at Grazeley on the railway. bank. In. general, they have
now become flowers of chalk downland almost exclusively, and are
seldom really plentiful. I do not know whether to ascribe their
disappearance from the valleys to the making of cowslip wine or of
cowslip balls, both horrifying practices, or to some more natural
cause. They are certainly threatened by commercial exploitation.

Primroses are the subject of one of our saddest stories.
They used to be so plentiful in our woods, copses and hedgebanks
that primrosing expeditions were an essential part of childhood
and it seemed impossible that it ever should be otherwise. Spring
without several visits to a primrose wood would have been untHink-
able and our churches were lavishly decorated with them for Easter,
but such pleasures cannot be commonplace .to Reading children
to-day. Quite a long drive is necessary to run them to earth and
then you have to know your spots. The causes of the decline are
numerous. Uprooting by gipsies for sale and by greedy gardeners
is blamed, but I doubt whether this is the chief cause. Hedgerow
banks have fallen victims to praerie farming. Many woods have been
cleared for building. When Bottom Copse at Arborfield was bull-
dozed out of existence, with it went carpets of primroses, violets
and a fair number of early purple orchids. Larger woods, where one
was once welcome to wander freely, were first enclosed with barbed
wire as it became necessary to preserve a pheasant crop if the land
was to make its necessary contribution to the revenue of an estate,
and then, as clearance and management were neglected owing to the
high cost: of labour, they generally became too overgrown and dark
to support a varied ground flora. Mrs. Trembath has carried out a
noble resScue operation on the railway bank at Pangbourne station,
where a once beautiful show of primroses had disappeared completely
under a carpet cf encroaching ivy. She sought and obtained per-
mission to clear the ivy and she and all the other users of the
station were rewarded this spring with a show of primroses as
beautiful as it had ever been in past years. Early purple orchids,
which once grew in many copses, have become much less widespread,
though there is one wood only just outside the borough boundary,
where Orchis mascula grows in very large numbers. 49

The local plant of which we were proudest in the early 1940's
was the monkey orchid (Orchis simia) of which we had the only
known site-in the British Isles. I recall being taken to see it ©
for the first time on a beautiful May afternoon-when I sat with a
few members of the Discussion Group on'a grassy slope overlooking

re

the Thames with the beautiful little flowers beside us, among the
other chalk flora and blue butterflies flitting all around. The
plants were not numerous then, perhaps there were a dozen, but
they looked happy and safe on this site where they had long been
undisturbed, and we held no fears for them. Our consternation was
great, therefore, when the site came under theplough in 1949. A
plant flowering on an upturned sod was. sent to Kew but I think
failed to survive. One reappeared under the hedge in 1960, but
although the slope returned to grass after a long interval, the
orchids have not reappeared on it. A small and struggling colony
has appeared on a nearby slope but often it consists of no more
than a few stunted plants and access to the site has had to be
stopped lest damage be done. Fortunately, three sites are now
known in other parts of England.

On the other hand, Spiranthes, that charming and somehow
fascinating, albeit inconspicuous, little orchid known as the
autumn lady's tresses, seems to have shown considerable gains.

For long enough, all I knew of it locally was the tantalising
information that it used to grow on Hardwick Hill, but although
Hardwick was richly rewarding with a variety of chalk flora, I
never saw lady's tresses there or heard of anyone who still did.

I got to know this plant locally in the mid 1950's when, following
a long dry season during which little mowing was done, it appeared
on various lawns, notably Dr. Eales' lawn at Peppard where it
still flourishes. It also appeared.at Leighton Park, and in 1961
it appeared on a lawn at Yattendon, and it has grown on Dr.
Watson's lawn at Cleeve. In 1969, it was found by a member grow-
ing plentifully on Turville Hill where a large party of members
saw it on one of the Society's excursions in 1971. In 1970, it
was found at Ashley Hill, so whether through real increase or more
thorough searching we are certainly better pleased to see this
plant than we were a generation ago.

The reverse is true, unfortunately, of the green-winged |
orchid. In my childhood, I often found meadows with Orchis morio
flowering in quite large numbers together with purple clover and
common vetch, which took up the same cclouring, or with cowslips
with which it contrasted to make a really regal show. Now it is
rarely seen, though often the habitat remains, and it seemed to
tolerate a fairly wide diversity of conditions. It used to be
quite plentiful in the water meadows beside the Pang at Bradfield,
and I made many a pleasant evening trip to see it growing in num-
bers with the cowslips in the railway cutting at Grazeley. ._The
bank is still there, but the grass is rank and long, probably
through lack of rabbits, and for very many years there has been no
Sign of the orchids. One still finds the odd few flowers. from
time to time but I last.saw considerable numbers at Marlow Common
in 1964. Although we were guilty of picking these flowers for
decoration before we realised the harm that this does, nevertheless
I doubt whether we were solely responsible for the decline. I
incline to a theory that the fall in the horse population may be:
involved, as the meadows where the orchids were plentiful were
often grazed by horses. However, the railway bank was not, though
it lay just below a field where there were always horses. Orchis
morio still grows on Dr. Eales' lawn with the Spiranthes and it
must be many years since horses grazed. that grass, although it is
a tamed field. Is it once more the close cropping, here repre-
sented by mowing, that is wanted?

awn 1, @

The lizard orchid (Himantoglossum hircinum) ‘remains a legend
as far as I am concerned. There has been. one record of it in my
time I believe, but I did not manage to see it and indeed have
still never seen it growing anywhere.

The water violet (Hottonia palustris), a relative of the
Primulas in spite of its misleading English name, is a lovely and
exciting plant. I first saw it at Great Lea Common near Grazeley
in the early 1940's and was thrilled with it. Over the years, I
visited it several times, and although one would have wished that
the site were more savoury, the beauty of the plant overcame its
surroundings. In 1957, the pond was silting up and we feared the
flower was doomed, but in 1970 an enormous increase in the colony
was reported. The pond has survived the construction of an access
road to the M4 Motorway within a few yards.of it and this year all
was well. A site near the Wokingham Road was less fortunate and
has disappeared under a new roundabout. The plant has also been
recorded from near Cleeve and in streams near the Thames, and in
1960 I saw it at Waltham St. Lawrence. I do not know how it has
fared at these sites.

I think on the credit side, Oxford ragwort deserves a mention.
It is not a distinguished plant, but certainly does not deserve
its unkind specific epithet of squalidus. -In fact it is neat and
‘tidy in its growth and in an environment increasingly deprived of
natural colour, it spreads sheets of gold over railway sidings and
waste ground in towns for more than half the year. I do not know
when it began to take possession in Reading. There was a record
of it as occurring fon; a mailway pbank', in 1900, but, it. rated for a
note,all to itself in no. 1,of the Reading Naturalist in 1949, so
was evidently stil. newsworthy Tish ce als tae dine ie shi,

Perhaps the most satisfactory record is that of the blue-
bells. So far, our bluebells are mostly too far from centres of .
population and mass recreation to succumb to trampling - much, their
worst enemy - and they thrive on felling... Though some woods where
they formerly flourished become too dark :and overgrown for them to
flower in any numbers, this has so far I think been compensated for
each year by areas where clearing and felling have allowed a
densé blue. carpet to develop, and there is still no, dafficulty in
finding these wonderful splashes of colour, much the most spect-=
acular sight I think that the countryside of south-east BRE
has’ to offer to-day.

That concludes my look at the natural scene around Reading as
I have known it and seen it change over the past thirty years. It
is just a survey and I do not aspire to draw any but the most
obvious. conclusions from it. We have lost a lot. Some forms of
natural life and their, habitats have suffered more than others, but
if we have found here and there a slight, compensation or a crumb of
consolation, if everything - everywhere - is not quite as inky
black as the prophets of: gloom would have us believe, yet that is
certainly no cause. for the least suspicion of complacency but
rather a source of inspiration, giving us the courage to redouble.
our efforts to strive in every way in our power to save what
still remains to us before it is too late. . Time is running out.

-~ 20 =

Memories of Kingsmere and Heath Pool

by Kz I. Butler

As one of the older members of the Reading and District
Natural History Society I am very pleased to offer a small con-
tribution concerning Heath Pool and Kingsmere Lake near Wellington
College, Berks. I have known these two areas since my childhood, ©
for one of my very earliest recollections is of my older brothers
bathing in Heath Pool in 1911, whilst my father, a keen botanist,
was introducing me to Drosera rotundifolia L. (Sundew), growing by
the lakeside and undoubtedly my first botanical observation. This
plant may be seen today around the margins of Heath Pool, which is
still used as a bathing place by innumerable small boys and girls
and where the remains of the diving board used by my brothers can
Still be seen.

Kingsmere recalls early memories of a different kind, of
learning to skate. It was not until I became the Recorder for ~
Botany for the Society from 1936 until 1963 that I got to know it
botanically. In my botanicall report for the year 1949 I recorded:
"The most interesting find of the year was the discovery by Mrs.

A. M. Simmonds (now Mrs. Sandels) of Illecebrum verticillatum L.
(Whorled Knotweed) growing on the margin of Kingsmere Lake. Prior
to 1891 this plant was only recorded from Cornwall, Devon and the
Channel Islands in Great Britain. Therefore its discovery in that
year (1891), as recorded by G. C. Druce in his 1897 Flora of
Berkshire, growing on the damp sandy margin of a pool near Wellington
College, was of singular interest. Druce, in his 1919 supplement
to his Flora, records it again near Kingsmere Lake with the suggest-
ion that it had spread from the original locality to other places
near Wellington College, or that it had been previously overlooked.
It is encouraging to know that during fifty odd years this

uncommon little plant is still holding its own." It was seen again
in 1950 when another visit was made by some other members of the
Society and myself to the partially dried up bed of the Lake on
16th July. The ground flora consisted of Littorella uniflora L.-
Achers (Shoreweed), Hydrocotyl vulgaris L. (Marsh Pennywort), and
Juncus bulbosus L. (Heath Rush). Large patches of D. intermedia
Hayne (Long=leaved Sundew), of such a bright colour as to be vis-
ible at some distance away, and a small amount of D. rotundifolia L.
were also found. -In earlier years Kingsmere used to dry up on

many occasions but apparently has not done so recently. Possibly,
damage which had been caused to the 'hard pan' has now sealed -
itself.

During the ensuing years I have made few observations at Heath
Pool or Kingsmere Lake. However, in. the 1968 Flora of Berkshire
(Dr. H. J. M. Bowen) the latest recordings for Drosera and
Illecebrum are as follows:

Drosera rotundifolia Triangle Pond, Finchampstead 1962. (I
believe that this is Heath Pool.)

Drosera intermedie Kingsmere 1950.

Illecebrum verticillatum Heath Lake 1961.

Fortunately, Heath Pool is now owned by the National Trust
and will be conserved for future generations of naturalists. Some

328s

concern, however, is felt about the future of Kingsmere, where, in
addition to the botanical records, many uncommon. insects have been
found. The very local water beetles Ilybius aenescens Thompson and
I. guttiger Gyllenhal have been found in Kingsmere in great numbers
whilst Heath Pool only provides occasional records.

Agabus affinis Paykull is found both in Kingsmere and Heath

Pool whilst the Water Spider, steyronese aquatica L. is found in
fair numbers in both habitats.

These observations suggest that, from a conservation point of
view, the permanent acquisition of Heath Pool will not make up for
the possible loss of Kingsmere.

Albinism in.frogs (Rana temporaria L.)

breeding from single recessives

by A. Price

In 1970, the mating of a 1968 female Rouble recessive for
albinism (cc) with 1968 male No 10 produced male and female pig-
mented frogs, which were expected to be single recessives (Cc) for
albinism. The males proved themselves to be Cc when two back
crosses were made in 1972 (Price 1973). These back crosses pro-=
duced 50% pink tadpoles and 50% which pigmented as they developed.
In the spring of 1973, four successful crosses, using the 1970
Single recessive males and females, were carried out. A briefly
theld theory that all single recessive,female frogs would lay white
Spawn was disproved as ‘two of the females laid white spawn whilst
the other two laid black spawn.

All four matings piéduedd approximately 25% pink tadpoles
proving that all of the progeny of the.1370 mating, wisscoeaiaat
oe: were single” recessives for albinism.

The details of the four matings are given below.
'S' Spawn. ary o: Feg:
1970 Cc female No 8 X 1970 Cc male No 2

This mating resulted in 125 ml. of black spawn, 99% of wide was
fertile, being laid on 20th March 1973. The tadpole count gave
312 pigmented tadpoles and 108 pigmented tadpoles which progress-
ively lost their melanin and became completely pink. The result
was therefore 25.7% cc tadpoles. which proves that both of these
frogs were single recessives for albinism.

i Parc

'V! Spawn.
1970 Cc female No 5 X 1970 Ce male

This cross resulted in 175 ml. of fertile black spawn being laid
on 16th March 1973. A count of the tadpoles which hatched gave us
approximately 25% pigmented tadpoles which were losing their
melanin and becoming pink. High mortality made an.accurate count
impossible but the results strongly suggest that both of these
frogs were also single recessive for albinism.

'T! Spawn. :
1970 Cc female X 1970 Cec male.

This cross resulted in 80 ml. of fertile white spawn, containing
two black eggs, being laid on 20th March 1973. The developing
tadpoles were counted and 390 of them pigmented as they developed
whilst 140 remained completely pink. This represents a percentage
of 26 double recessive tadpoles. The two black eggs hatched into
pigmented tadpoles, which lost their melanin as they developed and
became pink, This mating proves that both of the above frogs are
Single recessive for albinism.

'X' Spawn.
1970 Cc female No 7 X 1970 Cc male No 4.

On 20th March 1973 this mating resulted in 80 ml. fertile white
spawn being laid. The count of the tadpoles gave us 234 which
pigmented as they developed and 79 which remained entirely pink.
This resulted in the text-book figure of 25% cc tadpoles as
Suggested for a Cc X Cc mating. This again proves that both the
frogs in this wean were single recessives for albinism.

All eight frogs used in the above eed tein, were released, in
Pat Smallcombe's nee

The Matriarch.

The Matriarch, which has bred under close control since 1967,
was crossed with one of the 1970 Cc males which had already proved
in 1972, by a successful back cross, that it was Ce for albinism
(Price 1973). They were placed in a tank together on 11th March
1973 and were seen ‘in amplexus on 14th March. On 20th March, 480
ml. of fertile white spawn, containing no black eggs, was ore
The tadpole count resulted in 691 tadpoles which pigmented as they

developed and 215 pink tadpoles. This gave us a figure of 23.7%
albinos.

This proves that the Matriarch is single recessive for
albinism.

i.e. Matriarch Cc female X 1970 Ce male = CC + Cc + Cc + ce.

This fact would have been proved earlier but for the complicated
genetic make-up of the pink-skinned, pink-eyed male, Mickie, who
had earlier been mated with the Matriarch giving an unexpected
result (Price 1970). The Matriarch was still alive in December
1973. She is now fourteen years old.

Se ay

Back Crosses.

Two more successful back crdsses were “made in 1973 using 1970
Cc males and 1967.cc female and’ 1971 cc. female.

As 1967 cc female X 1970'Cc male

This cross produced 120 ml. of fertile white spawn on 21st
March 1973 which on hatching gave usa count of 183 pink tadpoles
and 171 tadpoles which. pigmented as they’ developed, |

Le@e.. 4 92% Bia ‘tadpoles and te pigmenting tadpoles:

By... : "4991 cc: Senaye- Sy oa 1970 Cc No 6

This cross produced exactly 50% pink and aid pignenting
tadpoles.

“he two back crosses again cee the tw. dupa

ec female X Cc male = Ge + Cc + cc + ce

The stock of tadpoles from these two matings were dispersed to
suitable habitats, especially Pat Smalicombe! s pond and the pond
in Highmoor Road.

Hicghmoor Road.

A’ visit was made to the pond im Highmoor Road-on 10th March
1975 following the discovery of a pair of frogs in amplexus in the
Froghouse at 6,.Mansfield Road. During this’ visit the surplus
decaying algae and dead leaves were removed from the pond. ~

One pair of frogs was:found in-amplexus under the marginal
vegetation in the pond. During a further visit on 20th March two
cases of multiple amplexus were seen, i.e. a female with males
clinging to both the dorsal and ventral surfaces. They were
parted to save the female's life. This year only one clump of .
white spawn was found as opposed to ithirty clumps of black spawn.
The clump of white spawn was left in the pond to develop.

The steady decrease in the numbers of clumps of white spawn
is shown in the table.

Year White Spawn ~ . Black Spawn - Remarks

1965 25 20+ ( Information from
1966 25 204 ( Mrs. Jeffery
1967 20 25

1968 16 20

1969 12 ee ae) ae

1970, ETE Bew tal 30 Winter - 17..dead frogs

’

It. seems: that the laying of white spawn is about over for
the present.

The future

After nine years intensive study of the problem. of white
spawn and albinism I have decided to give up the study. I have
achieved much of what I set out to do and possibly added slightly °
to the solution of some of the provleue.

During. the nine.years of breeding, the biggest problem has
been the provision of living food for the developing frogs. In the
early stages of the experiment there were, in the vicinity of
Mansfield Road, many neglected, open spaces and gardens with stands
of nettle and bramble which provided insects, spiders and s _ugs.
Most of these places have been developed making the task much more
onerous. |

The experiment will be continued by Pat Smallcombe to whom. I
have handed over all my remaining stock with the exception of the
Matriarch. This is in addition to the tadpoles and small frogs
which she has kindly permitted me to place in her pond over the
last six years so that the strain will not die out.

- The only task remaining is to summarise the work of the last
nine years. Again my thanks are due to a great number of people.

Summary .

par The Matriarch has been proved to be ns ec oa recessive for
albinism, :

rae Four Cec X Ce crosses have proved that the 1970 pigmented
frogs are all single recessives for albinism.

Se Two more successful back crosses were.made in 1973.

Bibliography .

Price, A. © Reading Naturalist Nos. 19 (1967), 20 (1968),
21.(1969), 22 (1970), 25% eile 24 (1972),
25 (1973). ony .

Report on Aston Upthorpe - 1973
by M. Sell

--This year the customary mowing stint was carried out in early’
March, :two 'FPlymo's' being used for the task over a two-day period.
The ease with which the mowing oan now be performed is illustrated
by the fact that most of the Reserve was cut in the first day, and
practically no raking is now needed after the mowing. The second
mower has now been presented to the Trust, and will prove very
useful in this sort of conservation work. About~one third of the
total area was not cut this year, and it will be interesting to

«» 25°5

see what difference there is in 1974 between this area and the main
part of the Reserve.

The Short-EHared Owls were again in the valley this. last winter,
but only one was seen by the writer, although up to a total.of six
were reported. By mid-April, it was becoming evident that an
exceptional number of-Pulsatilla plants would bloom, and on the
20th April fifteen blooms and six buds were seen inside the small
enclosure, with nineteen blooms and six buds outside, a total of
forty-six in all inside the Reserve. Outside the Reserve, about
thirty yards above the enclosure, were a further twenty-eight. buds
and flowers, the first time in five years that this colony has
been seen to flower. By 29th April, a careful count of numbers
revealed the following situation: fourteen flowers and three buds
inside the small enclosure, thirty-one flowers and three buds out-
Side the small enclosure, but inside the Reserve itself, and no
fewer than forty-four flowers and two buds in the colony above the
Reserve, a fine sight! By this time, Senecio campestris was in bud
in small numbers all over the Reserve, and Polygala calcarea also
beginning to come out.

By mid-May, P. calcarea was providing a fine display over the
whole area, but oddly enough, not on the part which was burned in
1972 as an experiment, although this particular patch had a massive

covering of Cowslips (Primula veris) which could be seen froma
considerable distance. S. ~ §. campestris was by now well-out, and
Orchis ustulata was appearing, three buds being noticed inside the
Reserve, and about ten flowering spikes outside... Two plants of
Pulsatilla were still in flower, and. one bud. still to come. By
the end of May, the Cowslips were nearly over, and. about fifty
blooms cf 0. ustulata were flowering in the Reserve, with about ten
to fifteen outside, a good display, but only about a third of last
year's record total. Further'up the Downs, masses of Field Mouse-
Har (Cerastium arvense) were to be seem on the verges, and plants
of Meadow Saxifrage ee ene were dotted about at
intervals on Lowbury | cbs ea Ot

‘Mid-June, and a very hot spell, saw the last four or five
spikes of 0. ustulata, and by this time Frog Orchids (Coeloglossum
viride) were to be seen, two coming into bloom, and more coming up.
Chalk Milkwort had almost: finished flowering, but Dropwort
(Filipendula vulgaris) and Candytuft (Iberis amara) were rapidly
taking the place of early-flowering species. There was also a
plant of Common Gromwell (Lithospermum officinale) in the valley
bottom near the Reserve.

By mid-July, Drcepwort plants were in full bloom on the Reserve,

and twenty-one Frog Orchids were flowering in two colonies; as with

the Burnt-tip Orchids, this was only about a third of the number
“seen last year. Pyramidal Orchids (Anacamptis pyr ramidalis) were.
also flowering by this time, and a surprise.find was a small colony
of Bristly Poppy (Papaver hybridum) near the field gate by the
Reserve, although there were many more plants of this species on

the edge of a cornfield near Aston Tirrold village.

In mid-August, the scene had changed yet again, this time the
Reserve being a mass of Clustered Bellflower (Campanula flomerata)
and Felwort (Gentiana amarella). A small patch of Saw-wort
(Serratula tinctoria), a predominately acid-soil species, gave

~ 26 a

cause for thought as to why it should be growing there, but there
was a further colony on the other side of the valley; these two
stands indicate that the plant will also grow on chalk as well as
acid soils, but seems much less common on the former than the
latter, as it appears not to have been recorded to any extent on
downland areas in the vicinity of Reading. Also in the vicinity of
the Reserve was a plant of Corn Gromwell (Lithospermum arvense),
and on the top of the hill by the dewpond opposite Juniper Valley
was a small colony of Woolly Thistle (Cirsium eriophorum), eight
plants in full bloom. This is also a very local species in this
area, as there is little suitable rough pasture left on the
Berkshire Downs for it to grow in.

Again, a good year for most plant species, particularly the
Pasque Flower, and the mowing certainly seems to be produeéing
results when the flora on the Reserve is compared with that in the
rest of the Valley. Bird life was also quite active, a family of.
Kestrels being noted, two Sparrowhawks being reported, and Stone
Curlews being heard or seen near the Fair Mile. Quail appeared not
to be so much in evidence as last year, only about two or three
being heard over the far side of Lowbury Hill.

As far as Reserve management is concerned, some of the fenc-
ing needs to be renewed, and some palings have been obtained from
Moor Gopse to do the job. The gates also need to be strengthened,
and this work will be put in hand this winter. Mowing will be car-
ried out about the usual time next spring, but there is scope for
carrying out~certain experimental work in controlled areas, which
could be of interest, and provide some valuable information on
plant activity. It has been noted, for instance, that where mow-
ing has been done regularly, Bromus erectus has been considerably
thinned out, and is not nearly such a predominant plant. In these
areas, the chalk-downland grasses are re-establishing themselves,
anthills are being re=colonised, and the rabbit population is
making a noticeable contribution to keeping down the grass during:
the summer, as compared with areas outside the Reserve. Even
inside the small enclosure, where rabbits cannot penetrate, the
grass is much longer and ranker by the end of the summer, although
this year, nibbling of Pasque Flower heads seemed to be negligible
both outside and inside the protected area. Whether this is due
to a low population of voles and mice is open to question, but this
may be the case, as numbers of Short-Eared Owls in the Valley this
year was below average. Rabbit damage appears to have been
negligible.

_ It should be mentioned in conclusion that a Permit is now
‘required to visit the Reserve. These are available from the
Berkshire County Secretary; this measure has regrettably had. to be
introduced because of unauthorised trespass on private land in |
Juniper Valley, and is in no way intended to stop bona fide. visits
to the Reserve itself, which is also on private property.

229 2

Fungi of Harpsden Woods.
by E..M. Trembath

On October 27th 1973 the Society accepted the invitation of
Mrs. V. Vincent of Cray House, Harpsden to hold the annual fungus
foray in her. beech woods - a new venue for the Society. The
weather was perfect and conditions good for foraging. Fungi were
plentiful. but no rarities were found. The trees, mostly beech but
with some mature birch, oak and larch, ensured a reasonable variety
of species of fungi. Mrs. Vincent led and Dr. F. B. Hora named
the species, explaining the diagnostic features and emphasising how
the senses of smell, touch and taste can assist sight in determin-
ing the species. He also demonstrated the use of chemicals to
dispel doubt where species had similar physical features.

Tea was kindly provided by Mrs. Vincent and her family. Our
thanks go to her and to sei Hora to whom we owe the success of the
outing.

In the following list, the species recorded are grouped
according to "Collins: Guide to Mushrooms and Toadstools" (M. Lange
& Be B. ata

ASCOMYCETES

Sphaeriales at | 4 Xylaria hypoxylon
BASIDIOMYCETES
Aphyllophorales Thelephoraceae Stereum hirsutum
oo ripe Clavariaceae Clavaria cristata
iia Ramaria stricta
Polyporaceae Piptoporus betulinus
rgmt ant fests Grifola gigantea
Agaricales ; Agaricineae Hy grophorus eburneus
smn iad m psittacinus
Tricholoma saponaceum
Ht argyraceum

Armillaria mellea
Clitgcybe nebularis
ye a! aa inversa
Laccaria amethystina

a laccata
Collybia dryophila

mn fusipes

" butyracea

:) + maculata

ee peronata
Oudimansiella mucida

mt ViW | oj wheaddeata

Mycena ‘galericulata "

" galopus

"pura
Amanita muscaria

" fulva

" citrina

" rubescens

= 29.5

Agaricineae Pluteus cervinus
continued Lepiota rhacodes
- cristata

Agaricus silvicola
Coprinus comatus

i picaceus

" atramentarius

rt micaceus
Lacrymaria lacrymabunda
Psathyrella hydrophila

" gracilis
Stropharia squamosa

" aeruginosa
Hypholoma fasciculare
Kuehneromyces capnoides
Conocybe tenera
Inocybe petiginosa
Hebeloma crustuliniforme
Cortinarius cyanopus

Boletineae Paxillus involutus
Boletus elegans
” chrysenteron
" chrysenteron-varicolor

‘ Russulineae Russula nigricans
" fellea
vg ochroleuca
m cyanvczxantha
or . n mairei

n graminicola (aeruginea)
Lactarius subdulcis
- turpis

Gasteromycetales é w Phallus impudicus

Lycoperdon perlatum
Scleroderma aurantium

_—-——=— = = = = OO ee

Note: Amanita solitaria
Amanita solitaria is recorded from a chalk grass slope on the

edge of Beechwood, Whitchurch. The record was confirmed by
De, FF. Bo Horas r

E. M. Trembath

me

mn 20 tie

The Recorder's Report for Botany 1972-73
by B. M. Newman

Records sent in. by the following members are gratefully ack-
nowledged:- Mr. P. Andrews (PA); Dr. H. J. M. Bowen (HJMB); Miss
L. E. Cobb (LEC); Mrs. M, Hall (MH); Mr. A. Price (AP); Mrs. A.
M. Sandels (AMS); Mr. M. Sell (MS); Dr. J. Toothili (JT); Mrs.
BE. M. Trembath (EMT); Miss J. M. Watson (JMW).

The nomenclature and order are according to the "Flora of the
British Isles" by Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. An alien taxon is
indicated by an asterisk ( ‘). English names in’ common use have
been given wherever possible and more recently invented names are
put in quotation marks.

List of Members! Records

Phyllitis scolopendrium (L.) Newm. Hart's-tongue Fern
Greathouse Wood, Bradfield. (JT)

Polystichum aculeatum (L.) Roth 'Hard Shield’ Fern!
On bank of ditch near Bearwood (HJMB)

Aconitum anglicum Stapf 'Monkshood'
Road verge, Bradfield (EMT )

*"Delphinium ambiguum Lie Larkspur

One white specimen, cornfield near Aston Upthorpe.’ (Ms)

Ranunculus arvensis L. Corn Buttercup | ‘Corn Crowfoot!

Thatcham Marsh, 14.7.73 (JFN) >

“Adonis annua L. Pheasant's Eye ;
30-40 plants in full i> ame some about 2' high, along edges of-
cornfields near Aston Upthorpe. (MS)

Papaver hybridum L. Bristly Poppy ‘Round
Prickly-headed Poppy!
Fair numbers of plants along edges of cornfields near Aston
Upthorpe (MS)

Papaver argemone L. Pale Poppy ‘Long Prickly-headed Poppy !
Two or three plants near Aston Upthorpe . (MS)

Iberis amara L. Wild Candytuft
Clumps on the edges of fields, Upper Basildon; ‘Lodge. ALI near
Bledlow Ridge, NHS walk (MS)

Cardamine amara L. 'Large Bitter-cness'

Bank of River Loddon, Arborfield. (PA)

Erysimum cheiranthoides L. Treacle Mustard
In a cornfield near the Thames at Mapledurham (HJMB)_

Viola tricolor'L. . Wild Pansy
On spoil tips, Whiteknights Park. (HJMB) _ ae
Hypericum humifusum L. | 'frailing- St. John's Wort’ |
Roadside near Riseley Mill. (JT)
Hypericum elodes L. ‘Marsh St. John's Wort!
Englemere Pool, hse bbe a4 9073. . (R. Lush per LEC)
Silene noctiflora Li. 'Night-flowering Campion'

Thatcham Marsh, 21.7.73..° NHS walk... (LEC)

wos, SD olan

Cerastium arvense L. 'Field Mouse-ear Chickweed'!
Swyncombe Down, 12.5.73, NHS walk (LEC). Masses along the edge
of the track forming cushions of white, Fair Mile . (MS)

Montia fontana L. Binks “. Agee |
Englemere Pool, Ascot, 1.9.73. (R. Lush per LEC).

“Atriplex hortensis L. (mm
On spoil tips, Whiteknights Park. (HJMB)

Geranium columbinum L. ‘'Long-stalked Cranesbill'
Bottom Farm, Ipsden. (HJMB)

*Oxalis corniculata L. Sleeping Beauty 'Procumbent Yellow Sorrel!
Near Thatcham Church (HJMB); abundant in a lawn at Upper
Basildon. (MS)

*“Oxalis europaea Jord. Upright Oxalis "Upright Yellow Sorrel!
Garden of 2, Welland Close, Tilehurst. (MS )

“Impatiens capensis Meerburgh Orange Balsam
By the Thames near Pangbourne. (MS). ‘c

“Impatiens parviflora DC. ‘Small Balsam'
Whiteknights Park between head of lake and Building 3. (JT)

Sarothamnus scoparius fi.) Wimmer ex Koch Broom

Colonising Smallmead old tip and a roadside verge near Woodcote..
(HJMB) ;

Medicago sativa L. Lucerne, Alfalfa
Thatcham Marsh, beside the railway. ( BMN)
Melilotus altissima Thuill "Tall MeliLot'*
Thatcham Marsh. BMN)
Melilotus alba Medic. - 'White Melilot'
Several tall plants in Westwood Glen, Tilehurst. .(JMW) .
Potentilla argentea L. 'Hoary Cinquefail'

The habitat near Loddon Bridge in a narrow lane parallel to the
railway, has been destroyed during the construction of the
Motorway. (AMS ) . ; ' .

Potentilla norvegica L.
One plant near Stitches Green, B. Levy. ( HJMB), A few plants

found in Mutton Copse after tree felling by Dr. B. Levy. (EMT)

Sanguisorba officinalis L. ~ 'Great Burnet!
Damp meadow, Sulham. (EMT)

Rosa rubiginosa Live
Chalk bank near Mapledurham. (HJMB).

Saxifraga granulata L. ' " ‘Meadow Saxifrage'
Clumps at intervals in the grass, Lowbury Hill. (MS)
Drosera rotundifolia L. Sundew
Englemere Pool, Ascot. 1.9.73... (R. Lush per LEC)

Drosera intermedia Hayne 'Long-leaved Sundew'
Englemere Pool, Ascot. 1.9.73... (R. Lush per LEC)

Daphne laureola L. bir Spurge Laurel
Turville Park (Oxon. part); . near Mapledurham. - (HJMB)

Viscum album L. Mistletoe
On Tilia near Englefield Park House, Theale; on Tilia, Crataegus
and Populus, north side of The Street and east of Hill Farm,
Mortimer. CoP)

a, ae

Hydrocotyle vulgaris L. Pennywort, White-rot
Englemere Pool, Ascot. 1.9.73. (R. Lush per LEC)

is Bieb. ‘Bur Chervil!

neunt at the base of a tres in the

Diccink Walk in Reading ‘bes Ruins, but aot exactly Fiourish~
ing as the plants are very stunted. CAMS ). ne

Petroselinum segetum (L.) Koch Corn Parsley, 'Corn Caraway'
Cornfields near Aston Upthorpe. ~(MS) ees

“ui Dole cauca

‘ ae a ae bons
(Gens OF Le cts LG

of i

Oenanthe crocata L. "Hemlock Water Dropwort!

Thatcham Marsh, 21.7.73.. (LEC )
Mercurialis annua L. ‘Annual: Mercury'

In small patch of neglected rough grassland, Basildon. (EMT )
Euphorbia lathyrus L. Caper Spurge

At least two dosen plants in the gardens of e2, 4 and 6,
Mansfield Road, Reading. (AP)

Polygonum bistorta Sarit Snake-root, Easter=ledges, ‘Bistort!
Thatcham Marsh. 21.7273. (LEC )

Parietaria diffusa Mert. & Koch Pellitory-of-the-Wall
Swallowfield Parish Church. (JT)

“Gaultheria shallon Pursh ;
Englemere Pool, Ascot. 1.9.73. (R. Lush per LEC)

Monotropa_hypopitys L. Yellow Bird's-nest
Three plants in Davenport Wood, Marlow. (MS)

Winea major L. Greater Periwinkle
Roadside, Farley Hill. (JT)

Cynoglossum officinale L. Hound 's-tongue
On a chalky rabbit scrape near Mapledurhan. (HJMB)

Calystegia Sepium ssp. Silvatica (Kit.) Maire.
Hurst. (AMS )

Cuscuta epithymum (L.) L. "Common. Dodder'
Englemere Pool, Ascot. 1.9.73. (RR. Lush per LEC)

Atropa_ belladonna L. -- Dwale, Deadly Nightshade
Near Bottom Farm, Ipsden (HJMB)

Hyoscyamus niger L. Henbane eh
Three plants on Smallmead old tip (HJMB)

Datura stramonium L. Thorn-apple

Several plants on wasteland between the Chemistry and Plant |
Sciences Buildings, Whiteknights Park (JT); bank near
Sutton's railway bridge, London Road, Reading. (AMS)

Verbascum phlomoides L. «.: ;
On spoil heaps in Whiteknights Park. (HJMB)

Verbascum nigrum L. ‘Dark Mullein'.

Abundant on chalk bank, Bottom Farm, Ipsden; on spoil heaps in
Whiteknights Park. (HJMB)

Antirrhinum orontium L. Weasel's Snout, Calf's Snout
-Large numbers. of fine plants in fields near Tadley, some about
1 foot high. (MS)

Kickxia spuria (L.) Dum. Fluellen a
On chalky arable land near Bottom Farn,, Tpster - ‘(HJMB)

io

Kickxia elatine (L.) Dun.
On chalky arable land near Bottom Farm, Ipsden. (HJMB)

Scrophularia_ aquatica L. Water Figwort, Wat ex Betony
One plant; ain: Henley, Road chalk-pit, Playhatch. vi, anime ae anh
Digitalis’ purpirea ‘Co owe Foxglove! eg D8 s2eQo% was

Turville Park (Oxon. part). (HJMB)

Veronica chamaedrys I. f. alba
Near Mapledurham (HJMB)

Veronica polita Fr. ' "Grey Speedwell!
On chalky arable land near Bottom Farm, Ipsden. (HJMB)..
Melampyrum pratense L. ' ‘Common Cow-wheat!

‘Nuney Green Woods, 29.7+73. © (LEC)

Odontites verna (Bell.) Dum. ‘Red Bartsia'
Thatcham Marsh,’ 21.7.73. (LEC) ©

QOrobanche elatior Sutton 'Tall Broomrape!
On Centaurea scabiosa, Bottom Farm, Mapledurham. (EMT )

Verbena officinalis L. Vervain
Hedge bank near Mapledurhan. (HJMB)
Thymus pulegiones L. ‘Larger Wild Thyme!
Lodge Hill near Bledlow Ridge (NHS walk). (MS )
Acinos arvensis (Lam.) Dandy ‘ Basil-thyme
On Lodge Hill near Bledlow Ridge. (MS)

Legousia_ hybrida_ (L.) Delarb. Venus's Looking-glass
Thatcham Marsh, 21.7.73 (LEC). Along edges of cornfields near

Aston Upthorpe. (MS)

Adoxa moschatellina L. Moschatel, Townhall Clock, Five-faced
Bishop
Beggar's Bridge, Mortimer. (MH). Clearing in centre of
Tilehurst. (JW) ae a

Valerianella dentata (L.) Poll. .
In a cornfield near the Thames at Mapledurham. °° -(HJMB)

Succisa pratensis Moench Devil's-bit Scabious
Englemere Pool, Ascot. 1.9.73. (R. Lush per LEC)

Helianthus decapetalus L.
Smallmead old tip. (HJMB)

Solidago virgaurea L. Golden-rod
Roadside verge, Farley Hill. (PA)

Zannichellia palustris L. ‘Horned Pondweed'!
Pond near Pridder's Farm. (HJMB)

Ruscus aculeatus L. Butcher's Broom.
Wood near Riseley Mill. Corp.

Ornithogalum umbellatum I;.. © Star-df-Bethlehem

Roadside, Farley Hill. > « “(JT) ©

Allium ursinum L. Ramsons

Great Chalk Wood. 14.14.73. (LEC) At intervals on both banks
of the River Loddon for about two miles downstream from Moor
Copse. (JT)

Galanthus nivalis L. Snowdrop vig
Well established, Arborfield area. (PA) Greathouse Wood,
Bradfield. (JT)

= 33 4

Narcissus pseudonarcissus L. Wild Daffodil
A few plants, Shinfield area. (PA)

Iris foetidissima L. «. Gladdon, Stinking Iris
Large colony on the edge of a wood, Upper Basildon. (MS)

Setcreasia purpurea

A purple-leaved house plant from Mexico (member of Commelinaceae)
found beneath a tree at Reading Sewage Plant. (HJMB)

Epipactis purpurata Sm. 'Violet Helleborine'!

One large plant on roadside, Fence Wood, Hermitage. NHS walk;
one plant, Davenport Wood, Marlow. (MS)

Epipactis phyllanthes G. BE. Sm. Isle-of-Wight Helleborine
Ten plants in Lambridge Wood near Henley. (MS)

Ophrys apifera Huds. Bee Orchid
On Lodge Hill, near Bledlow Ridge. (MS )

Miscanthus saccharifer
A large Japanese grass naturalised by gravel pit near Twyford.
A. Munday. (HJMB)

Hordeum jubatum L.-

Frequent on newly sown verge near Woodcote. (HJMB)

Hordelymus europaeus (L.) Harz 'Wood Barley'
Dean Wood, Woodcote. (EMT )

Milium effusum L. "Wood Millet!
Turville Park (Oxon. part); Wood above Bottom Farm, Ipsden;
Hardwick Wood. (HJMB)

The Recorder's Report for Vertebrates 1972-73
by. H. H. Carter

PISCES

Phoxinus phoxinus (L.) Minnow. Normally associated with the
fast-flowing upper reaches of rivers, but still abundant in the
Thames around the Rymer Weir at Caversham Mill in February 1973.

AMPHIBIA

Triturus vulgaris (L.). Smooth Newt. Newts thought to be of
this species’ reported at. Parkside Road (BIP) and Bradfield (KP)
during the year.

T. helveticus (Raz.) Palmate Newt. Still abundant in the
Wokefield Common fishpond after its repair and cleaning, 28.4.73.

Bufo bufo (L.) Toad. . Present in pond at Parkside Road (BTP);
a large female on Whiteknights Road, 28.4.73 (RHS); fewer seen

+ ae

dead on roads than in most recent years, one in Emmer Green,
235.5 ¢/308nd agen aviOwss

Rana temporaria L. Frog. Bred in the pond in Prospect Park,
whence it was re-introduced to the pond in Parkside Road (BTP);
one dead on New Lane Hill, 6.11.72 (Z2ZK); one in the Wokefield
Common fishpond, 11.9.73.

REPTILIA

Anguis fragilis L. Slow Worn. . Five in a garden in SW Tilehurst,
24.5273, one caught by-a,cat at Woodley, 8.6.73 (RHS):

Lacerta vivipara Jacq. Lizard. Three at the Bell ‘Inn, West
Reading, 10.3.73 (DE) 5 several on Wokefield Common, 15.5.73 -
(RHS). : aa, es

Nateix natrix (L.) Grass.Snake. An overwintered juvenile 25 cm
(10 in.) long ou a burnt area at Thatcham Marsh, 7.4.73 (22K);
one at Chestnut Lane, Bearwood, 27.24.73 (RHS); one by a stream
on Wokefield Common, 26.4.73; one by an old reservoir at
Maidenhead, 11.7.73; one killed in Parkside Road, 20.9.73 (BIP) ;
a juvenile 25-30 cm (10-12 in.) long at Spencers Wood, 1.10.73

(KP).

Vipeza_berus (L.) Adder. xe at. fromanith, 27.5.72 (KP); - one
dead near ia aii Church, 15.6573 -(22K)~

MAMMALIA

Insectivora .

Neomys fodiens Penn. Water Shrew. Remains found in pellets of
Strix aluco L. Tawny: Owl at Bradfield, autumn 1971 (KP);. one
dead near Pang at Tidmarsh, 21.9.73 (ZZK).

Sorex araneus L. Shrew. Six records from the Tilehurst area
between 14.4.73 and 29.7273; one -at- the crossing of Burghfield
Road and M4, 26.7.73; one ‘thenley Road gravel pit 25.11.72 fais
22K); remains in pellets of Strix as above; remains of four in
pellet of Tyto alba (Scop.) Barn Owl at nest site by the Pang at
Bradfield, 2.6.72 (KP); recorded on many dates in Dogkennel Lane
and Hawebicor Lane, Kidmore End, 19.2675 to 325.733 one at
Gallowstree Common, 30.6.73.

S. minutus L. Pygmy Shrew. Remains in pellets of Tyto as above;
one dead at Chapel Hill, 7.8.73 was partly eaten by hens (ZK).

Talpa_ europaea L. Mole. Much fresh working on the Fairmile,
30.12.73; one dead in Sulham Wood, 11.4.73 (both ZZK); scarce in
the Cholsey area (Mrs. Whittaker); present at Crowsley but
scarce, 20.2273; in small numbers at Rumerhedge Bottom, 4.3473;
present at Cane End, 17.3.73; abundant at Hinksey near Oxford,
2002073.

Erinaceus europaeus L. Hedgehog. Road deaths continue to
decrease. Total six dead, two alive, from Tilehurst, Tidmarsh,
Beenham, Caversham and Sonning Common. °

Chiroptera

. Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schr.) Pipistrelle. Two roosting in
an old bottomless nest box at Chapel Hill in August .(Z2K).

a

Carnivora

Vulpes vulpes (L.) Fox. Thirty-eight records received from
areas north, south and west of Reading, and foxes also seen
frequently in and near Tilehurst, where they are increasing

- (Z2K), and around Mortimer (Garth Hunt per ZZK); records from
previous years show that foxes also occur, though perhaps less
abundantly, to the east of us.

». Lutra lutra (L.). Otter. A: repert received at secondhand per
KP of five otters seen in the weir pool at Pangbourne in 1972;
tracks seen at Hogmoor Bridge, in the same area, by another .
contact of this observer, were thought to be of this species.

'Meles meles (Lv) Badger. Detailed. observations at.a sett at
Allen's Hill, and locations of other setts in the Bradfield
area received from KP; a:new sett in an open field near Henley
Road gravel pit (ZZK); sett at Purley (KP); .dead badger at
St. Peter's Hill during the summer (Mrs. Topham); one killed
on Peppard Road at Bishopsland Farm, 29-9473 (Gt).

“Mustela erminea (L.) Stoat. One: ab cea eeeera Park, 29. Se 73:
one on keeper's gibbet at Combe, 29.4.73 (both ZZK); one seen
at Bradfield, 30.6.73 and again, 8.7.73 (KP).

M,. nivalis (L.) ‘Weasel. One at Smallmead Farm, 26.11.72;
one at Midgha:. Park, 25.6.73; three on keeper's gibbet at
Mortimer, 18./.73 and one alive there next day (all ZZK).

M. vison Schr. Mink. ‘Tracks fennd in: stream south of
Bradfield (KP); one at Calcot Lock, 22.7.73 (Mr. Cossins).

Artiodactyla
Cervus elaphus L. Red Deer. Two at Padworth (Mr. McDermid per
KP). (This observer is a member of the British Deer Society.)
Dama dama (L.) Fallow. Deer. Two deer probably of this species
encountered at night in Crosscroft Wood, 24.35.73; two sets of
‘tracks at Christmas Common, Queen's Wood, 29.12.72; two in
Lackmore Wood, 31.3273; one at Combe Wood: 29.4.73; remains
in College Wood, 22.7.73 (all ZZK except the first); one dis-

turbed from overgrown marshy ground by the Pang at ik ane
“an unusual habitat for this species, April 1972 (KP).

Muntiacus reevesi Ogilby. Munt jac. One at Burnt Platt,
Kingwood Common, 24.3.73 (ZZK); ohne killed at Cookham, a male,
2.2.73 (Mr. & Mrs. Horton); a male fawn fatally injured at
Nettlebed, 11.2.73 (Mr. Morrish)’; four records from the
Bradfield area, 13.1.73 to 25.6273 (KP); a male killed at
-Streatley, 10.4.73 (Mr. Lowder); one in beechwood behind
Bozedown Farm (EMT); one in Fence Wood,-.Hermitage (KP).

Capreolus capreolus (L.) Roe Deer. Common in the area south
of Mortimer BB); three-seen by a farmer at Greathouse Woods,
Bradfield, Jan. 73; a deer thought to be of this species in
Fence Wood; a number at Padworth, one of which was shot; (all
per KP); one at Great Park Copse, Mortimer, 2.7.73 and
10.8.73; three in Butler's Lands Copse, 10.7.73; tracks in
Windabout Copse, 26.7273 (all Z2ZK); two at Swallowfield,
20.5473. Clearly this species is moving: into our area’ com
the eonthr in. sepessderakse numbers. :

Lagomorpha °
Lepus capensis Pallas. Brown Hare. Twenty-seven records from

~~ 56%

most parts of our area (KP, ZZK); maxima thirty at Inkpen,
29.4.73 (KP), thirteen on Bishopsland Farm, 20.3.73, six each
at Manor Farm, 9.12.72 and Lowbury Hill, 4.3.73 (KP).

Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.) Rabbit. Abundant around Pangbourne,
maxima eighteen at Path Hill and fifteen at Maidenhatch (EMT);
greatly reduced at Sulham, maximum three, but eighteen at
Hazeley Heath (ZZK); common in Crowsley Park; altogether
about twenty records; several cases of myxomatosis observed.

Rodentia

Sciurus carolinensis Gmel. Grey Squirrel. Numerous early in
the year, but a crash occurred in July and August in the area
south and west of Reading, after which few or none could be
found in the vsual habitats (ZZK); six records from South
Oxfordshire, maximum three at Emmer Green on 7.4.73, so some
diminution here also. ,

Muscardinus avellanarius (L.) Dormouse. Found at Purley in
1971 (KP); one seen on a gatepost at Haughurst Hill, 17.9.73
ZZK ) .

Rattus norvegicus Berk. Brown Rat. One dead north of
Streatley, 19.11.72 (ZZK); one at View Island, Caversham,
4.10.73.

Apodemus sylvaticus (L.) Wood Mouse. One with four juveniles
still almost blind at Mortimer, 23.7.73; about five at
Maidenhatch, 3.8.73 (both ZZK); remains of one from three
pellets of Strix and at least three from-five pellets of Tyto
beside the Pang at Bradfield in Autumn 1971; (one at the Allen's
Hill badger sett, 25.2.73 (all KP); one seen entering a barn

_.at Blount's Court Farm, Sonning Common, 16.6.73; trapped at
Sonning Common Primary School (Mrs. Arch). .

Micromys minutus (Pallas) Harvest Mouse. A skull thought to be
of this species (not seen, by the Recorder) in a pellet of Tyto
as above; a colony found in wet fields between Henley Road
gravel pit and Henley Road by RW and PC; a colony found at
Juniper Valley by PuD.

Arvicola amphibius (L.).Water Vole. ‘One at Purley, 11.3.73;
one at Theale gravel pit, 17.4.73 and 24.4.73; one on the
Foudry Brook at Mortimer, 16.8.73 (all ZZK); two skulls in

_ three pellets of Strix and one in five pellets of Tyto as
above; one at View Island, 14.2,73.

Microtus agrestis (L.) Short-tailed Vole. A plague of six
hundred to one thousand in a plantation of Thuja plicata Arbor-
vitae at Maidenhatch in August (22K); the mice had killed most
of the young trees by stripping the bark. Three in pellets of
Strix and three in pellets of Tyto as above. : ne

Clethrionomys glareolus Schr. Bank Vole. Two in pellets of
Strix and one in pellet of Tyto as above. Soo

Contributors

B. Baker; Peter Cuss; \P. J. Dillon; “David Hill; Basil T.
Parsons; Keith Pritchard; Ri. H. Smith; Geoffrey Taylor;
Mrs. E. M. Trembath; Zbigniew & Zdsislaw Karpowicz.

~ 37 a

The Recorder's Report for Entomology 1972-73
by B. R. Baker

Order Plecoptera (Stone-flies)
Perlodes microcephala (Pict.)

Two examples of females of this species were discovered at
rest on the woodwork of a fisherman's hut by the River Kennet at
Woolhampton on 18th April.

Order Odonata (Dragon-flies)

On the occasion of the Society's excursion to Englemere Pond
near Ascot on lst September there was too little sun to induce much
dragon-fly flight. However, the following species were seen:-

Aeshna cyanea (Muell.) Southern Aeshna. A single male.
Sympetrum danae (Sulz.) Black Sympetrum. Several examples
of both sexes.

Our member Mr. K. I. Thomas has recorded dragon-flies from
several localities around Reading and has submitted the following
notes: ~

Agrion splendens (Harris) Banded Agrion

Purley, 8th June, one male flying around a hedge, not near the
river. Hardwick, 2lst July, one male. Sulhampstead, 14th July,
four males along the Kennet.

Enallagma cyathigerum Charp. Common Blue Damsel-fly

Moor Copse. Nature Reserve, 9th June, abundant in the Water Garden,
oviposition noted. Still abundant on 23rd June and several on
7th July.

Pyrrhosoma nymphula (Sulz.) Large Red Damsel-fly
Moor Copse Nature Reserve, 9th June, two specimens in Water Garden.
Aeshna cyanea (Muell.) Southern Aeshna |

Purley, 18th July, one newly emerged specimen on virginia creeper
- not near water.

Libellula depressa L. Broad-bodied Libellula
Moor Copse Nature Reserve, 23rd June, one male Em Water Garden.
Order Hemiptera (Plant~bugs, i oie etc.)

Ledra aurita (L.)

Pamber. Forest, 12th June, a single nymph beaten from oak. This
‘strange-looking insect has beén the subject of several mentions in
these yearly reports, but we had not previsusly noted the creature's
capacity for jumping. The 1973 example stayed long enough in the
beating tray to ensure identification, and then jumped out of sight!

- Our President has supplied the following records for this
Order:-_
Praniatomidae

Eurydema dominulus (Scop.) A male found among imported figs
and submitted to the Museum on 20th February by Mr. Nawell. (This
species is on the British list'but is very local and not known from

-~ 38 &

our area.)
Acanthosomidge

Cyphostethus tristriatus CF. ) Pultpey Bug

A female found in an airing cupboard on 19th October and submitted
to the Museum by Miss B. Blackburn. In Nevember 1958 Mr. Arthur
Price submitted a specimen to us which had been found on a line of
washing. (These 'town' records for C. tristriatus are puzzling;
its normal habitat is among juniper bushes and in such places, as
for example, Aston Upthorpe Downs, it can be readily beaten. An
alternative food-plant seems a possibility.)

Miridae

Megalocoleus pilosus (Schrank) .

A female on 10th September (EB); no locality given. (This species
is to be found over most of England, associated with tansy.)

Reduviidae

Empicoris vagabundus (L.).

A female found at Sonning Common, 2nd August.

Order Hymenoptera (Bees, Ants, Wasps, Saw-flies and Ichneumon-flies)
Siricidae
Sirex juvencus (L.).
A female specimen of this fine 'wood-wasp' was found in the Thames
Conservancy's building on 27th March, and submitted to the Museum
by Mr. Guard.
Tenthredinidae

Athalia lugens (Klug) female, 2 College Road, Reading,
17.8.72 (EB)

Dolerus possilensis Cameron female, Nuney Green, 1255-730¢EB)s

Halidamia affinis (Fallen) female, 2 College Road, Reading

Aneugmenus coronatus (Klug) female, 2 College Road, Reading,

16.6. 73 (EB)
Eutomostethus luteiventris (Klug) female, Wokefield Common,
606273 (HHC)
peophorus ASe (Lepeletier) female, Silchester Common,
| -.9.72 (BIP)

Nematus ribesii (Scop.) male, Moor Copse Nature Reserve,
Tt oo ones 10.5.73 (HHC).

N. salicis (L.) male, Woolhampton, 25.8.73 (EB)

Ichneumonidae

Probolus culpatorius (L.) female, 2 College Road, Reading,
29.9272 (EB)

Aethecerus discolor Wesm. female, Wokefield Common, 15.573
( HHC )

Centeterus opprimator (Grav.) females, 2 College Road, Reading,
9210.73 (HHC)

a Ser al

Orotylus mitis (Wesm.) male, 2 College Road, Reading, 18.7.73

. (EB)

Platylabus iridipennis (Grav.) male, 2 College Road, Reading,
11.8.73 (EB)

Cratichneumon fugitivus (Grav.) male, 2 College Road, Reading

Barichneumon gemellus (Grav.) male, Goring Heath, 21.7.73 (EB)

Ichneumon extenscrius L. female, Wokefield Common, 15.5273 (HHC)

I. deliratorius L. female, Padworth, 18.9.73 (HHC)

Alomya_semiflava Steph. Wokefield Common, 11.9273 (HHC)

Stilbops vetula (Grav.) 2 College Road, Reading, 16.8.71 (EB)
Cynipidae

Andricus ostreus (Hartig) female, Sonning Common, 22.473 (HHC)
Eulophidae |

-Eulophus pennicornis Nees males, 2@:‘College Road, Reading,
7 9.8.73. (EB)

Chrysididae

Omalus violaceus eseans ) female, 2 College Road, Reading,
30.7473 (EB)
Sphccidae

_ Passaloecus ¢ monilicornis Dahlbom female, Wokefield Common,
12.00 le, cue)

Psenulus concolor (Dahlbom) female, 2 College Road, Reading
26.6.73 (EB)

Ceratophorus lethifer (Shuckard) female, Wokefield Common,

3.7671 (EB)
Coelocrabro mae (Dahlbom) female, Goring Heath, 26.8.72
_ CEB)

Andrenidae

Andrena trimmerana (Kirby) males, 2 College Road, Reading,
—aatoloh 0 a» 4.71 (EB)

A. synadelpha Perkins female, Bishopsland Farm, 4.6.70 (HHC)
Colletidae
Prosopis confusa (Nylander) female, Goring Heath, 2939371 (HHC)
Megachilidae
Osmia leaiana (Kirby) males, é College Road, Reading,
5-9.6.73 (EB)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Early Appearance of Hibernators

26th February Aglais urticae (L.) Small Tortoiseshell, Dreadnought
ets . Reach (BTP).

_ilth March Nymphalis io (L.) Peacock, ‘Wayetehatn,

18th March ~ Gonepteryx rhamni (L.) Brimstone, © On vers bein

sia Ah Ome

Notes on Immigrants
Colias croceus (Geoffr. in Fourw.) Clouded Yellow Butterfly

Only a single specimen recorded, 10th September, near Streatley (EMT)
Vanessa atalanta (L.) Red Admiral

Not recorded until 22nd July when a single specimen was seen at
Pamber Forest. Numbers increased in August and September when on
the 8th of the latter month six specimens were observed all at one
time feeding on scabious. Last recorded on 3rd October, two
specimens at Purley and one at Kidmore End (KIT).

General Note on Vanessid Butterflies

The fine hot summer of 1973 did not seem to encourage a visit-
ation by many immigrant Vanessids but was certainly contributory to
a fine autumn showing by some of our resident species. On 15th
August Mr. W..A. Smallcombe reperted that his buddleia bush at that
date had upon it two Red Admirals, twelve Peacocks, two Commas and
plenty of Small Tortoiseshells - there were additionally Meadow
Browns, Small Meadow Browns, and a Small Copper. Mr. B. T. Parsons
has commented upon the broods of Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars
he observed in Whiteknights Park and Parkside Lane, and Mr. K. I.
Thomas, in supplying us with a detailed list of dates for Vanessid
and other butterflies, cwunted twenty-five Small Tortoiseshellis on
one border of Sedum at Purley on 7th September.

Notes on Immigrant Moths.
Acherontia atropos Gike) Death's Head Hawk-moth

1973 produced the best crop of records from the Reading area since
1950; all the finds refer to either larvae or pupae resulting from
Death's Heads which were flying unheralded around Reading, probably
. 20 early July: -

L7 th Aug. Richfield Avenue Jaen. Larva per Mr. H. F. Webb.
Moth emerged 30th Sept.
19th Aug. Richfield Avenue allotments. Larva.
Moth emerged 4th Oct.
19th Aug. Richfield Avenue allotments. Larva. Robert Wood.
Moth emerged deformed.
26th Aug. Tokers Green. Larva per Michael Duerden.
- Moth emerged deformed.
1Oth Sept. Binfield Heath. Pupe dug per Mr. H. D. Belcher.
E Moth emerged 20th Oct.
13th Sept. Binfield Heath. Two pupae, one damaged, per Mr. H. D.
| Belcher. Moth emerged 23rd Oct.
17th Sept. Sonning Common. One pupa left at address of HHC.
Moth emerged 27th Oct., wings did not ixflate.

The Death's Head hatches from the pupa during the hours of
darkness, and in two instances the exact times can be given from
those we had under observation, i.e. 01.15 hrs. and 02.10 hrs.

Notes on Resident Lepidoptera

Euchloe cardamines (L.) Orange Tip

Eggs collected last year from Cruciferae on a hedgebank at Caversham
were bred through successfully and produced butterflies from 17th
April to lst May. Wild hatchings would not be expected at so early
a date and subsequent records were:- Kidmore End, 18th May; Moor

lee

Copse ‘Nature Reserve, 19th May; Harpsden, 2lst May and Purley,
25th May (KIT). Parkside Road, Reading, 27th May and 10th June (BTP).

Strymonidia_w-album (itndeh? White-letter Hairstreak

14th July, Padworth. A single specimen observed at close quarters
in a locality far away from the knewn areas for this species
around Reading. —

Thecla betulae (L.) Brown Hairstreak —

As a follow-up to the entry placed in last year's Report, a care-
ful search was made near Baughurst and at Pamber Forest for confirm-
atory evidence of the presence of this species, Having therefore ..
unsuccessfully sought ova, larvae and adults in these places we

must now hold reservations upon my mention of the occurrence of
betulae in 1972.

Lysandra coridon (Poda) Chalk-hill Blue

Hardwick, 3lst July (KIT). . The Recorder also observed Pe species
near Wiiichurch, Oxon. on 18th August, by which time most of the
butterflies seen, males Bnd: females, were well past their best
condition.

Celastrina argiolus (L.) Holly Blue :
18th and 24th May, single examples seen flying at Caversham.

Hamearis lucina L. Duke of Burgundy Fritillary
2lst May, Berkshire Downs (RL).
Apatura iris (L.) Purple Emperor

5th June, Pamber Forest, one larva. In the same locality a female
was seen on 26th July when the butterfly flew into thick sallow
cover. BTP used binoculars to good effect and observed a female
iris ovipositing among sallows on 31st July.

Argynnis paphia A Silver-washed Fritillary

This species had a splendid season at Padworth and Pamber Forest.
We have not previously recorded the dark form of the female var.
valesina from Padworth but had much pleasure in seeing it there on

the Sth, 18th and 2lst July. In the Forest, valesina females
ered to be in equal quantity with type females, » an event aver
before witnessed by the Recorder.

Melanargia galathea (L.) Marbled White

26th June, Gatehampton (BTP); 8th and 2lst July, Hardwick (KIT) ;
26th July, Pamber Forest, a new area for this species, only one
Specimen seen.

Pararge aegeria (L.) Speckled Wood

Many records received:= Purley, 28th,August; Sulham Woods, 16th
and 30th June, 14th July; Moor Copse Nature Reserve, 19th and 26th
May, and 2nd, 9th and 23rd June; 7th and 25th July, 25th August;
Hardwick, 29th August; Warren Bank, Ipsden, 23rd April; Warburg
Reserve, 12th May; Pamber Forest, 29th June (KIT); Whitchurch
Hill, 15th August, (BTP); On 8th September aegeria was observed in
Moor Copse feeding upon ripe plums (HGB) «

Sesia apiformis, (Clerck) Hornet Clearwing Moth

We have had a colony of this striking-looking moth. under observation
for some years at Battle Hospital, Reading, where a line of twelve

wo Laan

Black Poplars formed a favoured breeding site. By visiting the
trees regularly one could assess the clearwing population by count-
ing the empty pupa cases which remained protruding from the lower
parts of the trunks. Unfortunately two of the trees came down on
eend June and the authorities subsequently felled the rest of the
row - it remains to be seen whether the Hornet Clearwing can main-=
tain itself in what remains of the poplar stumps. Emergences of
the insect in 1973 (17th June to 22nd July inclusive’) totalled nine
as against twenty-five examples counted in 1972 for the full emerg-
ence period. ;

} Aegeria_myopaeformis (Borkh.) -Red=belted Clearwing

7th June. Dr. Burtt reports a single specimen seen on the trunk
of an apple tree at 10.20 a.m. in the garden of 2 College Road,
Reading:

Asthena albulata (Hufn.) White Waved Carpet
1st June at Padworth. Several specimens noted.
Minoa murinata (Scop.) Drab Carpet
ist June at Padworth. Several specimens noted.
Laothoe populi (L.) Poplar Hawk=moth

20th May at Parkside Road, Reading. Wild male assembled to bred
female. (BTP)

Gastropacha quercifolia (L.) Lappet moth

18th May, two larvae found at Cutbush Lane, Earley. Hatched males
and one female released there on 30th June. (BTP)

Stauropus fagi L. Lobster moth

22nd May, a female found at rest on a beech trunk at Goring Heath
(HHC). 1st September on the occasion of the Society's excursion
to Englemere Pond one larva was beaten from oak.

Ptilophora plumigera (Schiff.) Plumed Prominent

1lOth November. Several examples attracted to mercury vapour light
operating in the Chilterns (near Turville and near Fawley). One
female flying in at 17.40 was a good record (PC, RW, PH).

Orgyia antiqua (L.) Vapourer moth

Laburnum in Redlands Road again defoliated by larvae of this
Species, many cocoons noted on a house. (BTP)

Phalaena_ typica L. Gothic moth

3l1ist August. A single example to light at Moor Copse Nature
Reserve.

Brachionycha sphinx (Hufn.) Sprawler

2nd and 3rd November. Several examples to light at Moor Copse
Nature Reserve, all specimens were males. Peak flight period mid-
night until 01.30 hrs. (PC, RW, PH).

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Lucanus cervus (L.) Stag Beetle
23rd June one male observed at Moor Copse Nature Reserve (KIT).
Pyrochroa coccinea (L.) Black-headed Cardinal Beetle

19th May six examples noted at base of hazél and on surrounding

ee

vegetation at Moor Copse Nature Reserve. Further specimens
observed on 26th May and 31st May in the same locality. (KIT)

Order Diptera (True Flies) }
The following detailed list relating to this Order has been sub-
mitted to the Recorder by our President, Mr. H. H, Carter, and
embodies recards made on pete Le of Dr. -E. Burtt and Mr. Carter
himself.
Nematocera

Tipulidae

Tipula peliostigma Schummel, male, 4 College Road (EB)

Limonia inusta (Meigen), female, Wokefield Common, 11.9.73
— (HHC)

Limnophila fulvonervosa (Schummel), male, Wokefield Common,

Erioptera griseipennis Meigen, male, 2 College Road , (ERB)

Ula mollissima Haliday, male, 2 College Road (EB). :
This species was not recognised till 1969.

Molophilus flavus Goetghebuer, male, Wokefield Common,
| 2047473 AHHC)

echsdidac

Pentaneura carnea (Fabricius), female, Sonning Common,

28.5273 (HHC)
Pilaria scutellata Staeger, male, 2 Colilege Road, 664.73 (EB)
Pericoma fuliginosa (Meigen), male, Wokefield Common,
ee 20 ereta>- CHHEe)
Chironomidae |
Prodiamesa olivacea (Meigen), . female, Wokefield Common,

2509e7> CHEE)

Anatopynia trifascipennis (Zettersted}, male, 2 College Road,
Laas)

Tanypus punctipennis Meigen, female, 2 College Road, 24.8.72
(EB)

Chironomus riparius Meigen, male,:2.College Road, 13.9.72 (EB)
GC. nubeculosus Meigen, female, 2 College Road, 11.7. 23 (EB)
C.. paganus Meigen, male, Aldermaston, 1838573 (EB) =
Gricotopna bicinctus steds ee) male, Eldon Square, 26. 7073 ( HHC )

Culicidae iT
Chaoborus crystallinus (Degeer) , male , = pal dace Road,
Si eFe(ars ee

Brachycera
Rhagionidae

Atherix ibis (Fabricius), Woolhampton, 5.6.71 (BRB)

sin HHMI

hopterida oe :
Lopchoplen age furcata- (Fallen), female, 2 College Road,
feelcerk * CBE)

Cyclorrhapha
Pipunculidae *

Eudorylas jenkinsoni Coe, male,: 2 College Road, 2.11.72 (EB)
Taken by EB at Checkendon in 1964 but new to Berkshire.

E. obscurus Coe, male, 2 College Road, 1.6273 #£(EB)

Syrphidae
Ferdinandea ruficornis (F.), 2.College Road, 25.7.73 (EB)

Trypetidae
Anomoia permunda (Harris), male, 2 College Road, 17.8.72 (EB)
Euribia zoe (Meigen), female, 2 College Road, 29.6.72 (EB)

Agronyzidae
Liriomyza flaveola (Fallén), Wokefield Common, 14.10.72 (EB)

Asteiidae - |
Asteia amoena Meigen, female, 2 College Road, 10.12.71 (EB).
This species hibernates indoors.

Tachinidae . vi
Anachaetopsis zetterstedti Ringdahl, male, Goring Heath,
| ' 26.7673 (HHC)
Loewia phaeoptera Meigen, female, Goring Heath, 26.7.73 (HHC)

Erycia ferruginea (Meigen), females, 2 College Road, 254773
(EB)

Carcelia tibialis Robineau-Desvoidy, female, & College Road,
807075 (EB) -

Zenillia roseanae Brauer & Bergenstamm, 2 College Road,
3 24.7273 (EB)
Calliphoridae

Sarcophaga offuscata Schiner, male, 2 College Road,

Macronychia ungulans (Pandelle), female, Goring Heath, .
aide gee 26.7.73 (HHC)

Cynomyia_ mortuorum (L.), female, 2 College Road, 29.8.72;
male, Wokefield Common, 7.10.72 (both EB). Not new but
always noteworthy.

Morinia nana (Meigen), male, 2 College Road, 149+72 (EB)
Stevenia atramentaria Meigen, female, 2 College Road, 18.6.73
(EB)
Muscidae

Azelia_cilipes Haliday, male, 2 College Road, ° 31.8.73 (EB)

hate”

Graphomya picta (Zetterstedt), male, Woolhampton, 16.8.73
(HHC). A new county record for Berkshire.

Lophosceles cinereiventris Zetterstedt, females, Goring Heath,
$ tedden 72. (BB)

We acknowledge our indebtedness to the Director of Reading
Museum for allowing inclusion of the relevant records of specimens
in the Museum Collection, and also express our best thanks to the
foliowing contributors:- Dr. E.;.Burtt, -Mrse H. G. Baker, Mr. H:
H. Carter, Peter Cuss, Philip Harper, Mr. R. Lewington, Mr. B. T.

Parsons, Mr. W. A. Smallcombe, Mr. K. I. Thomas, Robert Wood.,

1G
WEATHER RECORDS IN 1973
by A. EH, Moon

The data refer to Reading University Meteorological Station. Since this is a q
site, as mentioned in the summary for 1971, no comparison with an average is yet pos
All temperature readings are in Celsius degrees and rainfall measurements in millimetres
which is now standard practice. A "rain day" is a day on which rainfall equals or
exceeds 0.2 mm. For the designation of frost and igeier SSpinde days see Weather Recorts
in 1961, but using all values below 0. 0° Celsius. .

STATION = READING UNIVERSITY. HEIGHT ABOVE MEAN SEA LEVEL = 215 ft,

CELT ET TT OULU TE ROTTTTOOETETTU OPEN TOOOTRE LEN CHEE PLOORETUCTULITIOVOESEEWCELTOLPOCE NAB TOELS PEPE: Pee et

WAN, FEBS (MARS | APRA HAY) JE uy AG, SEPT. | OCT. | HOV. | DEC. | YR J

a a ete a eee eee ea 8 reekven rere ecreernncreragroninient aa aoe aa teen wien as ee ee “ee ewe rerene erisereedeerecres Lecerereerenrvert rene rere
2

f MAX. | 69 | 11 M0 | 116 | 16,0 (25 | OA 2A ‘19.6 129 | 98 |
MEAN Bre carmen verdes edrereee ae se cameras ees
DAILY PINs EE + O08 | 15] “ssl 1a | 10.0 [its [ta 106 56 | 2.6 | |
eee rE ~ s és ne odes matt “een errr: aon ro |
oo cab ica (63 [69 jira ea [93 | 62 | 52 |
RANGE (95 a ne aieleas
erase wreeeeree . cela : Ae sewer
__GRISS | MN "EE ER Goes ae Bol | Sot |
| Ee WX, MOb | 1105 7d “0 ae 726.2 26h Tod Toa Tox Toa Ted | a

TEMPERATURES OAT ee ee | Bd ao Lk ug

2

_

See

ee

3:

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33 Ln 2 ON :

a

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3

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Bas
4
: 3 3
vendy nc asrasasatpanasanansas ssseansngeaiasssasy Toe

=

sarsnsacaaancenecerareattenescansene : i areee etree ge ree se te 3 weer :% Daa a eae

LEetiNe | 40 ee (22 | 20 tl Fe od A Ol) ee

DA Lyiel 7 [a [wo l27) wba | 8 | a be, 30| 17 | 10 eal

__E. GRIss MIN. a Ted 1-10s4 biog 5 ie a3 02 | 3, 16 16a HOS hur | “iad |

RS a eer + Bo sient eo neen Testers renee : 5 ee eA en oane eran yess vere es a ieenebeet P ae ak $

© DATE (2 115i ito! 2) 1% Bom le 1 elma

DAYS WITH FROST | Bio2 io i 0 110 fo b

a ae [oo |
pilaf pati pew sti dy Vinegarearrer

a . ed.

: Ee) FROST
wewsepanresevess Terwerer pen’ PVevT Teron’
6 19 3 (93)

aioe weerenen
uve unetevcervir eter tee pecewrerre’

. eM 12
Fels 1 8

By oapanass a
7 3

he 10h) ‘Tested 1m |

SUNSHINE HOURS 5 Prdnvausula ivvaudens as mcaye

WwW
ws
oe

2 ee

3; i

senor

Mes srensascakyananssnseresse
ry

an hi CUNT jetesee rere) Pee

P RAIN DAYS = |i

i a Pea T

bd DAY... Oat
7

PRECIPITATION

MMe

OE
LONGEST UN OF ee =

LONGEST RUN OF CONSECUTIVE
» DRCDANS. =)...

SHOU OR SLEET oS
seo DAYS, 10 LYING

eae Se
a |e |

or yetasde

ao
0

HUW Lereneneennt et angn4UCENREGEYAY¢ FEOEERTALY COTS ETTNOT ETT EROY ETE CEEEAENC CY AITUETYTRRESTTURCEYTPOLTY PENT CESS OUPOR EET! TOUT VETE EOE CEDSFORCRIY PEE SCTEPITETEETEDHTTET OC CEE CHEE EETERTS PTY PFTEPTIS FEEETEREED FET PNAETROELEFPTVYRVERNET PTET EY 4 CCEPE TTT CITE CVEYTPREY POE FORT ECEERTTPEPTOOPTEYTAYE 78
3: 3: $?
i ak

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3

RNAI AAMAS BDADLEALIRUIAD ADR IDAAEROA LAAN MES MALAB SEN
rH 3 3 2 :
dae ae nearer Comma ca varie vant

io io

Meceesieuvetesreersiiee

“TY FOG AT

0900 GH.T.
fee Uch
/THINDERSTORY : DAYS OF THIDER

ACTIVITY DAYS OF HAIL

_ VISIBILITY

2
joes
EW yprrnrer Pinan SNe AaaAAnst Aas Ranasparegs re
3: 3 3
3 3

severere: qe ent hee

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.

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3 33 33
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|

January

February
March
April as

May

June

August

September

October

November

December

a hp &

MONTHLY WEATHER NOTES, 1973

This was the driest January since 1964 but the dullest
since 1955 and we have to go back to 1964 to find so
many sunless days recorded.

Sunshine was above average and the month was relatively
mild, but the driest since 1965.

The driest March since 1961. A drought period of
seventeen days ended on 24th and three consecutive
completely cloudless days, occurred on 2lst-23rd.
Temperature reached 15. 56° GC (60°F) for the first time
this year on 2énd.

A rather cool and sunny month, but the wettest April
» since 1966. The 23rd was the wettest day of any since

June 18th, 1971.

Temperature. normal but slightly ies haat and less sunny
. than normal.

A much better June than 1972.with the average
temperature 3. 3°c higher than tnat month. The grass
minimum temperature of =/.3 °c on 14th was the lowest
Since at Ieast 1920, when reliable records began at
the University. <A drought period of sixteen days
ended on 19th, which was also the wettest day of any
Since 10th June 1971.

The wettest July since 1968; the 14th was the wettest
July day since 22nd, 1967. Heavy falls in short
periods included 5.5 mm. in 12 minutes at 22h.30m.
(G.M.T.) on 14th, and 3.0 mm. in 6 minutes at 15h. O6m.
on 6th, both during thunderstorms.

Warmest August since 1959. A drought period of
nineteen days ended on 27th. During a thunderstorm on
lst:a rainfall of 17.4 mm. fell in 21 minutes at

L5h 24m.) (G.M.T..)-0

This was the ea September since 1964, the 5th
being the warmest September day since end, 1961. The
first autumn ground frost occurred on 12th (-1.0 Pe).

The coolest October since 1964. The lst was the
sunniest October day since 4th, 1957.

The driest November since 1964. The first air frost
of the winter occurred on 17th and first ice noted on
Shallow water. Unusually brilliant red sunsets
occurred on 8th and 16th.

This was the sunniest December since 1967 and the
9th and 3lst were the sunniest December days since
2nd, 1961.

Se eeeeteeae

lee

ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION

i773

Measurements of smoke concentration and sulphur dioxide (SO.)
are summarised in the following table. They constitute the results
of daily measurements of smoke and SO, pollution by air filter and
volumetric method respectively from apparatus installed in the
Geography Department, Reading University, at Whiteknights.

Smoke Concentration a Oe Sulphur Dioxide (SO,)
Microgrammes per cu. m. Concentration
Microgrammes per cu. mM.

———

Month Mean Gores Mean Highest Lowest

Highest
119 LSth

5 14th 96 Co ttOCR 19 14th

January LO

6 6th,8th | 69 | 170 15th | 31 6th
Lith, 12th
2, 24th, sist | “75 *f) 42 UPoth | 26° 425m

February | 33 96 lst

March 30 74 10th

| April 12 57 25th. 1.0 lst} 65 116° 25th | 32 lst

May 10 39 +3rd 10 5th | 63 | 146 2na,|25 9th
3rd
June 7 die 25th. ah 2nd | 58 102 8th 25... ene

July 7.1 22 31st | 2 15th,19th- 52 70 31st | 31 15th
2enad |
August 15 50 sloth. ii Sen. Gene Toe 115 15th | 19 Sth
6th, 7th
September| 18 ey ot a 2nd .| 58 | 105 15th -(-26cReumm
. ota aL
October 35 40th | 2 20th 81 199 26th | 32 10th
November 4a 21st 2 12th *)'64 | 216 "eoth | 33 Bate
Set

December 23 2 22nd 59 137 lst 26 16th

23 200 aist
Nov.

St Apri.
5th .May
end June
4th-7th
August

Year

w KO «
Membership

The following changes in membership have occurred since the
publication of the Reading Naturalist no. 25:-

Losses through death
Mrs. A. Chandy, Rev. S. E. Chavasse, Mr. Thomas Vear.

Resignations and lapses

Miss J. C. Bateman, J. R. Davies, Miss Abigail Finn, N. J. W. Foat,
R. EH. Harper, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison, W. Jones, Ian Jones, Mr. and
Mrs. B. BE. C. Lewis, Miss L. Lynton, Miss A. E. Mayes, Mrs. V. A.
Phillips, Mrs. M. C. Reiss, K. Surplice, P. Tarrant, Miss J.
Whiteway.

Changes of address

Diserens, Mr. and Mrs. J. N., 113 Redhatch Drive, Earley, Reading

Highwood, Miss S., 1 East Lodge, Farley Hill, Reading RG7 1UE

Hora, Dr. F. B., 51 Eastern Avenue, Reading

Kemp, B. R., B.A., Ph.oD., 12 Redhatch Drive, Earley, Reading

Pearce, Mr. and Mrs. E., 7 Gladridge Close, Earley, Reading RG6 2DL

Sandels, Mrs. A. M., 3 Churchill House, Hailey Road, Chipping
hereon. Oxon.

Sell, M. R. W., 2 Welland Close, Tilehurst, Reading

New Members

Cuss, Peter, 5 Copse Avenue, Caversham, Reading

Dumbleton, Dr. M. J., 25 Warfield Road, Bracknell, Eerks.

Emeny, Mrs. M. P., White Rose House, Trash Green, Burghfield, Berks.
Hooper, Philip, 4 Almond Drive, Caversham Park Village, Reading
Karpowicz, Ze, 93 Chapel Hill, Tilehurst, Reading RG3 5BX

LeMare, Mrs., 56 Highmoor Poe Spedane

LeMare, Miss M., "

meme, Mrs, C. J.y 11 ee Road, Theale, Nr. Reading RG7 5DL
Minton, Mrs. L., 53 Amberley Drive, Twyford, Berks. RG10O 9BX
Sandison, A., Woodlands Green Rene raneote, Redde

Sandison, Mrs., " 4

Steven, Dr. E., 91 Upper Warren Avenue, Caversham, Reading
Stirrup, G., 34 Holybrook Crescent, Reading

Stollery, J., 6 Lea View, Heed eabel, ae ee ss ie
Seailery, Mrs. Me, " * ~

Thomas, K., 20 Glebe Road, Purley, eae a 8DP

Merrick, J. Pe, 3 Poneany Pee one Reads ne

merrick, Mrs., " Li

Wood, Poteees 298 Henley Road, Caversham, Reading

The Holt School, Wokingham, Eerks.

= Oe -

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