The Naturalists' Notebook

Escaping from work for the day Richard Surman kindly drove Dave Bryant and I to the Llyn Peninsula in Gwynedd, North Wales. Our first stop was the small fishing village of Trefor. The tide was out leaving the fishing boats resting on the wet sand beside the harbour wall.

Yellow-horned Poppy

Typical maritime plant species growing amongst the shingle edge of the harbour and on the path included Yellow Horned-poppy Glaucium flavum, Spear-leaved Orache Atriplex prostrate, Thrift Armeria maritima, Common Mallow Malva sylvestris, Kidney Vetch Anthyllis vulneraria, Hemlock Water-dropwort Oenanthe crocata, Sea Carrot Daucus carota, Common Centaury Centaurium erythraea, Carline Thistle Carlina vulgaris, Yarrow Achillea millefolium and also three spikes of Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsia.

A small meadow area held a few Butterflies with Common Blue Polyommatus icarus and Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina along with half a dozen Six-spot Burnet Zygaena filipendulae including a mating pair.

Six-spot Burnet Moths

A gathering of Herring with a few Great Black Backed Gulls was on the beach and a few close Gannets flew by on the sea. Blackcap and Chiffchaff were singing and Greenfinch uttering their wheezy call from bushes on the path, a Rock Pipit was noted, Jackdaws were chacking and House Martins circling over the village.

Gutweed

A Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus watched us from the sea as we mooched around the beach and rock pools finding Common Shore Crab Carcinus maenas, Grey Topshell Gibbula cineraria, Common Periwinkle Littorina littorea, Flat Periwinkle Littorina obtusata, Common Limpet Patella vulgata, Black-footed Limpet Patella depressa, Channel Wrack Pelvetia canaliculata, Sea Belt Kelp Laminaria saccharina, Gutweed Enteromorpha intestinalis, Red Algae Corallina officinalis and an Encrusting Algae Lithothamnia sp.

Black-footed Limpet on Bed Of Lithothamnia

Common Shore Crab with Grey Turban Shell – left and Common Periwinkle -right

Our next stop on the Llyn Peninsula was at Pistyll, close to Nefyn. We wandered down to St Beuno’s Church – the original church was established here by St Beuno in the sixth century with the present building completed around the twelfth century and was popular with pilgrims as a stop-off on their way to Ynys Enlli – Bardsey Island. The floor of the church was strewn with rushes and sweet smelling wild herbs and pots held Red Valerian Centranthus ruber.      

St Beuno’s Church

We ate lunch in the graveyard with stridulating Common Green Grasshoppers Omocestus viridulus in the grass, a few Meadow Browns Maniola jurtina and a lone Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus proving camera shy. A few Goldfinches were twittering in the trees, a Buzzard was circling and House Martins were zooming around.

We wandered along the Wales Coast Path, crossed through a field of sheep and exited a gate before descending down the steep cliff path to the beach below passing a wind-sculpted Hawthorn bush Crataegus monogyna and watching a few Pied Wagtails in the stream.

The shingle beach comprised of some quite large pebbles at the top that were graded down to smaller pebbles close to the waterline – these were slightly easier to walk along – only just!

We stumbled along the beach towards Birds’ Rock ‘Craig yr Adar’ – the majority of the cliff adjacent to the beach was composed of Boulder Clay and there had been a few large landslips.  Even larger boulders as stepping stones as we approached Birds’ Rock – Herring Gulls and Great Black Backs took off from the beach and the Cormorants on the main rock headed to the water.

It was a bit too dangerous to clamber over the rock to view the main seabird cliffs round the corner so we had to be content watching the continual passage of Razorbills and Guillemots to and from the cliffs through our bins. A mooch around the rock-pools revealed a scattering of Beadlet Anemones Actinia equina and similar species to those at Trefor: Grey Topshell Gibbula cineraria, Common Periwinkle Littorina littorea, Common Limpet Patella vulgata etc.

Rockpool

Beadlet Anemone

As we headed back along the beach we found a huge specimen of Furbellows Saccorhiza polyschides with undulating wings on the bottom of the stipe and a bobbly looking that attaches the Kelp to boulders in the sea.holdfast . There was also Sea Belt Laminaria saccharina this Kelp has a distinctive frilly undulating margin along the long fronds.

DaveB with Furbellows

Sea Belt

We climbed back up the cliff and again followed the Coast Path passing some rather confident sheep with their grown lambs that we had to shoo out from nestling in the field gates in order to pass through.

Cute Lamb

A Peregrine cried from its perch on a scree slope and a few Ravens croaked overhead. The stone wall that meandered its way adjacent to the path provided a vantage perch for the numerous Wheatears numbering over thirty individuals – it was encouraging to see that many of these were juvenile birds. There were also a good number of Stonechats, Whinchats and Linnets perched on the walls and Meadow Pipits were still indulging in their parachute display flights. We watched a male Dor Beetle Geotrupes sp. hopelessly chasing after a female – pausing only briefly to examine a pile of cow dung. A smaller than usual Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus was noted along with a mini Common Red Soldier Beetle Rhagonycha fulva. A good find of a Bird Pellet – shimmering blue-black from the numerous Beetle elytra (the hardened outer wings) it contained.  Little Owls regurgitate pellets containing obvious Beetle elytra but this pellet was too large to be theirs measuring 4.5cm x 1.5cm.

Bird Pellet

Three Choughs flew over uttering their distinctive call – DaveB went off-roading and observed a pair – one of which was colour ringed – feeding a loudly begging youngster and also saw a sun basking Common Lizard Lacerta vivipara.

A few plants of note along the walk: Red Campion Silene dioica, Tormentil Potentilla erecta, Herb-Robert Geranium robertianum, Skullcap Scutellaria galericulata, Wood Sage Teucrium scorodonia, Selfheal Prunella vulgaris, Foxglove Digitalis purpurea, Thyme-leaved Speedwell Veronica serpyllifolia and Sheep’s bit Scabious Jasione montana.

We re-traced our steps back along the Coast Path watching a flock of ten Mistle Thrushes taking flight from some Hawthorn bushes, two Choughs feeding on one of the Yellow Meadow Ant Hills Lasius flavus and as a finale four Magpies – unusual in these parts in a field beside the car and five distant Chough tumbling in the air.

A hedgehog slowly ambling across the road close to DaveB’s house was a nice end to the day.  The hog is known to one of DaveB’s neighbours and will even curl up with her cat.

Hedgehog

A wide photographic selection of birds, marine life, insects, mammals, orchids & wildflowers, fungi, tribal people, travel, ethnography, fossils, rocks & minerals etc. is available on my Alamy webpage

If you are interested in the wildlife of the North-west of England and would like to join the  walks and coach trips run by the Merseyside Naturalists’ Association, see the main MNA website for details of our programme and how to join us.

Today the MNA coach trip visited another new venue Hutton Roof which has some of the best areas of limestone pavement in Britain We initially planned to visit this Cumbria Wildlife Trust Reserve last summer but a coach breakdown made us abandon our plans. Despite the appalling weather today we were determined to reach our destination!

Fairy Foxglove

We parked close to a limestone quarry where large patches of  Fairy Foxglove Erinus alpinus were in full bloom all along the quarry face and we also noticed some low-growing Juniper Juniperus communis and Meadow Vetchling Lathyrus pratensis. In the woodland area beside the quarry we noted Welsh Poppy Meconopsis cambrica, Red Campion Silene dioica, Wood Avens a.k.a. Herb Bennet Geum urbanum, Lady’s Mantle Alchemilla sp. Herb-Robert Geranium robertianum and Hedge Woundwort Stachys sylvatica.

We ate lunch at the bottom of the quarry sitting on limestone blocks arranged in a spiralling ammonite effect. I had a mooch around finding a mass of Dark-lipped Banded Snails Cepaea nemoralis and a few Garden Snails Cornu aspersum in the damp vegetation.

Dark-lipped Banded Snail

A few Wild Strawberries Fragaria vesca featured as member’s lunchtime dessert but they avoided the green Star Jelly Nostoc commune growing amongst the Strawberry plants – it is a colonial species of cyanobacterium. We noted Mouse-ear-Hawkweed Pilosella officinarum and another member of the Hawksbeard family with a large flower and square-ended leaves.

Star Jelly

We headed through the woodland on the slippery track beside and sometimes through the limestone pavement taking care to avoid the many Black Slugs Arion ater out and about. We stopped to look for some of the scarce plants growing in the grykes of the pavement including Hart’s Tongue Fern Asplenium scolopendrium, Maidenhair Spleenwort Asplenium trichomanes, Wall-rue Asplenium ruta-muraria, Broad Buckler-fern Dryopteris dilatata and Limestone Fern Gymnocarpium robertianum. The damp was getting to Olives brain! She thought that some of the limestone on the path resembled Queen Victoria 🙂

Queen Vic

Only a few insects braving the weather – Scorpion Fly Panorpa communis, Snipe Fly Rhagio sp. and a Green Lacewing Chrysopa perla.

Green Lacewing

The plants growing on the Yellow Meadow Ant Lasius flavus hills included Wild Thyme Thymus polytrichus along with Heath Bedstraw Galium saxatile, Bird’s-foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus and Black Medick Medicago lupulina. We continued through a more wooded area – very little in the way of bird song with only a few parties of Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits and singing Garden Warbler and Willow Warbler. Fungi on log piles and tree stumps included Beech Woodwart Hypoxylon fragiforme, Turkeytail Trametes versicolor, Lumpy Bracket Trametes gibbosa, Coprinus sp. an unidentified purple coloured fungi and the Slime Mould Lycogala terrestre.

Beech Woodwart

More botanical interest with Male-fern Dryopteris filix-mas, Elm Ulnus sp. Common Rock-rose Helianthemum nummularium, Spring Cinquefoil Potentilla tabernaemontani, Broad-leaved Willowherb Epilobium montanum, Common Milkwort Polygala vulgaris, Wood Speedwell Veronica montana, Crosswort Cruciata laevipes and Greater Burdock Arctium lappa.

We exited a gate before walking a short distance along the edge of a moss-coved stone-wall on which Wood-sorrel Oxalis acetosella was growing with some fine Bugle Ajuga reptans on the lane edge. We re-entered the reserve and climbed the track where I found some Dog Lichen Peltigera sp. growing on a tree stump.

Peltigera sp.

Some squelchy dog poo had a Red-breasted Carrion Beetle Oiceoptoma thoracium and the friendly cattle that we walked by had produced some dollops of dung on which was growing the tiny orange discs of the micro-fungi Cheilymenia granulata.

We arrived back to the quarry and decided to head along to Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve for the last hour. I had a quick nose at the bird feeders being visited by juvenile Great and Coal Tits along with Chaffinches, Robin and Dunnock.

Common Blue Damselfly

Donacia vulgaris

I then had a mooch around the vegetation close to Lillian’s Hide to see what insects were hiding and in the short time managed to find Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum, Leaf Beetle Donacia vulgaris, Nettle-tap Moth Anthophila fabriciana and what I initially thought to be a Long-horned Moth but I later identified as the Long-horned Caddisfly Mystacides longicornis.

Nettle-tap

Long-horned Caddisfly

A Bird Cherry Tree Prunus padus was taking a battering with some leaves having a covering of larval tents of the Bird Cherry Ermine Moth Yponomeuta evonymella and other leaves with the pink Nail Galls caused by the Gall Mite Phyllocoptes eupadi. Some Ash Fraxinus excelsior leaves had Leaflet Roll Gall caused by the Plant Louse Psyllopsis fraxini. Fungi included Dock Rust Puccinia phragmitis on Broad-leaved Dock Rumex obtusifolius leaves.

Bird Cherry Ermine Moth larval tent

The two Daves headed down to the causeway where a dozen Common Spotted-orchids Dactylorhiza fuchsii were growing along the bank. From Public Hide they watched a female Marsh Harrier carrying nest material and a juvenile playing in the air climbing high then dropping down. On the water a Great Crested Grebe had a line of chicks in tow. The Yellow Flag Iris Iris pseudacorus growing in front of the hide had a number of Common Amber Snails Succinea putris of various sizes crawling up the stems.

We boarded the coach and drove along the minor road running beside the coastal marsh where a dozen or so Little Egrets were stalking around and Swifts were scything the air.           

A wide photographic selection of birds, marine life, insects, mammals, orchids & wildflowers, fungi, tribal people, travel, ethnography, fossils, rocks & minerals etc. is available on my Alamy webpage

If you are interested in the wildlife of the North-west of England and would like to join the  walks and coach trips run by the Merseyside Naturalists’ Association, see the main MNA website for details of our programme and how to join us. 

From Tony Carter

On Friday 14th June, I accepted an invitation to join Professor Tom Bultman of Hope College, Michigan at Court Hey Park.  He has been studying the fungi of the Epichloe family. This fungus causes Choke Disease in grasses. The fungus forms a sterilising ‘collar’ round the stem of the grass where the immature flowers are, and reduces flowering and seed production.  This has commercial consequences, particularly in the United States, where the fungus did not exist until it was introduced on infected seed from Europe in 1996. Professor Bultman is a leading expert in this subject.

My photograph shows the young white collars that form early in the cycle. Later, as the spores develop, they will turn yellow or orange. They remind me then of a small bullrush and they are also much easier to find. I shall try to take some photos later in the year. You can see lots of images on Google.

Infected grass

It had been thought that there was only one species, Epichloe typhina but DNA testing has shown that the fungus is often host specific. You have to be able to identify the grass in order to identify the fungus.

Professor Bultman was collecting samples from various grasses to take back for laboratory testing. We did manage to find some, in scattered patches but some distance apart. The reason may be because of its interesting reproduction method. The fungus has to cross-pollinate in order to reproduce. The fungus attracts a fly of the genus Botanophila. The fly feeds on the young ‘male and female’ fungal fruit bodies, ingesting the pollinating substances. It then deposits the mixture on another fungus when it lays its eggs. This pollinates that fungus enabling it to produce spores and also provide food for the fly larvae.

Botanophilia egg

The spores are ejected into the air to infect another plant. The larvae hatch and the process starts again. Interestingly, in order to benefit from the efforts of the fly, the fungus has to sacrifice some of its spore production to feed the larvae. Clever stuff.

The two Dave’s, Ron Crosby, Chris Butterworth and I headed over to Acrefair near Wrexham, Wales for the day. After alighting in the village we walked up Chapel Street through a small housing estate and continued along a country-lane called Bowers Road. Oxford Ragwort Senecio squalidus was growing on the side of a stone wall, a garden held Greater Periwinkle Vinca major and there was a field full of Common Comfrey Symphytum officinale. Fairies Bonnets Coprinus disseminatus were growing from a log beside the small stream that runs alongside Bowers Road and further up the lane was a most impressive Chicken Of The Woods Laetiporus sulphurous.

Chicken Of The Woods

Bird-life was quiet with only Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blue and Great Tit. We then heard the characteristic chattering of Greater Spotted Woodpecker chicks coming from the trees and tried to spot their nest hole. On a field a newly hatched Lapwing chick was being protected from a scavenging Carrion Crow by its attentive parents.

The lane edges were covered in a variety of plants including Meadow Buttercup Ranunculus acris, Hop Humulus lupulus, Greater Stitchwort Stellaria holostea, Red Campion Silene dioica,  Common Sorrel Rumex acetosella,  Broad-leaved Dock Rumex obtusifolius,  Garlic Mustard a.k.a. Jack-by-the-Hedge Alliaria petiolata,  Wild Strawberry Fragaria vesca, Wood Avens Geum urbanum, Tufted Vetch Vicia cracca, Dog’s Mercury Mercurialis perennis, Herb-Robert Geranium robertianum, Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris, Yellow Archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon, Ribwort Plantain Plantago lanceolata, Wood Speedwell Veronica montana, Cleavers Galium aparine, Crosswort Cruciata laevipes, Winter Heliotrope Petasites fragrans leaves, Spanish Bluebell Hyacinthoides hispanica, Ramsons Allium ursinum and Black Bryony Tamus communis.

We crossed a wooden stile and walked through a herd of Sheep, who immediately charged off with the intrusion, and reached the Bottom Reservoir where a female Mallard was swimming with a line of duckling in tow. Bugle Ajuga reptans, Water Mint Mentha aquatica and Parsley Water-dropwort Oenanthe lachenalii were growing at the water’s edge. We lunched in a meadow overlooking the Bottom Reservoir surrounded by Heath Bedstraw Galium saxatile, Cat’s-ear Hypochaeris radicata and Mouse-ear-hawkweed Pilosella officinarum and heard the call of a Nuthatch.

Climbing across a wooden stile and walking across another meadow we noticed a large number of Snipe Flies Rhagio scolopacea – there must have been a recent hatch, also a few Hoverflies Heliophilus pendulus, Eristalis pertinax and Syrphus ribesii. The Broad-leaved Dock Rumex obtusifolius leaves were infected with Dock Rust Puccinia phragmitis and one leaf had a juvenile slug sliming across it.

A muck heap beside a farm had some Inkcaps Coprinus sp. growing on it and beside the enclosing stone-wall was Round-leaved Crane’s-bill Geranium rotundifolium and Germander Speedwell Veronica chamaedrys with Common Dog-violet Viola riviniana and Salad Burnet Sanguisorba minor further along. We walked up the track beside Trefechan Brook to the Upper Reservoir where a bloke was fishing and Canada Geese were willing their crèche of 22 goslings down the bank towards the Reservoir. Large White Pieris brassicae, Orange Tip Anthocharis cardamines were on the wing and a few good insects in the vegetation: Wasp Nomada sp. Soldier Beetle Cantharis nigricans, Garden Chafer Phyllopertha horticola and Two-banded Longhorn Beetle Rhagium bifasciatum. Like other Longhorn beetles, Rhagium bifasciatum lays its eggs in dead wood, often using coniferous trees, where they bore deep, broad tunnels until they are ready to pupate after about two years.

Garden Chafer

The track continued through the coniferous Tyddyn-uchaf Wood where Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage Chrysosplenium oppositifolium was growing in a shady patch and we found two different Weevil species on Alder – one a metallic bronze colour possibly Phyllobius glaucus an arboreal species favouring Alder, the other a metallic green colour similar to the Phyllobius and Polydrusus Weevils usually seen on nettles.

Weevil Phyllobius glaucus

We exited the Tyddyn-uchaf Wood onto a patch of rough grazing land with scattered Hawthorn bushes and Apple trees and watched as a Buzzard circled and Raven croaked overhead. DaveB thought this would be a great spot for Redstart and as if by magic a stunning male flew from a nearby hawthorn and posed on top of a fencepost.

We passed a ruined building and were immediately out on the moors dodging the Tormentil Potentilla erecta growing on the track. We watched a male Kestrel hovering who flew off after being harassed by three Meadow Pipits. We could hear the calls of Red Grouse on the moor which appeared well managed for this species with swathes of Bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus running at intervals through the Heather. Common Cottongrass Eriophorum angustifolium and Mosses grew in the more boggy areas.

Moss with sporophytes  – the spore containing capsule on the end of a stalk

A male Black Grouse flew up from the edge of the track as we climbed higher. A few Reed Buntings were perched up, Cuckoos and Curlews calling and a Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus was flying around.

Cuckooflower

ChrisB was knackered and decided to retrace his steps. After a bit of deliberation the rest of us also decided we didn’t have enough time to continue across the moor and down the Eglwyseg into Llangollen so also headed back to the ruined building and returned towards Acrefair. Beside a stone wall we found the orange Nettle Rust Fungi Puccinia urticata causing swelling, distortion and discoloration of stems and leaves of Stinging Nettle Urtica dioica.

Nettle Rust

A boggy area held some fine Cuckooflower Cardamine pratensis and Green Alkanet Pentaglottis sempervirens was growing in profusion in a sunny spot beside another farm. As we continued down the lane we noted yet more plants with Lords-and-Ladies Arum maculatum and some late-flowering Primrose Primula vulgaris. I found some Red Pustule Galls on Field Maple Acer campestre leaves caused by the Gall Mite Aceria myriadeum. These are similar in appearance to the Red Pustule Galls on Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus leaves caused by the Gall Mite Aceria macrorhyncha which we also noted. Some Sycamore leaves were also affected by Felt Galls caused by the Gall Mite Aceria pseudoplatani.  

Field Maple Galls

We were amused as a Red-legged Partridge ran Roadrunner style through a herd of Sheep. All too soon we were passing the still raucous Great Spotted Woodpecker chicks in their nest hole and were back in Acrefair.

A wide photographic selection of birds, marine life, insects, mammals, orchids & wildflowers, fungi, tribal people, travel, ethnography, fossils, rocks & minerals etc. is available on my Alamy webpage

If you are interested in the wildlife of the North-west of England and would like to join the  walks and coach trips run by the Merseyside Naturalists’ Association, see the main MNA website for details of our programme and how to join us.

Today’s coach trip was to a new location for the MNA – the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Reserve Wheldrake Ings and adjacent Natural England Reserve Bank Island in the heart of the Lower Derwent Valley. These 390 acres of flood meadow bordering the banks of the River Derwent have been traditionally managed for Centuries; it is a Wetland of International Significance, a National Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Garden Warbler and Blackcap heralded our arrival allowing for song comparison for the beginners in the group. A huge Mayfly emergence had occurred and swarms of male were dancing around in the air hoping to attract a female. At least two species were noted: Dark Mayfly Ephemera vulgata – the spotted wings and the dark triangles on the upper abdomen are characteristic of this species of mayfly; Green Drake Ephemera danica – whose body is creamy yellow with distinctive brown markings on the segments.

Dark Mayfly dun

Dark Mayfly spinner

Green Drake

Mayflies were one of the many highlights of the day – another was the Banded Demoiselles Calopteryx splendens the metallic blue males numbering at least twenty with around six of the metallic green females seen. Other Odonata included a male Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella posed on a blade of grass – they are distinguished from the male Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum, that were also seen, by the U-shaped mark on the second abdominal segment separated from the segment’s narrow terminal black band. A few Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata females were noted and also Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans and a lone Emerald Damselfly Lestes sponsa.

Banded Demoiselle male

Azure Damselfly 

Out on the floodplain meadows I heard a distant Whimbrel utter its distinctive seven whistle call. Curlew were heard calling along with Cuckoo, Skylark and Yellowhammer and Pheasant.

The lush waterside vegetation along the path held a few molluscs identified by Chris Butterworth including the Common Amber Snail Succinea putris – which has a thin walled translucent shell often amber coloured and whose spire usually is very small compared to the huge apertural whorl and the Strawberry Snail Trochulus striolatus – which usually has five or six whorls in a flattened cone.

Butterflies seen included Large White Pieris brassicae, Orange Tip Anthocharis cardamines, caterpillars of the Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae on Nettle leaves, Peacock Inachis io, Comma Polygonia c-album and Wall Lasiommata megera. Moths included Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana and a Micro-moth Dave Hardy later identified as Glyphipterix thrasonella with its silver and black markings against a bronzy forewing. Its food-plant is the stem of Sharp-flowered Rush Juncus acutiflorus.

Small Tortoiseshell caterpillar

A pair of 14-spot Ladybird Propylea 14-punctata were seen mating and a 7-spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata was noted Other insects included Dance Fly Empis tessellata, Scorpion Fly Panorpa communis, Snipe Fly Rhagio scolopacea, Muscid Fly Polietes lardarius, Phantom Cranefly Ptychoptera contaminata, Hoverflies: Heliophilus pendulus, Leucozona lucorum, Tapered Drone Fly Eristalis pertinax and a more unusual looking Hoverfly with mottled eyes Eristalinus aeneus.

Polietes lardarius

Eristalinus aenus

Beetles included a rather nicely marked Wasp Beetle Clytra arietis, Red-headed Cardinal Beetle Pyrochroa serraticornis and a couple of species of Click Beetle: Athous haemorrhoidalis and the Wireworm Click Beetle Agriotes obscures.

Wasp Beetle

I noted a Cucumber Green Orb Spider Araniella cucurbitina feeding on a Fly – they are 5-8mm long and pale yellowish green in colour with a red mark under the abdomen. A Zebra Spider Salticus scenicus was in one of the hides and a Dark Stretch Spider Tetragnatha nigrita was sprawled out on its web in vegetation.

Dark Stretch Spider

We noted the bright orange Rust Fungus Triphragmium ulmariae which attacks the petioles and / or midribs of Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria leaves, causing swelling and distortion. Other Meadowsweet plants had smooth reddish rounded swellings on the upper leaf surface caused by the Gall Midge Dasineura ulmaria.

Triphragmium ulmariae

Another species of Rust Fungus Uromyces valerianae was found on Marsh Valerian leaves Valeriana dioica.

 Uromyces valerianae

From the Pool Hide we noted Mallards including a female with 4 ducklings, Coot, Moorhen, a male Shoveler, an unseasonal male Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck, pair of Mute Swans with 5 cygnets, Greylags herding a crèche of 4 goslings, Canada Goose, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Lapwings, scores of Swifts plus a few House Martins and Swallows, Sedge Warbler singing its scratchy song from the reedbed and a female Marsh Harrier which glided over.

Returning to the coach we caught up with those members who had visited Natural England reserve at Bank Island. Their sightings included – Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni, a Brown Hare Lepus europaeus leveret hunkered down on the path, a Whimbrel which was digiscoped by Barbara through Eileen Houghton’s telescope.

Whimbrel Photo by Barbara

On a less positive note were the empty bird feeders outside the offices of Natural England. “Null points” to Natural England!

Empty feeders Photo by Barbara

As a finale Seema Aggarwal had heard a Grasshopper Warbler reeling from scrub close by so a few of us raced along there. Amongst the notes of singing Garden Warblers, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler etc. an occasional reeling was heard by those whose acoustic range are still able to hear the high frequency Gropper song.

A wide photographic selection of birds, marine life, insects, mammals, orchids & wildflowers, fungi, tribal people, travel, ethnography, fossils, rocks & minerals etc. is available on my Alamy webpage

If you are interested in the wildlife of the North-west of England and would like to join the  walks and coach trips run by the Merseyside Naturalists’ Association, see the main MNA website for details of our programme and how to join us.