Jayna Connelly will be with us for our first talk of the Autumn, sharing her specialist knowledge in Entomology. After gaining a 1st class BSc in Biological Sciences and MSc in Entomology, she still conducts research in her spare time. Her current post is at the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, as Science Communicator in the Marketing, Membership and Communications Department.

Jayna has significant experience in sustainable farming systems and her talk will share the latest research from the GWCT.

Join us at the Victoria Hall, High Street, Tisbury SP3 6LE. The doors and the bar will open at 7pm. Free for members and £4 for visitors and guests. No need to book. We look forward to seeing you.

On a number of evenings recently, I have come across a Lesser Stag Beetle plodding along our patio or climbing the wall of the house. Black and about 2-3 cm long, it’s a big beetle and was easy to spot. It is hard to know where it is heading and why, given that beetles have wings, it wasn’t flying but I was pleased to see them. We have a large rotting ash stump at the top of the garden and, as we see these beetles every year, I assume that it is using that stump in which to breed. Although this species lacks the spectacular mandibles of the Stag Beetle, they can still give you a bit of a nip if you try to pick them up. Another impressive beetle we regularly get in the garden in spring is the Violet Oil Beetle, which clambers around in the sunshine amongst emerging stems of grass and Ox Eye Daisies. Our wildflower bank hosts solitary bees which the Oil Beetle larvae parasitise. Another often seen beetle is the Orange Soldier Beetle, which one can sometime see in good numbers on the heads of umbellifers or strikingly contrasting with the bright yellow of Ragwort flowers.

However, apart from ladybirds I rarely see many other beetles in the garden. This is surprising as there are more than 4000 species found in the UK, with a wide range of habitat and food preferences. Indeed globally, of all the animals known to science, one in four of them is a beetle. Beetles as a group are known as coleoptera which means “sheath winged”. This is because they have stiffened forewings which function as wing cases to protect the rear wings when not flying.

Beetles are an important and beneficial part of any ecosystem. As they move around on flowers, they aid pollination. Most have chewing mouthparts but have differing tastes in food. Ladybirds chomp aphids, Stag Beetles eat rotting wood, the striking orange and black Sexton Beetle prefer decaying flesh, and some species will take on big slugs to eat. Some predatory beetles will feed on other beetles and their larvae. And without dung beetles recycling waste into the soil, we would be inundated with the excreta of all our wildlife and stock. Beetles are found in virtually every habitat, but while some are common throughout the country, others are so specialised that they are only found in a few locations.

This summer seems to have provided particularly favourable conditions for at least one of the more than 100 species of Flea Beetle in the UK, so called because they have big hind legs they use to jump when disturbed. In our garden they have smothered the nasturtiums in such numbers that, when passing, you could hear a rustle as they all leapt off the leaves. They left nothing for the white butterfly caterpillars to feed on this year. Meanwhile on the allotment, it’s been a brassica massacre, the tiny adult Flea Beetles appearing in their thousands, eating holes in plants leaves and stunting growth. Just one more of the unusual natural events prompted by this extraordinary summer.

​Andrew Graham

On Sunday 12th July we are off to Dinton Beeches looking for butterflies and other flora and fauna.  We will take a leisurely walk around the tracks and rides of the woods looking for the varied butterfly species which can usually be found there at this time of year.

Meet at Nadder Centre for 11:00am departure or meet on the track on the south side of the Dinton Beeches part of the wood at 11:30am. OS: SU 007 348 What3words: ///grapevine.sulked.lighter

The expected end time is 2.30pm so please bring a picnic and drinks.
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If you would like to join us please contact us and let us know if you will be meeting us at Nadder Centre to car share or at the starting location.

Don't forget that we have an additional talk this week from Inés López-Dóriga who helped to crew a tall ship across the notorious Drake Passage to Antarctica. She will be reporting on the wildlife and the unique flora and fauna found in this stunning landscape.

​As always, doors and bar will be open from 7pm, free for members and people under 21 years of age and £4 for guests.  

About 20 members were met by Jonathan Thompson and Matt Somerville and ushered into the classroom, where Jon gave us a brief overview of the nature reserve.

After buying the 30 acres of newly-planted deciduous plantation, Jon has been working hard to increase the diversity of habitats with small-scale re-wilding. Jonathan explained that, at Underhill, this means mimicking the effects of the large native animals currently missing from the local environment, such as wild boar, beaver and wild cattle. For example, ring barking trees to create dead-wood habitats and opening the woodland, to let light penetrate the forest floor.

We then split into two groups; one led by Matt and the other by Jonathan, before a half-time change over. Matt started by showing us the inner workings of a natural beehive, teaching us about Propolis, which is like a bee glue, with amazing qualities, which bees use to fill holes with and prevent pests taking over. Matt makes something like a hundred natural hives each year, in two styles: Rocket and Log types. We walked onto the reserve to look at several of the log hives, one of which was humming with bees. Wild honeybees have recently been classified as endangered, and it was terrific to have a deep dive into their life and ecology by a real expert.

Jonathan took his group to see newly dug ponds and scrapes which had just started re-filling with water after the summer’s drought. Holding water year-round, whatever the rainfall is, the lake has a large population of amphibians and lots of other wildlife, Jonathan has even seen otters. Near the lake is an example of ‘conservation hedge-laying’, a really thick, wide and tall hedge, where each stem has been cut half-way through at the base and pushed over to forty-five degrees. One of Jonathan’s students has surveyed the invertebrate community in this one hedge and has written a paper on it. Also, a book has been written about it, by a local author!
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Finally, Jonathan took us down to a small stream where the students of the John Muir award scheme made dams, to simulate the activities of beavers. These dams hold up the water, creating pools, which clean the sediment and enable a new community of wildlife to exist.

​Peter Shallcross

​© Fera

This field trip is not suitable for those who are allergic to bees.

We are fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Matt Somerville and fit one more field trip into our calendar. Matt's passion is making beehives, supplying them all over the country to establish colonies of wild bees. This event will cover the ecology of wild bees and their importance as pollinators. Jonathan Thompson has several of Matt's hives on his nature reserve, which is worth visiting in its own right. View the fascinating short film about Matt's way of making the hives here.

Please contact us to book a place and tell us whether you'll meet us at the Nadder Centre, Weavelands Road, Tisbury for car share or meet at the Underhill Nature Reserve. Details below.

Visit to Underhill Nature Reserve. Organised by Peter Shallcross.  
Meet at the Nadder Centre car park for 3:30 pm departure or at Underhill Nature Reserve, East Knoyle, SP3 6BP at 4 o'clock.   What3words //bearable.whispers.echo

Anticipated end time: Concluding at 6:30 to 7.00 pm with return to Nadder Centre by 7:00-7.30 pm. 

Distance, Difficulty and Footwear: There will be less than ½ mile of walking, some of it uphill. The walking could be very uneven and wet. Walking shoes/boots are advised.

Our apology that Focus September magazine has the wrong date. We are going on Sat 27th September! 

This year’s long warm and dry summer has been mostly favourable for dragonflies and damselflies, which together are known as Odonata. In contrast to butterflies, many odonata species have long flight periods. The emergence of adults from their aquatic larval stages is not synchronised so, in the right weather conditions, some species can be seen at any time between March and September. As long as the nights do not get too cold, and there are no long periods of wet weather (when they cannot hunt), the larger dragonflies can keep flying well into the autumn. Warm, dry days and evenings will give them plenty of time to feed and mate. As the males often fight over breeding territories, and dragonflies may be attacked as potential food by the hobby falcon, by late summer they can look so badly damaged and worn out that you wonder how they keep flying. Unlike several species of butterfly, dragonflies and damselflies do not hibernate as adults. Eventually they will become too damaged, or a sharp frost will bring their lives to an end. By then they should have mated, and the females laid their eggs in a suitable water body. The resulting carnivorous larvae will then spend months developing underwater, before emerging as flying adults in the following summer. Unfortunately, extended dry spells such as we have had this year can dry up their breeding habitat and the larvae lost, so the “good” summer is not necessarily all good news for odonata.

At 57 species, the list of odonata recorded in the UK is about the same size as that for our butterflies. A number of these, with very exacting habitat requirements, became extinct last century. However, the list is undergoing a period of unprecedented change as, in recent years, a number of species have been discovered for the first time. Some of these have gone on to become breeding species. This is largely a result of climate change, which is allowing a number of insects to expand their range northwards through Europe and across the channel. Notably, this summer has seen increased numbers of the strikingly marked Jersey Tiger Moth being seen in southern England. Once only plentiful in the Channel Islands, since 1990 this day flying moth has spread north and east from its mainland strongholds in south Devon, and several have been seen in and around Tisbury. It has become sufficiently numerous to be added to the list of target species for the national Big Butterfly Count.

And now, news comes that a species of butterfly from Southern Europe has been spotted in the UK for the first time. The Southern Small White, which even on close inspection doesn’t look that much different to a Small White, a Green Veined White or, er, a small Large White, just makes life more difficult for the butterfly recorder. It’s easy to see why most of us lump them all together as “cabbage whites”.

​Andrew Graham

I really struggle during heatwaves. At home, I do all I can to keep the house cool and to make sure there is some shade into which we can retreat at the hottest time of the day. But, how is wildlife, which has evolved over long time periods to be adapted to our normal climate, impacted by the increasingly frequent hot and dry spells? Well, in numerous direct and indirect ways.

We will see in our gardens how fruit and veg may mature too quickly and drop fruit prematurely. In the field, this can mean that crops of berries, nuts, and fruits that birds and animals normally rely on in autumn, may be gone by the time they need them. Although we can water our wilting garden plants and seedlings, in the wild they may perish, and a new generation will be lost. If the plants provide food for the larvae of insects like butterflies and moths become desiccated and die, the larvae won’t be able to grow sufficiently to progress to their overwintering stage, diminishing the numbers that emerge next year.

Anyone trying to dig into their flowerbeds will know how rock-hard the soil can get. Well, imagine if you rely on muddy soil with which to build a nest, or on digging into that soil to get food – as badgers, hedgehogs and many birds do. Life becomes very difficult for them. And things are just as bad for the creatures in that hardened soil, making it an inhospitable place. The worms and invertebrates that moles feed on are harder to find, so they must dig deeper to find moist soil and food.

While every creature needs to drink water in some way, amphibians such as frogs and toads rely on being able to keep moist, but as cool damp areas become increasingly rare, they risk death from dehydration. During heatwaves, water temperatures in ponds and rivers rise, resulting in reduced dissolved-oxygen levels, which in turn can kill fish. At the same time, the warmth encourages algal blooms, which can smother other wildlife and become toxic. If ponds dry out completely before tadpoles have competed their transition to froglets or toadlets, they will die.

Added to all these problems is the increasing risk of wildfires, or, even worse, deliberately started fires. This is a particular problem on our southern heathlands, many of which are close to built up areas, which seems to increase their vulnerability.

Obviously, it is not all bad news. Some species undoubtedly benefit from the heat and drought. But cumulatively, repeated heatwaves will favour the more resilient species, which can adapt in the short term or can move to more favourable locations and are able to recolonise later. Sedentary species, or those whose population take many generations to rebuild, may become locally extinct, eventually leading to a reduced flora and fauna of robust, adaptable species. Unfortunately, many of these are what we currently think of as pests. In future, our flora and fauna may be less diverse, less interesting, and significantly different to what we are comfortable with.

Andrew Graham

The community meadow just behind the Nadder Centre is full of flowers this summer. After several years of careful ragwort removal, followed by taking an annual hay cut, the grass has become less dominant allowing other flowering plants to flourish. As well as the striking clumps of white ox-eye daisy, during a walk through the meadow you should be able to find knapweed, wild carrot, buttercups, clovers, and several members of the dandelion family, including goat’s beard and daintier ones such as cat’s-ears, hawkbits and hawkweeds. These can be tricky to identify accurately but the variety is what is so attractive.

Contributing to the decline in the vigour of the grasses is the yellow rattle, a plant that is a semi-parasite of grasses, feeding off the nutrients in their roots, suppressing their growth. Unsurprisingly, the flowers are yellow, but the other part of the name is derived from the papery brown calyx which creates a small bladder in which the seed ripens. When several on one stem are ripe, they will rattle in the wind and multiple plants can set up a dry rustling in the breeze. This species has spread rapidly across the meadow and is now prolific in places.

While taking the hay cut aims to reduce the fertility of the meadow, acting against this is the spread of the clumps of sainfoin. Like other members of the pea family, this plant, with bright magenta flowers, fixes nitrogen in its roots, which penetrate deep and bring up nutrients from the subsoil.

Although far less numerous, another unusual plant found scattered throughout the field is the common broomrape. Broomrapes are a group of striking, poker-shaped, parasitic plants that lack chlorophyll, so they are never green. There are nine native species in Britain, each generally associated with distinct species or groups of plants. Looking superficially like a faded, dried out orchid, their flower stems can remain in place through the winter, after shedding their dust like seed. If this seed lands close to a suitable host, it germinates in response to chemicals in the soil produced by that plant. It then grows towards and attaches to the host, from which it takes sufficient sustenance to produce a new flower. In the case of the common broomrape, these flowers can be quite variable but are generally between a brownish red and a creamy yellow in colour. It is most often associated with members of the pea family or wild carrot. While the latter is present in the field, it is most likely associated with the prolific red clover or sainfoin, both of which are flourishing there.

The flora of the meadow is visibly very dynamic as varied species increase or decline. However, the diversity of flowering species appears to be increasing all the time, to the benefit of the numerous insects, including the common grassland butterflies. Look out for Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Marbled Whites, all of which can be seen there in scores on a good day.

​Andrew Graham

Matthew Phillips has passed on a recommendation for "Jump" which is a musical performance composed and performed by Karen Wimhurst at Sandy Hills Art Centre on Thursday 26th June at 6pm.

"A wonderful and unusual evening at Sandy Hill Arts Thursday 26th June celebrating UK's Insect Week. The evening begins with a fascinating illustrated talk by eminent entomologist Peter Smithers, presenting his new work 'Small Game Hunter'. The second half is musical and visual magic - an interweaving of clarinets, insect and amphibian sounds alongside a film by Glaswegian based artist Sonia Killman, drawing on macrophotography of these wonderful creatures."
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