Wart-biter

Back in August we visited Castle Hill in East Sussex hoping to see the Wart-biter Bush Cricket. A large and rare cricket which as its scientific name Decticus verrucivorus (biting verruca eater) suggests was once used to bite warts from the skin. It is only found in around five sites in the UK and Castle Hill is one of them. It was going to be really difficult to find as they hide in dense grass tussocks and the only way of seeing one is by first locating it by listening for its stridulations, a series of  rapid clicks that are supposed to sound a bit like a bicycle freewheeling downhill. When we finally heard one, the male making the sound was deep inside a tussock, we were able to just about see him but he wasn't exposed enough to get a decent photo. We walked around the reserve enjoying the wildflowers and butterflies and eventually we spotted another Wart-biter, this time a female which was much more out in the open. On looking closely we could see that she had just mated and had the spermataphore attached to her abdomen and was busy eating the 'food gift' part of this which is probably why she wasn't as wary as normal and stayed put for some photos. There was a lovely showing of the beautiful rare wildflower Round -headed Rampion and several Clouded Yellows including my first ever sighting of the helice form.

The Castle Hill reserve in East Sussex a superb example of the type of unimproved calcareous grassland that the crickets require.

The spermataphore is clearly visible on the end of the abdomen below the base of the ovipositor.

Wart-biter Bush-cricket - Decticus verrucivorus

Round-headed Rampion - Phyteuma orbiculare

 

Clouded Yellow - Colias croceus

 

The helice form of Clouded Yellow.

 Unfortunately it didn't stay put long enough for a better photo.

Maybe next year.

 

Decticus verrucivorus

Decticus verrucivorus

Decticus verrucivorusname suggests ( it tarnaslates to was once used to bite warts from

Isle Of Wight

In mid September we spent a day on the Isle of Wight hoping to see a couple of late flowering rare plants. One of which is found nowhere else in the UK. We were fortunate enough to find both and we also had a surprise bonus.

The first plant is Wood Calamint, told apart from Common Calamint mainly by its much larger flowers. It grows in one small wooded area and along the adjacent road verge which is specially protected as this is its only site in the whole UK. The plant was past its best but still had a few nice flowers.

There's lots of the plant on the road verge but as you can see it had almost gone over. I imagine it looks superb when in full flower.

Wood Calamint - Clinopodium menthifolium

Being visited by Common Carder Bee - Bombus pascuorum

Our second plant of the day was Martin's Ramping Fumitory which grows abundantly on an allotment in the Shanklin area but is very rare in the UK as a whole. The allotments have been designated as an SSSI due to the presence of the plant. It was doing very well when we visited, almost completely covering one allotment and spilling out through the fence onto the surrounding pavements. 

Martin's Ramping Fumitory - Fumaria reuteri 

There was also lots of Shaggy Soldier - Galinsoga quadriradiata

Our final stop of the day was at Afton Down on the south coast.This is a good site for the very rare Oxtongue Broomrape and we were going there just to see the 'lie of the land' really, ready for a visit earlier next summer when the flowers would be in bloom. Mid September was way too late for them, or so we thought. There were hundreds of dead stems but amazingly there were two plants in full flower. What an amazing piece of luck! 

 

 Oxtongue Broomrape - Orobanche picridis

 Chalkhill Blue - Polyommatus coridon

 My latest ever sighting (13th September)

New Year Plant Hunt

It's that time again. With heavy rain and an unscheduled trip over to Winchester on New Year's Day my planned hunt had to be postponed. Monday was out of the question as I was at work for almost all of the daylight hours, so Tuesday it was. I woke up to a very heavy ground frost and temperatures in the region of -6 degrees. I wasn't very hopeful of finding much. It has been a lot colder so far this winter and I hadn't been seeing so many flowering plants on my travels around town in the preceding weeks. I certainly didn't expect to get anywhere near my 2016 total of 49 plants in flower, so was pleasantly surprised when the total came in at 42 species!

I only covered two small areas of Sidmouth as 3 hours is not long enough to cover a larger area on my own. One was the area of Peak Hill on the western side of the seafront which always turns up a good selection, and also makes for some scenic photos. The other area being the estate where I live on the northern fringes of the town.

Here are a few photos of some of the more photogenic species, some were in rather bad shape so I spared them the embarrassment of plastering their photos on the internet.. I'm all heart! You can see my whole list and those of everyone else by visiting the BSBI New Year Plant Hunt results page  
Mine is the only one in Sidmouth, called somewhat cryptically, W's list because I ***** up entering my name.

Thrift - Armeria maritima

Red Valerian - Centhranthus ruber

  

 Smooth Sow-thistle - Sonchus oleraceus

Ivy - Hedera helix 

Black Mustard - Brassica nigra 

Wild Carrot - Daucus carota

 

Yarrow - Achillia millefolium

Rock Samphire - Crithmum maritimum

 

Silver Ragwort - Senicio cineraria

Shepherd's Purse - Capsella bursa-pastoris

 

Winter Heliotrope - Petasites fragrans 

Conyza sp. 

I think this is Guernsey Fleabane - Conyza sumatrensis but they are a very difficult group to identify and I hadn't time to examine a sample at home. The 'jizz' says Gurnesey Fleabane but it may not be so I recorded it as Conyza sp.

 Nettle - Urtica dioica

Red Campion - Silene dioica 

A poor year for these, the last two years I saw quite a lot of these in flower, just this single flower this year. Obviously doesn't stand up very well to frosts.

 Red Clover - trifolium pratense 

 

Thyme-leaved Speedwell - Veronica serphyllifolia

Snapdragon - Antirrhinum majus

Common Chickweed - Stellaria media 

Hazel - Coylus avellana

Female flowers

And male flowers.

Look really closely at the top right of the catkins and you can see the female flower. They are tiny!

 

Common Knapweed - Centaurea nigra 

At the bus stop which featured in last years photo of Common Centaury

 

Common Centaury - Centaurium erythraea

Still just about flowering this year but not looking at its best.

And that's about it, except to say Happy New Year to my readers and to yet again promise to get more content on here soon!