RECORD Newsletter Issue 6 Autumn/Winter 2018

Issue 1 Winter 2016

The Local Environmental Records Centre serving Cheshire, Halton, Warrington and Wirral

Issue 6 Autumn/Winter 2018

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RECORD Newsletter.

Issue 6: Autumn/Winter 2018 Contents RECORD Round up

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Count Me in Graduates by Sue Budd

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Wildlife on your doorstep by Lisa Reeves

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Community Nature Hub

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Chester Zoo’s Nature Reserve News by Andy Jennings-Giles

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Species spotlight - Landhopper by Jessica Wood

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Upcoming events in Cheshire

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A note from the editor…

Welcome to the Autumn/Winter issue of the RECORD newsletter. It has been a very busy time at RECORD this year with lots going on (see RECORD round up article), we have been very lucky with the weather, with glorious sunshine at a lot of our events… it seems like such a long time ago now!

We were fortunate enough to spend some time in and around the Gronant Dunes earlier in the year, just as the hot spell was taking hold, we have ventured all over Cheshire for our Community Nature Hub, and other, events and have been truly impressed with what nature has shared with us throughout 2018. Now, as most things wind down, we are looking forward to the holidays and some well earned rest. Still, as the new year is nearly upon us, we can’t help but cast our collective mind towards 2019 and the fascinating sights that it may have in store...

Leanna Dixon (Data Services Officer, leanna@record-lrc.co.uk)

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RECORD Round Up Take a look below to find out what we have been up to at RECORD over the Summer...

We have attended many events this year to promote the importance of wildlife recording including the Parish Environment Day at Foxhill (pictured left), The Cheshire Show (pictured middle right), Parkgate Hen Harrier Day (bottom left) New Ferry Butterfly Park Open Day, Ness Gardens Bioblitz, Countess of Chester Picnic in the Park, Chester Zoo Wildlife Connections Festival and Risley Moss Green Safari (Large skipper butterfly, pictured bottom right, and Common darter dragonfly, pictured middle left, spotted on the day) .

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We have also continued our monthly Wildlife Exchange Sessions in collaboration with Chester Zoo; Rupert Adams of Butterfly Conservation joined us in July to talk about the White-Letter Hairstreak distribution in Cheshire (pictured top left). During the summer we attended three invertebrate recording days that were run as part of ‘The Tanyptera Project’ in Danes Moss, Swettenham Meadows and Little Budworth Common (some of the invertebrates we spotted are pictured below; Green tiger beetle - top right, Green hairstreak butterfly - middle right, Carabus problematicus ground beetle bottom left and Blue Shieldbug - bottom right). Also you can learn about what we have been up to this year as part of our Community Nature Hub project on page 8.

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Count Me In Graduates (CMIG) by Sue Budd Sunday 10th November 2018 Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB Reserve, Dee Estuary

Burton Mere Wetlands, the gateway to the Dee Estuary Reserve, straddles the border between England and Wales with a mosaic of freshwater wetland habitats, mixed farming and woodland.

As we left our parked cars, we saw Pink-footed geese flying overhead. More than a dozen keen recorders met up in the warmth of the visitor centre.

We spent some time in this very comfortable environment observing the many birds on the wetlands.

Most notable was the Marsh harrier hunting in the near distance. Amongst the many Black-headed gulls were a few Common gulls. Also recorded were Mute and Whooper swans, Wren, Blue tit, Great tit, Robin, Magpie, Lapwing, Coot, Moorhen, Shoveler, Grey heron, Crow, Dunlin and Snipe.

Little grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis ŠSteve McWilliam

We then walked around the old fishery pools where we saw several Little grebes diving for food and one popped up amongst the water lily plants with a fish in its mouth! We recorded many plants and trees, improving our skills at identification at this time of year with the expert guidance of Jack Swan.

On the way to the Marsh covert hide, two of our group heard and then spotted Long-tailed tits and then were very pleased to see a Goldcrest.

We enjoyed our lunchtime sandwiches whilst sitting in the hide and looking out at the many Curlew mixed with Black-tailed godwits. Also spotted were Water rail, Ruff, Water pipit and the ubiquitous Buzzard! A further highlight was seeing Curlew sandpiper - thanks Jack for spotting these migrant visitors.

A very enjoyable day, with 46 bird species recorded as well as many plants and trees.

Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) ŠAndy Jennings-Giles

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© Lisa Reeves

Wildlife on your doorstep

by Lisa Reeves

©Caroline Harcourt

©Lisa ©LisaReeves Reeves

Crisp, rich-coloured autumn leaves rest upon the ground and a low mist rolls in from the field. As the low morning sun tries its best to warm the garden, there is a smell of damp decay. There is a cold bite to the air and I can see my breath showing that winter’s icy grip is just around the corner, waiting to cover the garden in sparkling frosty crystals.

As well as a damp earthy smell to the garden, I can also smell the musky scent of foxes. At this time of the year, they are regularly seen in the garden late at night in search of fallen apples. Sometimes the screaming calls of the vixen can be heard in the distance as she looks for a mate.

There are so many birds in the garden at the moment. I make sure the feeders and bird baths are cleaned and topped up.

Goldfinches, Greenfinches and Sparrows queue up at the feeders patiently waiting to feast on their favourite sunflower hearts. A Robin and a Dunnock peck at fallen seed on the ground beneath, whilst Thrushes, Pigeons, Magpies and Blackbirds scratch amongst the leaf piles and compost heap.

It’s nice to wrap up warm at this time of year and sit in the garden with a hot cup of tea and watch the birds for a while.

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) ©Lisa Reeves The bare winter branches make it easier to spot them as they weave in and out of the hedges and trees. Sitting under a tree, I can hear the sound of Rooks high up on the chimney stack and the distinctive sound of screeching squirrels. I hear a Great spotted woodpecker drumming against an old rotten tree, and see a small group of Starlings swoop above me in the sky in tight formation.

The hedges, shrubs and trees are absolutely laden with berries this year. These berries are a superb source of food for many garden birds, and even visitors such as Waxwings, as the colder months arrive.

Ivy is a great plant to have in the garden at this time of year as it is evergreen and provides shelter for wildlife, with its berries providing a good source of food for birds.

It’s at this time of year, when the garden is looking bare, that I appreciate lichen and moss that grow upon branches and on stonework. I love searching for the bright green, fluffy cushions of moss and the different shapes and patterns of lichen. I find them fascinating to look at and it’s a shame that such beauty is easily underappreciated by some.

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There is still a lot to do in a wildlife garden at this time of year, but I don’t like to be too tidy. At the bottom of the garden there is an undisturbed wild area. It’s here that the leaves are left to form a thick winter blanket upon the ground for invertebrates to shelter under. There are piles of twigs and branches in which various animals such as hedgehogs, toads, insects and rodents shelter and hibernate. As amphibians spend cold months under pots, log piles and in greenhouses, now is the time I will clear debris and decaying leaves from the ponds to prevent poisonous gases building up if the pond freezes over. I will be careful though, as there is always one frog that decides to see out the cold months at the bottom of the pond.

Even though at first glances the garden may seem quiet and sleepy, there is still a lot to see and things that you can do to help wildlife.

Elderberries in the garden ©Caroline Harcourt

So embrace the colder days and go out into your garden to admire the rich colours of fallen leaves and the lush green colour of moss. Carefully look under a rocks, logs or old pots to see what could be sheltering underneath them.

Maybe make a small wood pile to help wildlife shelter from the cold or put out bird feeders, a bird box or a small dish of fresh water. Finally remember not to tidy your garden too much as the wildlife depend on leaves, left plant stems and wood piles as their warm duvet to help them through the winter months.

Last frog in the pond ©Lisa Reeves

Learn more about garden wildlife by visiting Lisa’s Blog Ljay Nature

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As part of our Community Nature Hub project we ran a total of 11 Wildlife Identification Workshops and 5 recording days during 2018.

Over 1,600 new records of 550 different species were

From reptiles to wildflowers, hoverflies to lichens there was something for everyone. The photos below show just some of the high-

collected during the project

lights.

Left to right: Wildflower workshop at Chester Zoo, Reptile workshop at Risley Moss and Woodlouse workshop at Lyme Park.

Recording day at Maiden Castle, Hoverfly workshop at Norton Priory and Slugs and Snails workshop at Chester Zoo.

Lichens workshop in Christleton, Gall workshop at Marbury Country Park and Fly agaric fungi at Dane-in-Shaw Pastures recording day 8

The recording days were located in areas with known data gaps; sites such as Meadow Park in Ellesmere Port and Maiden Castle were targeted for this reason. Consequently, we have recorded many ‘new site records’ for species at these locations; most notably the Heather ladybird (Chilocorus bipustulatus), which has only been recorded 8 times in our area and is a new site record for Maiden Castle. Similarly, we have amassed a number of new site records for Meadow Park, of particular note was the plant gall Tongues of fire (Gymnosporangium clavariiforme), which has only been recorded 16 times within our area and is, as the name suggests, quite a spectacular gall. We have also been lucky enough to find some extremely rare and unusual species; Mikiola fagi (a plant gall), recently thought to be extinct in the UK, was found in Quarry Bank Mill. The Irish silk millipede (Anamastigona pulchella), is a new county record, having never been found in Cheshire before, and the plant gall, Andricus gemmeus is also a new species for the county.

The wealth of information, and indeed new discoveries, is making a positive impact on nature conservation in Cheshire; this information is fed back to site owners/managers to assist them in their site management plans. It also plays an invaluable role in building capacity within the recording community by allowing recorders to revisit sites to familiarize themselves with these rare/uncommon species.

©Chester Zoo Heather ladybird (Chilocorus bipustulatus) ©Jeff Clarke

Tongues of fire gall (Gymnosporangium clavariiforme)

“I feel that I am much more confident in my ID skills and so more likely to record species. I also feel more able to encourage other people to do the same.”

Sue Budd - project participant

As part of the project we have also developed and printed a ‘Guide to Wildlife Recording’ booklet. It will be handed out to members of the public with the aim of encouraging more people to record the wildlife around them. The booklet is aimed at people with no previous experience of recording and provides an accessible introduction to wildlife recording. The booklet forms part of our Wildlife Recording Pack which also contains a hand lens and branded lanyard.

Irish silk millipede (Anamastigona pulchella) ©Paul Richards

Sadly, the project is now coming to an end but we hope to run more recording days in the new year, our new wildlife recording equipment and book library, which has been put together as part of the project, will continue to be available for your use (contact

New Wildlife Recording Pack

us for more info).

RECORD’s Community Nature Hub project was kindly funded by the Postcode Local Trust, a grantgiving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

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Serge Wich©

Chester Zoo Nature Reserve News November 2018: Blue Skies & Recording Highs by Andy Jennings-Giles Towards the end of the spring update we mentioned the carpet of wildflowers which was just starting to emerge across our newly created meadow. We didn’t get a huge show of colour in 2017 as we’d only just got the wildflower seed down that spring and much of it required at least one winter season to trigger germination. As the weather started to warm in May we suddenly had a burst of growth, with the Oxeye daisy and Meadow buttercup leading the way. By the end of May, the entire field was a riot of white and The meadow at the end of May 2018 ©Andy Jennings-Giles yellow, with subtle pinky-purple from the Yorkshire fog, Wavy hair grass and Sweet vernal grass. Something that I particularly noticed this year was that there appeared to be many more butterflies and day-flying moths amongst the flowers. The mown pathways appeared to be acting as corridors, so that the insects could better explore the denser areas of the sward. It looked as if there was a significantly larger number of Common blue butterflies, at times you could see more than 10 individuals in any direction. This is perhaps not surprising with the profusion of caterpillar food plants available, such as Common bird’s foot trefoil and White clover in the meadow and Greater bird’s foot trefoil near the canal. We also noticed considerably more Small tortoiseshell and Small copper butterflies, as well as an apparent increase in Small and Large skippers. Only by monitoring the butterflies consistently over the next few years will we know if we have produced a sustained increase in numbers, but things are certainly looking positive.

Our spring bird surveys started in late March and ran on to mid-June, with 10 survey walks over that period. The methodology follows the Common Birds’ Census (CBC) design which was popular before the now widely adopted Breeding Birds’ Survey (BBS) technique. The former was designed by the British Trust for 10

The Common Birds’ Census (CBC) survey route showing boundaries of two Local Wildlife Sites (LWS)

Ornithology (BTO) to gather high quality information from a smaller site and can provide territory maps for the majority of species. We also decided on this method as it gives a far more detailed picture than the BBS, where only two survey walks are completed during the season. The survey route takes in the Nature Reserve and a section of the canal between Caughall and Backford Bridge. The idea is that eight of the walks are carried out early in the morning and two further walks are completed during the evenings, early in the season. The evening visits can be useful for additional data on species such as Song thrush or Robin, and may alert you to the presence of Tawny owls. The walks generally take three hours and roughly 80% of the survey is completed by listening to calls and song, especially when leaves obscure sightlines. The populations of Reed bunting and Reed warbler are looking comparable with last year, however it was sad to note that we didn’t hear the whirring of a Grasshopper warbler at all this summer. Numbers of other warblers such as Blackcap, Chiff-chaff, Lesser and Common whitethroat were all comparable to 2017, though Willow warblers are still seldom seen on this patch. We’ve had regular views of the Kingfisher that’s clearly making use of the newly created pond in the wet meadow, and Green woodpeckers are still regularly heard if seldom seen! During the Wildlife Connections Festival in September we had another first for the reserve when Tony Parker spotted a Green sandpiper, which briefly dropped in beside the muddy margins of the meadow pond.

The meadow flora surveys once again centred on a structured walk, with 21 points in the main meadow and seven points in each of the trial plots. These are designed to record the presence of all species of vascular plant as well as measures such as height of the sward, bare ground and presence of invasive species. The 1 metre squared quadrat is sub-divided into nine squares and a score is given for each 11

species depending on how many of the sub-squares contained it. So if a plant was present in all 21 quadrats and had a score of 9, then that species would have a 100% occupancy rate. This measure is not directly comparable with percentage cover but it makes the surveys far quicker and more reliable between different surveyors. This score can then be used to check against threshold values in common standards monitoring (CSM) advice for grasslands, developed by Natural England. If we find that we have too much dock or thistle across the meadow, then we can make adjustments to the management plan so that we pull more out the following year. The assemblage of species can also be useful as certain plants are indicators of waterlogging, or may suggest that the PH of the soil has been altered. This year we saw the Typical meadow quadrat ©Andy Jennings-Giles first Betony plants germinate, as well as small numbers of species that weren’t in the seed mix, such as Viper’s bugloss and Hawkweed ox-tongue. We’ve not fully analysed the results of the 2018 surveys yet, but it appears that there has been a significant increase in grass cover across the meadow compared to flowers and a corresponding reduction in bare ground. To combat the grass taking over we’ve introduced a small amount of Yellow rattle seed which lives by semi-parasitising the roots of more vigorous grasses. We left the annual hay cut as late as possible to make sure that all the seed had fallen, including the latest flowering species. We cut 100% of the main meadow, but only a third of the grass on the mounds and rough grass-margins to help protect small mammal populations. The grass was then collected and taken away so that the material wouldn’t rot down and add to the soil nutrient levels. In future, we hope to cut a portion of the meadow earlier so that it can be used to feed livestock (it has the most nutrients in June/July) and then another portion will be cut later to support later flowering species such as Common knapweed.

Towards the end of the summer, we carried out a drone survey of the whole reserve to help monitor any changes that might not be apparent from the ground. On foot it is only possible to sketch estimates of vegetation stands, especially down in the wet meadow and reedbed where access is difficult. Using the drone you can get a very accurate overview of habitat boundaries, which can easily be drawn onto Geographical Information

Systems (GIS). We plan to use the drone to make a map of the site every season and then we can compare the pictures over time. We program it to take pictures at regular intervals, so there is considerable overlap between shots, which helps the mapping program make sense of any blurs or slight wind movement. We currently fly at around 60 metres and we can program the drone to follow the terrain to maintain this exact The first Betony plants have emerged ©Andy Jennings-Giles

height as it works downhill towards the canal. We could go lower and get an even better picture, but this would slow 12

things down considerably as the lower you go the more likely it is that blurring will take place. The drone already has to fly fairly slowly and, because it has only a 25 minute battery life, it takes three batteries to cover the whole site. Using flight logs, we can get the drone to fly exactly the same path every time and it constantly records the GPS position for each picture. At the end, we download all of the pictures and put these into Pix4D software which stitches them all together into a single map called an orthomosaic. This can then be imported straight into GIS software for us to look at in closer

detail. The resolution is far better than any satellite pictures we could ever get; you can even see the details of individual plants, mammal tracks and the Drone map autumn 2016 (we had slight data loss in the bottom corner as we were still perfecting the flight route)

structure in the canopy of trees. The data derived from the drone can also be used to create a pointcloud, which creates a 3D version of the images.

Over the winter we’re planning to carry out some more cutting down in the wet meadow to prevent encroachment of scrub and we urgently need to remove some Typha and Flowering rush from our new ponds. We’ve already seen groups of Redwing and Fieldfare marching in to make the most of the bumper crop of berries this year. We’ll have to see what else the north wind brings!

Drone map April 2017 (clearly showing soil removal)

Drone map October 2018. Notice that the colour of the grassland is substantially different from the improved grassland on the zoo car parks (bottom and left).

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Species Spotlight Landhopper (Arcitalitrus dorrieni) by Jessica Wood Description You may have come across Landhoppers (also called Lawn shrimps or Woodhoppers) under stones or among damp debris in the shaded areas of your garden. They appear almost black in colour, can grow up to 15mm in length and are the only crustacean in the UK to live entirely on land. When disturbed, they jump into the air using their strong rear legs, resulting in them often being mistaken for giant fleas.

The Landhopper is an amphipod with a body that is flattened side-to-side. This is a distinguishing feature Landhopper, Arcitalitrus dorrieni ŠDan Hoare is licensed which separates the Landhopper from isopods such as under CC BY 2.0 Woodlice, whose body is flattened from top-to-bottom.

Landhoppers have long antenna, located in front of their eyes, as well as bristles along their body to help aid them in the search for food. Their eyes are not well developed, and it’s thought that this is likely to be an adaptation to their life under leaf litter, where senses such as touch will be more useful than vision.

Ecology As mentioned above, Landhoppers are mostly found around gardens in shaded places but they can also be found in damp scrub and woodland. They feed on decaying plant matter and live under deep leaf litter, even consuming large amounts of it in woodlands. Due to this, Landhoppers are regarded as a significant detritivore, potentially competing with and excluding other detritivores from the ecosystem - despite this, their impact on UK native species is not yet known.

Distribution Originally from Australia, Landhoppers were first recorded in the UK on the Isles of Scilly in 1924 - where they have since been found in high densities of up to around 2,500 per square metre. It is thought that

they first arrived in Britain amongst imported plants and soils. They can move tens of metres per day but are likely to have been spread over long distances by the plant trade between UK garden centres and plant nurseries.

Today, they’re well established in south-western England and along the western coasts of Britain, and are increasing in south-east England. We recently found a Landhopper in the grounds of Chester Zoo, whilst on one of our Community Nature Hub workshops, suggesting that the Landhopper is continuing to spread out across western areas.

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Upcoming events in Cheshire You can now view upcoming events in our online RECORD Calendar. This calendar allows you to view RECORD and other external events in one place and copy details to your own google calendar.

Keep an eye out for our 2019 events including Wildlife Recording Days, Drop-in and Wildlife Exchange Sessions!

RECORD LRC, Cedar House, Chester Zoo, Caughall Road, Upton, CH2 1LH. Tel: 01244 383749 E-mail: info@record-lrc.co.uk Web: www.record-lrc.co.uk

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