Author Topic: my local patch and wildlife - Ian McDonald (Read 230462 times)

ian mcdonald · « **Reply #600 on:** May 31, 2019, 04:29:21 PM »

Doves-foot cranes-bill, Geranium molle.

Common vetch, Vicia sativa.

Fairy flax, Linum catharticum.

Oval sedge, Carex ovalis.

Woody nightshade, Solanum dulcamara. Sometimes confused with deadly nightshade.

ian mcdonald · « **Reply #601 on:** May 31, 2019, 04:40:37 PM »

Yellow flag, Iris pseudacorus.

A Caddis which has camouflaged itself with grass stalks.

Long horn beetle, Agapanthia villoviridescens.

A Cardinal beetle.

Cut-leaved cranesbill, Geranium dissectum.

ian mcdonald · « **Reply #602 on:** May 31, 2019, 04:51:58 PM »

Short winged european chinch bug.

An Ichneumon fly.

Black ant, Lasius niger.

Scarce vapourer.

Southern Marsh Orchids, Dactylorhiza praetermissa, just beginning to flower. Some are pink others are red.

ian mcdonald · « **Reply #603 on:** May 31, 2019, 05:01:24 PM »

Birds etc. seen this week, cuckoo, black headed gull, shoveler, lapwing, curlew, gadwall, tufted duck, swift, kestrel, house martin, willow warbler, wren, chiff chaff, blackcap, blackbird, teal, mallard, whitethroat, robin, buzzard, marsh harrier, cettis warbler, garden warbler, shelduck, pheasant, chaffinch, great tit, blue tit, wood pigeon, hobby, yellowhammer, coot, swallow, crow, reed bunting, stonechat, cormorant, meadow pipit, grey lag geese, sedge warbler, heron and black necked grebe. Also seen were a roe deer and an american mink.

David Lyttle · « **Reply #604 on:** June 02, 2019, 10:12:28 AM »

Hello Ian,

Its a rather slow Sunday afternoon here with cold southerly rain showers coming through. More or less the start of winter. I have been seeing a lot of familiar plants on your blog some of which are thriving in my own garden. Here they are considered weeds so no photos from me unless my SRGC friends want a thread on displaced wildflowers! So a partial list; Geranium molle, Geranium dissectum, Vicia sativa, Solanum dulcamara, Linum catharticum and Veronica persica. A marvellous blog with lots of interest. Your patch seems very rich in wildlife particularly birds.

Maggi Young · « **Reply #605 on:** June 02, 2019, 12:11:05 PM »

From Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh :
Recording Rare Plants and Lichens

RBGE is asking mountaineers, climbers and scramblers to help record rare plants and lichens that grow in some of Scotland’s remotest places.
"Many rare and endangered plants and lichens grow in such remote and/or exposed locations that conservationists remain unsure of exactly how many populations exist, and where monitoring and protection should be focussed. Mountaineers, climbers and scramblers are the most likely people to see these plants, and we are asking the mountaineering community to contact us with any sightings by emailing raremountainplants@rbge.org.uk and including GPS coordinates, or an OS map six figure grid reference of the location, and if possible a photograph. Details of our three target species - Alpine Blue-Sowthistle, Tufted Saxifrage and Alpine Sulphur Tresses - are included in the link below..... "

https://www.rbge.org.uk/science-and-conservation/recording-rare-plants-and-lichens/?fbclid=IwAR0XRXunjlxI2QJHxKCgy3cfK4QueR1glNrHhYQfQOXaGhmB5Nzg6j1cJZI

Robert · « **Reply #606 on:** June 02, 2019, 02:26:00 PM »

Hi Ian,

I enjoy your photographs immensely, especially the photographs of the insects.

ian mcdonald · « **Reply #607 on:** June 02, 2019, 02:53:34 PM »

Thanks David and Robert, good to know my efforts are appreciated. Maggi, I think the BSBI recorders and members would be able to provide records for the RBGE.

Sometimes officials of wildlife organisations will not help non-members so in turn non members don,t help those organisations. A loss to natural history.

ian mcdonald · « **Reply #608 on:** June 02, 2019, 04:01:08 PM »

David, the "patch" is one of the best areas in the country for its variety of wildlife. This is due to the variety of habitats at the site. The Managers of the site, a government advisor on the Environment, Natural England, seem to have had their role reversed. Their overseers, the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, (Defra), seem to have instructed NE to diversify into tourism, business etc. which conflict with Conservation. At least, that is the impression the public now have of NE. Naturalists (citizen scientists as we are now referred to) are ignored when we suggest where management needs to be carried out to protect and preserve wildlife species. We carry out much recording on sites where a consultant would charge huge sums of money for a second rate job and we do not even get recognition from government. I am not a "birder" but notice birds and other wildlife as I look for the plants on the site. I would encourage anyone who is interested in wildlife to look at their own area and record what is there before it is lost. Don,t be afraid to speak up for our wildlife, it needs all the help it can get.