November has been mild, although generally rather wet and dreary.  Bats (probably Pipistrelles) were flying on Nov 2^nd over the New Bit of Coe Fen and still on the wing in Paradise on Nov 25^th (Paul). A Red Admiral Butterfly was seen on Viburnum in the sun on 10^th (Olwen) and an Ivy Bee in early November (Pam). 

This month’s specials: read on!

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Birds  It has been another exciting month for birds (see Bob’s blog for fuller details). A Peregrine was seen flying over Arbury November 3^rd (Ben) and on Nov 14^th in Gilbert Rd, May was alerted by the clatter of Magpies and then startled to see a Peregrine kill a woodpigeon in the garden. Ben spotted a Woodcock flying over Arbury. Guy had a lovely view of swimming Water Rail by St Bedes along Cherry Hinton Brook on 13^th and on 18^th, Alan saw another at Logan’s Meadow Nature Reserve in Chesterton. (I had always imagined they were summer visitors, but I gather that while northern and eastern populations are migratory, they are a permanent residents in the warmer parts of their breeding range and the UK may also have immigrants from Europe.)

Another Nuthatch sighting from the Backs, this time on a lime tree at Clare College, in the Fellows Garden – down the “Tunnel of Gloom” (Kate). Guy spotted a pair of Bullfinches by Byron’s Pool car park, along with a Kingfisher and Brown Rat doing its best impression of a water vole. (It must be hard being the City Ecologist!) Vicky reports a very fine Jay just outside her window in Highsett and Pam has a Great Spotted Woodpecker visiting feeders regularly with Gold Finches and Long Tailed Tits. Val’s small central back garden saw the first Starlings in ages, a male Blackcap and a glimpse of a Woodpecker. U3A naturalists spotted a Treecreeper in Cherry Hinton Hall, on a visit to follow the excellent tree trail there.

Holly’s regular update on Cherry Hinton Brook : Usual passerines along the brook (Tits, Blackbirds, Robins, Wren,) and waterbirds (Moorhen and Mallard), with Kingfisher and Little Egret,  but no Winter Thrushes, Brambling or Siskin yet. However, Penny reports a probable Redwing stripping the neighbour’s holly tree of its berries. In Tenison Road, Martin has male and female Blackcaps feeding on ripe grapes. In Fen Ditton, Trevor had a Jay visiting the nut feeder (but soon altered the mesh to exclude him).  He identified Coal Tits visiting for the first time.

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The star attraction this month was the Pallas’s Leaf Warbler, which turned up on Nov 21^st in Paradise, in company of tits, Goldcrests and a Chiffchaff. These tiny, strongly migratory birds are about the size of a goldcrest and weigh only slightly more than a table tennis ball. Although they are an East Asian species (N. China, migrating to S. China and Indonesia in the winter) they are nevertheless found regularly in Europe and UK and this  may be an alternative migration route. This rare sighting then resulted in a secondary sighting: an invasion of Twitchers with Long Lenses and Large Binoculars, generally arrayed along the river path, sighing heavily.

Fungi  The CNHS fungus foray in the Botanic Garden turned up a good number of species. The highlight for me was the Bird’s Nest Fungus which has arrived with the wood chippings under the new raised ramp. Louise sent these pix, from the West Cambridge Site and as each contain a drop of water, you can see the reflection of sky and trees in the cup.

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Orange Peel Fungus was found in the car park area at Cherry Hinton Hall.  Paul spotted Arrenhia rickenii growing in moss on the top of a concrete gate post. They are so tiny, they are probably mostly overlooked! Another tiny, on a twig in Beechwoods reserve, was one of the Crepidotus family (Paul), while bigger and bolder were the Wrinkled Peach fungus, Rhodotus palmatus and Oyster mushrooms Pleurotus ostreatus, both found in Newnham on decaying wood.

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Mammals    Foxes become ever bolder – one was spotted Kingston Street at about 10pm (Jonathan) and another in broad daylight in the grounds of Churchill College (John).  A pair of Muntjac appear to be living in Histon Road Cemetery: this photo was taken from an upstairs window on Bermuda Row. Lesley comments on increasing numbers of Black Squirrels there and also one was reported from Fen Ditton (Trevor).

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Invertebrates  Paul reports a couple of November Moths: Blair’s Shoulder Knot (on the wing from Oct to Nov) and Mottled Umber (males on the wing from Oct to Dec, females are flightless). This Harvestman, Dicranopalpus ramosis was basking on a wall at Jesus (Rhona).

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Blair’s Shoulder Knot        Mottled Umber                      Harvestman
              Paul Rule                             Paul Rule                           Rhona Watson

Plants In the now wooded chalk pit at Limekiln Close, Sharon found a small patch of the beautiful Common Tamarisk-moss Thuidium tamariscinum. This is indeed a common woodland moss in the west of Britain, but has become increasingly rare in Cambridgeshire’s ancient woods.  Maybe is now starting to spread again, as it was found in 2017 in Barnwell East LNR and near Fen Ditton earlier this year.   

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For a couple of years, Charles had admired the annual Claytonia perfoliata, Springbeauty, growing between house wall and pavement in Milford Street, only to find that, although very little grows in these rather barren streets, anything green had been sprayed with weedkiller. Happily, a few fresh seedlings of Claytonia have now reappeared.

Olwen Williams                                     olwenw@gmail.com

The David Attenborough Building’s “Green Roofs” were planted with Sedum and other species and in order to increase habitat, there are wood piles and sandy areas.  Recently two species of Fungi were found there – not part of the original planting scheme (Monica)! From photos, they have been provisionally identified by Helene Davies as Melanoleuca melaleuca and Clitocybe dealbata or C. rivulosa.

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Checking on M. melaleuca, I found, “It is difficult to distinguish from other related species firstly because it is variable, secondly because the taxonomic criteria are often based on characteristics which have later been found to be variable and thirdly because there is much disagreement between authorities as to exactly how the species should be defined.” This seems to sum up fungus identification very neatly.

However, it has been an excellent year for them. In East Pit, were Meadow Coral, an Earthtongue, Parrot Waxcap, Blackening Waxcap and Lawyers Wig (Jonathan). David spotted Inkcaps and some others in Coe Fen. Jean reports two large clumps of Stropharia aeruginosa, a vivid blue-green on the wood chipping path. Check out any rotting wood, compost piles and other slimy places!

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While clearing up the remains of Woodpigeon wings, Ann was puzzled to see many sprouting Bean Seeds on the same patch of lawn. This is a regular fox run and presumably the beans must have come out of a pigeon’s crop. Wiki says a woodpigeon’s crop can hold “As many as 200 beans, 1,000 wheat grains and 15 acorns”. (I’m not sure if this is all at once??) 

Thanks to everyone who sent in invertebrate sightings. Ben saw a large Hawker Dragonfly (?Migrant Hawker) at Adams Rd bird Sanctuary on Oct 5^th and Karsten spotted a Devil’s Coach-horse Beetle (Ocypus olens) in Queen Edith’s. She says, “Looking like a mixture of a giant ant, short-legged locust and black beetle, it’s one of the most awesome looking beetles, especially when it turns its head around and looks up at you”.  Steve sent a picture of a large Wasp (Queen German wasp Vespula germanica?) which had just eaten another wasp, leaving only the head. Queen wasps do have a varied diet including insects, but it’s an interesting observation of wasp eating wasp.

Buff-tailed Bumble Bees continued foraging on Pam’s purple salvias every day, even in light rain. Justin’s Peterhouse biodiversity survey turned up a Pseudoscorpion Roncus lubricus (the Reddish Two-eyed Pseudoscorpion). These tiny arachnids are inconspicuous, favouring dry leaf litter and moss in woodland. This species is restricted to the southern half of England, parts of Wales and Northern Ireland. A contributor (who preferred to remain anonymous) found 2mm Cigarette Beetles Lasioderma serricorne infesting food in his cupboard.

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Two interesting moth caterpillars were reported : a Pale Tussock Moth Calliteara pudibunda at Churchill College and a Double Striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata at Jesus College.

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The Newnham winter flock of Rooks and Jackdaws has now grown to about 400. For a while, they were separate flocks, the jackdaws arriving and departing earlier than the rooks, but now there is one big mixed bunch at 6.30am and 4.30pm, dispersing to feed in the day and collecting up to return to Madingley in the evening. The murmuration of Starlings over Bolton’s Pit also has precise timing, the  birds settling to roost on the island 12 minutes before sunset. Then several people reported feeding flocks of small birds, tits and others including Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Song Thrush and Blackbird (Mo, Pam, Lesley M-B, Jean).   There was even a flock of Goldcrests finding insects in ivy (Anita).

Individual birds of interest include a Little Egret on Sheep‘s Green (Mary G), Tawny Owls in Histon Road Cemetery – “very Hammer Horror!” – both twitting and twooing (male and female), (Lesley D), Jays and Tawny Owl calls at Pinehurst (Jill), a Buzzard over the garden which was seen off by rooks (Pam), regular visits to feeder from a female Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dorothea), another Gt Spotted in the garden and also Little Grebes and Heron on the river (Val).  Gerd reports a Tree Creeper on the birch in her garden.  Anita noted a Green Woodpecker and Herons in Paradise and has seen and heard migrating Redwings. 

Last of the notable birds, a juvenile Long Tailed Skua was found dead – a passage migrant to the UK, breeding in the high Arctic.  In transit down the east coast, it somehow ended up in central Cambridge.  I expect Bob will say more about this one.

Badgers are still active in Newnham, one trying to dig into a back garden under the gate. In Fulbrooke wood, a night camera picked up two Muntjac, some Pheasants and a Fox (Jill).  Dorothea’s Hedgehogs are still feeding every night, but while there has been the odd frost, we have had no really cold weather yet. Squirrels are on the increase in Newnham, stripping hazel and walnuts before ripening, now removing peony seeds from Jean’s pots.

It’s a great year for the female Ginkgo tree at Pinehurst, a problem to residents as the fruits smell foul and are slippery under foot. However, it is a joy to a Japanese lady who harvests the fruits. Apparently, the toxic and irritating flesh must be carefully removed, before she roasts the nuts. Reputedly, as well as being delicious, they enhance libido.

And finally, Ben Greig says, “We have just set up a new group called On The Verge Cambridge (a sister group to the original On The Verge started in Stirling 10 years ago). Our aim is to sow and plant up for pollinators in and around Cambridge. Our first project is underway – we are reseeding the wildflower meadows in the council parks around the city. Your readers will probably have ideas about potential sites that could be planted up – we need project ideas!  Our details: www.onthevergecambridge.org.uk”. Please get in touch with him if you have ideas or would like to help.

Olwen Williams olwenw@gmail.com

At daybreak today, pleated clouds and the first frost. Autumn is when the Rooks and Jackdaws return to the tall trees by the river in Newnham and duly on Sept 8^th the first of the rooks arrived – a fantastic noise.  Curiously, this is neither rookery nor overnight roost. The main roost is over at Madingley, but in autumn and winter, they gather here at dusk and again at dawn.  So far only about 30-40 rooks and 20-30 jackdaws, but at peak the mixed flock is several hundreds. Autumn has arrived!

David Brown, gardening at St John’s College, has kept a bird list since May 2016.  He sends a fantastic list of sightings: 17 species by the river, another 5 flying over including Red Kite and Cormorant and 30 in the Gardens and Wilderness area.  Most notable are the Nuthatch (which we thought we had lost from the City), Treecreeper, Red Legged Partridge (once in 2017) and a Tawny Owl.  Perhaps his sharp eyes will find more of the once common birds such as Little Owl or Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. He also reports 2 Whinchat at Hobsons park (and a Great White Egret at Fen Drayton, sadly out of our study area).

A couple of reports of late Swifts – 3 in Chesterton on 12^th (Nets) and 6 over Granta pond on 13^th (Guy). No reports of incoming migrants yet, though. Lesley spotted Jays in Histon Road Cemetery and near Jesus College. Autumn is their time for collecting nuts and acorns for the winter. For a few days there was a Buzzard resting in the trees by the river in Chesterton (June). In Mowbray Road, a couple of Red Legged Partridges (Ann) and in the Botanic Garden, a Kingfisher against the autumn colouring of Acer cissifolium (Vicky) attracted attention. In Jesus, Rhona  heard some birds ‘kicking off’ and found a Tawny Owl in the woods.

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For several weeks, Bronwyn’s garden was home to a Pigeon.  Probably feral, not apparently ringed, quite aggressive with pigeons and collared doves in a neighbouring garden. “It had a strange sort of bouncing motion when perched on the fence.” A lost racer, perhaps? Very distinctive but finally moved on (or became dinner for a peregrine?)

You can’t keep a good naturalist down, even when eating lunch.  Chris reports an Ant which emerged from a Cambridge-bought nectarine. It was identified (by Rhian Guillem) as a queen Crematogaster scutellaris, a Mediterranean species. A good example of how impossible it is to control the introduction of species in a globalised world (see below)!  I am looking forward to hearing what emerges from the next batch.  Meanwhile, Duncan reports an interesting coupling between two different species of Damselfly.  The male is an Emerald Damselfly with dark brown wing patches (pterostigma) and the female is a Willow Emerald with light coloured pterostigma. The Willow Emeralds are newcomers to the UK, but (he says) they should be used to the Common Emeralds, as they occur in France as well.   He asks, “Are they just confused, did the male make a big mistake, will we get some sort of hybrid, or is it just the French getting up to their old tricks again?”

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Badgers continue to expand their range in the city.  In Harvey Goodwin Ave, Chesterton, Ben reports sightings on two consecutive nights in July of a badger harrying a Hedgehog (rescued). I gather male urine sprayed around is a good deterrent to badgers…..  The City has a good number of Local Nature Reserves: Guy reports a Fox at West Pit and a Weasel at Nine Wells.  We also had a visit to Nine Wells and found a wonderful orb-web Spider, Araneus quadratus busy parcelling up a crane fly.

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Rhona’s Jesus Ditch has juvenile Water Voles (about half the size of an adult). Lesley notes the local north Cambridge Grey Squirrels have increasing numbers of black individuals.

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Not much news on the plant front, except for Floating Pennywort again, growing in a private pond at Regatta Court after escaping some time ago from the river. Mike says it is possibly spread by Moorhens and “This will be promptly removed!” In general, clearance has been very successful from the main river.

On Sept 5^th, there were swarms small black Caddis Flies over the river. Paul found a Red Admiral sipping on over-ripe blackberries at Coldhams Common and also the Four-banded Bee-grabber Conops quadrifasciatus, a handsome but rather nasty fly if you happen to be a bumblebee, as they are parasitic, laying their eggs inside the bee.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/63075200@N07/collections/72157658279506405/

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In his moth trap, Paul found a Twin-spot Centurion Sargus bipunctatus. “Such an attractive fly to emerge from dung.” The two white spots make this an easily identifiable species.

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In the systematic beds at the Botanic Garden, I found numerous ground nesting bees, identified as Ivy Bees, Colletes hederae. They are recent colonists, first seen in Cambridgeshire in 2016 but now widespread and often feasting on flowering ivy. Rhona reports Hummingbird Hawkmoths, usually on the Ceratostigma plants. 

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Liza found a Box Tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis, the introduced destroyer of topiary.  So far her variegated box has no signs of infestation ….  However, Martin reports more from Grantchester, they have turned up in Paul’s moth trap and there is a plague in Trumpington where 259 turned up in a trap on one night.  Box has been used extensively on the new estates in this area, so this almost certainly is related to the big increase in numbers. Have they increased because of the abundance of new food sources, or because the newly planted Box plants were already infested?

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Originating from south-east Asia, they were first recorded in Kent in 2007 and have been extending their UK range since then. The moths are iridescent white with a purplish brown border  and there is also a less common melanic variation, the wings being purplish brown with a white spot near the centre of the forewing.

Autumn is the season for fungi and Guy found a group of Shaggy Inkcap on a Shelford Rd Lawn. He also reports 4 Brown Trout, an Eel and Spined Loach during the final monitoring of the Rush.

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And finally, Val was surprised to find a large Frog leaping frantically into the downstairs shower, desperate to escape the hoover.  “It must have snuck in through the open back door at some point. Reader, I caught the frog with my bare hands and returned it to the part of the garden where it had previously been observed to lurk meditatively.”

Olwen Williams olwenw@gmail.com

Paradise (my local nature reserve) on a sunny afternoon – ripe Blackberries and Elderberries, Gypsywort in flower and a huge Willow has shed a large branch across the river.  Chicken of the Woods Fungus, previously on this tree, has now sprouted on the picnic logs. (I am always saddened by the litter here, but for every one person abusing this site, I hope 50 are enjoying it.) See https://paradisenaturereserve.wordpress.com/  An unusual fungus in the Cenacle (Sue) was an Earth Ball Scleroderma verrucosum.  Related to Puff Balls, they are more solid and tend to be partially underground.

Birds. Lots of reports of successful fledgings.  The Newnham Heronry is estimated to have 18 youngsters this year, from about a dozen nests (Mike).  Holly reports from Cherry Hinton : Great Tits, Blue Tits and Robins in the trees, Reed Warblers seen and heard in rushes by Backland allotments and young broods of Moorhen all along the brook. The last of Pam’s 8 Swift chicks fledged and flew on Aug 3^rd but a few stragglers could still be seen flying south on 24^th. In Pinehurst, there were crowds of very young Blue Tits in the trees and a Tawny Owl calling (Jill). I saw a Treecreeper on the riverbank in Newnham and another was spotted at Murray Edwards College (Jo).

Two exciting raptors!  On Aug 12^th, Val was enjoying the relatively traffic-free calm of the Romsey side of Mill Road and a delicious Limoncello raspberry sorbet, when she spotted a bird of prey, clearly hunting. This was identified as a Sparrowhawk and the party had the distinctly eerie feeling that the bird was checking them out for snackability too! 

Then in Great Kneighton, Richard asks, “I wonder how likely I am to have seen an Osprey here today (26^th)?   It circled the lake, occasionally splashing into and out of the water feet first. It had a large raptor’s hooked beak, distinct white cap to the head and pale underparts. The top of the wings in flight were dark with a slightly paler patch about two thirds of the way towards the tips.” An excellent description and the right time of year for a bird returning south, so seems extremely probable.

Mammals. Hedgehogs are doing well in various parts of the city, reported this month from Leys Rd. This spring, I have released three in Newnham from the Shepreth Hedgehog Hospital, on the understanding that there were no Badgers in the immediate vicinity and our small back gardens would provide an ideal habitat.  Alas!  Diggings under the gate of one garden and a sighting in the road led me to set a night camera which caught both Badger and Fox in the snicket between the gardens.  Foxes remain as brazen as ever, lounging on the cricket pitch at Jesus College (Rhona) and 2m from the house in Holbrook Rd (Ann). Badgers are known to be in Millington Wood and Newnham College grounds, but are spreading like Muntjac! I encountered two of these little deer in Paradise reserve and was greeted with prolonged and loud barking.

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Jill reports many young Hares south of Fulbrooke Road, on the fields. Holly noted several dark Water Voles on the brook near St Bede’s playing field. 

Invertebrates.  Dragonflies and Damselflies On Aug 5^th, Duncan reports that, following on from the rediscovery of the White Legged Damselfly in Grantchester Meadows, another new Cambridge species has just appeared in Ditton Meadows – the Southern Migrant Hawker. That takes Cambridge’s total Odonata to 23, so it is starting to be a dragonfly hotspot.  Mo found the Willow Emerald damselfly in a typical pose, with wings held away from the body.  On 12^th a Southern Hawker appeared in my garden.

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Jill found a Southern Oak Bush Cricket in her third floor flat and wondered how this wingless insect came to be there. Described as carnivorous, arboreal and nocturnal, it is a predator of the Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner – splendid, we have lots of that and it is welcome. A recent British colonist, with well-documented expansion from southern Europe over the past few decades, it was first recorded from Surrey and Berkshire in 2001. Paul found this Asparagus Beetle on Empty Common.

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I noted a Hornet’s nest in a willow tree on Grantchester Meadows and a Vapourer Moth caterpillar was chomping Meg’s basil plants in Fen Road. Liza found a pretty Cranefly Nephrotoma flavipalpis in the bedroom, which managed to get caught in a cobweb, even though the windows were wide open all night. Sue’s house was invaded by a Speckled Wood butterfly: I discovered that individuals in the north are dark brown with white spots, whilst those in more southerly locations are dark brown with orange spots.

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A Canary-Shouldered Thorn Moth Ennomos alniaria appeared at Jesus on 8^th Aug and on 22^nd, a Southern Green Shieldbug Nezara viridula nymph (Rhona). There seem to be very few East Anglian records of the latter, as this species was first recorded in the UK in 2003 and is slowly spreading out from London. 

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Spiders. A couple of fantastic spiders. The Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi, was found beside the lake on Trumpington Meadows. Yet another continental European immigrant, they arrived in Britain in 20^thC.  The female has a very striking appearance, with a body up to 18mm in length, characterized by bold yellow and black horizontal bands on its abdomen.  In contrast, the male is tiny, with a pale brown body only about 5mm in length. The web has a characteristic area of zigzag weaving.  Then this male Giant House Spider was wandering Mo’s house. With a leg span around 7cm, they are an arachnophobe’s worst nightmare.  They are particularly prevalent in the autumn when seeking females and stay with them for some weeks, mating numerous times until eventually they die, at which point they are eaten by their female.

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Olwen Williams olwenw@gmail.com

Birds.  It has been an excellent year for warblers!  Duncan’s request for Dawn Chorus recordings from mobile phones provided 24 contributions and the outstanding result was that 11 had Blackcaps singing in them. Blackbirds were found on 17 and Wrens on 16. One had a Garden Warbler – fairly unusual, but another one, heard in Paradise, made it onto Radio 4 with Tony Jupiter praising the green spaces of Cambridge. A Willow Warbler was around between 3-7^th June on the edge of Trumpington Park & Ride car park (Hugo) and Chiffchaffs are also abundant.

In spite of problems with the male, a city Peregrine was seen carrying feral pigeon prey over Market square (Guy). The out-of-town pair have also done well: by 18^th, all 3 chicks were fledged and had left the nest.  They will probably be around for the next few weeks before being driven off by the parents (Norman).  A Barn Owl was seen hunting over Grantchester Meadows on Friday 29 June (Hugo). Also, a Cuckoo was noisily making his presence known on 10^th to the South of Trumpington Meadows (Mo).

Earlier in the year, a pair of French Partridges turned up in Newnham and recently reappeared with 3 young in tow. At Byron’s Pool was great to see a male Grey Wagtail on the lily pads.

Val’s early morning rowing turned up lots of new arrivals on the river: Herons of various vintages, Swans with Cygnets (3 different clutches of 1, 2 and 5 near Stourbridge Common), Moorhen with 2 teeny babies near The Plough in Fen Ditton, a set of Ducklings (6, newly hatched, 5 brown and 1 yellow) and House Martins hunting over the water. For further entertainment, there was a Bullock in the river, being patiently retrieved by Council workers. She comments that there were far fewer Swifts than before and it does seem to be a bad year for them, though the Owlstone Rd pair are feeding 2 chicks (Pam). 

Mammals On 11^th, a nocturnal trip through Paradise produced recordings of 6 species of Bat (Paul). These were Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle (lots), Daubenton’s, Brown Long-eared, Noctule, Serotine.  Other mammal records were the 2 Hedgehogs which returned to Maggie after a 10 month absence and the Muntjac which leapt over Ron’s deer fence yet again!

June N asks, “Does the sighting of a Grass Snake among some ivy near a pond in Chesterton deserve a mention (about the diameter of a good sized thumb)?”  It certainly does – I reckon to see one every 10 years if I am lucky. I did recently disturb a black Toad under the dustbins, though.

Invertebrates.  Rhona sent a picture of a Wool Carder bee on Lamb’s Ear  – more evidence of Jesus College’s rich diversity. Then a new record for Cambridge, the Mediterranean Spotted Chafer Oxythyrea funesta – a small chafer probably imported to Jesus College on a rootball. They are common on Continental Europe, but with few UK records (Rhona). A Hummingbird Hawk-moth appeared on my honeysuckle for a few minutes.

A Lesser Stag Beetle arrived in a moth trap in Chesterton (Nets) and a fly was snapped in Cheney Way (Simon).  This was identified as Urophora cardui, a thistle gall fly. The female lays her eggs in thistle flower heads, usually Creeping Thistle, causing damage to the seeds. They are sometimes used in thistle weed control.

Dragonflies. In early June, Bill had Broad-bodied Chasers mating over the garden pond. Scarce Chasers were found at Fen Ditton and a colony of Variable Damselfly on Ditton meadows. Eddington lake has now got a good population of Damselflies and Dragonflies while Byron’s pool has masses of Banded Demoiselles.

Butterflies   Trumpington Meadows is a huge success story. The wildflower meadows are superb and besides the recent appearance of Small Blue butterflies, Mo sent the following list:   Large Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Painted Lady, Common Blue.  Marbled White butterflies were reported from Coldham’s Common.

Moths  Some recent finds illustrated below (Paul).

Cherry bark Tortrix Limnephilus lunatus Paul Rule

Fungus From sublime to ridiculous in Paradise?  The mildew Podosphaera filipendulae on Meadowsweet (Chris) and the gigantic Chicken of the Woods on a Willow tree were both observed on the riverside path in May Week, as punters enjoyed the post-exam sunshine.

And finally, a really nice bee orchid on Trumpington Meadows (Norman) and others reported at Nuttings Road (Guy).

Olwen Williams olwenw@gmail.com

The early UK spring foliage and flowers cannot be beaten – returning from a trip to the tropics, I found Cambridge spring in full flood. Elderflower is now adding to the heady scent of the May blossom and cow parsley. Lots of migrant warblers are here now, but it was a great delight to hear a Cuckoo from my back doorstep on May 2^nd.

“The cuckoo comes in April,                                                                                           He sings his song in May.                                                                                               In June, he changes his tune                                                                                      And in July he flies away.”

Then on May 10^th, the first screams of airborne Swifts, returning for their summer holidays. The UK must be the only place they ever touch down, as they nest and rear young here, but otherwise live their lives on the wing. I expect Bob will tell us where in Cambridge they are nesting.

Mayflies have hatched in Paradise, Newnham’s local nature reserve. The new pond there provides quiet water and lots of emergent vegetation, while excluding large predatory fish. For a few days each spring, evening swarms can be seen as the males search for a female before ending their brief adult lives.

Above the gate and near the chapel in Trinity Great Court, House Martins are busy flying in and out from their nests. By the river in Newnham, a Grey Wagtail investigated the waterside vegetation.

A massive effort was made to clear the invasive Floating Pennywort from the upper river last autumn. At one point, it had spread right across the river. Happily, there is no sign of it at the moment.

My spider of the month is Araneus diadematus.  This well known Garden Spider is generally associated with autumn, but at breakfast on May 18th, I found a newly hatched mass of spiderlings in a communal web.  Yellow and black, there must have been about one hundred of them, clustered together. When disturbed, they fell away on individual threads like golden raindrops and then gradually reassembled. Within a few hours, they had climbed up into the tree and disappeared.

On 31st May, while swimming in the river, I saw a barn owl crossing the river to the Skaters Field nature reserve in Newnham. It was early evening and the owl was moth-like and white in the sunshine. I had been told that they were about, but this was the first time I had seen one.

Olwen Williams

April sightings

Spring seems to be advancing in fits and starts. We have had a series of night frosts and cold winds, with one magnificent hail storm. However, at the same time, sunny days mean that the spring is well advanced and most of the May blossom is out before May has even arrived. Cow parsley blooms at the same time, the two together providing a double layer of white and a sensational scent.

Cow parsley

My local Song Thrush is putting in overtime!  I hear him throughout the day – maybe a minute’s pause as he moves from one tree to another, to establish territory – but a continuous flow of small repeated phrases in a fluty whistle. He is still going at dusk! Last year was very good for slugs and snails, so hopefully he will be mopping up a few of these.

A family of Hedgehogs has been spotted in Arbury Rd and in Chesterton, there are reports of Toads in the garden.  All good news.

Olwen Williams

 

 

 

Valentine’s Day (Feb 14^th) is traditionally when birds start their courtship. Bang on cue, I was greeted at breakfast by the local Herons, wheeling in pairs over their nesting site in Newnham and   vocalising. Let us not call it song! Squeals, yelps, grunts, squawks, honks, barks, growls, clucks, squeaks and hisses are interspersed with vigorous bill clattering – quite the noisiest courtship ever. The heronry appeared in Newnham a few years ago and seems to be doing fairly well. In the summer of 2015, I counted a crèche of 14 juveniles standing around in the field waiting for the adults to reappear with food.

A few years ago, the churchyard of Little St Mary’s Church was rescued from a totally over-grown state and is now a shaded and secluded garden. I found Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragrans), in bloom and fragrant. This has been the site of a place of worship since around the twelfth century and it is tempting to wonder if some of its plants may have existed on this spot for many generations. Its cousin, butterbur, is not yet in flower, but there is a large patch in the Paradise Nature Reserve, known to exist there since the 1600s. Meanwhile, on a Sarcococcus bush in the churchyard, early Honeybees were enjoying the fragrant flowers.

Winter heliotrope

As winter progresses, my log pile gets ever smaller and I am careful to brush off any animals which live there. This month’s spider is the Lace-weaver Spider, Amaurobius similis. They are about 10mm long, mainly brown with a patterned abdomen and very common in houses and gardens. They lurk between the logs, weaving a wispy, blueish web, extending from a hole between the logs. In this retreat, eggs are laid in a silken sac and on hatching, their first meal might well be the mother who has not survived them!

 

 

 

Amaurobius similis and web

Olwen Williams

This month’s highlight has been the flock of 24 Waxwings which have been devouring the berries in the front gardens of Cherry Hinton. These beautiful birds are winter visitors from Scandinavia, coming to find a new source of winter food when weather conditions are bad there. They are generally in small flocks, moving from one tree to another. This one was enjoying the rowan berries, in the company of the occasional mistle thrush.

I am always intrigued by Rooks and Jackdaws. The tall trees near the river in Newnham may contain as many as 300-400, in a mixed flock. I know that there is a very large roost at Madingley, described in detail in 1931 and probably there for very much longer. Outside the breeding season, several thousand birds (of both species) congregate there each night from far and wide – even as far as Manea in Fenland. In the mornings, they disperse and sometimes only a few come my way. Other mornings, between dawn and sunrise, there is a massive noisy flock, wheeling and turning in the sky. They settle briefly and then go about the day’s business. Later, at tea time, they reassemble before returning to Madingley – a trip of about 4 miles and taking just a few minutes. (I imagine they are much quicker than the car-bound commuters on the same journey!)

However, Newnham does not appear to be a rookery – there are no nests there – simply a stop-off place. So where do they spend the day and where are all the rookeries? If you know of any rooks’ nests within the city, please get in touch with us. Also, if you also see large flocks, that would be good to know too.

My spider of the month is the Daddy-Long-Legs Spider, Pholcus phalangioides. This is not to be confused with the other “Daddy-Long-Legs”: the Harvestmen (also arachnids but not spiders) and Crane Flies (long-legged insects with wings). Pholcus is a widespread species, but intolerant of cold. It survives as an indoor inhabitant of houses throughout Europe. You may find them in cupboards and cellars, high up and upside down, in a wispy web. When disturbed, they vibrate rapidly on their very long legs – probably a defence mechanism. Like most spiders, they have eight eyes, but in a very unusual distribution. There are two groups of three and then two tiny ones in the centre. They catch and eat other spiders, small flies such as mosquitoes and even woodlice – so entirely harmless and welcome house guests. Any in your cupboards?

Olwen Williams