To the amateur naturalist moths can be a fascinating subject to study. They are an incredibly diverse group with over 2,500 different species recorded in the UK (71 species of butterfly recorded in the UK seems meagre in comparison!). Though often dismissed as brown and drab, many moths are quite the opposite, showing just as brightly coloured wings and a great deal more variance in terms of shape and body size than butterflies.

What makes moths such an interesting group to study? Well, for me it is the fact that a large diversity of species can be observed in a small area, such as an ordinary back garden. The most effective way to assess the moth population of a site is to run a ‘light trap’ overnight. This technique attracts moths in large numbers by exploiting their tendency to become disorientated by bright light. Moths enter the trap where they rest on egg trays and are unable to get out. The next morning, the ‘catch’ can be studied and once identified and recorded the moths are released unharmed. Using this method to date I have recorded over 400 species of moths in my north Cambridge garden.

Actinic Mercury Vapour moth trap

Privet Hawk

There are many spectacular and beautiful moths to be found in the Cambridge study area. The most impressive group are the Hawkmoths, which are medium to large moths, often brightly coloured. There are seven species which can be regularly recorded in Cambridge city which include the enormous Privet Hawkmoth (as large as a mouse!), bright pink Elephant Hawkmoth and stunning Eyed Hawkmoth. Late May to July is the best time to look for Hawkmoths and this year has been particularly good with a larger than normal number recorded.

Elephant Hawkmoth

Eyed Hawkmoth

Buff Tip (upside down!)

On an average night at this time of year one could expect to catch at least 50 species, even in urban areas. Intriguing moths such as the Buff Tip (which perfectly mimics a twig) as well as the striking Leopard Moth and Phoenix Moth are all common in the city centre.

 

Leopard Moth

Phoenix

Warmer nights tend to be the most productive, and with the ongoing heat wave which Cambridge has been experiencing, it has resulted in a bumper spell for moth recording. The night of July 7th produced a particularly large catch in my garden, with upward of 450 moths consisting of 120 different species!

With every trapping session there is always the chance of catching something rare. Trapping during the warm weather and southerly winds this summer has been rewarding with several unusual species recorded in my garden. These have included the Red Data Book species Toadflax Brocade (only a handful of Cambridgeshire records), the scarce immigrant Dewick’s Plusia and one of my favourites – the Scallop Shell, which is normally confined to damp woodland.

Toadflax Brocade

Dewick’s Plusia

Scallop Shell

As we move into late July and August we can expect a shift from spring and summer flying moths to late summer and autumn specialities. This can be a very productive period and produce some of the largest catches of the year. Two particular species: Large Yellow Underwing and the curiously named Setaceous Hebrew Character have been very abundant during this period in previous years – often filling the trap! There is also the increasing chance of catching a rare immigrant or two, as migrant moths are carried by favourable autumn winds from the near continent.

Jon Heath 13^th July 2018

 

 

In the depths of the winter, thinking nobody would be outside much, I asked for sightings of indoor wildlife – hardly anything was reported!  But now??  A Bat hanging onto the curtain in Newnham. Maybugs (cockchafers) galore, crashing into windows unable to escape (of which more later). A Large Yellow Underwing moth Noctua pronuba in a sitting room, alive and well. A Wood Pigeon in the bedroom at 4 o’clock in the morning, with two excited cats! And Swifts, on CCTV in internal boxes. Perhaps like us, they are all trying to escape the heat wave, which is beginning to resemble 1976.

Swift nest box in Newnham

Then in gardens, more excitement.  A 2-3ft Grass Snake swimming in a small garden pond in Barton Rd. A female Stag Beetle under a flowerpot. A grounded Swift, much water out of the pond and  another excited but puzzled cat. The swift was released from the top attic window and off it flew. (The cat survived too, I believe.)  Daily Hedgehog visits in Hartford St and Victoria St, though not in Newnham, where George seems to have gone to ground. A pair of Crows on an aerial, being seen off by the dive-bombing tactics of a pair of Jackdaws. Finally, some Fox Cubs in Millington Rd.

Various plants have been reported. We have two invasive nuisances: Himalayan (Indian) Balsam clearance is in progress, so if you see any, pull it up before it seeds.  The Floating Pennywort clearance carried out last year has been hugely successful, but there are still small strands about and vigilance will be needed to eradicate it.

The Adams Rd Sanctuary now has several plants of Corky-fruited Water-dropwort, two flowering spikes of Ivy Broomrape and one plant of Hemp Agrimony. Yellowwort and Centaury have been in flower along the Tins cycletrack. Trumpington Meadows is awash with wild flowers, a real success for such a recent wildlife reserve. We saw a Pyramidal Orchid, Water Figwort near the river and this spectacular seed clock of Salsify. The arrangement of the parachutes and seeds gives maximum opportunity for each to disperse in different directions. Lovely geometry!

 

 

Salsify ‘clock’

 

 

On 20^th June, Cambridge Natural History Society had a walk round the Chesterton Railway Sidings, near Cambridge North station and found plenty of unusual plants growing on this derelict industrial area. Most spectacular was Hoary Mullein (Verbascum pulverulentum) with abundant candelabra-like inflorescences. It was growing with both Common and Twiggy Mullein (V. thapsus and V. virgatum), so there could also have been hybrids. A pretty but small plant was Pale Toadflax (Linaria repens), which is quite uncommon in Cambridgeshire.

 

Hoary mullein                                                         Pale toadflax

Although concentrating on plants, they did notice a very fine Musk Beetle, Aromia moschata, on a bramble leaf near the Bramblefields Nature Reserve.

 

 

Musk Beetle

On June 14^th, Guy saw a freshly emerged Hornet Clearwing Moth along the Tins cycle route and Red Eyed damselfly at the adjacent pit. Paul claims his usual haul of ‘bugs’ – moth trapping and photography turn up all sorts of things.  Four new species of micro moths in his trap were Bird-cherry Ermine, Common Footman, Common Grey and Hawthorn moth – lovely names. Ben, also trapping moths, found a Buff Tip, looking exactly like a bit of dead wood.

 

 

Buff Tip Moth

 

A magnificent Privet Hawk-moth arrived at my door, having been found dead in the road.

 

Privet Hawk-moth

 

This rather handsome Ichneumon Wasp Diphyus quadripunctorius found in Langham Rd has very few national records and this is a first for East Anglia.

Diphyus quadripunctorius Wasp

Even flies get a turn this month: Paul’s Little Snipefly Chrysopilus asiliformis, with wonderful green eyes, and a jaunty pair of Sicus ferrugineus, spotted at Trumpington Meadows.

 

 

Little Snipefly

 

 

 

Sicus ferrugineus

 

A visit to Cherry Hinton pit turned up lots of Cockchafers. These are a pest in many gardens, including the Botanic Garden, as the larvae eat the grass roots and are sought by badgers, crows and magpies which ruin the lawns. I met a pair of young men in a pub, complaining about chafers – they turned out to be groundsmen employed to maintain sports pitches. Apparently, they can only use nematodes against the larvae and they are not very effective.

Lots of butterfly reports, including Comma, Meadow Brown and Ringlet. At Trumpington Meadows we saw Small Heath and also several Marbled Whites – a new one for me.

   Marbled White Butterfly

On the whole, the birds have gone rather quiet! Feeding and defending youngsters must take most of their energy. The Swifts, however, continue to scream around the sky. They are using nesting boxes in both Newnham and Chesterton. CCTV shows the parents returning to the nest every 3-4 hours with a full crop to feed their two chicks, then resting a while before taking off again. Skylarks and Yellowhammer were singing over the Grantchester Fields, indicating good farming practices. Vicky reports, “All quiet in Highsett save for a family of Jays, the teenagers still being attended by an overworked parent”. Jays quiet?? Really!! Then Susanne mentions a Mismatch in Paradise Fen (she actually meant Nuthatch… but was auto-mis-corrected).

And finally, from our expert in smuts and rusts, two extreme rarities.  The brown dots on this leaf of Moon Carrot (Seseli libanotis) are the very rare rust fungus Puccinia libanotidis. The Moon Carrot is one of the well-known flowering plant rarities of Cherry Hinton and the rust is even rarer, only known in Britain from Cambridge and from the Sussex coast.

Not content with that, he tells me that the downy mildew Peronospora knautiae was found in Trumpington Meadows, forming conspicuous red dots on Knautia arvensis (Field Scabious), apparently only the second British record (it was recorded from Wiltshire in 2015). Thanks Chris.

So, a busy and productive month – thank you to all observers and please keep them coming.

Olwen Williams                          olwenw@gmail.com

 

 

 

One of the young Peregrines from the city centre nest site fell to the pavement on 5^th June. It was taken to the Raptor Foundation near St Ives for rest and recovery and released to its nest site on 12^th June. A second bird fledged successfully but a third chick died in the nest. The Peregrines at the second site had one large chick in mid-June. The bird from this site that was shot last year and also taken to the Foundation recovered and was successfully released earlier this year.

A pair of Sparrowhawks displaying over Canterbury Street on 31^st May suggests a late nesting attempt – the first might have been lost in the April rains. A male Sparrowhawk over the old Ridgeon’s site in Cromwell Road was probably on a hunting mission from the active nest in Romsey Town.

A Cuckoo in Rustat Road on the 8^th May was an unusual city record – it may have been “casing” Hedge Sparrows to parasitise.

A Barn Owl hunting over Ditton meadows on 1^st June during the day was probably feeding growing chicks in a nearby nest.

Change of ownership of a terraced house has meant the ivy growing on the front of the house has been removed and one of the best House Sparrow colonies in the city has been lost. It’s a difficult one: ivy growing on house walls – I’m sympathetic to the new owners and would probably do the same myself.

Sad young Peregrine on the pavement 5th June photo from Twitter

Meadow Pipit Hobson’s Park mid-June 2018

A cycle ride from Chesterton to Addenbrooke’s on 12th June across Coldham’s Common produced the following singing warblers: 10 Blackcaps, 3-4 Chiffchaffs, 2 Common Whitethroats, 1 Lesser Whitethroat (by Barnwell Road bridge) and 1 Garden Warbler (south eastern corner of Coldham’s Common, in the tall hedges). This time of year Chiffchaffs make a strange, soft “grrk, grrk” call between “chiff-chaffing” which is often not mentioned in the text books. No Cetti’s Warbler in Barnwell this year – might not have survived the Beast from the East.

Blackcaps are abundant this year with birds singing in most dense groups of shrubs and trees – St Lawrence’s School, Arbury Road and on the other side of the road at St Catherine’s Road/Arbury Road junction are good examples. A Willow Warbler singing in the birches opposite Cambridge North station suggests breeding. This warbler is becoming scarce in the south of England; the UK population seems to be moving north and west.

Common Whitethroats have eventually turned up but about half the usual number. Sedge Warblers are in very short supply. Goldfinches feeding on sunflower seeds appear to discard the embryo end of the seed and just eat the endosperm.

Three to four pairs of Swifts appear to be using the Swift Tower in Logan’s Meadow. The UK population of Swifts is about 87,000 – down 50% in the last 20 years and has probably declined due lack of nest sites as we seal and modernise our roofs and loft spaces. Swift awareness weeks encourages us to install nest sites in our houses, see: www.actionforswifts.blogspot.co.uk/.

A second count of apparently active nests of House Martins at Addenbrooke’s in mid-June produced 74 (73 in mid-May!).

Hobson’s Park between Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Great Kneighton is well worth a visit (bicycle is best!). There are at least eight singing male Corn Buntings making it the best local site for this bird I know. Corn Buntings are Red Listed resident farmland birds and have suffered a severe population decline of 90% of the breeding population between 1970 and 2010 (Balmer et al 2013). They are late nesters and nest on the ground. If they nest in winter barley the eggs are destroyed at harvest in late July and if they nest in winter wheat the young are killed at harvest in late August. They have also suffered from the lack of over-winter stubbles for winter feeding. In 2016 John Meed had 6-7 Corn Buntings on the adjacent grid square covering Nine Wells.

Corn Buntings singing at Hobson’s Park mid-June 2018

Hobson’s Park also has plenty of Skylarks and a few Meadow Pipits breeding – the latter another Red Listed resident bird of our open countryside. The lake there has 2-3 pairs of nesting Common Terns amongst the breeding Black-headed Gull colony and, at least, 2 pairs of breeding Lapwings and Little Grebes. Sadly, there are no Sedge Warblers – the habitat looks ideal – but at least two singing Reed Warblers.

The single Common Tern seen in April on Riverside was probably the same single bird at Milton Country Park; that too has left. Sadly, no Common Terns are to be seen in our project area along the river Cam this year.

The RSPB does an annual nocturnal “listen” for Crakes and Rails at their wetland reserves; this year they located a calling Little Crake at their Ouse Fen reserve between Over and Holywell on 23^rd May. The last County records were both in the City in late March at Barnwell in 1826 and Chesterton in 1864 (Bircham 1989); both birds were collected, i.e. shot and stuffed!

Mating Common Blue butterflies

Ivy Broomrapes in Chesterton

Common Blue butterflies were out at a farm site in the north of our project area in May and June enjoying the hottest May on record; I’m not much of a botanist but there are vigorous plants of Viper’s Bugloss (love the name) along the cycle-ways at Cambridge North Station and Hobson’s Park. Ivy Broomrapes are appearing in the ivy central reservation in Longworth Avenue, Chesterton.

Balmer D. et al (2013) Bird Atlas 2007 – 2011. BTO, BirdWatchIreland, SOC

Bircham, P. M. M. (1989). The Birds of Cambridgeshire. Cambridge University Press

Bob Jarman bobjarman99@btinternet.com 20^th June 2018

Travel by train back from King’s Cross to the edge of Cambridge and our project area and you see just three main agricultural crops: winter wheat, winter barley and winter oilseed rape. Occasionally there is a crop of winter beans or spring barley. Winter crops predominate – crops that are sown in September or October and harvested the following autumn. Winter crops mean no over-winter stubble. No weedy stubbles means less winter food for wildlife. The fields are huge; there are no conservation headlands and hedges are small and tightly cut.

Fly into Stansted, look down on the fields of winter wheat in Essex and South Cambs and look for skylark conservation patches – small bare patches of ground where the seed drill was raised for a few seconds during sowing to provide skylark nest sites and you will see – none. The picture is a hostile farming environment to the detriment of biodiversity and bio-abundance of our local countryside.

It is difficult to describe the changes in the countryside surrounding our project area without sounding critical of farming and farmers. I try to avoid this, but it’s difficult to be a neutral about our countryside neighbourhood that has impoverished wildlife. Traditional crop rotations have been changed in the effort to increase profitability and soil structures are suffering. Crop yields using new varieties have changed little over the last 10 years and the push for greater productivity has encouraged the increased use of chemicals to boost performance. Black Grass (Alopecurus myosuroides) has become a serious competitor to winter cereals; headlands have been sprayed with herbicides to eradicate volunteer plants but the Black Grass has fought back and become resistant to some herbicides. Some crops of winter wheat look like fields of Black Grass. Insect pests have been controlled by systemic non-selective insecticides that remove target species and most others.

Yellow Wagtail (Red Listed)

House Sparrow (Red Listed)

“Neonics” (neonicotinoid) insecticides have been banned on Oilseed Rape to control cabbage stem flea beetle. This insect has become such a serious pest after a succession of mild winters and crop rotations of just winter wheat and winter oilseed rape, that many growers were unable to establish the crop for this harvest year. “Neonics” have been banned on all flowering crops to protect bees, but they can still be used on non-flowering crops such as sugar beet. Ask farmers, the seed trade and the agrochemical industries if “neonics” should be banned for causing a collapse in our countryside insect life and they will cite papers disputing the evidence which conservationists assert is incontrovertible, according to their research. It’s not just lowland arable farming; go to our uplands and all you see are sheep, and more sheep, and the occasional blocks of Corsican pine.

Anecdotal evidence from amateur naturalists, like ourselves, has noted the disappearance of bees and the general lack of insect abundance. What happens in the countryside affects us townies!

The Red List contains birds of conservation concern whose population has declined by 50% in the last 30 years and shows no sign of increasing. Nine are species of our resident farmland birds. This decline coincides with the switch to winter cropping and the loss of over-winter stubbles that provided a source of essential winter food. A recent winter survey (2017-2018) on a farm in the north of our project area showed that most of the farmland birds: Linnets, Yellowhammers, Grey Partridges – birds on the Red List – were concentrated on the only fields on the farm that had over-winter stubble. Two years earlier five pairs of Lapwings (another Red Listed species) attempted to nest there on over wintered stubbles – the first time for about 50 years. I believe lack of winter feed has caused the extinction of the rural House Sparrow (Red Listed) which used to nest in hedgerows in small colonies of untidy domed nests in our project area.

It’s not all bad news. The RSPB’s Hope Farm at Boxworth and Robin Page’s Countryside Restoration project at Barton have shown that you can run commercial farms and increase the number and diversity of farmland birds. To do that you must also provide a winter food supply and a rich and diverse insect fauna throughout the year– nestlings and young birds need a high protein rich insect diet to fledge and thrive. (Woodpigeons are the exception!)

Nine Wells, in our project area has, probably, the highest concentration of Grey Partridges in the County but this is threatened by the growth of Addenbrooke’s. The NIAB’s farm in the north of our project area has seeded permanent flower-rich field margins, ditches are only trimmed and cleared in winter and hedges are cut on a three-year cycle. This farm has one of the highest farmland breeding populations of Skylarks (Red Listed) in the country and breeding Yellow Wagtails (Red Listed) have returned. Quy Estates, on the edge of our project area, manage Wilbraham Fen and the traditional sheep grazing meadows nearby. It is probably the southern-most remnant of the Great Fen and must be one of the most interesting wetlands that is not a formal nature reserve.

Lapwing (Red Listed)

Wheatear (not Red Listed!) birds of the uplands

The most exciting development is the Red List Revival project pioneered by Edward Darling on his farm near Therfield heath. He began this project to conserve bird species on his own farm and to encourage neighbouring farmers to do the same. Farms are surveyed twice a year during the breeding season (May/June) using the British Trust for Ornithology transect method and farms are awarded accolades for increasing bio-diversity, especially the birds.

But as townies we must not be hypocritical. We cannot criticise farmers if we have an arsenal of chemicals in our own garden sheds to kill slugs, snails, insects – anything that might maul, chew or consume our garden plants and vegetables. Cut a small access hole in the bottom of the garden fence and let the hedgehogs in!

Bob Jarman

8^th June 2018

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

The late spring, combined with lots of rain, has conspired to produce enormously tall nettles with huge leaves. I found this to my cost when I revisited the site of a Grey Wagtail nest, underneath the bridge where the M11 crosses the Cam, in the extreme SW of our project area. It was quite impossible (in open-toed sandals) to get to the place I had seen them before and a detour led to a paddle through ankle-deep muddy water. So, grubby, scratched, bitten and stung, I can confirm that the pair are still there, but I saw no sign of fledglings, so will have to go back again. I can further report that I heard a Cuckoo there, so not a wasted trip.

Several people have reported the arrival of Swifts in early May and the Newnham nesting boxes are again occupied, though not yet those in Eden St. On May 9^th, Pam says, ”Our first swift over Newnham at 6.20 pm : a magical moment for a swift addict”.  They are viewed in internal boxes with live video and one bird had to wait for three days before their mate appeared.

 

 

Swift box in Newnham

 

 

Jays seem to be perfectly happy in the city, one reported from Mitcham’s Corner (below) and another in the small gardens near the Mill Rd Cemetery .  

 

“Anyone in?”

 

A Green Woodpecker was seen enjoying the ants in a lawn – chased off by Magpies, but returned straight away. Alec noted a magpie harassing his small birds, before being chased off by the blackbirds, and asks, “So what are these magpies doing?” The answer lies in the scene I witnessed – a baby Blue Tit landed in my gutter and was immediately seized and carried off by a magpie, doubtless to feed its own chicks. I suppose this is why blue tits have such large clutches.

A Reeves Pheasant was spotted in Chesterton Hall Crescent, presumably escaped from captivity, as they are not native.

Ben reports two Stock Doves regularly in the garden in Harvey Goodwin Ave (captured here with a Feral Pigeon). They lack the white flashes of the wood pigeon. I have only recently become aware of these birds, mainly because of their “Uh Uhh” call. They are among the birds more often heard than seen, rather like greenfinches, cuckoos, chiffchaffs and bitterns!

 

Stock Doves (grey) with Feral Pigeon

 

Several people have reported Frogs and Newts. Pam’s Newnham pond had four mature frogs on 8^th May and there were others in Trumpington, Chesterton and Langham Rd.  In Gilbert Rd, several clumps of frog spawn seemed to disappear when the weather returned to winter. Later, however, small Tadpoles appeared and at 1cm length, were clustered at the edge of the pond, basking in the sun  Then one Newt after another surfaced, sucked up a whole tadpole from the tail to head in one move, then sank away into the depths. Fortunately, some have survived!

It is great to have reports of live Hedgehogs from Highsett, after several sightings of squashed ones. In Newnham, my adopted hog George is now roaming the gardens, but still sometimes returns for bed and breakfast. I am not sure if he will be joined by Georgette, but I hope so. In Langham Rd, Paul stumbled on a hedgehog and while he took its picture, another one scuttled off under the hedge – hopefully a breeding pair.  In Chesterton, hedgehogs are visiting the garden every night – but fewer than last year so far.

We should not forget the river and its tributaries as a source of wildlife. In the first week of May, Roger Horton noticed Hottonia palustris (Water Violet) flowering through duckweed in Hobson’s Conduit by the Botanic Garden. This has also been found growing in a flooded coprolite pit on Quy Fen, but is an unusual find in a city centre. Pike have been observed in the ditch around Jesus College and also in Hobson’s Conduit near Brooklands Avenue bridge. At about a pound in weight, this one could present a problem to the fish, especially the population of Stone Loach. It is a big carnivore for such a small stream! Finally, there have been some interesting dragonflies on Hobson’s Conduit: Duncan saw Emperor Dragonflies together with Broad Bodied Chaser, Common Blue Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly and Banded Demoiselle. Indeed, the Large Red Damselfly, so scarce when we tried to survey it last year, is turning up in all sorts of places including St. Andrews churchyard and in Trumpington, mating and ovipositing over a garden pond.

Other insects? Admire this tiny moth, Pyrausta aurata feeding on thyme flowers.

Pyrausta aurata     Paul Rule

May Block reports ‘Alas the Red Lily Beetle is active, much to the detriment of our lilies.’ Then, on May 18^th Paul took this picture of the Micromoth, Nematopogon swammerdamella at Laundry Farm. Its disproportionate antennae match the length of its name and rival the tail of the quetzal!

We asked for sightings of Maybugs, but have not had many yet. There is still time! Please let us know what you see in June. Cambridge is such an exciting place.

Olwen Williams                         olwenw@gmail.com

An Oystercatcher over Cambridge Station during morning rush hour on 8^th May was unusual and seeing three flying south over Nuttings Road on May 26^th (Iain Webb) was even more unusual. They might be visiting the new open water site at Hobson’s Park near Great Kneighton.

Two Common Terns flew over King’s Parade on 12^th May but only one of the returning pair that often feed along Riverside and the river straights to Fen Ditton appears to have returned this year; it seems to have lost its partner over winter or during the return migration. The bird has now moved on and we may have lost our Common Terns this year. First year birds remain on their wintering grounds off West Africa and return in their second year so birds may be back next year.

Blackcaps are very common singing throughout our project area but Common Whitethroats are scarce this year. I have heard as many Lesser Whitethroats in our project area as Common Whitethroats – this is very unusual; in Ditton Meadow in the path of the Chisholm cycle trail a hawthorn bush has both species singing. The web site www.xeno-canto.org is an excellent source of recorded bird song.

Swifts were later to return this year but by mid-month had arrived in numbers; I have an irrational fear that one year they just might not return and life will never be the same without them!

The House Martin colony at Addenbrooke’s Hospital is in full swing. It’s difficult, at this stage, to work out how many nests are being actively used but a watch in mid-May counted 73.

A Black Kite over Clarendon Street on 20^th may not be as unusual as seems; not far away one was claimed over Bar Hill Golf Course on Friday 11^th May. Kites over our study area are not unusual and have bred. A Red Kite was seen trailing a Peregrine that had a pigeon kill over the junction of Gilbert Road with Histon Road at roof-top height. The Kite was hoping the Peregrine would drop its kill so it could sweep down and claim the carrion.

The City Peregrines were filmed feeding two chicks in mid-May (twitter: @CambPeregrines) and the other breeding pair has at least one chick. A Kestrel that roosts against the chimney pots at the top of Benson Street occasionally hovers over the rear gardens of the terraced houses and Histon Road Cemetery.

The female peregrine at the City Centre site – the male is about a third smaller
with bars on its breast that do not reach across its chest

Part of Midsummer Common has been mown but the nettle patches have been left intact as a food source for the larvae of some of our declining butterfly species such as Red Admiral, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell. Similarly, the grass cutting in St Andrews Church graveyard in Chesterton has left patches of the Wild Clary (Salvia verbenaca) standing.

Crow finds bread in Hawthorn Road

Crow drops bread in nearby puddle to make it easier to digest!

Spotted Flycatchers are a seriously declining summer visitor. The Cambridgeshire Bird Club is surveying them across the County (any sightings, please, to: spofl@cambridgebirdclub.org.uk). They used to breed off Huntingdon Road and in the Botanic Gardens in the 1980s but disappeared when the Elms went. There is perhaps one pair in the very south east of our project area but they seem to be absent from other suitable locations – College gardens, riverside woodlands and large private garden in the south of our study area.

Brown Hares at a farm site in the north of our project area

Wild Clary in St Andrew’s Churchyard, Chesterton

A small remaining population of Common Lizards in the north of our project area in Orchard Park (formerly Arbury Park) is under threat from building development. It is hoped that the builders will hold off so that as many lizards as possible can be caught and transferred to a site about a mile away to live in the stone boulder supports of a farm road over the A14.

An adult Cormorant of the continental race in the Cam at Fen Ditton with its grey neck “shawl”. This race has colonised the south of England in recent years. The native race is all black and breeds on the sea cliffs in the north and west of the UK. The continental race nests in trees but none, as yet, in our project area. It is this race that roosts in winter in the willows along Riverside.

Bob Jarman

29^th May 2018

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

 

Seem to be Blackcaps singing everywhere, front gardens and back gardens, anywhere where there is some scrub or overgrown shrubs. But what has happened to Common Whitethroats? At a farm site on the northern edge of our project area I have often counted 10-18 singing males by now but so far have counted just one! I have heard more Lesser Whitethroats this spring than Common Whitethroats. Sedge and Reed Warblers also seem to be in short supply. This spring has been two hot days followed by a thunderstorm then cold and rain. It’s one of the wettest, most dismal, springs I can remember!

The Kingfisher reported over Magdalene Street Bridge in my last blog flew over the bridge, not under it, because the water level under the bridge was too high!

Now is time to look for Wheatears of the Greenland race on Trumpington Meadows and other open fields. They have the longest migration of any European passerine summer visitor and when they leave the UK they head out across the North Atlantic to their breeding grounds in Greenland.

In the latest edition of British Birds (May 2018. Vol 111 pp 250 – 263) there is an article about white feathers in black birds; not just Blackbirds but black birds! The causes might include nutrient deficiency; I have a distinctive male Blackbird in my Chesterton garden with a small white shoulder patch. The photograph below was taken on 2^nd April and shows it feeding young in the neighbour’s shrub. The eggs were probably laid 14-16 days earlier when it was very cold; I have not seen any young birds so assume the nest was sadly overwhelmed by the rains. This male Blackbird is distinctive and patrols a territory of about 100 m x 100 m – 1 hectare. It’s is not the only male Blackbird in this area and there are frequent territorial disputes.

Blackbird with white shoulder patch

Portrait of city Kingfisher by Rhona Watson

I think I have located about 20 Mistle Thrush territories – the most recent from Castle mound. They are early nesters and incubation must have coincided with the heavy rains; I think 1-2 sighting may be duplicates and include birds have disbursed after incubation failure and counted twice at nearby sites.

Mistle Thrush – Jesus College April 2018 by Rhona Watson

Adult City Tawny Owl by Rhona Watson

Common Terns have returned to the pit at Milton Country Park that fringes the northern edge of our project area – they should now be looked for fishing along the river from Horningsea to Riverside and Jesus Lock; Swallows over New Square and Huntingdon Road on 23^rd April. Swifts are back in Cambridgeshire but our nesting Swifts in the City don’t usually appear in numbers before 5th May. I worry each year that they may not return and life … will not be the same again!

A pair of our city Sparrowhawks, male top-most (Rhona Watson)

. Peacock butterflies are about

Nightingales would now be rare passage migrants in our project area; in the 1980’s one was singing in the bushes outside the old toilets in Drummer Street and in the 1930’s it was claimed that there were more birds of this species along Trumpington Road per miles than any other stretch of road in England (Bircham 1989). Paradise, riverside in Newnham and college gardens are possible locations. Watch for nesting Lesser-black backed Gulls on the roof tops of ARU and the DAB/Downing Street complex. They have been seen prospecting.

I worry when I hear people talk about “rank vegetation”; rank vegetation to some is a valuable wild life habitat to others. Stinging nettles are condemned as “rank vegetation” on Midsummer Common but are a valuable larval food plant to some of our declining butterfly species such as the Peacock. Orange Tip butterflies are on the wing – the males, with the orange tips, have a reckless, erratic flight that seems to have little purpose – I’m sure it does!

Bircham, P. M. M. (1989). The Birds of Cambridgeshire. Cambridge University Press

Thanks to Rhona Watson for her wonderful photographs.

Bob Jarman

30^th April 2018

bobjarman99@btinternet.com

 

On the last day of March, Suki reported, “There was a sudden burst of song above my head as I returned from Stephen Hawking’s funeral procession – a Blackcap high on a tree at the corner of the market!”

Apart from a couple of crazy days of summer (T30C+) April is departing as it started – cold, wet and windy.  The brief hot spell was enough to kick-start spring and at last there are leaves on the trees. Early flora included Viola reichenbachiana (early dog violet) at Cherry Hinton chalk pit and a wonderful display of Primroses Cowslips and Blackthorn flowers. Now, at the end of the month, May blossom is just beginning to open. Jonathan Shanklin reports that Danish Scurvygrass is coming into flower. It is common on the main road verges around the city, but seems to be less so within the city itself. Generally a coastal plant, road salt has allowed it to move inland. Additional records welcome, please.

Danish scurvygrass

 

Toads, Frogs and Newts are all reported (sometimes together, even though newts are said to eat frogspawn and tadpoles). By Apr 1^st, female toads were moving away from the pond in Arbury, though hopeful males were still calling in Cherry Hinton on 16^th.  Frog tadpoles were established in Newnham, Trumpington and Chesterton, apparently surviving the heat, but it has been a difficult spring! Rob Mungovan reported sightings of Roach or Rudd, Perch, Dace and spawning Minnows in the Cherry Hinton Brook. Water Voles seem to be flourishing here, suggesting an absence of Mink.

Several folk have told me of their returning Hedgehogs, now out of hibernation and hungry. My excitement for the month has been the arrival of George… a plump 1kg hedgehog from the hedgehog hospital at Shepreth. Finding they had about 200 needing to be re-homed, I have adopted what I hope will be the first of several, in an attempt to re-colonise Newnham. However, this will depend critically on my neighbours’ willingness to establish corridors between our gardens at hedgehog level and to avoid the use of pesticides and slug pellets.

It is the first year I can remember hearing Fieldfares (not yet departed) and Chiffchaffs (early spring migrants) at the same time. Lots of people sent in records of blackcaps, nesting blackbirds, goldfinches and others. I have the impression Goldfinches have become more common as Greenfinches declined – however, I am glad to hear more of the latter recently again. Greater Spotted Woodpeckers are often heard and Green Woodpeckers have also been seen – Jenny says, “This is the first time I’ve been able to watch one walking along the garden path pulling worms out of the edge of the lawn. He stayed for quite some time until a pair of magpies frightened him off.”

Jenny Bastable                        Green Woodpecker

In Chesterton, a Sparrowhawk appeared from nowhere, while a Red-legged Partridge was photographed in Hamilton Rd.

Red-legged partridge

 

A Cetti’s Warbler was heard on Cherry Hinton Brook – possibly a first for the city? (No, Bob tells me there have been various records in East Cambridge since 2015.) In the yews at Newnham bathing club, we saw and heard Goldcrests – they were also recorded in Trumpington. In the Cherry Hinton chalk pit, Jackdaws are nesting in the cliff face, using the loose rock of the fault line to excavate their holes.

Nesting jackdaws Mary Wheater

 

Bees, ladybirds and butterflies have been emerging throughout the month. 7-spot and 24-spot Ladybirds, Brimstone, Holly Blue and Orange-tip Butterflies were all reported. Anthophora plumipes, the Hairy-Footed Flower Bee, seems to have been common this spring. Bombylius major, the Large Bee-fly, has also been mentioned several times. This large fly is a bee mimic and nest parasite which feeds on nectar, especially primroses. The eggs are flicked by the adult female toward the entrance of the underground nests of solitary bees and wasps. After hatching, the larvae find their way into the nests to feed on the grubs.

                

Bombylius major    Mary Wheater      

 

On April 18^th we found the flightless Bloody Nosed Beetle, Timarcha tenebricosa making its way slowly across the floor of Cherry Hinton chalk pit.

                           

Bloody Nosed Beetle Mary Wheater   

 

 

Then, in East Cambridge, Paul Rule found Asiraca clavicornis, a bug 3-4mm in length, generally confined to the London area and south. There have only been 3 previous records from Cambridgeshire. Its long fat antennae with terminal bristles make recognition easy, so keep a look out for it!  You too could be famous.

Paul Rule          Asiraca clavicornis

Finally, Manuel reported, “We found Oyster Mushrooms this weekend behind the allotments – very good and edible. We also found Judas (or Jew’s) Ear Mushrooms. They are now called Jelly Ear Mushrooms due to their politically incorrect name, are essentially tasteless but very good in salads.” (Recipe supplied on request!)

Olwen Williams                          olwenw@gmail.com

On Monday 26^th March 2018, a fine spring-like day, I took a group of students visiting Cambridge for the Student Conference on Conservation Science for a walk to Paradise local nature reserve. I chatted about the management of the area while we walked and enjoyed the world around us. We started at the Mill Pond, where I pointed out Hart’s-tongue Fern Asplenium scolopendrium growing on the damp stonework of the weir and then walked along the river towards Robinson Crusoe Island.

There we found the Purple Toothwort Lathraea clandestine, (right) a parasitic plant introduced from Europe about 1888. It was first recorded in the wild in 1908, here on Coe Fen in Cambridge.

There was also Colt’s-foot Tussilago farfara in flower, while by the banks of one of the streams crossing Coe Fen were yellow patches of both Lesser Celandine Ficaria verna and Garden Daffodil. We also noticed a bird in a nest box high in one of the trees and through binoculars, identified it as a Kestrel Falco tinnunculus.

Crossing Fen Causeway, we noted another parasitic plant, Mistletoe Viscum album. Then, as we walked south, we got good views of a Little Egret Egretta garzetta in the stream running parallel to the main river. By Sheep’s Green Bridge, there were two Swans Cygnus olor and several Mallards Anas platyrhynchos.

In Paradise, we found Butterbur Petasites hybridus (left) growing where it had been recorded over 400 years ago by the notable Cambridge botanist, John Ray. As we left Paradise, we noticed a strip of Few-flowered Leek Allium paradoxum spreading along the edge of the Lammas Land car park. This non-native garlic crops up quite a lot around Cambridge and seems to be somewhat invasive.

Walking back towards Fen Causeway, one of the group saw a small blunt-nosed mammal in the ditch which, from his description, could have been a Water Vole Arvicola terrestris. I didn’t see it, so cannot confirm the identification, but they have been seen in that area. We then headed back towards the Mill Pond, distracted on the way by several Long-tailed Tits Aegithalos caudatus and a Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis in some scrub near Laundress Green. Altogether, in about 2 ½ hours and a few kilometres we recorded 18 species of bird. The others were Blackbird, Black-headed Gull, Blue Tit, Canada Geese, Carrion Crow, Grey Heron, Magpie, Moorhen, Pheasant, Robin, Woodpigeon and a Wren.

Monica Frisch, 27^th March 2018

You can now sit, with a coffee in the Market Square and watch Peregrine Falcons, the world’s fastest flying bird! I often mention Peregrines but their breeding success in lowland England is a
remarkable success story. In the late 1960’s the only “twitchable” Peregrines were a pair in a quarry behind Aviemore in Highland Scotland and a national population of about 60 pairs! The latest survey has located 1769 breeding pairs in the UK, the majority in lowland counties and a 22% increase on the 2002 census. They are still vulnerable to persecution – as the gun shot injury to one of the Cambridge bred birds in 2017 shows – and there has been a decrease in upland areas associated with moorland management.

Where’s the Peregrine …….? …….on the Kings College spire to the right of Great St Mary’s tower

I think my guestimate of 15-20 breeding pairs of Sparrowhawks in our study area is too high. Five to ten pairs are more realistic. Sparrowhawks became extinct in Cambridgeshire in 1960 due to agricultural pesticide poisoning but returned in 1985. If/when it warms birds will be displaying over Cherry Hinton, Milton Road, Arbury and the City centre.

I think there are at least two pairs of breeding Buzzards in our area. Buzzards returned to breed in Cambridgeshire in 1999 and are now, probably, our commonest raptor. Sit on Madingley Hill just outside our study area on a warm day in April for an hour overlooking Girton and Eddington and from Histon to Over and you can count over 20 individuals soaring in the thermals plus 2-3 Sparrowhawks and Kestrels (and maybe even a Raven or two!).

The Red-legged Partridge in a garden in Cavendish Avenue was probably looking for food during the recent freezing weather.

The Black-headed Gulls along the river have halved in number and mostly developed their brown hoods and are filtering back to their breeding sites. The mud churned by the runners and their families on Midsummer Common after the Half Marathon on March 4th provided a late bounty of available earthworm food; the grass soon grew back and by third week of March had 90% recovered.

Jesus Lock – March 2018 Black-headed Gulls with brown hoods!

Local Rookery with active nesting

A Kingfisher over Magdalene Bridge during morning rush hour on 31st March was heading upstream, probably to a nest site. Blackcaps are still being reported from East Chesterton, Glisson Road Area, Cavendish Avenue (probably two males) and two males and a female off Huntingdon Road – one male that delivered a muted sub-song has now burst into full song; a male was singing in
Logan’s Meadow on 12 April. Chiffchaffs were singing in Huntingdon Road, Logan’s Meadow and the Cambridge Business Park in Chesterton on 12 April. Sadly, the singing Chesterton Siskin has gone. Goldcrests are now singing from the smallest and isolated conifer trees from Coldham’s Lane to St Albans Way to De Freville to Histon Road and Roseford Road; many trees have their own self-sustaining population and the larger groups also have Coal Tits. I can no longer hear bats but I can still hear the high trill of Goldcrests, some birders cannot! If the song does not end in a flourish check out for Firecrest!

I have now 18 Mistle Thrush sites across our study area (thanks Sam Buckton, Michael Holdsworth and Martin Walters); please keep sending me your records. I didn’t realise Mistle Thrush has become a red listed species – a species that has declined by 50% in the last 25 years with no sign of recovery. Rhona Watson has sent me brilliant shots from Jesus College. Sadly, a Fieldfare forced into town to look for garden berries during the recent frosts was knobbled by a cat! Wintering thrushes are usually very timid but I have seen them in their breeding grounds in Scandinavia and Poland where they are very confiding and can be closely approached.

I have finally located the Newnham Heronry. I could only see three active nests but this is Olwen’s “manor”.

This year 111 apparently active Rooks nests (108 in 2017) have been counted. They are interesting to watch. One bird sits by the nest while the second bird looks for sticks and twigs for the nest. If the nest is left unguarded neighbours pillage it for their own nests! I cannot understand why there are no rookeries in Trumpington/ Byron’s Pool area. I think the loss of elms and sustained persecution since the 1960’s could be the reasons (see below).

The edge of the Dickerson Pit at Milton Country Park just comes into our project area. The female Scaup (found by Jon Heath) was still there on 22nd March.

Now is the time to locate House Sparrow nest sites. I carried out a City survey in January to March 2013 and January to April 2014, of the breeding population of House Sparrows in the political wards of Cambridge City. I found 733 “active nests” and an estimated total population of 1000 pairs based on numbers of birds counted.

I concluded that distribution is determined by nest site availability and the need to maintain an interconnecting colony. The minimum colony size is three “active nests”. Removal of ivy from walls, home improvements which prevent access to loft space and housing built since the mid 1990’s with sealed, insulated lofts prevent access and nesting. Colony survival is as important as nest site availability. If nest sites are lost, colonies break down and fail and the population declines. There is a mutual relationship between House Sparrows and Starlings. Sparrowhawk predation is not a cause of House Sparrow decline. Cherry Hinton had the largest House Sparrow breeding population, Trumpington the smallest. I need to do another survey ….. sometime!

If you have House Sparrows and need to insulate your roof do put up nest boxes – a three box terrace is best and at gutter height facing east. South facing sites are often ignored because they risk overheating in the summer! The best place to buy a bird nest box is: John Stimpson, 53 Twentypence Rd, Wilburton, Ely CB63PU – 01353740451: from Cottenham up the hill into Wilburton, on the right usually with an “A-frame” notice outside.

The lack of House Sparrows and Rooks, two species of open farmland, in Trumpington/Granchester is worrying. In the 1960’s – early 1980’s there were so many House Sparrows feeding on the cereals yield trials from August to September at the Plant Breeding Institute (PBI) – now Trumpington Meadows – a farmworker was a dedicated sparrow killer! The PBI is no more, as are the House Sparrows. It was probably the move to winter cereals and winter Oilseed Rape from the late 1970’s onwards doing away with over-winter stubbles that was responsible for the demise of the House Sparrow; did the same happened to Rooks?

Listen for Black Redstarts and their strange song that sounds like ball bearings being “scrunched” together. Why they are not common here is a mystery. Travel to France and you will see them at the first service station you stop at! Spring/summer visitors are arriving! Sand Martins are about; keep watch for passage Wheatears and Ring Ousels on open fields particularly Trumpington Meadows and Hobson’s Park. Tawny Owls are hooting. Reed and Sedge Warblers are in but so far in small numbers. First Brimstone butterfly on 27th February gave false hope for a warm spring!

Bob Jarman

12 April 2018

bobjarman99@btinternet.com