Awesome Ecology

Yesterday was rather hectic and tiring but I got chance to practice several different aspects of ecology culminating with an amazingly batty experience!

The morning started early as I had to go and retrieve bottle traps set out the night before around a local pond. 32 traps had been set up in an area where we had previously seen great-crested newts and evidence of their egg laying.  Given the number of newts we had seen on site whilst torching, the numbers trapped were disappointingly low (just two plus a male smooth newt) but we did get chance to examine a lovely mature pair of great-crested newts that were caught.

In the afternoon I went for a walk around Askham Bog nature reserve in York to practice my botany skills. I met up with another member of the Yorkshire Naturalists Union, and it was good to bounce ideas off each other, especially so early in the season when leaves and flowers are just starting to appear.  We saw many common species and a few less common ones, including Wild Angelica and Gypsywort.

There were also some common species that caught me out. A shrubby tree that I assumed was elder was, on closer inspection, Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus). I have only ever seen this in a hedgerow so wasn't aware of what the wood looks like, and the budding leaves form a similar 'pineapple' shape. Those that were a bit more developed though were clearly forming into a maple-shaped leaf, with very early flowers also developing.

We also stared at an emergent aquatic plant for ages, trying to convince ourselves it was something unusual. I then went back to my first thought which was that it was a type of bitter-cress, which led to the revelation that it might be Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis). Indeed we found another version that was a bit more developed and the pink flower buds were more obvious. I am sure things will all be a bit easier to identify in a few more weeks time!

We saw lots of birds on the site including Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Robin and a Grey Heron, with a roe deer also putting in an appearance across the marsh.

The day finished with an amazing evening of bat watching at Nostell Priory near Wakefield with the West Yorkshire Bat Group.  All nine species of bat found in West Yorkshire are believed to be present on the site, so I hoped to get some experience of other species. We arrived in early evening to allow time to walk around the site and look for visual signs, before getting into position for the dusk emergence surveys at three locations: 

1. A large amount of droppings were found below a large tree with several hollows in the trunk; these were thought to be noctule droppings as they were quite large and angular, and like all bat droppings were very dry and crumbly. The tree was the first of the allocated viewing points.  
2. We then moved onto a stone archway which had numerous cracks in the stonework, and indeed a small bat, believed to be a crevice-dwelling pipistrelle, was found in a cavity during a torch inspection. A few people stayed behind to watch this area.
3. The third survey point was an old building within the gardens. There were numerous possible access points around the shuttered doors and windows, and potentially underneath roof tiles and lead flashing, though the walls themselves were robust.  This was considered to be a potential brown long-eared roost due to the void spaces in the building.

As it was still some time until dusk, some of us wandered back to the tree to see if there was any action. There was lots of 'chattering' from the bats within the tree but nothing to see.  After a few minutes of watching and waiting in silence, bats started to pop out of the holes in the cavity. It was still light and we got a good sight of them flying out. We counted 14, coming out of different holes, that seemed to fly straight out over our heads towards the lake.

We decided to go back to our assigned positions at the building, which needed more pairs of eyes on it. Around dusk we started to get pipistrelle readings (common and soprano) which were frequent as they foraged in the trees around the building. Unfortunately this made it difficult to focus on the task in hand, which was the possible emergence of brown long-eared bats from the building. As they have a fainter call and emerge later, this tests the senses of sight and sound to the limit. We waited for some time as it got darker and colder.  Nothing appeared to come from the building, so we headed back to the tree.

During the walk back past the lack I picked up really strong signals at 26 kHz which would be consistent with noctule bats. By the time we arrived, 150+ bats had now emerged from the tree, and were swarming in the area. It was almost fully dark, though with strong full moonlight, so you could just see the numerous black shadows flitting by. It was an amazing experience to just stand there so close to the bats and they swooped silently in and out of their roost. Definitely a night to remember!

Urban Botany #2

I did the same walk to the shops today but picked up some different flowers to examine. My research was somewhat hampered by the fact that I seem to have misplaced my copy of Francis Rose :(

The first specimen is an Early Dog Violet (Viola reichenbachiana). This is distinguished from the sample I found yesterday (Common Dog Violet) as the 'early' version has a darker purple spur rather than it being pale/cream coloured.  The veins within the flower are also shorter and straighter. Like the 'common' version, this plant has pointed sepals and hairless heart-shaped leaves. I found a good comparison of the species on this website.

The second plant found today is a forget-me-not. I believe it is a Wood Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) though this is very hard to tell apart from the Field Forget-me-not. Both are quite hairy with pretty pale blue flowers with a yellow centre.

I also found a speedwell (Veronica sp) with its distinctive four purple petals and two anthers [not pictured]. I think the version I found is Ivy-leaved Speedwell (Veronica hederifolia sub species hederifolia).  Although it does not seem as hairy as some of the photographs I have seen, it does have distinctive blue anthers.

Finally, I picked a very common plant but the first I have seen in flower this year - Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris). This has umbels of tiny white flowers, each with five petals. It is distinguished from the very similar Fool's Parsley as Cow Parsley is slighly hairy, particularly on the back of the leaves, and the bracteoles are much longer and more obvious in Fool's Parsley.

Urban Botany

As Spring starts to appear, so too do the flowering plants. I have been starting to notice these around my estate and on the walk to my local shops I plucked a few specimens to take home and identify. I was fairly sure I knew what they were, but wanted to make sure - it's good to keep botanical knowledge up-to-date, especially after winter when it inevitably fades slightly with lack of practice.

The violet is likely to be Common Dog Violet (Viola riviniana). The leaves and flowers do not all come from the same location at the root; heart shaped leaves are sparsely hairy; flowers have mid-purple petals with a cream spur and darker purple branched veins; sepals are pointed and the flower has no obvious scent. The leaves are stem are tinged red/purple though so this may be a garden variety.

Shown in the pot is Variegated Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon ssp argentatum). This is a non-native varient of Yellow Archangel. It differs as the leaf edges are more regularly toothed, and the colouring is variegated with silver which turns a chocolate brown colour over winter. The native plants is very similar but has just a few flecks of silver and never has the chocolate colouring.

The trefoil plant with the yellow flower is Black Medick (Medicago lupulina). This has the three leaves typical of the trefoil family. The leaves are hairy and have a distinctive point at the tip, as shown opposite. Once the flowers die off, distinctive black seed heads are left.

Also common at this time of the year is a weed common in my garden, Wavy Bittercress (Cardamine flexuosa). This is the straggly plants (second from left in bottom photograph) with narrow leaves and small, white four petalled flowers. It has long seed pods and is one that I will be digging up before it can spread to my mini allotment patch!

The last once shown is, I think, Wall Lettuce (Mycelis muralis) a dandelion type plant that has tiny yellow flowers later in the year, with the leaves heavily clasping the stem.