Neil Hulme

[ChrisC]

Michael Blencowe does seem to be a bit of a character. I've never met him but i've listened to all the podcasts he's done on the natural history of sussex http://thenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.co.uk/
they are very enternaining if you have a few hours to kill over winter.

Chris

[Neil Hulme]

Wednesday Work Out

After first setting up a new habitat management project for The Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) on the Norfolk Estate, I headed out to meet the Wednesday regulars at Heyshott Escarpment, including Mark Colvin and Colin Knight. My bones and muscles are still complaining now, after a particularly hard work out. Transformation of the old village rubbish tip is advancing at an impressive pace, as heavy scrub and secondary woodland make way for a return to chalk grassland. This part of the reserve will look very different by springtime. After a few sharp showers the sunshine won through and, as always, the views were magnificent.

[Neil Hulme]

The Ladies Of Lynchmere

In 1998 the Lynchmere Society purchased Lynchmere (Linchmere), Stanley and part of Marley Commons near Haslemere, close to the Sussex/Surrey border. Only remnants of the all-too-rare lowland heath remained here, but 15 years of restoration, much of it performed by volunteers, has reclaimed significant areas of valuable habitat from the invading scrub and unwanted conifer plantation.

On Friday (19th October) I met new LS Chair Judy Rous, Lou Searight and Margaret Hibbard to look at the commons, to assess the habitat for Silver-studded Blue. The last butterfly surveys (2001, 2002) recorded half a dozen here and Judy recalled seeing the odd one or two in 1996. Having walked the area there are several pockets of habitat that might still support SSB. However, before I can provide detailed suggestions on how focused habitat management should proceed with this species in mind, it will be necessary to find out where any remaining populations might be hiding. I will therefore arrange a survey day for next July, later going on to nearby Marley Common, much of which is owned by The National Trust, where two Silver-studs were seen in 2011. All those within striking distance of this under-recorded area will be most welcome and details will appear on the BC Sussex website in the early summer.

I didn't come away with any photos from my visit, as it never stopped raining, but I am hopeful that some important pins can be put in the map next year. The Lynchmere Society has done a great job here and it would be very satisfying to see their efforts rewarded in this way. Judy, who lives right in the middle of the heath, had a Purple Emperor visit her greenhouse a few years back, so a day out on these commons might provide more than one surprise!

[Neil Hulme]

Forgotten Images

While searching through a memory card before clearing it, I came across several images which are more interesting than I realised at the time of capture. Back in September, while hunting for Holly Blue larvae in the back garden, I snapped this attractive little wasp. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's Listrodomus nycthemerus, the host-specific ichneumon which parasitises the butterfly's caterpillar.

[Neil Hulme]

Work, Rest And Play

On Wednesday (23rd October) I attended the weekly work party at Heyshott Escarpment, where a dozen of us, including UKBer Mark Colvin, continued to create new butterfly habitat from the old village rubbish tip at the base of the reserve. As you can see from the image below, this once heavily scrubbed area has been opened up and now connects with the lowermost grassy pit. This transformation has been achieved in just four Wednesdays. To the left of the frame is a metal gate, ready for the imminent fencing which will allow this compartment to be grazed in future. With shelter from the elements on all sides this deep depression will create a warm and wind-free playground for Duke of Burgundy, Dingy and Grizzled Skipper, Green Hairstreak and Brown Argus.

In the evening I returned to Heyshott village hall for the Murray Downland Trust AGM. Dr Dan Hoare gave an excellent talk on the BC national 'Dukes on the Edge' project and, quite rightly, paid tribute to the efforts of MDT and BC Sussex volunteers, whose hard work has seen a tiny population of Dukes grow into one of the largest colonies in the UK. Over dinner in the local pub I finally had the opportunity to meet Richard Williamson, son of Henry of 'Tarka the Otter' fame, whose wildlife articles have always been essential reading in my local paper.

This morning (24th October) I received an email from BC Sussex committee member Leigh Prevost, informing me that a handsome male Desert Wheatear was sitting opposite my favourite cafe on Worthing Beach. It didn't take me long to get there. I called Mark to let him know of its presence. It didn't take him long to get there.

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Neil,

Nice!

I love that first shot on the groyne ...

Sadly I couldn't get much closer than about 5-6 metres on the shingle but managed to pull a few record shots out of the bag. Rumour has it that it was sitting on your finger at one point!?!

Thanks for the twitch as I missed the last Sussex bird.

Kind regards. Mark

[David M]

Even to a bird ignoramus like me that looks like a serious 'twitch'.

I've never seen anything even remotely similar.

[Neil Hulme]

Friday Club

This morning (26th October) I joined BC Sussex members Nigel Symington, Mark Colvin and Paul Day and the South Downs National Park 'Friday Club' volunteers to continue habitat management work on the Norfolk Estate. We cleared a sizeable area of hazel scrub which will be planted with a couple of hundred primrose plugs next year. Meanwhile, a contractor used heavy machinery to dig out numerous old tree stumps, to allow for easier 'cut & collect' mowing of the developing grassland area nearby. Thanks to all involved on behalf of the Duke of Burgundy.

I later visited Heyshott Escarpment with Hannah and her parents. It wasn't the best of weather to show them around, but even on a damp and misty autumn day it's a stunningly beautiful place.

[Neil Hulme]

A Fine Pair

This afternoon (30th October) I took a long walk around Petworth Park in pleasant sunshine. Although I saw a couple of Red Admiral heading south, it was the rutting fallow deer I had come to see. As always they were putting on a good show. Well worth a visit at this time of year.

[Susie]

Great photos, Kipper. The deer at Petworth are always the stars for me. Do you know if the white deer is still there? If you stand down wind of the stags at the moment they smell so musky!

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks Susie. I haven't seen a fully white one in the last year or so, although there are one or two very pale individuals.

"If you stand down wind of the stags at the moment they smell so musky! " Ahh, the great smell of Brut.

BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Rapid Progress

On Wednesday (31st October) I joined the Murray Downland Trust volunteers at Heyshott Escarpment for the weekly work party. With the assistance of a couple of contractors and machinery, progress has been very rapid this autumn, and the clearance nothing short of spectacular. In addition to the benefits to wildlife, the improvements are also aesthetic and we are creating some spectacular vistas around the reserve. Huge specimen beech trees now stand proud in areas formerly obscured by dense scrub, some perched high on the recently exposed topography. It will be even more of a pleasure walking around the place next spring.

[Neil Hulme]

Parasitoids Of The Green Hairstreak

In June 2011 my brother Mark was photographing Silver-studded Blue butterflies on his home patch in Belgium, when he noticed a Green Hairstreak caterpillar feeding on a developing flower-head of Cross-leaved Heath (first image). He went on to find another seven over the next few days and attempted to rear them through. It turned out that most had been parasitised. Soon after he collected one of the smallest caterpillars, it stopped feeding, became completely inert and a single parasitoid larva pupated just outside its shrivelled skin, forming a distinctive black and white cocoon. The second image is of a similar cocoon that he found in the wild, while searching for the caterpillars. This belongs to a braconid wasp of an as yet unidentified species. He kept a specimen of the wasp but it will be a while before he can find/photograph it, as he and family are currently moving house.

It’s not easy being a Green Hairstreak caterpillar. He soon discovered that a second parasitoid was busy at work on the same batch of larvae. We suspect that this is the host-specific tachinid fly Cadurciella tritaeniata. He carefully picked off eggs that were stuck to a couple of the hairstreak caterpillars, and in the first image there are several eggs attached to the flower-head. Sticking eggs to caterpillars and laying them on the food-plant, so they either become attached to the host or are eaten, are two of the strategies employed by tachinids. A typical fly maggot subsequently erupted from each of three moribund hairstreak caterpillars (third image). The flies all rapidly pupated (fourth image) and went on to hatch soon after. Again, he kept a specimen of the tachinid, which he hopes to unearth in the future.

Of the other hairstreak larvae, two survived to produce 'singing' pupae that made a clearly audible scratching sound when disturbed. You can hardly blame them for bursting into song if they manage to survive for this long.

[Trev Sawyer]

"First I was afraid that I was parasitised
(kept thinkin' I could never live with maggots deep inside).
But then I spent so many nights thinkin' maybe I was wrong
and I grew strong ... and I learned how to sing along..."


I'll get my coat

Trev

Great photos and highly informative as usual Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Love it Trev. You've really made that song your own.
BWs, Neil

[Paul Harfield]

It’s not easy being a Green Hairstreak caterpillar. He soon discovered that a second parasitoid was busy at work on the same batch of larvae. We suspect that this is the host-specific tachinid fly Cadurciella tritaeniata. He carefully picked off eggs that were stuck to a couple of the hairstreak caterpillars, and in the first image there are several eggs attached to the flower-head. Sticking eggs to caterpillars and laying them on the food-plant, so they either become attached to the host or are eaten, are two of the strategies employed by tachinids. A typical fly maggot subsequently erupted from each of three moribund hairstreak caterpillars (third image). The flies all rapidly pupated (fourth image) and went on to hatch soon after. Again, he kept a specimen of the tachinid

Hi Sussex Kipper

I reared through a few Speckled Wood mostly from eggs, collected at the end of September 2011. I also found a couple of early instar larvae at the time which I also reared through. I was able to keep tabs on these two larvae. They both reached pupation but became noticeably lethargic as they grew compared to those which I had reared from eggs. Both produced similar looking fly pupae to those shown in your last photo. The parasitic maggot emerged from both a day or so after pupation.
With regret I did not think it important enough to record the event or to save the resulting parasitic pupae for identification, i did not really consider the importance at the time If I get the opportunity again I will certainly record it properly.

Love reading your excellent diary by the way. I have learned a lot from it over the last year or so

[Neil Hulme]

Many thanks Jack. The longer I have studied butterflies, and the deeper I have delved into their autecology, the more fascinating they have become. This certainly includes their intimate relationship with parasitoids. Those who were lucky enough to hear Jeremy Thomas talk on "Butterflies, Ants and Parasitoids" at the Hants & IOW AGM will know just how phenomenally sophisticated some of these relationships are. Rates of parasitism are quite high in many species, so I'm sure you will have adequate opportunity to have a closer look next time. Be sure to post your findings on UKB!
Best Wishes, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Meeting On The Downs

My Wednesdays are usually spent getting my hands dirty at Heyshott, but sometimes conservation activities are a little cleaner, which is good news for our over-worked washing machine. Yesterday (7th November) I gave a talk to the South Downs National Park Authority Members, on conservation of the Duke of Burgundy across the Park and specifically around Chanctonbury Ring, as part of a much wider Nature Improve Area (NIA) project. It makes a nice change when there's a bit of money around to support these larger scale initiatives. Richard Goring of the Wiston Estate also gave an inspiring talk on the Steyning Downland Scheme, a community-led project on his family's land.

After the morning presentations we took to the Downs, first meeting a large team of volunteers working at Washington Pits. We then moved on to the summit of Chanctonbury Ring, to talk to a local farmer who will be involved in the conservation grazing of the north-facing slopes, once the extensive scrub-cutting has been completed. As always it was sad to hear a sheep farmer talking about the half-a-dozen or more dog attacks on his livestock each year; unfortunately there is more than just a "tiny minority" of dog owners who make the village idiot look like a genius, as these statistics are only average across large swathes of our countryside.

After lunch the SDNPA Members moved on to see the Steyning Downland Scheme 'in the flesh'. For me it was another meeting, this time with a West Sussex County Council Ranger I've known for many years. If all the plans we collectively have for Springhead Hill come to fruition, this site will continue to go from strength to strength.

Later in the day I was rather concerned to hear that Mark Colvin had taken a knock at the Heyshott work party. Fortunately his collision with a tree stump only broke the tree, so he is sore, bruised, but in one piece.

[Neil Hulme]

Terra Nova

On Thursday (8th November) I attended a work party in some woods on the Cowdray Estate to the south of Fernhurst. It's the first time I've ever visited this site, which is slightly off my usual patch. I've long been aware of a small but strategically important colony of Pearl-bordered Fritillary here, which was saved from extinction in about 2007 by the intervention of local South Downs National Park (formerly SD Joint Committee) staff and Dr Dan Hoare of Butterfly Conservation. This is a good example of where the efforts of just a couple of individuals, now supported by volunteers from the Midhurst area, have made a huge difference to the fortunes of one of our rarer species. Without the help of such dedicated people these PBF would have gone the same way as so many other colonies in this part of the UK, particularly as there is only a small area of sweet chestnut habitat available amongst a vast blanket of commercial conifer. Every hour of assistance at work parties around the UK makes a huge difference to the butterflies which we all enjoy watching and photographing every summer. By early afternoon a 50 - 60 m strip of coppice had been cut. It was gratifying to hear how maximum daily counts have risen from 2 to more than 30.

[Neil Hulme]

Autumn Gold

Today (9th November) I joined South Downs National Park and BC Sussex volunteers for another work party at Rewell Wood on the Norfolk Estate. We continued opening up an area of overgrown hazel coppice and will probably complete this particular task with one more visit. Apart from the excellent company, today was notable for the beautiful autumn colours. I always think that beech woods look their very best at this time of year, especially if the sun is shining. The Red Admiral which swooped down to have a look at us was an added bonus.