Reflections on 2018

A selection of photos from 2018 - click to enlarge

There are, I am sure, good lessons to be learned from the six months of silence since the last post. While I reflect on what they might be and announce that I will try harder to post more regularly in 2019, let’s take a look at the highlights of 2018.

I will start with the wonderful news that Falmouth Town Council is partnering with the charity, Buglife in the Urban Buzz project. This will see areas of the town planted with wildflowers to help pollinator insects in the town. I am so looking forward to seeing these areas flowering for the first time this year.

Three participants in the 2018 Bug Hunt

As part of the Urban Buzz project last August there was a bug hunt organised by Buglife and the town council in the old parts of Falmouth cemetery. The event attracted families who were given sweep nets and were soon capturing a variety of interesting insects and invertebrates. There were also pooters available to try, these are a bottle with two tubes – one to suck on and the other to collect an insect and place it in the bottle. The hunt was so successful that plans are being made for another one this year.

 The two display boards placed in both parts of Falmouth's old cemetery to raise awareness  of its importance to wildlife and the local community.

A major factor in the success of conservation efforts depends upon raising awareness in the local community. In August the Town Council placed two display boards in both parts of Falmouth’s old cemetery. They inform visitors of its importance to wildlife and the fact that it contains several rare species of solitary bees. They also display information on conservation efforts both in the cemetery and the town.

Apart from being excited over the Urban Buzz project there were two personal recording highlights this year. The first was discovering a new species of bee in Falmouth, Anthophora furcata. Not only was this a new record for this part of Cornwall but it is an interesting bee in that it is one of the few species to make its nest by burrowing into dead wood.

    A male Anthophora furcata, captured and released in a
    garden near Kimberley Park.

My second find was seeing my first European Hornet in Falmouth, only saw one and only once. This is our native species and is impressively large and unlike the Asian Hornet not a threat to beekeepers and their hives. Despite its size it is usually a docile creature that often hunts at night.

 Our native hornet, a new record for Falmouth, will we see
 more of them in 2019?

Another fantastic find was shown to me by Simon Penna, Head of Maintenance for Falmouth Town Council. A number of solitary wasps were making their nests in a dead Ash tree in Kimberley Park. Now although solitary, that is the female usually makes an individual nest some species will share the entrance that then leads to their own nest. This was the case with this species, Ectemnius cephalotes and there were steady streams of female wasps bring back captured flies to the entrance. It was fascinating watching them carry the fly beneath them and manoeuvring it into the hole. Each egg that the wasp lays is provision with several paralysed flies for the larvae to feed on when it hatches. Paralysing the fly keeps it fresh for the larvae, an interesting alternative to refrigeration but please don’t try this at home.

A female Ectemnius cephalotes solitary wasp returns to her

nest with a paralysed fly for her larvae to feed on. As an

adult wasp they will feed on nectar.

Most people only encounter and would recognise social wasps, who like honey bees live in a nest with female workers and a queen. In Falmouth the two species usually seen are the Common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) and the European wasp (Vespula germanica). In October Storm Callum damaged one of the conifers in the lower part of Falmouth cemetery. One of its lower branches was almost completely torn from the tree. This caused a common wasp nest to fall from its original position to be caught lower down. Thanks to the skilful work of the cemetery manager, Matthew Brotherton and the maintenance crew not only was the branch safely removed but the still active nest also survived. This gave a rare chance to see the intricate design of the nest and watch the activity of the common wasps for several weeks until the colony came to the end of its lifecycle.

The Common Wasp nest revealed after the damage caused
to a tree by Storm Callum.

The biggest impact made by the weather this year was made by the beast from the east, an influx of cold air that saw snow falling and settling in Falmouth. The effects of this unusually cold spell in March were immediately seen on tender plants such as Alexander that were hit hard. Many queen bumblebees delayed establishing a nest and new colonies by up to four weeks and many butterfly species appeared later than normal.

  Solitary bee (Andrena fulva) on Alexander flowers. Being

  introduced by the Romans from the Mediterranean, 
  Alexander was hit hard by the unusually harsh weather.

Generally I saw a fall in the abundance of insects this spring and to a lesser extent in the summer. My hope is that it was a result of this cold spell and it is not repeated in 2019 to allow populations to recover. Certainly with local conservation efforts the prospects look very promising for this year. It is though a reminder that climate change is something we all should be concerned about. 

Spear-leaved Willowherb - Epilobium lanceolatum

Discovered a few of these wildflowers growing in Park Rise today. Generally it is found in open habitats, such as the base of hedges and walls in towns, waste ground, quarries and mine spoil heaps. 

Falmouth Cemetery - 30 Days Wild

30 Days Wild - Falmouth Cemetery

Many of us lead busy lives, so much so that it is easy to let our connection with Nature slip away. This lack of interest in our local wildlife has many consequences, for what we cease to value can be so easy lost, sometimes forever.

30 days lost is a initiative by our Wildlife trusts to encourage people during June to get out and about to experience the natural world. Not only does this benefit our wildlife as people's connections with Nature are strengthened but it has measurable health benefits for those that participate.

Let's go wild in June.

Ashy Mining Bee - Kimberley Park, Falmouth

Nature in Falmouth - Kimberley Park

The first in a series of short videos showing wildlife, flora and fauna, in and around Falmouth.

Download "Nature in a sacred place" - a look at the importance of Falmouth Cemetery for Nature

In the autumn of 2016 I began writing down my observation and thoughts on the importance of the old parts of Falmouth cemetery for bees and other insects. It was in part motivated by the publication of The State of Nature – 2016 that described the declines happening to so much of our wildlife. It was then, and is still my conviction that the opportunity exists to manage our urban green spaces to protect local wildlife and to promote the health benefits’ engaging with Nature offers the local community.

It was my hope that by providing an introduction to some of the wildlife to be found in the cemetery, together an overview of its ecology it would influence Falmouth Town Council’s management. In this, it has been partially successful and I remain optimistic that while it is very much a work in progress, further improvements to the maintenance of the cemetery are achievable.

Download the guide here, http://bit.ly/2FYIt4U 

Fox Rosehill Gardens, Falmouth - Plants flowering in Winter

I confess that it is my interested in bumblebees that draws me to Fox Rosehill Garden each winter. The garden's various varieties of Mahonia are pretty well guaranteed to attract winter active buff-tailed bumblebees from November through to the end February. While a bumblebee visit to a Mahonia flower is almost certain, some days entail quite a lot of waiting for a visitor to arrive. This allows me to take a look at its other attractions.

The garden is home to a variety of exotic plants from around the world. Quite a few of these flower during in the winter. I am not very knowledgeable on ornamental plants but with help from Robbie Blackhall- Miles from Fossil Plants and Helen Brown at Little Ash Gardens I have managed to put a name to the plants in my photos.

Bumblebee on Mahonia flowers

Fuchsia microphylla

Amaryllis belladonna

Impatiens tinctoria

Sparmannia africana

Correa glabra var. turnbullii

Salvia corrugata

brugmansia x Lutea

Clerodendrum trichotomum
- these are fruits not its flowers

Lambertia formosa

The Scarlet Pimpernel, Wolfgang von Goethe and one of the smallest living organism

It was an accidental discovery while I was looking for early flowering wildflowers at the beginning of January. I spotted a few Scarlet Pimpernels flowing in my garden and picked one to photograph. Only when I looked through the camera's viewfinder did I notice something unusual. Where the stamens and pistil should have been, small leaves were to be seen.

Normal Scarlet Pimpernel Flower

My not so normal Scarlet Pimpernel Flower

This phenomena was observed in roses by the German writer and polymath, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and he named it, Metamorphosis. Today it is usually known as Phyllody (leaf like) and it is generally caused by infections although adverse environmental conditions may also cause an imbalance in a plant's hormones producing the same effect.

With this plant flowering so early environmental stresses could be a possible cause. However Scarlet Pimpernel is also a known host for aster yellows phytoplasma. This disease can infect over 300 species in 38 families of herbaceous plants, symptoms are variable and include phyllody.

Phytoplasma are one of the smallest living organisms and cannot be seen through an optical microscope nor can they be cultured like many other types of bacteria. Little wonder that they were not discovered until 1967 by Japanese Scientists.

If the phyllody in the flower was caused by a disease it was mostly likely infected by a sap sucking insect such as a leafhopper. Interestingly the phytoplasma in the sap once ingested by a female leafhopper can extend the insect's lifespan and increase the number of eggs it lays. While this benefits the insect it also increases the opportunities for the bacteria to infect other plants. 

An unusual start to year to be sure, I had not seen anything like it before or heard of Phyllody. I will keep my eye on this patch of pimpernels during the spring to see if I can see any recurrences.