Winter 2013 Newsletter is - The British Naturalists` Association

South Yorkshire Branch
Newsletter
Winter 2014
Editor Pauline Rutherford
Issue number 5
Barn Owl Pellet Dissection 3rd December by Nora Boyle
To celebrate Steve Rutherford’s freedom from the confines of working at Old Moor, twenty
members and potential members of the South Yorkshire Branch of the BNA met in the Walled
Garden Restaurant at Wentworth Garden Centre at 9.30am. After breakfast we moved on to the
Party Room on the Family Farm, eager to start the morning’s activity which was “Investigating Barn
Owl Pellets”
The pellets themselves had been supplied by the Tor Valley BNA group and had been prepared for
use by first putting them in the freezer (which killed any larva present) then dipping them in mild
disinfectant so that the hair would fall away more easily and the process would be more hygienic.
The room had been set out beforehand with appropriate equipment for investigating the contents
of the pellets; namely plastic trays, tweezers and needles, for individual use, and a fantastic
dissecting microscope kindly donated by one of our members, Roy Stewart. I think all would agree
that its use most definitely enhanced the whole experience since we could examine small parts in
more detail, particularly teeth. To aid identification we had printouts showing the skulls, lower jaws
and teeth of the most common prey found in owl pellets. We also had a copy of “The Analysis of Owl
Pellets” by the Mammal Society and the Field Studies Council “Guide to British Owl Pellets”
Everyone selected a pellet and proceeded to tease it apart, separating the hair from the bones with
great enthusiasm.
Group members dissecting pellets
bones before cleaning
Pellets consist of indigestible parts of the food from prey which have been regurgitated and their
examination gives an indication of their diet. Since barn owls have broad wings, perfect for hunting
over large areas of open grassland, it was expected that their pellets would include the remains of
voles and shrews.
In order to identify which small mammals had been eaten we particularly searched for lower jaw
bones and skulls. In many cases, each pellet contained the remains of multiple prey, mainly bank
voles Myodes glareolus, field voles Microtus agrestis, common shrews Sorex araneus and pigmy
shrews Sorex minutus. My pellet, for instance, contained the remains of 3 bank voles, 1 common
shrew and 2 pigmy shrews.
Some of our members were also interested in identifying other parts of the body and sorted out a
mixture of bones. At this stage the bones were still covered in traces of hair.
It was fairly easy to determine that we had examples of vole remains by looking at the shape of the
skulls and lower jaws but in order to determine which were those of bank voles and which were
those of field voles we needed to examine the lower tooth root pattern. Bank voles, as in the
photograph below, have teeth with a straight lower edge. Field voles have teeth with a curved lower
edge.
Lower jaw of bank vole with teeth removed
lower jaw of common shrew with pygmy shrew below it
Pauline supplied us with plastic boxes so that we could take some of the bones home to study
further. I took the skulls and lower jaws so that I could clean them up further and get better photos.
Here you can see the comparative size of the lower jaws of a common shrew and a pygmy shrew.
Also you can clearly see the teeth are tipped with crimson.
Here you can see a palatal view of a bank vole and a common shrew, and a selection of other bones
recovered.
Palatal view of bank vole
All photos by N Boyle
palatal view of common shrew
other bones
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the morning and I’m sure learned something new as is usual in our
meetings under the guidance, knowledge and enthusiasm of Steve. Thanks to Steve and Pauline for
organizing the session and the owner of Wentworth Garden Centre for allowing us to use the room.
Nature Notes by Mark Dudley
As I write this winter is hardly upon us, a few frosts enough to bite into the tender leaves of the
Runner Bean plants I had grown this year. Yet the Grey Squirrels have already taken up residence
around my bird feeders chasing each other from the Sunflower seeds set out to lull the shy Bullfinch
pair regularly seen over the summer months. My adopted hedgehogs Tweedledee and
Tweedledum, which will only eat mealworms, seem to have now entered their hibernation period,
much to the relief of the Blackbirds and Robins as it means an early morning feast if I decide to have
a lie in, but then who could blame me it is dark and cold outside.
So bring on spring the birth of a new life bringing excitement and potential, the days get longer and
the warmth of the sun brings the garden back to life. Will the hedgehogs have survived? Will the
bulbs I planted in October come through and bring colour to the garden? Will the Honeysuckle and
Clematis bring insects a plenty like shield bugs and moths to catch with my pooter and traps bought
late last summer. How great it will be to hear the birds sing their dawn chorus outside my bedroom
window again, maybe I will hear a male Treecreeper calling again as I did last year.
Spring starts when I see that first Skylark fluttering overhead as there is no sweeter sound than the
lark ascending. As the Wigeon and Redwings leave for fields’ afar the Swallows and Swifts return to
weave and swoop around your head. For me next year will be about finding Glow-worms after
reading the article “Glowing, glowing, gone” by Dr Tim Gardener in the Spring & Summer 2011
edition of Country-Side. Moths and particularly micro-moths will be high on this naturalist’s
agenda, with plans in place for trying techniques for trapping and identifying moths other than the
typical moth traps. Having planted varieties of plants in the garden which will attract all kinds of
insect I am hoping a few hoverflies will drop in to aid my identification knowledge of this group. I
am getting excited already for next year, wow what a year it could be, bring on 2014.
Pictures from Left to Right of targeted species:
Glowworm (Lampyris noctiluca)
Photo: © J. Tyler: Country- Side
Alabonia geoffrella
©Bob Heckford: UK Moths
Meligramma trianguliferum
W.George; flickr
South Yorkshire Annual General Meeting Wentworth Garden Centre
7th December 2013 by Pauline Rutherford
Our first AGM was held in the Walled Garden Restaurant at Wentworth, naturally starting with
breakfast! I had booked the marquee so we could have the meeting away from the public. Once
again the staff had done us proud by making sure the marquee was nice and warm on this cold
winter morning (in fact a little too warm at times!)
20 of us attended, and after breakfast Steve went through all the facts and figures of our group’s
finances followed by his report on the highlights and what to expect from the future. Quite a
productive meeting as it is always good to know how well we are doing, and we appear to have
been a bit of a talking point at recent Trustees Meetings judging by the comments made in Roger
Tabors Report! Let’s keep up the good work and get the other BNA Groups wishing they were in
South Yorkshire!
Then it was out in to the Historic Gardens for a Winter Forage. We approached the Gardens via the
Family Farm, and encountered Luke with his latest addition to the animals – a barn owl. Breeze is
about 12 weeks old and was sitting on Luke’s arm quite happily. Luke will be handling her regularly
as the staff want her to be comfortable with the public so she can be used in educational talks with
school parties.
As we walked through the gates to the Gardens, we were given very good views of redwing and
mistle thrush, allowing Steve the chance to explain the identification features. The redwing is a
small thrush with a red/orange colour under the wings and a cream streak through the eye. The
mistle thrush is quite large with a very irregular spotting/streaking on the breast.
Redwing photo D. Farrar
Mistle thrush photo S. Rutherford
There were plenty smaller birds – robins, blue tits, coal tits etc on the feeders, which Steve fills up 2
or 3 times a week and he also explained how he squashes suet or fat balls into the bark of trees,
enabling the birds a more natural way of finding food, plus it makes for a better photograph!
After a hunt around the log piles in the Woodland Walk seeing the wood breaking down and the
remains of fungi, we ended a nice morning with the territorial call of a nuthatch and a lovely
glimpse of a goldcrest. And if 2014 is as good as 2013 for our sightings – bring it on!!
Caption Competition
Winning entry from Autumn Newsletter
Congratulations to Di Farrar.
“I’ll just stop that
from dripping into
the moth trap,
Bob!"
Here is the Winter Caption. Get your thinking caps on – I expect you All to submit an entry.
View from a Comfy Chair by The Chairman
We had a fantastic walk this autumn led by Chris and Bob for the “Trees in autumn colour”. I would
like to put some information here just to help with a point that came to light when we were looking
at the oak trees on Old Moor.
English or sessile oak?
The identification between the two oaks quite often comes up in conversation on guided walks and
I think it is partly to do with the fact as a guide I talk about “sessile being stalkless and the English
oak having stalks” and this seems to be contradicted when looking at the leaves and to be fair the
trees are in leaf longer that the acorns are showing. From a distance the leaves look similar being
the same size and having deeply lobed shape, looking closer the English oak has a very short stalk of
about 4 to 10mm where as the sessile has a longer stalk of between 12 and 20mm. On the English
oak the first lobes after the stalk point backwards (auricles) where as the sessile leaf the first lobes
flow out and away from the longer stalk. Looking at the acorns the trees with the long stalks on the
acorns are the English oak and the acorns without stalks are the sessile – no wonder people get
confused! It took me ages to bully my brain to remember acorn not leaf. So, short stalk on the leaf,
long stalk on the acorn – English (stalked) – long stalk on the leaf, short stalk on the acorn –
sessile (stalkless). Hope this has helped.
English Oak Quercus robur S Rutherford
The short stems on the leaf and auricles show
well above the buds as do the long yellow
stalks on the acorns.
Sessile Oak Quercus petraea S Rutherford
The long stems on these leaves are obvious
as is the lack of stalk on the acorn
snuggled against the buds.
Happy New Year! By Megan Carroll
Our first meeting of 2014: a great turnout, buffet, and a morning’s birding at Old Moor. What
better way to start, hopefully as we mean to go on? We met in the farmhouse meeting rooms at Old
Moor, togged up for a January walk. The weather was sunny, the turnout was brilliant, and we were
joined by some new members too (a big welcome to them). There was definitely a special feel to
this meeting.
We divided into two groups to fit everyone in the hides. Group leaders were chosen and we
set out to see what Old Moor had to offer. In the space of two hours, yellowhammer, brambling,
willow tit, goosander, goldeneye and peregrine were among the treats it had for us. We also
admired the colours and variety of fruits and berries in Green Lane, and the birdsong which was in
full swing. Speaking for my group, we got great views of everything we saw, especially from the
Tree Sparrow Farm screen. We missed the peregrine, but I hear the other group had a perfect view
of the female. So an excellent start to the year’s birding was had by all.
Yellowhammer by S. Rutherford
Golden eye by K. Pickering
When I’m with the group, I’m always reminded to look more closely; to really take in small
things, small gems that can so easily be missed. The crest on a tufted duck’s head, the different
shades of yellow and orange in the hedgerow…even the shape of the clouds makes each day
interesting. There’s nothing to beat the feeling of sitting in a hide sharing your favourite memories
and observations with others who love the same thing.
When we got back to the farmhouse we compared notes with the other group; the party
began straight away! Everyone contributed to the buffet, and the New Year’s atmosphere. Both
were brilliant, and a real testament to our group’s ability to make friends with the person sitting
next to you, whether you’ve seen them before in your life or not. One thing our group has never
experienced is an awkward silence (!), and I think new friends were made in one morning. This is
the spirit that has encouraged the BNA to hold their annual conference here in South Yorkshire, as
Steve also let us know. As he pointed out, our group is in exciting times, and I can’t wait to see what
the year ahead has in store.
From Humble Beginnings by Moira Beaumont
What me? I can’t join the BNA, I don’t know anything!
But I joined and for the first few months proudly told everyone I had joined a local naturist group.
Yes, I could not even pronounce it correctly much to the amusement of friends, family and even
fellow associates. There were some rather amusing and embarrassing moments. One in particular
when talking to fellow bird watchers in a Dorset hide last summer where there was actually a
naturist beach literally a few miles further down the coast. I don’t think I will be visiting Dorset for
a while!
It took a lot for me to join as I had retired only a few years earlier, joined the RSPB at Old Moor,
where I am now a volunteer, and was concentrating mainly on birds. I knew a few garden birds but
everything on water was a duck! I have been a member of the South Yorkshire branch from the
start when there were only seven members. How we have grown, to almost 40 members with a vast
array of talent and expertise.
Although I felt I knew very little, when I look back over my career I have always had a passion for
nature. My teaching career started in 1978. Way back then we used to bring tadpoles into the
classroom and watched amazed as they developed into fully grown frogs. We always used to return
them to their original habitat. I particularly remember watching an educational programme called
Look and Read, one of which followed the plight of the peregrine falcon. All my children joined,
what was then, the Young Ornithologists Club (whether they wanted to or not). Several years ago I
received a call from one of my pupils who mentioned this and blames me for his lifelong love of
ornithology. I moved to teaching children with challenging behaviour and believe me visiting local
nature reserves was a challenge but I would like to think that some of them will remember these
outings and respect their natural environment.
The first few members with Moira centre stage
Moira and others at Bishop Middleham
Both photos by P. Rutherford
I have always been a keen gardener but over the past 18 months that too has changed. My garden is
gradually evolving into a wildlife haven. It is costing me a fortune to keep the birds well fed but I
was rewarded this year when a flock of redwings arrived, stripped the holly tree of its berries and
left just as quickly. This time last year I could not have even identified one! All my shrubs are
gradually being replaced to provide for the butterflies and bees and I am allowing lots more wild
flowers to take over the garden.
When I joined the BNA it was with a view to improving my general knowledge and so during our
regular meetings I took notes and decided that I would learn just a few things every visit. Here are
of the brilliant days we have spent:Pond dipping, moth trapping, mammal trapping, bat detecting, tree identifying, owl pellet
dissection, recognizing birds and their calls. We have had visiting experts and although I could not
pronounce many of the Latin names we had a fabulous day with Tom Thomas (see article by Roy
Stewart, British Naturalists Summer/Autumn 2013). We have taken many walks in around our
locality although we never actually “walked” very far as nature just kept getting in the way. We had
a brilliant day in Bishop Middleham and were rewarded with sightings of some beautiful rare
orchids. It was almost as if someone had told them we were coming and they displayed just for us. I
particularly enjoyed The Bioblitz in the summer at Old Moor and could not believe how many wild
flowers we identified within a radius of 1 mile. I could go on and on about my experiences. I have
loved every one of them and know there will be lots more to come. Initially I was reluctant to reveal
my lack of knowledge but quickly realized how much expertise there was around me and how eager
everyone is to share their knowledge. Now as everyone knows I am not shy at coming forward!
So when I was asked to write an article for the newsletter you can guess my response. What me? I
don’t know anything! Well I do now and it’s thanks to all my friends in South Yorkshire.
A Free Resource? By Pauline Rutherford
Steve and I spent the day in London recently at the Natural History Museum. But we weren’t there
to look at the displays – we went specifically to look behind the scenes, at the collections in the
vaults! The “Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity”, in the Darwin Centre, is a hub for
naturalists (like us) to study all aspects of natural history. They have 10,000 drawers of specimens
available for you to study, with a fully equipped visitor area including reference books and
microscopes to help you. We only had a few hours there, and had asked to see the bumble bees, and
a few of the moth families, and the time went so quickly we will be staying overnight next time we
go! One of the Advisory Officers looks after you during your visit and makes sure you don’t run out
of specimens so it’s best to go with a list of species. You have access to their kitchen so you can
make drinks or eat your lunch and it gives you the chance to chat to other members of staff who
were equally helpful, and seemed very pleased we had travelled all the way from South Yorkshire to
use the facilities.
Steve studying in the Angela Marmont Centre, photos by P. Rutherford
Some of the specimens we looked at photos by P. Rutherford
Fancy doing a bit of studying? Then these facilities are free for anyone to use, just search online for
“Angela Marmont Centre” and that will give you all the information you need. Scroll down the page
to ‘visitor space for research’ giving the date and time of your visit and what you would like to
study. It’s well worth it and I can guarantee the day will go so quickly you’ll be wishing you had
booked a week!
Coming up in 2014 ……..
5th April – Adwick Washlands. This is one of the newest reserves in the Dearne Valley which the warden
staff have been managing for a couple of years now. Meet at Old Moor 9.30am and car share over.
6th July – Marika’s Bioblitz. Marika and David live in an old mill which has varying habitats, so this is our
chance to record what species are there. We will set moth traps and mammal traps and take sweep nets
and have some fun. Bring your own picnic. Car sharing (and cost) to be arranged.
12th July – BNA National AGM in South Yorkshire. Let’s show those “Southerners” what we can do “Up
North”!
November (date to be arranged) – Weekend birding in Northumberland. This is one of the best areas for
winter waders (not that I am biased!) overnight in Premier Inn (usually get rooms for £29/£35) details
still to be arranged.
Copy date for spring newsletter – 18th April. So get writing!!!
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