Anything to declare ...

GROPPERS

The Orthoptera is an order of charismatic and abundant insects, which includes the grasshoppers, crickets, weta and locusts. Many members of this order manufacture an audible noise by stridulation (the act of producing sound by rubbing certain body parts together). In the case of the Orthopterans this is typically the wings or legs; these body parts containing rows of corrugated bumps. Their ‘song’ is one of the many sounds of summer; a time when they can easily be found in meadows, trees or bushes.

The British Isles currently plays host to twenty-seven native species (grasshoppers and crickets) and a number of naturalised, non-native species. In addition to our native fauna, and those species deemed non-native though naturalised, the unexpected Orthopteran occasionally turns up; with modern air travel providing a suitable mechanism for the transportation of the occasional exotic arrival. The following three species, the largest of which, a species of Tropidacris, has a wingspan of approximately 20cm and is around 10cm in length, were captured from an international airport located in the south of England, as unexpected arrivals in baggage reclaim …

The first is Acanthacris ruficornis (Fabricius, 1787). It arrived on a flight from Africa on 15 June 2001. The second is Anacridium melanorhodon ssp. melanorhodon (Walker, 1870); an arrival on a flight from northern Africa (Palestine) on 2 February 2000. The third, the most impressive of the three, is probably Tropidacris cristata (Linnaeus, 1758); which arrived on a flight from South America (Costa Rica) on 18 August 2001. Members of the genus Tropidacris are the largest known grasshoppers. All three were alive upon arrival. The third, T. cristata, had to be handled very carefully as it is a grasshopper with impressive strength. Any attempt to handle it is likely to be repelled with a lightening quick reprisal; its spiny hind legs inflicting damage to the unsuspecting handler ...

My thanks go to Darren Mann (OUMNH) for confirmation of identification.

Images copyright OUMNH. Photographed by Katherine Child, Hope Department of Entomology.

Catocala fraxini ...

Clifden Nonpareil

The beautiful Clifden Nonpareil (Catocala fraxini), or Blue Underwing as it is also known, is an immigrant to Sussex and suspected resident since 2001 or 2005. It is generally only found singly and is attracted to sugar, usually at dusk, and occasionally to MV light. Immigrants appear in a wide range of habitats, chiefly in the south of the county; while residents prefer wooded landscapes in the far east. During the middle part of the 20th century it was resident in certain parts of Kent and Norfolk. C. fraxini is single-brooded; flying mainly from mid August to mid October. The larvae, which can be as much as 75mm long, feed mainly on aspen (Populus tremulosa). It overwinters as an egg.

Nowadays, only a handful are recorded per year, mainly from the south and south-east of England; September being the most likely month. On 17th October 2011, my good friend Alec Harmer, took a gravid female at MV light in his garden on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire. Her forewings were in reasonable condition, but her hindwings were badly torn. She laid 21 eggs and sadly died within a few days of capture. One of her offspring has subsequently laid over 563 ova and it is from her successors that the following larvae were reared. They were photographed on 4th July 2012.

Long may her descendants live on ...

Controversy ...

National disgrace ...

"Due to the care of past curators, we can (for example) still handle specimens actually from Linnaeus's personal cabinets, as well as others collected and prepared by later giants in the history of biology, Raffles, Darwin and Wallace among them. Ownership of these collections in trust carries an obligation to maintain them in good state and to make them accessible to enquirers and research workers at home and abroad".

Earl of Cranbrook, 1991. Standards in the Museum Care of Biological Collections, 2, 1992. Museums & Galleries Commission.



In early November 2012, The Museums Association (MA) held their annual Conference and Exhibition at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). Reported to be the largest gathering of museums and heritage professionals in Europe, it showcases suppliers, hosts workshops and various meetings. Darren Mann of the Hope Entomological Collections (HEC) was there as a speaker to present a talk entitled ‘The Elephant in the Room’ which tackled some of the difficult questions that are currently being raised about the future of natural history collections in the UK.

What questions are those?
Well, here is the background in a nutshell:

"Natural history collections are under threat but are vital for taxonomic research, environmental monitoring and education. The number of specialist curators is declining, so should collections be redistributed to centres of excellence or are there other solutions for orphaned collections?"

The main question that is raised by this is - How do we prevent the loss of these collections? and it is one that is very much on the minds of all natural history curators at the moment as we hear of more collections being 'moth-balled' (put away into storage) and the loss of curators through redundancies or down-sizing, leaving many collections without people to care for them, interpret them or make them available for research. The biggest threat of course, comes to the collections themselves, which may become damaged or lost altogether through poor storage and lack of care. For example, any item with fur, feather or chitin (e.g. taxidermy mounts or insect specimens) are open to attack from a host of pests including the one most reviled by curators, Anthrenus, which, whilst being a rather pretty little beetle, views an insect collection as an assemblage of tasty snacks (see image below). In a round up of the problems associated with deciding the future of these collections, Darren Mann pointed out that despite their huge popularity with the general public there has been a movement in the museums sector away from natural history and towards the arts and social sciences. To put some perspective on this, the Ashmolean Museum recently spent £7.83 million on Edouard Manet’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus; a single painting! For the same amount of money the entire UK entomological collections held outside the Nationals and University Museums, of over 10 million specimens, could have been re-housed (including salary costs) and systematically arranged in modern pest proof storage.

One curator recently wrote "There are now more pandas living in Edinburgh than there are natural history curators employed in the whole of East Midlands, West Midlands and South Yorkshire put together".

This surely can't be right?



Images copyright OUMNH. Photographed by Katherine Child, Hope Department of Entomology.

Behind the scenes …

Oxford University Museum - Part 1

I have visited the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) on numerous occasions and, in particular, have a long-term association with the Department of Entomology, as my good friend Darren Mann holds the position of Assistant Curator, and my friend and work colleague Dr John Ismay, Honorary Associate Curator. I have also donated a number of specimens to the collection, including the social wasp Dolichovespula saxonica following my discovery of it breeding at two locations in Britain in 1991.





The Hope Entomological Collections are located within the OUMNH and house over 25,000 types and comprises in excess of 5 million specimens of insects, arachnids and myriapods. This, along with its extensive library and historic archives, form one of the most comprehensive and important entomological resources within the United Kingdom. The collections are second only in size and importance to the national insect collection housed at the Natural History Museum, London.





The collection began life with the bequest by the Reverend Frederick William Hope (1797-1862) of his entire collection in 1849. The Hope Professors, John Westwood (1805-1893), Edward Poulton (1856-1943), Geoffrey Hale Carpenter (1882-1953) and George Varley (1910-1983) also amassed large amounts of material through both their own research and from donations by some of the most prominent entomologists of the day including, Charles Swinhoe (1838-1923), James John Walker (1851-1939), Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge (1873-1952), Albert Harry Hamm (1861-1951), Edward Saunders (1848-1910), Bertram Maurice Hobby (1905-1983), Karl Richard Hanitsch (1860-1940), James Charles Dale (1792-1872) and his son Charles William Dale, John Curtis (1791-1862), John Francillon (1744-1816), Pierre André Latreille (1762-1833), Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbeck (1776-1858), Henri de Saussure (1829-1905), Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) and Thomas Vernon Wollaston (1822-1878).

Of particular significance are:

➢ Hope-Westwood collections
➢ Extensive historic collections
➢ The Verrall-Collin collection of Diptera
➢ Comprehensive British collections
➢ The Wytham Woods collections
➢ The Pickard-Cambridge and Blackwall arachnid collections



The C. W. and J. C. Dale collection is probably one of the most impressive single collections of British insects, with over 50,000 specimens. This collection includes specimens used by Curtis, Haliday and Stephens in their published works. The Dale collection also contains the famous Bath White (Pontia daplidice), reputedly collected in Cambridge in May 1702, which is believed to be the oldest known pinned entomological specimen in the world.











The Hope Department of Entomology is an energetic and vibrant department of dedicated staff and associates, promoting entomology and the collections under their care to the highest level. The collections, Library and associated archives are a significant world resource that is accessible for research by appointment. Housed in a Grade 1 listed building, which is renowned for its spectacular neo-Gothic architecture, I highly recommend a visit to this wonderful museum ...

Don't miss it ...

http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/collect/entom.htm

Beyond the image ...

The Bigger Picture

Although I like to capture what I see with a camera, I do not class myself as a photographer; my passion is the subject, not the photography. Don’t get me wrong, I want to take pictures that please me, and hopefully others, but I have no real interest in the photographic process or the ‘black art’ of post image capture manipulation software, other than that which allows me to slightly sharpen or carry out other minor adjustments. My pleasure comes from finding subjects to photograph, primarily entomological, and then producing the best possible pictures I can using my camera and fieldcraft. If I don’t succeed first time I need little excuse to go back and try again.

Which often happens ...

To me, a picture is not just about the quality of the captured subject but also, and possibly more importantly, the circumstances under which it was achieved. The location, weather conditions, temperature, time of day, the perfumes present in the air (particularly those that appear heightened at dawn), ambient sounds and, not least, if I was not on my own, the company with whom I shared the experience; the detail, the bigger picture. I know this all sounds a little 'airy-fairy' but it is important to me and is all part of my experience of being at one with nature, the environment and myself ...

With over a month's rain having fallen over West Sussex during a 24 hour period in early June 2012, several of my local rivers and smaller water courses had, not suprisingly, burst their banks. Extensive flooding occurred throughout West Sussex. After the storm came the calm and on the morning of 12 June I headed for Iping and Stedham Commons to look for the beautiful Silver-studded Blue, which had only recently started to emerge. It took little persuasion to tempt good friend Colin Knight to join me, who was also desperate to be out and about. We headed for a small south facing area of heathland where I discovered good numbers during their peak last year. In the poor light and low ambient temperature, I managed to find and photograph just three males in the short time I was there. On 27 June I returned, alone, to Stedham Common; my target, a female Silver-studded Blue. It did not take long before I found the first of many males, as they took flight from the purple heather and birch scrub; the smell of damp pine filled the air. Others, roosting amongst the undergrowth, gradually started to stir and as they did so they revealed their wings to the warmth of the new day. A slow walk through the heather finally produced four females; two rather tatty specimens and two very fresh individuals whose tiny gemstone adorned wings glistened in the hazy sun.

Considering all of the above comments, the female Silver-studded Blue below is my favourite shot of 2012; not only because the composition and subtleties of colour please me, and its not the best picture I've ever taken, but more importantly because of the total experience and the memories which are consequently evoked ...

Dedication ...

The Murray Downland Trust

As many of you will be aware, nearly every Wednesday, between October and the end of March, I am involved in an ongoing conservation project at Heyshott Escarpment; an extremely important chalk downland reserve lying just to the south of the beautiful village of Heyshott in West Sussex. I, along with several of the regular stalwarts, including Neil Hulme and Colin Knight, fly the flag for Sussex Butterfly Conservation; we work closely alongside the dedicated and indefatigable volunteers of The Murray Downland Trust.

So who are The Murray Downland Trust (MDT)?

In brief, The Murray Downland Trust came into being in 1994. It is named after both Dr K. M. Elisabeth (Betty) Murray (1909-98), former Principal of Bishop Otter College (Chichester), and her brother, Kenneth Murray. The Murrays were pioneers of downland conservation at Heyshott, West Sussex. The objectives of the Trust are to rescue and enhance neglected areas of unimproved chalk downland in the counties of Sussex and Hampshire, revealing their richness in terms of the species of flora and fauna present. Five reserves are currently under their stewardship. These are at Buriton Down (Hampshire), Under Beacon, The Devil's Jumps, Heyshott Down and Heyshott Escarpment (West Sussex). All reserves are within the South Downs National Park.

In the September 2012 MDT newsletter, Sue Edwards wrote the following, wonderfully thought-provoking article on the inspiration behind the Trust: Betty Murray. It inspired me and further compounded my views that the sometimes controversial nature of the work we are undertaking at Heyshott, is indeed the right course of action; consequently I felt it worthy of sharing with a wider audience …

Betty Murray



An appreciation of a Founder of the MDT ...

Sometimes, as human beings, we become so enmeshed in the immediacy of the present that we tend to forget about the past. With the formation of the South Downs National Park and the changes which it is likely to bring to our very special part of the UK, it is perhaps apposite that we remember – and give thanks for – a very special member of our community whose vision and energy years ago paved the way for so many of the amenities which we enjoy locally today and, perhaps, take for granted. I refer, of course, to K.M. Elisabeth Murray, popularly and respectfully known as Betty Murray.

A woman of tremendous mental and physical strength and determination she was, first and foremost, an intellectual. Although functioning in an age when women still, largely, expected and accepted male dominance, she bucked the trend without a second thought and made her presence felt in numerous parts of the local landscape. Her tenure as Principal of Bishop Otter College, in Chichester (a training establishment for teachers), between 1948 and 1970, led to her recognition as one of the foremost mid-twentieth century figures in education. Under her guidance the College underwent a succession of major changes, progressing from being a genteel – almost boarding school – environment for young ladies to the admission, in 1960, of men. During the 1960s she instigated and oversaw an ambitious building programme for the College, including new student accommodation for which, using her artistic colour sense, she spent considerable effort and time selecting appropriate furnishings and décor. Under her guidance the student numbers almost trebled. A firm believer in the idea of community, she had, early on, instigated the tradition of The Trundle Walk, where all College members gathered together, early in the first term of the year, to climb the hill together. Upon joining this walk in the 1960s, men were advised that the Principal would always get to the top first. Taking this to mean that one was required to be courteous and allow Miss Murray to be the first to reach the hilltop, several of the men were then amazed to find their Principal striding onwards and upwards at a considerable pace and easily outstripping their efforts!

A College chaplain professed to feeling more in awe of her than of any bishop! Intimidation, however, was not her intention nor was it her modus operandi: she simply inspired awe and respect in those who came into contact with her, not least through her devotion to duty (which was paramount) but also through her perception of what was required for a task and her personal efforts to research it; her incisive comments; and her ability to understand people and their lives.

The Downs in all its moods excited and moved her. She possessed a keen eye for the beauty of landscapes and worked assiduously to preserve and protect them. Her strong aesthetic sense did not, however, lead her into promoting an adherence to the status quo and allowing Nature to take its course; rather, taking the avant-garde approach which she applied as much to her work at Bishop Otter College – as well as on numerous other bodies –  she strove to keep rampant Nature at bay and to promote the natural attributes of native chalk downland, recognising the potential for the richness of flora and fauna which provides endless delight for the senses.

The Down behind her Heyshott home was a constant source of delight and wonder. However, during the 1939-1945 war years the Downs became forbidden territory, having been taken over by the army for the purpose of military training. Sandpits were used for the development and use of flame-throwers. Many areas of the Downs were ploughed up, consequently grazing declined and, eventually, the production of arable crops took over from the previously traditional practice of sheep-grazing. The Downs at Heyshott were used as ranges, which resulted in some areas becoming threatened by developing tree seedlings, much to the consternation of Betty Murray and her brother, Kenneth (who visited, biennially, from his work as an archaeologist in Nigeria). To ensure that the inevitable was not permitted to happen, the two intrepid countryside rangers would choose propitious moments to venture into temporary army land and wage war on the encroaching trees and scrub!



By the end of the Second World War, natural chalk downland had become an increasingly scarce commodity throughout the long stretch of the South Downs. As an active member of the Society of Sussex Downsmen from 1948 onwards, serving as one of its District Officers for forty years, Betty Murray spent many happy and energetic hours on the Downs, clearing scrub and protecting rights of way. She waymarked country footpaths and worked assiduously to help restore the Downs, particularly those at Heyshott, to their former open glory, ensuring that the habitat was suitable for re-colonisation by the beautiful chalk-loving flora in which she – and others – took such delight. There were many other claims on her intellect and time during this period, often to do with public enquiries; but one senses that she was never happier than when wielding an axe or attacking scrub.

A keen archaeologist, Betty Murray was fascinated by the wealth of material in the area, whether it be appreciating local bronze age barrows or working to ensure that the treasures of the Roman Palace at Fishbourne remained in situ and accessible to the public. Her trail-blazing proclivities provided her with the vision and energy to be a major force behind the creation of the Pallant House Gallery, which houses one of the best collections of 20th Century British art in the world. As a determined advocate of a civilised physical environment, Betty Murray also oversaw the creation of what was to become a significant art collection at Bishop Otter College, collecting works from some of the more modern artists and, at least in the early days of the collection, displaying it around the college for all to enjoy and admire. Chichester District Museum, the Sussex Historic Churches Trust and the Sussex Record Society are just a few of the organisations which also enjoyed her tremendous mental energy and physical determination.

Quiet and thoughtful, with her intelligence shining through in everything with which she became involved, Betty Murray led by example and, by undertaking projects with wholehearted intention and belief, encouraged others to follow suit. The idea of a community working together was an important one to her and, although she was never afraid to court controversy – in her view, anything was preferable to apathy – she valued the feeling of people working together for the good of a common cause and of being willing to experiment as they did so. Her enlightened thinking, within the confines of a positive framework, enabled her to continue to push forward the bounds of civilisation and to observe, with satisfaction, the outcomes.

The Murray Downland Trust came into being in 1994, nearly twenty years after the agreement of a lease with the Cowdray Estate which established the reserves at Heyshott; and also at the Devil’s Jumps, leased from the West Dean Estate. Originally, Betty Murray chaired the advisory committee which was set up, under the auspices of the Society of Sussex Downsmen, to manage the reserves. This committee included several individuals who are, today, still involved with the Trust. After the Society decided that it could no longer justify the expense of supporting the Heyshott and Devil’s Jumps Reserves, it agreed to provide a sum of money to allow the formation of an independent group to do so, hence The Murray Downland Trust was formed: a fitting tribute to its new Patron and indefatigable champion of chalk downland. Today, the Trust continues to celebrate her vision and enlightened thinking, preserving and managing for a new generation the wonderful first-hand experience of exploring chalk downland, and providing oases of beauty and calm to promote the well-being of mind, body and spirit in our increasingly hectic lives.

Off course ...

Worthing, 25 October 2012

A very rare vagrant to western Europe, a male Desert Wheatear (Oenanthe deserti) hunkers down out of the wind on Worthing beach ...

Only the eighth in Sussex this century ...