Rambles

text and photos by Bruce McDonald

A few snippets from some recent rambles.

Beetles on a Gower beach

First Whiteford on Gower, which Cardiff Naturalists' last visited to look at beetles a few years back with Steve Bolchover. A fine day in mid-June this year and the same stretch of sand on the edge of the dunes around SS 4428/9517 was productively revealing. The key appears to be to find a larger plank of wood or branch or tree trunk that is just above the recent high-tide mark but below the dunes. Lift slowly and see what lies beneath. The black beetle, Broscus cephalotes, was found quite easily. They either stayed put or went scuttling off across the beach.

Broscus cephalotes

Not so common but also in evidence was Nebria complanata, sufficiently rare to warrant its own Species Action Plan. It feeds on sandhoppers at night and is variously referred to as the Strandline Beetle (as is Broscus cephalotes!) or Beachcomber Beetle. Have your camera ready if you find one under timber as they often burrow down into the sand.

Nebria complanata

Running around on the surface of the beach in the same area was the Dune Tiger Beetle, Cicindella hybrida, and helping to procreate the species were the two below. They can travel at speed so are not always easy to photograph but these two had other things on their minds.

 

 

Dune Tiger Beetle (Cicindella hybrid)

Galls on Gower and at Culverhouse Cross

Whilst on Gower another gall to add to the existing 'collection'. This I take to be Aulacidea hieracii described as having ovoid or elongate swelling of the stem, green at first then hard and brown. This was on several Hawkweed plants in the car park at Oxwich Bay.

 

Gall on Hawkweed

The Copthorne Hotel at Culverhouse Cross roundabout, Cardiff, has the usual common shrubs and trees but the Hawthorn was showing examples of the gall shown below. It has been a struggle to identify this one and any expert views would be most welcome. Photographic comparison with web images suggests Gymnosporangium as a possibility - caused by a fungus. Whereas clavariiforme is usually associated with Juniper which does not seem to apply here, this could be confusum.

 

 

Gall on Hawthorn

... and not far away some Holm Oaks, Quercus ilex, with the gall shown below. Again, information on galls affecting this oak is limited, the main reference being to Aceria ilicis. caused by a mite.

 

Gall on Holm Oak

The next challenge is the gall causing these swellings on the leaves of Hop Trefoil, Trifolium campestre, on which I have again drawn a blank. There is little enough on possible galls for this plant, one candidate being the mite Dasineura trifolii but the description of this refers to folding of the leaves along the mid-rib which is not that evident here. Again, any insights from readers would be helpful. 

 

Gall on Hop Trefoil

Orchids and Pearly Everlasting

A walk near Treorchy in late June was something of a revelation. A forestry track which starts just north of Cwmparc SS 9472 9617 by a metal barrier is worth trying because of the profusion of Southern Marsh orchids. Up to this point we had been walking through heavily sheep-grazed turf and the only plant you tend to find is Tormentil, Potentilla erecta, although it was interesting to note that Lady's Mantle, Alchemilla sp., was growing in clumps suggesting it is unpalatable even to the voracious sheep. Once into the sheep-free area the botany was a revelation. One of the usual suspects was Pearly Everlasting. The following extract is from a field trip in 1994 to Kenfig by The Wildflower Society:

 

'Then we came to a first record for Britain, Anaphalis margaritacea, Pearly Everlasting, which was recorded in the South Wales valleys in the seventeenth century and is now spreading over Wales.'

 

It is certainly quite common in the Valleys, is visible on the edge of the M4 around the Pyle turn-off and turned up on Coppet Hill near Goodrich growing under bracken. Despite its local ubiquity it is almost completely ignored by wildflower books. Wouldn't it be nice to know more about this plant?

 

Pearly Everlasting

A smattering of Common Spotted Orchids, Dactylorhiza fuchsii, was eclipsed by the Southern Marsh Orchids Dactylorhiza praetermissa which appeared to favour the damper runnels alongside the forestry track and stretched for a mile or more giving one of the best displays you are likely to come across in this part of the world.

 

Southern March Orchid

Bruce McDonald

Photos by Bruce McDonald

Gall Update

by Bruce McDonald

In the December 2013 newsletter we published an introduction to galls, including those we had encountered on some of our field trips. This is an update on some that we have come across more recently.

This slightly cashew-shaped gall (above) is Taphrina pruni and it has altered what started out as a sloe. It is caused by a fungus and the common name of Pocket Plum derives from the action of the fungus which destroys the stone and seed leaving an indentation. These were abundant in 2014 along the stretch of sea-wall from the Britannia Inn at Llanmadoc on Gower and down towards Whiteford Point around Grid Ref SS 4466/9416. The gall starts off greenish and ends up shrivelled and blackish - it is closely related to Taphrina alni, the tongue-like gall on alder cones (see last newsletter for photo). It has been a good year for sloes and despite extensive foraging to produce Sloe Jelly, this was the only location at which I noticed it. The sloes were spotted in June - a few months later the sea-wall was breached and the footpath closed.

The next one is Andricus grossulariae (above), one of the Oak Tree's many galls, especially Turkey Oaks. It is similar in appearance to the Hedgehog Gall or Andricus lucidus but the latter has each spine tipped with a small knob. With grossulariae the projections are flatter. This was spotted at RHS Wisley and was first found in the British Isles in 2000. It is spreading rapidly and has been found as far north as Cheshire, although SEWBReC does not have it recorded on their public database. One to look out for, as it should not be long before it is found in South Wales.

 

 

On Esher Common was a pear tree dripping with fruit but it also sported the gall seen above. This has the instantly-memorable name of Gymnosprangium sabinae although European Pear Rust is probably easier to cope with. This rust fungus was once confined to mainland Europe and seldom seen in the UK, but is now becoming more common. It infects both Pear and Juniper and needs both to complete its life-cycle. It is a biotroph with the spores from the pear unable to re-infect the pear directly but needing to find a juniper through wind-born dispersal. Having infected the stems of juniper the spores from this can then seek out a pear to infect.

 

The final one was found on the Community Orchard at Wenvoe, which we visited in early September. Galls on grasses are not easy to identify and Redfern and Shirley in their key ID guide British Plant Galls comment: “Galls on grasses are not well known; they are difficult to find and their host associations are often unknown”. Having said that, the photo above shows a gall which tends to fit the description, “stalks of panicle and of individual spikelets shortened, spikelets broad and bunched together, their parts thickened, green and leaflike”. So Aceria tenuis caused by a mite is a potential candidate.

 

Photos by Bruce McDonald