Michael Foley: Natural History ©

Sunday, 21 April 2013

More Brown Hares in north Lancashire

April 1-16, 2013:
Brown Hares are still very active in the area and the much delayed growing season makes them easy to see in the short grass of the pastures.

Friday, 29 March 2013

Brown Hares are now very active in Lancashire

March 21-28, 2013:
As expected, 'March' hares are very active at this time of year and are relatively easy to see until the vegetation becomes taller later on. Many of the hares seen recently were feeding out in the open fields or lying low in the grass asleep, but some would occasionally spring to life for a short while and spar or romp with each other.

In areas of the county where hares are most frequent, the fields are huge, some up to a kilometre wide and, especially when resting they keep mainly to the centre which can make photography difficult.

However when they consider themselves well concealed, they will permit quite a close approach before springing up and racing away. In contrast the active ones will run off at the first sight of a human before stopping at a safe distance with ears up to look back and assess the situation. Small leverets will also be about now but are almost impossible to locate despite the grass still being short.

Friday, 22 March 2013

A rare lichen in Cumbria: Peltigera collina

February 26, 2013:

A rare forecast for good weather resulted in a hurriedly planned visit to the Seathwaite valley (Borrowdale, Cumbria) in the hope of finding and photographing Peltigera collina. In England this is a very scarce and local lichen and in Cumbria is restricted to growing on the trunks of a few ancient pollarded ash trees.

Peltigera collina (top two photos) and a pollarded ash (above) which had various other interesting and local lichens growing on the mossy lower part of its trunk. The marginal soredia can be seen in the centre photograph

In the beautiful warm summer-like weather P collina was soon located, low down near the base of just such a pollarded ash, although intermixed with three other species of Peltigera as well as Lobaria virens. Initially, this led to some confusion in identification but P. collina can be unequivocally distinguished from other British members of the genus in bearing clusters of soredia along the margins of its small neat upturned lobes. However even this was not completely straightforward because the neighbouring P. praetextata (see below) bore small isidia and folioles giving it a superficially similar appearance.

Peltigera praetextata, the marginal isidia and folioles can be seen in the lower photogrph

P. collina is a component of the 'Lobarion' association of lichens, a specific indicater and component of mild oceanic ancient woodlands. It occurs rather more frequently in north-west Scotland.

Peltigera horizontalis (sterile thallus)

Peltigera horizontalis

Lobaria virens

Seathwaite valley

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Brown Hares in the Fylde, Lancashire

March 5, 2013:
Brown Hares (Lepus europaeus) are becoming active again (March Hares). Today there was beautiful weather and this not-so-active individual was seen near Pilling. It spent much time sunning itself but also kept a careful watch for predators from a commanding viewpoint by a sparse hedgerow.

Brown Hares are scarce in many parts of the county but this area has a good population.

Sunday, 27 January 2013

Saxifraga Sub-section Holophyllae Engler & Irmscher: Two narrow-endemic members of this sub-section from the Italian Dolomites (Saxifraga facchinii Koch and Saxifraga depressa Sternberg) plus three others which are more widespread

On botanical visits to the Dolomites in 1998 and 1999, I managed to locate and photograph two very rare endemic species of Saxifrage both of which have an extremely narrow range of distribution. Both are members of Saxifraga Subsection Holophyllae, of whose 11 species, ten are endemic to Europe (and mainly to the Alps) and characterised by having entire or somewhat trilobed leaves. All members only occur at high altitudes. An additional more widespread member of the sub-section, Saxifraga sedoides L., was also present in the Dolomites whilst two other members: Saxifraga androsacea L. and S. muscoides Allioni were seen and photographed in the French Alps earlier. The photographs have been scanned in from transparencies and unfortunately this has resulted in a loss of quality.

The Sassolungo/Langkofel massif (the Forcella di Sassolungo is the col to the right)

Saxifraga facchinii was first discovered in the 19th Century by Francesco Facchini, a doctor living in Vigo di Fassa. The plant grows at high elevation as small cushions in scree and other debris on dolomitic limestone rock, usually at altitudes between 2200 and 2800 metres. It is found nowhere other than in an area of approx. 25 x 20 kilometres extent from the Rosengarten massif northwards to the Sassolungo and to Piz Pordoi. Petal colour can vary appreciably and especially from yellow to purple-pink. Flowering occurs in July and, whilst a most attractive potential horticultural plant, it has never persisted in cultivation.

Photographed on Piz Pordoi (purple-pink form) and the Forcella di Sassolongo (yellow form) in July 1998..

Saxifraga depressa was first found by Bartolomeo Franco at the beginning of the 19th Century. Although within the same taxonomic subsection as S. facchinii it has quite a different habit and bears pure white flowers. The epithet ‘depressa’ is thought to refer to its rather flattened leaf rosettes. A very interesting fact is that it is virtually restricted to black porphyritic intrusions in the dolomite, especially on damp scree, and only between 2100 and 2600 metres. As is the case with S. facchinii, it is also restricted to a very limited area of the western Dolomites from Arabba and a little way southwards. It is a very scarce plant with only about 12 localities known.

Saxifraga depressa (photos above and below - flowering and fruiting plants) on the Porto Vescovo above Arabba in July 1999

Saxifraga sedoides (photo below) is much more widespread than the two discussed above and is quite frequent in the Italian Dolomites. It was photographed there on the Gardena Pass in 1998.

Saxifraga androsacea (photo below) occurred in small isolated patches on wet micaceous scree on the Col de l’Iseran, French Alps in August 1997..

Plants of Saxifraga muscoides (photo below) occurred very locally as small cushions on the limestone also at the summit of the Col de l’Iseran in August 1997.

Friday, 30 November 2012

The Red Lily Beetle (Lilioceris lilii) in a Darwen, Lancashire, garden

November 29, 2012:

A Red Lily Beetle was found on lily tubers in a garden in Darwen today despite the recent cold, frosty weather. This appears to be well outside its normal time of emergence. The larvae feed on the tubers and are the scourge of the lily cultivator. Similar in size to the 7-spot Ladybird, they are much more strikingly bright red in colour.

Saturday, 17 November 2012

Some recent Coleoptera (Beetles)

A range of Coleoptera from tiger beetles to ladybirds has been photographed recently and some of these are now shown here.

Dune Tiger Beetle (Cicindela hybrida), Ainsdale dunes, Lancashire, September 6, 2012.
Only known in Britain from limited areas of the west Lancashire and Cumbrian coasts