Natural History Events .
New Butterfly Book 'Butterflies-A review'
By David Nash, Trevor Boyd & Deirdre Hardiman
Details & Order Form
Owls
Ulster Wildlife Trust
has received funding for a barn owl
officer. As a result of this funding and donations they will now be able to
fund a part time temporary barn owl officer for one year
starting this spring.
John Lusby has agreed to take a training session on identification
techniques and provide some examples of his work in the Republic of Ireland.
Ulster Wildlife
Trust have narrowed the dates down to one of the 18th, 24th
or 25th March. If you are
interested let them know which
dates you prefer
so as as many people can make the training session. Also if
you know anyone that might be interested in attending please feel free to
let them know.
The venue will be Lough Neagh Discovery Centre in Lurgan BT66 6NJ and
will likely take place between 10am and 2pm.
was
Butterfly Conservation
Work Parties
After our very successful outing to
Fermanagh for our first work party in November, we will be meeting at
Craigavon Lakes for a work party on the 4th February 2012. 10am start,
tools and safety gear provided, plan is to hack back some of the scrub and
open up a small area of habitat for the Cryptic Wood Whites. You'll need a
packed lunch and weatherproof old clothing. Please let me know if you're
thinking of coming along, everyone is welcome.
First BCNI talk of 2012
Una Fitzpatrick of the National Biodiversity
Data Centre is going to be giving the Bee Talk in the programme for February
15th, 7.15pm at the Ulster Museum in the Grainger Room. Una is one of the
top people on bees in Ireland and I'm really looking forward to this talk.
Please spread the word!
Recorders Day
21st April 2012 is our recorders day, I will
be getting this organised in the next couple of weeks, make sure it's in
your diaries. Nigel Bourn is coming over from BCHQ, and Eugenie Reagan is
coming up from the National Biodiversity Data Centre in Waterford and Dave
Allen is going to talk about Marsh Frits. If anyone has a talk they would
like to give, or a subject they would like to hear about please let me know
and I can work it into the programme.
April
2011. John Faulkner and Robert Thompson have produced 'The Natural
History of Ulster' . A beautiful volume with excellent photographs
and knowledgable articles on many aspects of Ulster Natural History.
Copies can be ordered at Sheehy's Book Shop, Cookstown.
April
2010.This has been an excellent spring for Green Hair-streak
butterflies . Large numbers of this less
common butterfly have appeared in the Lough Fea area in late April .
22 April 2010. A rare day flying moth is
plentiful on the lawns in front of Lissan House near Cookstown .
The Chimney Sweeper (Odezia atrata) in Northern Ireland is
mainly known from Tyrone and this would appear to be a new site .
Click
for larger pic.
22 April 2010. Ponds in a disused gravel pit north of
Lough Fea have a large number of Four-Spotted Chaser dragonflies
(Libellula quadrimaculata)
Click
for larger pic.
Our Secretary found a large beetle in early
April 2010.
It turned out to be Dytiscus marginalis- the great diving beetle.
Usually found in weedy ponds but fairly common .
Picture:
March 19 2010. Care ~ Death Cap poisoning
See Daily Mail article
March 2010~Frogs
Usually in late February but at the end of this cold
winter, in late March, 10ft. from our back door,
male frogs are croaking in
the garden
pond to attract females. My wife counted
eleven a few days ago, I didn’t believe her but then with little effort I
counted eight.
Frogs are often pictured as being green but ours are dark, more olive black
than green. They sit with only their heads above water, and their large
bulbous black eyes take everything in. All winter,
they have been resting in
a
state of torpor underneath piles of leaves
and decaying material
in mud.
As the days become longer and warmer,
instinct causes increased activity and
they
search for water.
Move close and they submerge. Their bodies can still be seen stretched out
a few inches below the surface.
Apparently,
they can feel
vibrations well with the sensors on
their slippery backs.
Our frogs are wise, there will always be water in this pond, others are not
so lucky
– how often have we
walked along
rutted tracks with puddles full of doomed frog spawn.Three or four days of
dry weather and the puddles will be gone.
So what happens in our pond? The corpulent female frogs lay jelly covered
eggs, anything up to 3000 or 4000 at a time, male frogs clasp the female
from behind and fertilise the released eggs by squirting creamy semen over
them.
Click
for larger image
Frogs become sexually mature at about three years of age, they often return
to
the
sites
where they
originally developed from spawn. Maybe these
really are our frogs, frogs which successfully started life in this pond.
Eleven frogs in a small pond, give or take a few,
isn’t bad--a nice
thought.
Frogs are amphibians native to mainland Britain but probably introduced to
Ireland. According to the fossil record they have a long history of perhaps
200 million years.
Although not quite under threat, they are a protected species,
with
a patchy
distribution in Ireland.
Able to breathe through both skin and lungs, and with eyes and nostrils on
top of their heads frogs can see and breathe even when most of their body is
underwater. Their long sticky
tongues
and wide mouths
are well suited to a diet of insects.
The rafts of
fertilized frogspawn
float to the surface,
surrounded with a clear jelly-like
substance which
swells in the water and initially protects
the fragile embryos but later acts
as a food source. The sun warms the
developing eggs , about
a month passes then tadpoles emerge
from (or eat their
way out of) the jelly-like spawn.
After a few days, the
newly hatched tadpoles
begin to eat algae.
When legs begin to develop
the
tadpoles
become omnivorous and
include decaying matter
from the pond in
their diet. Smaller
weaker tadpoles die-and
also provide food for the larger
stronger ones.
Initially, tadpoles
breathe oxygen dissolved in water using a pair of gills located just behind
the head.
Gradually over
a period of
ten weeks
they lose
their tails and
slowly grow
front and back
legs.
Lungs
develop and the tadpole
becomes a miniature frog,
ready to leave the water and live on land.
Once they leave the pond their diet changes from mainly vegetable matter
to insects, slugs and worms.
The
miniature frog which
hops from the
pool in mid or late
summer is perhaps one
in
a thousand-one
of the few
embryos
remaining from many initial rafts of
frogspawn to have
survived its
predators
and
become a fully formed
frog.
Late August 2009-Common Darter Dragonflies and Common blue Damselflies can be
seen at southern side of Lough Fea on sunny days
Click
for larger images
August 2009 - Southerly winds and a particularly suitable winter in areas of
north Africa (e.g) Morocco allowed an unusual influx of Painted Lady
butterflies in May .There are still many in August, perhaps they have bred
here this summer.
Look out for Small Copper butterfly-you might be
lucky enough to see one in your garden.
Click
for larger images
July 2009 - Billy Gray-one of our members entertained an unusual
visitor this month . A neighbour found a dazed kingfisher in her
garden . Billy who has considerable knowledge of keeping birds
looked after the kingfisher as it recovered and fed the beautiful bird
with salmon.
Click
for larger image
Interesting fungus recorded 17/03/2009 in Loughry College
grounds, only found three times in Northern Ireland this century and
not west of the Bann before. Bleach Cup (Disciotis venosa)
frequents woodland in rich mossy soil and has a distinct chlorine or bleach
smell .
Click
for larger image
