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The Hull Natural History Society

News 2024

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Brambling, 25th October 2024 Brambling

A gloomy, overcast and misty morning, I walked around Pearson Park as I often do on my way to work. A flock of Goldfinches roamed around a garden that has feeders, and amongst their cheerful contact notes, a screechy persistent call stood out. 'Merlin' confirmed it was a Brambling, which is a rarity inside the city. I scanned the crown of the bare Horse Chestnut tree and there it was, a bright Brambling. Brambling are winter visitors in the area, and this is the first one I have seen in the city.

Africa Gómez, 15 November 2024
Aurora display Northern Lights over Wawne

At about 10pm last night we were treated to a splendid display of the Northern Lights - the first time we have ever seen them. The colours displayed were predominantly reds - formed by the interaction of high energy solar particles with atmospheric oxygen at very high altitude.

Richard & Kath Middleton, 11 October 2024
Whale revisited stranded whale

During our field trip to Winestead Drain in September we spotted an object on the salt marsh that we eventually decided was the carcass of a whale. I tried to get a closer look, but was thwarted by a deep channel. Returning from Spurn recently, I stopped off to make another attempt. This time I was successful, without getting wet feet, and was able make a close inspection and take some photos. The narrow, toothed, lower jaw and lack of any dorsal fin and large head suggests it was a Sperm Whale. It was about 8 to 10 metres long which is medium size. In case you are interested, the smell was not like rotting flesh or fish but reminded me of the pink soap on Brillo pads. Possibly the fat in the whale blubber is similar to that used to make the soap! The carcass is some distance into the salt marsh so presumably was carried in on a particularly high tide. The BBC has a report of two Sperm Whales being washed up "on the banks of the Humber estuary near Spurn Point" in March this year.

Andrew Chadwick, 21 September 2024
Yellow Wagtail in Sculcotes Yellow Wagtail

This morning I went for a walk around Sculcoates, and found an unusual gathering on the playing field. A Yellow Wagtail was in goal, and 14 Pied Wagtails were busy on the pitch. This is the first Yellow Wagtail I have seen in Hull. The weather conditions were ideal for grounding migrants: drizzle and little wind.

Africa Gómez, 8 September 2024
Stone Parsley at Patrington Pumping Station Stone Parsley leaves Stone Parsley fruits

It was pleasing to find Stone Parsley (Sison amomum) growing in abundance on a grassy bank near the Humber on today's field meeting. This plant is near the northern limit of its British distribution on the north bank of the Humber and almost all of the few East Yorkshire records are from near this site.

Richard Middleton, 7 September 2024
Sand Martins at Redcliff Sand martin nests at Redcliff Sand Martin in nest hole

I think we all enjoyed watching the busy Sand Martin colony during our visit to Redcliff, with some chicks still at the nest. We also saw Sand Martins at Fraisthorpe. Whilst there are many colonies at the Holderness coast, probably Redcliff is the only one at the Humber.

Africa Gómez, 21 August 2024
Some Leconfield moths Bordered Beauty Bordered Beauty

Dusky Sallow Dusky Sallow

Small Phoenix Small Phoenix

Sallow Kitten Sallow Kitten
Richard Middleton, 6 August 2024
Elusive Hairstreaks White-letter Hairstreak on road bridge railings

I was surprised to spot a White-letter Hairstreak, Satyrium w-album, in Brantingham on 22nd July as I had never seen this butterfly near the village before. It had settled on railings of a road bridge over the A63 (see photo). Its caterpillars feed exclusively on various species of Elm and notably there is a tall Elm hedge beside this bridge. Adults are considered quite hard to spot as they spend much of the time high in the treetops; one expert commented "few butterflies are more elusive than this attractive little butterfly". I had another sighting of a Hairstreak four years ago in Humber Bridge Country Park and concluded it was probably the White-letter species. Although there were only two records of this species in VC61 last year, there are several records from previous years in areas immediately to the west of Hull, especially from Cottingham (particularly by Andrew Ashworth), and also in Melton, North Ferriby and Skidby.

Another difficult to see adult butterfly, the Purple Hairstreak Favonius quercus , which spends most of the time high up in Oak trees, was spotted on 2nd July by Barry Warrington on Hessle foreshore (at TA 04434 25967), immediately south of the Priory Way flyover. Barry watched it fly off into nearby Oak trees and wondered if they might hold a small colony.

Richard Shillaker, 1 August 2024
Spider mothers Mother spiders

While some spiders like the Nursery Web spiders (Pisaura mirabilis), will stay near the nursery web they've spun to protect their newly hatched spiderlings, few spiders stay around after the young emerge. I've been lucky to observe two examples of more intimate spider mothering skills this summer.

At Jack Kaye Walk on our June trip I spotted this wolf spider (Pardosa sp.) carrying its young around on its back (top picture). We see plenty of wolf spiders carrying their white egg sacs, but the ones carrying spiderlings are better camouflaged, unsurprising as this one seemed quite slow and burdened for a usually scurrying wolf spider. The young are only carried for a week or two until they're ready to hunt themselves.

At Hotham Carrs on an East Yorkshire Botany Group trip in July I found this Phylloneta sp. on rushes. It had made a 'nest' of prey and debris where it was guarding its greenish egg case, which can just be seen beneath the spider bottom picture). There are two UK species in this genus known as the 'mothercare spiders'. Once the eggs hatch the mother regurgitates prey to feed the spiderlings until they are old enough to feed themselves. They grow very quickly, and as they grow the mother shrinks, dies and is finally eaten by her young.

Helen Kitson, 13 July 2024
Skipsea Withow peat - plant remains Plant fossils from peat
  • Top - Oak leaf Quercus robur
  • Bottom - Hazel nuts Corylus avellana
Richard Middleton, 9 July 2024
Variable Damselflies on the move Variable Damselflies

The Variable Damselfly, Coenagrion pulchellum, seems to be dispersing from its only known Yorkshire breeding site around Broomfleet Washlands. In the last one to two weeks Variables have been seen at North Cave Wetlands and a male Blue Damselfly with several features of a Variable has been photographed near Willerby Carr Dyke in Hull. It is plausible that the wet spring, and the consequent increase in the extent of standing/slow flowing water, has facilitated dispersal of this weak flying damselfly.

Variable Damselflies can be tricky to distinguish from Azure Damselflies, C. puella. Definitive features (shape of pronotum and, in males, the anal appendages) can be difficult to see. Males are easier to ID than females: in both species females can be either a blue or green form. The following differences between mature males are shown in the composite photograph (Variable above, Azure below). As both species can show variation in key features, ID should be based on at least two key features.

Blue stripes on thorax: incomplete in Variable; complete in Azure. However in the Variable they can be virtually absent or even complete.

U-shaped black mark on abdominal segment 2: joined by a black 'stalk' to a black ring in Variable; not joined in Azure. However there can sometimes be a 'stalk' in the Azure.

Black mark on abdominal segment 9: a square three pointed crown in Variable; a V shaped two pointed crown in Azure.

Please help to monitor this unusual local dispersal by submitting photos of possible Variables to iRecord or iNaturalist.

Photograph credit: Composite image by Paul Ashton comparing mature male Variable Damselfly (top) and mature male Azure Damselfly (bottom).
Richard Shillaker, 28 May 2024
Mating Metellina spiders mating spiders

I spotted these two Metellina spiders in the woods on 16th May at Newbegin Pits on Beverley Westwood. They were engaged in typical mating behaviour for this genus. The smaller male was lurking on a leaf for self-preservation. He waited until the female was preoccupied with the prey insect she’d just caught before he made his move. Spiders have 'indirect insemination', sperm packets being inserted into the female epigyne using the male’s enlarged black pedipalps. At this early time of year, they were probably Metellina mengei. The underside of the female and the leg hairs on the male are right too for this species.
The Facebook page of the British Spider Identification Group helped to confirm likely ID.

Helen Kitson: 18 May 2024
Hedon terrapin Red-eared Slider

A non-native terrapin, a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), has been spotted in Burstwick Drain at Hedon. Although the red 'ear' stripe is not clearly visible in the photograph, identification has been confirmed by Suzie Simpson, organiser of Turtle Tally UK, a citizen science survey of terrapins in the UK. The Hedon sighting is interesting for two reasons.

Firstly, the sighting adds another location to the 32 sites reported by myself and Africa Gómez where terrapins have been recorded in South-east Yorkshire (Shillaker and Gómez, 2022).

More notable however is the fact that the terrapin was found out of water on the 26th February, ie at a time of year when you would expect terrapins living in the wild locally to be hibernating under water eg at the bottom of a pond or drainage dyke. The terrapin was spotted on top of cut-down bankside vegetation during drain maintenance. It is unlikely that the air temperature was high enough that day (max 9°C at Humberside Airport) to have aroused the terrapin from hibernation under water. As the terrapin was dry and not particularly muddy it suggests that the animal was either a recently abandoned pet or that it had been overwintering out of water in the tall bankside vegetation. I am not aware of reports of terrapins overwintering in similar vegetation, including reed beds, in the UK.

Reference:
Shillaker, R. and Gómez, A. (2022) Terrapins in South-east Yorkshire (VC61), The Naturalist 147 (1110): 81-100.

Photographs:
top: Red-eared Slider from Burstwick Drain (photo used with permission)
bottom:Red-eared Slider on cut-down vegetation (photo used with permission)
Richard Shillaker, 8 May 2024
Hitch-hikers Black Sexton Beetle with mites

This morning my overnight moth-trap contents included a Black Sexton Beetle (Nicrophorus humator) carrying a large cargo of mites (Parasitus sp.). It seemed strange to me that the beetle had been unable or unwilling to remove them.

A trawl through the internet revealed that, despite the Latin name, these mites were not actually parasitic on the beetle but on the larvae of carrion flies which would be competing for food with those of the sexton beetle. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement - the beetle gave them a lift to a suitable food source and they reduced the competiton for its own young.

See David Bradley's webpage (2019).
Richard Middleton, 5 May 2024
Early-purple Orchids Early-purple Orchid flowers

A sighting of Early-purple Orchids at Forge Valley reminded me that there should be some closer to home in the strip of woodland between Elloughton Dale and the road down to Welton. A pleasant circular walk last Saturday revealed that they are still there and I would say even more abundant than when we visited in 2021. At one point they had escaped from the wood into an adjoining arable field. There were still clumps of the Mountain Currant that we had noted in 2021 and I had passed a huge area of it earlier in South Wold Plantation. Another interesting find was a couple of patches of Fringecups at the edge of the path through the woods climbing out of Elloughton Dale.

Andrew Chadwick, 22 April 2023
City Nature Challenge
Hull 26-29 April 2024 Image from NEYEDC

Our recording area
Image from NEYEDC website


Image owned by EcoRecord

Other UK regions participating
Image from NBN website

Hull joined the international City Nature Challenge (CNC) last year and is taking part again this year. CNC Hull 2024 is being coordinated by the local records centre, the North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre (NEYEDC), with the help of other local organisations. The aim of the Challenge is to record as much wildlife as possible within the city limits over the four days from Friday 26th to Monday 29th April.

Recording wildlife for the CNC is based primarily on taking photographs which are then downloaded to a free app (iNaturalist) on a smartphone or computer. Importantly, you don’t have to be a wildlife expert to take part because the app is designed to provide you with a likely or possible identification.

65 people, including several members of Hull Nats, submitted records for CNC Hull 2023. There were 4180 records, comprising 854 species (mostly plants and insects), which was the seventh highest total amongst the 22 participating UK cities and larger regions. I provided records from Pickering Park, St Andrews Quay and a small park near Hessle Road. When the sun shone, the garden in Pickering Park, with its sheltered glades, proved to be my most productive site for insects. My finds were all common species but did include the distinctive Blotch-winged Hoverfly (Leucozona lucorum) and the furry Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major). Notable finds by two skilled entomologists included a species of agromyzid fly Phytomyza clematidis whose larvae feed on seeds and a lance fly Earomyia netherlandica, the latter being the first UK record of a male of this species (only one female having been recorded before in the UK).

Nearly 60% of the records from CNC Hull 2023 have been verified sufficiently to be used by NEYEDC for conservation and land use planning purposes, and also by the University of Hull for research projects. These records help improve understanding of biodiversity in the city and provide up-to-date records for some areas where recording has historically been lacking.

For CNC Hull 2024, records submitted via the iNaturalist app are preferred but NEYEDC will accept records entered on an Excel recording form [download]. E-mail any completed forms to NEYEDC at info@neyedc.co.uk by 2nd May in order for the records to be included in the overall CNC Hull 2024 results.

Hopefully more people will join CNC Hull this year and help to increase the number of species recorded. For further information, including details of free training in use of iNaturalist, see NEYEDC's website.

Richard Shillaker, 14th April 2024
Water Voles in Hull Swimming Water Vole

I have been keenly looking for water vole signs at the Setting Dyke and Barmston Drain and managed to find latrines in both. Yesterday I was at the patch scanning the opposite bank at the drain near Sculcoates Lane when I saw one, who promptly decided to cross the drain towards me. Last year I don't think I saw a single one so it is good to know they are still about in their urban strongholds.

Africa Gómez, 7 April 2024
Brimstone Brimstone butterfly

On Sunday 5th May, a sunny, warm afternoon, I spent some time gardening. I moved my potted Buckthorn sapling from a shady spot and sat on my bench no far from it. Within minutes a female Brimstone arrived and started laying eggs on the bursting buds and young leaves. She thoroughly checked each branch for further oviposition sites. In the photo you can see she's just laid an egg. Apparently once a female brimstone finds a Buckthorn, she will visit through the season to lay more eggs. Eggs are predated by birds, particularly Blue Tits. They should hatch within a week and I look forward to follow the development of the Brimstone caterpillars.

Africa Gómez, 26 March 2024
Sculcoates Ring Ouzel Ring Ouzel

This morning, I was on my way back by the cycle path from my weekly walk around Sculcoates, when I noticed an odd blackbird on the playing field. I checked with my binoculars and I was shocked to see it was a Ring Ouzel! A Blackbird flew down to chase it and it flew closer to me. I had a nice few minutes taking photos of it. Migration is well underway with the local Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps in full song, but keep your eyes peeled, anything can turn up anywhere!

Africa Gómez, 26 March 2024
Siskins Feeding Siskin

This year is an irruption year for Siskins. Wherever I go around Hull, I see them, often alerted by their melancholic contact call 'tsy-ee', feeding on Italian Alder seeds in avenues and parks. Yesterday, a flock of about 40 fed on Alders at Midmeredales, a joy to watch. Today, I watched a group feeding on the fresh, bright red catkins of Lombardy Poplars. These wouldn't contain seeds, being very young (unlike those of Alders), there were Blue Tits on the Poplars too, so I wondered if they are feeding on nectar? Several small birds are fond of nectar, like Blue Tits, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps. I wonder if Siskins can be added to this list?

Africa Gómez, 12 March 2024
Cormorant at Wawne Cormorant at Wawne

On Monday 19th January, a sunny day after a very wet spell, I took a walk along the river Hull from Oak Road to Wawne. The most notable sighting was this cormorant, that emerged from the water having captured an eel. The eel was putting a fight and the cormorant struggled to position it right for swallowing. In the photo, the cormorant has thrown the eel into the air to catch it by its head. Usually cormorants dive as soon as they see people on the bank, but in this instance it was too busy with the eel to pay me any attention. Once swallowed, it dived immediately. Nice to see there is still an eel population in the River Hull (despite the cormorants!)

Africa Gómez, 22 February 2024
Soon to spawn mating frogs

A pair of Common Frogs (Rana temporaria) in amplexus were spotted today in a garden pond in Brantingham. It is notable that the pond has quite a few large fish, including Rudd (Scardinius erthrophthalmus) and Orfe (Leuciscus idus). Last year Common Frogs in amplexus were first noted in an adjacent fish pond on 12th February.

Richard Shillaker, 11 February 2024
New Year Plant Hunt 2024 - best ever results!

The BSBI New Year Plant Hunt this year ran from December 30th to January 2nd - for the rules and results nationally see the BSBI website. It is a light-hearted challenge but the event has also a serious purpose: the collection of data for phenological studies. HNHS ran two group hunts this year, in Hull (Sculcoates) and Hessle (Sainsburys area and foreshore). They could not have been more different!

On January 1st on a mild and sunny day seven people, the majority newer members, explored the cycle track, the industrial area round the river Hull at Wincolmlee and Sculcoates Lane, returning via Queens Road and Newland Avenue. The mood was buoyant. Local knowledge and fresh pairs of eyes combined to produce an impressive list of 46 species, a record for a Hull NYPH. The best find was Jersey Cudweed, (a rare plant once confined to the Channel Islands and Norfolk, but now spreading widely in eastern England), in flower on Sculcoates Lane.

On January 2nd at Hessle, with rain forecast, five people turned up, all old-stagers. Within a few minutes the weather had deteriorated to a very heavy, persistent rain, that got in your eyes and made recording on paper a tricky business. We mostly got soaking wet, but with stoic and cheerful determination we amassed a total of 61, (compared to last year's 39 on the same route), finishing up permanently on the leader board, a first for us. The best finds here were Blue Fleabane at the Priory Park and Ride site, White Ramping-fumitory, Greater Burnet-saxifrage, Lesser Celandine and Bastard Cabbage (a new record) at the small estate beside the drain beyond Sainsburys, then Musk Stork's-bill, Stinking Hellebore and Spurge-laurel at the Foreshore end. Unsurprisingly the title "Drowned Nats in Hessle" was mooted.

I think that we now have the two best routes locally for NYPH. As we seem to be out of the path of the most extreme weather, which badly affected other hunts (see the BSBI NYPH blog), there is a good chance we could do even better next year! Thanks to all who took part and worked so hard and so good-humouredly.

Gabrielle Jarvis, 11 January 2024
New year Plant Hunt (2) Plant pictures
  • Jersey Cudweed: Andrew Chadwick
  • Bastard Cabbage: Rohan Lewis
  • Musk Stork's-bill: Helen Kitson
11 January 2024
Snowdrops flowering in December Snowdrops

A small patch of Snowdrops in Brantingham were in flower on 30th December 2023 (photos from subsequent days). These plants by the pump at the bottom of Spout Hill are always the first to flower in the village but I have never noticed them flowering in December before. They were planted many years ago, after being bought from a shop in Hessle. Further investigation revealed them to be the non-native Greater Snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii and not G. nivalis, the Snowdrop commonly found growing wild in the UK and also, at most locations, regarded as an introduced species. Tall flower stalks and broad leaves were seen on some, presumably the more mature, Brantingham G.elwesii. However the following key features of the species can be seen on the Brantingham plants: base of outer leaf wrapping around the base of the other leaf, hooded leaf tip and green mark extending from base to apex of inner petals, see BSBI ID guide by M J Crawley, 2010.

My ID has been verified on iNaturalist, with the verifier noting that there are quite a number of early flowering varieties of G.elwesii, one of which was in flower in a Herefordshire garden on 3rd November 2023. The early flowering of the Brantingham plants might have been aided by the recent mild weather and their position in front of a southerly-facing brick wall, which will radiate some warmth. Although there has been plenty of rain recently this site is not waterlogged. The only other record of G.elwesii from VC61 on iRecord is Andy Donegan's recent observation (31 December 2023) of flowering near Spring Bank West in Hull.

Richard Shillaker, 2 January 2024