News

Gary Taylor had been out and about and sent us some pictures taken in Borthwood Copse; Magpie Ink Cap (Coprinus picaceus) and Dog Phallus or Dog Stinkhorn (Mutinus caninus). Dr Colin Pope, one of our joint Fungus Recorders, replied ‘It’s not something we see a lot of but t

Luke Ellison sent us a very comprehensive report of several different species of Ladybirds he had seen and photographed on the Island’s coast. This was in response to our poster which requests sightings. Our Beetle Recorder, Bill Shepard, has a ‘Beetle Drive’ going a

Helen Slade saw a moth on her ceiling in late September and sent us some photo’s in the hope we could say what it was. The answer came back from Tim Norris ‘it is a pyralid, Mecyna asinalis‘ of which he had ‘never seen the adult but the larval feeding damage is

In September Daphne Watson reported finding ‘a spectacular yellow-fruited form of hawthorn in a farm hedge in the Rew valley in full fruit at the moment’. and we asked Dr Colin Pope, our Botany Recorder, about it. He replied ‘How interesting! I’ve never come ac

Kris Codd & Pete Bradley mentioned finding one of these and asked was it unusual? Ian Fletcher said about it ‘The status given in the field guide says they are immigrant, suspected resident, and goes on to say, “a frequent immigrant from southern Europe and north Afric

Mrs Hilary Pilcher from Thorley informed us of a ‘Jersey Tiger Moth in my garage on Sunday 23rd July. Also a White Admiral butterfly in the kitchen the week before.’

In May Jeff Layfield asked one of our members if we would be interested in ‘a blue spotted slow worm, seen in our Havenstreet garden today’ (we were!). He commented, ‘A web search reveals that this is probably a male of over three years in age and may be found “

Gary Taylor sent two pictures of moths from Apse Heath in July and asked us to confirm his identifications. Ian Fletcher, one of our veteran moth recorders, affirmed “he is right with his identifications. We get ‘festoons’ here in small numbers but have not had the &

Bill Keatley asked about a plant he found in Ryde in July 2012 and from his photo we were able to tell him it is Purple Toadflax (Linaria purpurea), which used to be grown in cottage gardens and nowadays appears as a casual in urban areas and on disturbed ground.