Hazel Graves writes:
A joint meeting between the Section and the Leicestershire & Rutland Entomological Society was well attended by over 40 people. Two members had brought in interesting finds to share with the group.
Steve Woodward, a member of both societies, explained that when exploring Grace Dieu Wood he had found the leafy liverwort Myriocoleopsis minutissima Minute Pouncewort which is rare in Leicestershire and Rutland. The leaves are minute - up to 0.25 mm long. What is striking are the perianths, the sterile tubelike tissue that surround the reproductive structures which look like little green stars. On the moss of a fallen log he found the Slime Mould Trichia affinis. The slime mould sporocarps had what looked like white whiskers, and turned out to be the fungus Polycephalomyces tomentosus, which specifically parasitises Trichia slime moulds.
Ivan Pedley, also a member of both societies, brought in two bracket fungi from a Silver Birch tree in Martinshaw Wood, which, unusually, had about 150 brackets on it. The fungi were Hoof Fungus Fomes fomentarius also called Tinder Fungus because of its long use for lighting fires. This fungus was found amongst the possessions of Ötzi, The Iceman, the 5,000 year-old naturally mummefied remains found in 1991 in a glacier, showing that the use of this fungus for tinder is a long established practice.
Brian Eversham CEO of The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire, was introduced and gave us an interesting and stimulating lecture entitled Ants! Behaviour & Ecology. He covered the following topics - Ants in context, Random ant facts, Castes, Basic ant biology and behaviour, Why species matter, Importance of ants, and Things still to discover.
There are about 10 common species and 10 scarce species in VC55 (compared to 50 in the UK) and all can be identified in the hand in the field using a x8 lens. Brian pointed out that the direction of a colony can be told as ants with full abdomens are heading home and are easily distinguished from empty ants heading out to forage. He also explained that it is quite easy to capture ants for identification on a warm sunny day by putting out paper bun cases containing a few drops of golden syrup. Different species of ants thrive in different habitats e.g. exposed chalk, short grass, long grass, encroaching scrub, and cut scrub and so have been used as habitat indicators. Brian talked about how ants particularly wood ants affect biodiversity, and the importance of ants for the reproductive cycle of blue butterflies. Large Blues have been reintroduced to suitable ant habitat on south facing slopes e.g. in Somerset but it is now believed that Large Blues can thrive on the south facing side of the mounds of yellow Meadow Ants where the red ant Myrmica sabuleti can become established and as this in the essential partner in the Large Blue life cycle it is thought that Large Blues historically have been able to exist in a wider range of habitats.
Many questions were asked which resulted in enthusiastic discussions. The lack of Wood Ants in VC55 was lamented as the only know colonies in Buddon Wood have now unfortunately been lost to quarrying. We wondered if a re-introduction programme could be planned in Leicestershire, possibly using Wood Ants from adjacent Northamptonshire. Questions were also asked about the relationship between ants, beetles and spiders under stones which are not fully understood, and about ant behaviour such as how they cope given the miniscule size of the brain, how different castes develop, how they find their way around – scent, eyesight, sound etc. Do they make and share noises?
