ABCs - Alien Big Cats - part one

A BBC website stated in late August 2012 that "A couple who claimed to have seen an animal which looked like a lion in an Essex field have said they believe the creature is still at large. A search for the "very large animal" seen near Earl Hall Drive in St Osyth, near Clacton-on-Sea, at about 19:00 BST on Sunday was called off on Monday".

Earlier this year, a similar search for a big cat in Southampton was called off when the supposed feline was a life size cuddly toy tiger that was blown over from the down draft of the helicopter.

But is there any truth to big cats wandering around the British Isles?

Alien or Anomalous Big Cats, or ABCs, is the term given to the members of the Felidae family that do not originate in the British Isles but are thought to inhabit the British Isles. These ABCs may include lions, tigers, leopards, panthers, pumas and black cats. Why are there here? Is it because they are the remnants of fauna from before the last ice age or have they have escaped from private collections?

Having a big cat or a collection of wild animals was thought to be a huge status symbol in the past; there were lions kept in the Royal Menagerie at The Tower of London from 1235 to the private zoos of the aristocracy. Phyllis Gordon taking her pet cheetah for a walk in 1939.

So why are there, potentially, cats of a larger persuasion out in the countryside of the United Kingdom, see part two of Alien Big Cats (coming soon).

Senecio jacobaea - part three

Apologies for the delay, but as suggested on the last post - here is the third post.

Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) in its first year stage creates an immature ragwort plant that resembles a small rosette of between 5 and 15 centimetres across with no flowers. In the second year, it pushes forth a green stem that can reach up and over 1.5 metres high (I know the blasted plants are higher than I am) with the yellow flowers at the top. The photo below shows a recently extricated plant. 

The third photo of this blog (see below) will show the scale of the plant, however it is possible to see how the plant in its second year develops most of its energy budget to create the huge stem with frond-like leaves.

The root is considerably small compared to the length of the stem. You don't have to imagine these plants as sails as you can see them from late July along the sides of single and dual carriageways - the shallow roots help the stem tot sway but not snap. This plant's anatomy reminds me of the huge trees in the tropical rainforests as they also have tall trunks and relatively short roots. This may be due to the fact that both plants exploit poor soils to create huge plants to increase the chance of their progeny surviving; Senecio jacobaea is a natural plant of semi-natural grasslands and colonise well drained and sandy soils. The plant can be an indicator of where sandy soils exist in a field. The small root is also useful in the plant's downfall, the ragwort fork has small tines, and when inserted at the bast of the plant, can act as a pivot for felling the large stem.

Senecio jacobaea has other tricks in its biological arsenal. The flower heads and vegetative parts of Senecio jacobaea have an allelopathic effect on the surrounding vegetation by suppressing the competition from other plants - so that the Common Ragwort can colonise an area. This can be seen by the creation of stands or swathes of Common Ragwort. As seen in the photograph below, the ragwork fork is shown for scale.

With various studies, it has seen that the seeds can travel from the parent plant of under a metre to over five metres. A plant can hold from 4,760 to 174,230 of seeds per plant. After flowering, the plant dies relying on the seeds to increase the invasion and the potential seed bank. The seed bank, the soil below the plant, can be affected by animals, failed germination, fire, mechanical, pathogens, physiological death, predation, rainfall dispersal, above ground and sub-soil water flow and wind.

Yes, it can be said that Senecio jacobaea or Common Ragwort can reduce the quality of a pasture through allelopathy and the decomposition of the leaf litter; it has the potential to kill many agricultural and pastoral animals; and finally it has a crucial part in providing a suitable food source and habitat for many invertebrates...as the Defra document states "It should be expected that some common ragwort will continue to occur in such swards and will fulfill its role in the ecological dynamics of well-drained grassland ecosystems."

If anyone is interested, please either email or add a comment, I can provide sources of the reports quoted in the blog entry above.

Senecio jacobaea - part two

On the last post, I said that Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) "can be dangerous to livestock" and yes it can be if not properly managed. However, as also stated in the first post of this series, I did write that the plant supported both the caterpillar and the moths stages of the Cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaea) as well as a host of invertebrates.

A recently published web page by The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales notes that Common Ragwort has "done really well this summer" due to the inconsistent weather of this year and the flowers, leaves and plants have acted as an invaluable source for "at least thirty species of invertebrate". These include one form of aphid, 12 fly species, 7 leaf beetle species, 1 macro moth, 7 micro moths, 1 form of mite and 1 type of thrip. The article states that other invertebrates use it as a nectar source, especially if other flowers haven't survived as well, and these include 2 bee species, various butterflies, Conopid flies, hoverflies, at least 40 species of Noctuid moths, a minimum of 30 species of solitary bees and a minimum of 18 solitary wasp species. (Please note, that some of these details are repeated from the last post).

The reason for the larger than normal image is so that you will be able to see the bee, the beetle and the butterfly, any ideas on what they might be?

It is tiresome and back-breaking work, once in a while you get a wonderful view - I have been accompanied by some kestrels and possibly a buzzard. If you look at the photograph below, you may even seen one of the avian accompanists to my ragworticidal acivities.

Unfortunately the camera on a phone is not the most ideal at trying to take long distance shots of hovering kestrels. I will say that as I left last night, I looked back to see that my work hadn't disturbed the birds. I saw one, two and then to the left another pair - there were four kestrels hovering across the length of the field, if any more had turned up I would have thought that they may have been auditioning for Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Birds'.

The above photograph isn't a complete waste of time - it shows a loose stand of Common Ragwort. Next time, I will explain more about the stands tomorrow. I bet you can't wait?

Senecio jacobaea - part one

Today, yesterday and tomorrow as well as a few other days I will be roguing - the act of identifying and removing undesired plants from agricultural fields (the definition taken from Wikipedia) - ragwort plants.

Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) is native to the United Kingdom and despite being of importance to the native invertebrate's habitat, it can be dangerous to livestock.

The plant contains a form of alkaloid toxin (pyrrolizidine) that may act as a poison to agricultural livestock including avian, bovine, cervidae, equine, and swine members. This inability to safely consume and digest this toxin by these herbivores can lead to problems if the plant is combined with hay, haylage or silage.

The plant also provides a site for the egg laying as well as the food supply for the plant's main consumer - the Cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae) - and the flowers support the insects who drink the nectar, especially in times when other crop flowers are scarce. These include 2 bee species, butterflies, Conopid, flies, hoverflies, a minimum of 40 Noctuid moths, a minimum of 30 species of solitary bees, and a minimum of 18 species of solitary wasps.

More tomorrow, have you any questions?

Non-Native Bird Species

This week, on Radio 4, there is a series of programmes on foreign birds - The Alien Birds Have Landed - transmitted at 1.45pm on BBC Radio 4.

The Daily Telegraph's Radio reviewer, Gillian Reynolds, describes the first programme, with its emphasis on the Common Pheasant "The common pheasant is native to Asia but has been introduced all around the world because it adapts easily to new surroundings, breeds well and tastes good. Maybe the Romans brought them to Britain. Alison Steadman narrates this engaging series, on FM. Tomorrow, the ruddy duck and Canada goose."

The Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is discussed here.

The second programme focuses on both the Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) and the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) and the details of the programme are here. Both of these species have come from the Americas, yet one is loved and one is persecuted.

The third discusses both the large and small of the owl family - the Eagle Owl (Bubo family) and the Little Owl (Athene noctua) and the radio programme is found here.

The fourth discusses the Rose-Ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri), I have heard these in Sevenoaks, the programme is found here.

The fifth, and final programme, describes why the Starling (Sturnidae family) is hated in North America and the Blackbird (Turdus merula) is equally hated in New Zealand.

Where do you draw the line on non-native bird species - here are a few articles on non native species from About.com, IBIS (the International Journal of Avian Science) and  the R.S.P.B.. I am sure we will come back to this topic.

Schmallenburg Virus

Schmallenburg Virus (SBV), a name that brings dread to people involved with livestock, has been detected in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and recently in the United Kingdom. The SBV is transmitted by midges, mosquitoes and ticks and with the increase of warm and damp weather, it is ideal weather for the production of these virus vectors.It has been suggested by DEFRA that the insect vectors were blown across the English channel.

But what does the virus do? It can cause dehydration in animals through diarrhoea, decreases in milk production and fevers in adult animals and if a pregnant animal is infected, it can cause a late abortion or worse cause birth defects in cattle, goats and sheep.

The disease is being tracked across Europe and the United Kingdom.

The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratory Agency reported, on the 13th of August, that "there are 276 UK farms reporting SBV: 53 in cattle, 220 in sheep and 3 premises which reported sheep (earlier in the year) and are now also reporting cattle cases".

 DEFRA suggests that although SBV "is not a notifiable disease...farmers are asked to contact their veterinary surgeon if they encounter cases of ruminant neonates or fetuses which are stillborn, show malformations or are showing nervous disease".

The Farmers' Weekly reports this week that "There is widespread concern that cases of the Schmallenberg virus (SBV) are being under-reported by farmers." It continues that "In northern Europe the proportion of sheep holdings with confirmed SBV was 4% a country and 7.6% a region.
But evidence from the Netherlands, France and Germany showed the number of animals infected on a single farm had been as high as 70-100%, the report revealed".

For more information on SBV, have a look at the Farmers' Weekly page or DEFRA's page or the NFU's page or the AHVLA's page.

Eurolink "Agricolae" - What's in a name

"Agricolae" is the name the South of England Agricultural Society has given to British farmers who have taken part in their "Eurolink" exchange scheme with farmers in mainland Europe. These farmers, plus other who have joined them, belong to what we call the "Eurolink Agricolae Club", now extended into a network. Many have wondered why we have have chosen a word that seems strange to English ears. The answer lies in the origin of this interesting word.

The word "agricola" (the singular of agricolae) comes from the Latin "ager" - field and "colo" - cultivate and is the derivative of "agriculture", the science and art of producing plants and animals useful to man. Even before Roman times, hunting was not only the way of obtaining sustenance. As recorded and revealed in Latin works of Virgil and others, herds of beasts were reared and driven as required to suitable pasturage and crops were grown on patches of ground until the soil became exhausted. Man later discovered manures and the value of rotation of crops. Other branches of what we now embrace in the overall term "agriculture" were gradually developed, such as fruit growing and bee keeping and many others. After the decline of the Roman Empire, there continued to evolve this gradual development of agriculture and improvement of methods in stock breeding and tillage and all its ramifications throughout Europe.

What better name can describe the aims of the original Eurolink exchange scheme and the evolvement of a "club" or dedicated group of farmers wishing to impart, acquire and implement knowledge of the latest farming techniques?

"Agricolae" has now become a kind of trademark associated with Eurolink and the South of England Agricultural Society at Ardingly - a name and an enterprise of which we are justly proud.

A. M. Woodhead