Meeting Reports May 2026

“The society’s aims are to continue to document, …..the objective being to have a record of each survey undertaken.”

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Leader : 

A small nature reserve belonging to Les Driffield who will be the guide.

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Leader : Mick Townsend

A spring walk around the reserve

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Leader : Jim Burnett

 Kings Wood  for bluebells and Gally Hills grassland for spring flowers.

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Another visit to Loversall Delf by Colin & Les, (cut short due to an emergency car tyre repair.)

The first damselfly of the season seen, a large red (Pyrrhosoma nymphula), a puzzling woodwasp, a dance fly (Empis tessellata) that might be confused with a scorpion fly. No sieving of litter today so all spiders are found in situ; once again Philodromus agg. was found so it seems firmly established in the north now.

Luckily, Colin recovered a tick which was climbing his trouser leg before it found it’s way inside.

Arachnida – Spiders

Coenagrionidae – Damselflies

Coleoptera – Beetles

Diptera – Flies

Fungi – Fungus

Hemiptera – Bugs

Lepidoptera – Butterflies & Moths

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Sandall Beat Dawn Chorus meeting between 4.30 to 7.00 am.

Attendees : LAH, TP, LB, & CAH

Weather Conditions: Overnight heavy rain had just cleared. Trees dripping. Overcast and misty. Dark at start – only able to read by Recording Station 6 . Commenced 4.30am in silence. Finished 7am. Merlin App also in use.

See here for full 19 station report

Notes on recordings.

1. Notable for the number of Song Thrush and Blackcap. Nuthatch more widespread than usual (including between station 9 and 10 near Pot Hill Fields) and tree creeper confirmed but suspected presence elsewhere.
2. Great Spotted Woodpecker seen heard and also observed feeding with Nuthatch in the same tree.
3. Adult Toad seen on ride north of car park – enjoying the recent rain.
4. Drains dry
5. Tree Foam seen at base of elm near recording station 17 (see photo)
6. Family party of black squirrels seen on tree beside car park Station 1) on exit at 7am
7. Chestnut brown specimen of brown lipped banded snail on ride between Stations 18 and 19 (see photo)

We have some interesting non-ornithological observations – including some foam at the base of a tree (see attached photos).

Apparently this is a natural phenomenon caused by dust, algae and plant exudates on the surface of bark being washed down and concentrated into runnels on the tree trunk.  It is a natural ‘soap’ that occurs with heavy rain after a period of dry weather and seems to be more prevalent on trees with a rough bark.  I have never seen it before!

Colin also suspects he heard the staccato ‘chack-chack’ sound of a Muntjac bark, coming from the woodland to the rear of the children’s play area.

Louise

Lesley found this link https://www.pei-untamed.com/post/tree-foam

The following contribution is from Colin:

Black Grey Squirrels

On returning to the Car Park, Tim and Louise noticed a movement high up on a cluster of tall Sycamores. This turned out to be a group (?

family) of an adult and two young Grey Squirrels Sciurus carolinensis exhibiting very dark pelage. Although the two smaller animals moved off into an adjacent tree canopy, the adult remained in an exposed position on the dead and leafless Sycamore, where it clearly showed as an example of a BLACK Grey Squirrel.

None of us had ever seen black squirrels before and though the colour form was known to be spreading from its first recorded site (1912 in Woburn, Bedfordshire) at an estimated rate of ½ a mile per year, none were yet known in Yorkshire or due to arrive here for some years.

Black squirrels in the UK are primarily found in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Cambridgeshire, with occasional sightings in Shropshire, Kent, London, Exeter, and Cornwall.

CAH