Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
at Elm Farm, 17th, 18th August 2013
The four Bath Nats who
joined John Paget and Ian Stapp, on a cool but mostly dry summer evening after
a rainy afternoon, were in for a treat. Having watched a sparrowhawk cruising
amidst the swallows and house martins gathering in the dusk, we were led across
to watch the moth trap being set up and then to the barn in which the colony of
around 35 Natterer’s bats were said to be roosting. We looked up to the ridge
beam but could not see any activity, although the plentiful droppings on the
floor beneath provided clear evidence of the bats’ presence. The coolness of
the evening allowed the bats to stay well hidden, we were led to believe. We
then walked out along the main path from the farm, past a small pond, to a
gateway where we looked towards woodland across a grassy field, with a border
of melilot, scorpion weed and quinoa, planted to encourage winter birds. While
John told us about the history of the farm and its management, we watched roe
deer and a brown hare. We then walked back to the main barn and were shown a
superb short video film of the Natterer’s bats, which prepared us for what was
to come. As the evening light faded, we returned to wait beside the Rothko-like
rectangle of blackness at the entrance of the barn, which was lit from below by
a red light. We listened to the crackling on the bat detectors, which Ian told
us was the bats having a natter about whether the weather was good enough, but
not yet ready to take flight. Just as we began to wonder whether they would do
any more than just chat about it, their tone changed to a more rapid,
deliberate code and we saw the first red-lit flutterers emerge and swirl around
us before disappearing off into the night sky. More soon followed, the bats
both exiting from and returning into the void in rapid succession, a vibrant,
living firework display that lasted around 35 minutes until the last bat had
left and the detectors fell silent.
Next morning, in
bright sunshine, a much larger group of 18 gathered at the entrance of the farm
to watch Richard Pooley examine and identify around 35 species of moths that
had gathered overnight in and around the trap. Amongst the most abundant were
‘Flame Shoulder’ (Ochropleura plecta)
and ‘Lesser Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing’ and amongst the most striking in
appearance were ‘Spectacle’ (Abrostola triplasia),
‘Magpie’ (Abraxus grossulariata) and
‘Blood-vein’ (Timandra comae). Pride
of place went to ‘Dark Barred Twin-spot Carpet’ (Xanthorhoe ferrugata). We then took a walk around the farm,
appreciating the wide variety of flora, fauna and fungi to be found in its
diversity of hedgerow, wetland, woodland and grassland habitats. Among the more
unusual finds was ‘Choke’ or Epichloe
typhina, growing on ‘Wood false-brome’ (Brachypodium
sylvaticum). This fungus grows ‘endophytically’ within living grass stems,
but prior to fruiting produces a tight collar of mycelium around the flowering
culms, which appears to ‘choke’ them. Although it inhibits flowering, the grass
responds by producing more vegetative
growth. Last but not least was a fine specimen of ‘Vapourer’ moth (Orgyia antiqua) in the hedgerow along
the main path from the farm.
Richard Pooley &
Alan Rayner
Click Photos to enlarge
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Blood Vein
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Common Blue
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Photos by Paul Wilkins
