from the Bulletin - February 2007

Chrysolina Americana - Rosemary Beetle. A fairly recent arrival in Britain may be found on your Rosemary, (Rosmarinus officinalis) or on Lavender, (Lavendula officinalis). There is no Island record to date, apart from seven or eight specimens on a pot plant brought from London. These were destroyed owing to the possibility of infesting Lavender. The beetle is unmistakable, being vertically striped red and green and can only be confused with (Chrysolina cerealis), but that species is confined to North Wales. One further request, if you grow Asparagus please report the Asparagus beetle. We have merely three reports for the Island.

Sitophilus granaries - With an appointment to visit a home suffering from an invasion of insects, the first thought was of wood-boring beetles, but they do not appear in the numbers described. By the time I kept the appointment the lady had traced the source of the problem to a drawer containing an article described as a Herbal Hot Cushion. This contained wheat perfumed with lavender and the offending insects were weevils, (Sitophilus granarius), a pest of stored cereals. We do not know when the cushion became infested, not having been used for a considerable time.

Phytophthora. Those exotic plants in your garden, imported from the other side of the world, may enhance the view from your patio, but the problem is they bring their diseases with them, to which our native plants have no defence. This is a dieback disease that has affected some oaks in California and the Jarrah forests of Western Australia. Following a report that it had been found in England we were alerted to the possibility of its occurrence locally. In September, 2005, we discovered a Horse Chestnut, (Aesculus caraea), suffering from an attack of this pathogen. It attacks a variety of species and when it manifests itself on leaves and twigs the spores are free to pass on the disease, but on the trunk of a tree (see photo) the spores are trapped beneath the bark, but the tree is doomed.

A visit to the Medina (Fairlee) Arboretum A delightful oasis consisting of a hundred species of trees. Ancient fruit trees, that once were in the orchard to Fairlee House, were a mature Quince and a Turkish Hazel. In the grounds, was one of the finest free-standing trees in the Island, a London Plane, (Platanus x hispanica) with a trunk measurement of 4m 31 at 1 metre and a spread that would occupy much of a football pitch. For good measure, during our visit in August, 2006, we found the nest of a tree wasp, Dolichovespula media, in an Ornamental Crab, just some nine or ten feet from the ground and the most exquisite paper work imaginable. Likened by my colleague to a turban. Yet another must, if you visit this delightful spot, is the Swamp Cypress, (Taxodium distichum), on the edge of one of the two ponds. This American conifer will grow in a variety of soils and will tolerate waterlogged conditions. To overcome this, it raises its roots into the air in a form known as "knees", This presumably is to allow it to breathe

Measuring the London Plane With a piece of cane two feet in length, I moved away from the tree and holding the cane vertically at arms length I positioned myself at a point where the bottom of the cane was at the base of the tree and the top of the cane at the highest point of the tree. Marking the spot under the cane, I measured the distance from there to the base of the tree, 68 feet. To say that my colleague was sceptical can be deduced by the statement that this should have been conducted on April fools day, but if anyone can measure the height by another method I would be pleased to hear the result. Incidentally, when we demonstrated this at Osborne House, two horticultural students were familiar with the method and when shown, used pencils.

Afton/Compton Downs On August the 6th, we chose to walk along the path on the cliff top from Freshwater Bay to the car park at Compton, a distance of approximately two miles. The highlight was the number of Chalk Hill Blue butterflies, which we estimated at five thousand and this was only the males.

A Strange Absentee Despite recording some 320 species of flowering plants in Parkhurst Forest, we are yet to add Foetid Iris or Roast Beef Plant, (Iris foetidissima), a species found in almost every Island copse and very common in hedges. Yet another rarity is the Crab Apple, (Malus sylvestris), of which only a solitary specimen has come to our notice.

Industrial Archaeological remains along Swallows Gutter Commencing almost at its source in Parkhurst Forest it was dammed, holding back a considerable quantity of water. This is followed by a series of bricklined inspection pits. It would be logical to suggest that the water was used by Parkhurst Prison. In Dickson's Copse is the remains of a further dam, sufficiently upstream for the water to be diverted into the large pond, where another mysterious brick built object can be seen when the water level is low. Surely a connection here with the former Cement Mills. Another mystery is in the fact that the water level rises rapidly with the first of the autumn rains, yet the pond has virtually no catchment area.

Common or Garden House Brick A picture of a house brick conveys little, even if it is scored, but this particular object was rescued from the demolition of the National School, in West Street, Newport. The score marks on numerous bricks was made by pupils in the days when slates were used for writing and this was the accepted method of sharpening the slate pencils, the scores are at various heights on the brickwork accommodating the height of the child. Surely these score marks were not confined to this one school and possibly can still be found on playground walls of some of the older schools.

Slow-worms I am unaware if there is a collective name for a gathering of slow-worms, in fact I was unaware that they could be found in numbers until presented with the accompanying photo, taken by Tom Pretty, of Noke Common. Raising the cover on his compost heap he was confronted with this mass of Slow-worms. Lowering the cover in order to fetch his camera, he was aware of several slipping away, but on returning he obtained this picture. Surely only the act of reproduction would bring such a gathering.