Rosie's UEA Ecology Blog

  A video of a Cormorant diving underwater to catch fish, it was very successful! Cormorants ( Phalacrocorax carbo ) have   dark feathers with a metallic blue-green sheen   and  a hooked beak adapted for catching fish. They have an eerie deep green eye, which, unusually, they can rotate. Unlike other birds, their feathers are not coated in protective, waterproof oils, which is why they are often seen standing with wings outstretched to dry off (an impressive sight as they have a  wingspan of 130-160 cm).  Cormorants  weigh over 2 kg  and  can live over 20 years. The UK hosts internationally-important numbers of Cormorants, with approximately 9000 breeding pairs and over 40,000 wintering birds. Cormorant differ from Shags as they have a patch of bare skin around the beak and eye (see arrow above), whereas Shags have feathers right up to the beak. Cormorants can be easily confused with the European Shag ( Gulosus aristotelis ). As well as the d...

I'll start this blog with a quick disclaimer. This blog is about a bird I saw on a recent field trip to RSPB Titchwell, not on the UEA campus. However, it was still a course trip, so I'm going to include it anyway! A Curlew patrolling the tidal mud flats, shot through my binoculars. Curlews ( Numenius arquata ) are an emphatic species associated with the wetlands of the UK. In fact, the UK population is particularly important, we host 30% of Europe's population for the winter months, and an estimated 66,000 pairs breed in the summer. The British Trust for Ornithology's Wetland Bird Survey lists The Wash in East Anglia as one of the most important sites for Curlew. Often heard before they are seen, the call of the Curlew is often described as 'bubbling' and can be easily recognised. Curlews can also be easily recognised by their distinctive curved beak. Their plumage is mottled brown to cream in colour and they have blue legs. They can weigh up to a kilogram and ...

For many species, winter means slowing down and becoming a more drab, dormant version of their summer-selves, but for Spindle ( Euonymus europaeus ) it means becoming flushed with brilliant pink berries that clash with the bright orange of the seeds inside. This spectacular shrub can grow to 9 metres and be over 100 years old. It is also used as an indicator of ancient woodland, similarly to bluebells and wild garlic. As well as having fabulous fruits in winter, spindle bushes also transform in autumn when their leaves turn to an amazing orange-red sunset colour. The leaves are a foodplant for a range of Lepidoptera species, including the holly blue butterfly and the berries are an excellent food source for many bird species, particularly as food can be scarce in winter. When the flowers bloom in the early summer they provide a rich nectar source for a wide variety of insects. The genus name ( Euonymus ) comes from Greek, and is said to mean 'lucky', derived from the words ...

Patrolling the leaf litter, armed with miniature pincers, is the pseudoscorpion.  The pseudoscorpion ( Neobisium sp. ) under a microscope, real size ~5mm. Pseudoscorpions look very much like an actual scorpion, minus the stinging tail. A tiny arachnid just a few millimetres long, they are found in a wide variety of habitats including in the UK. Though they don't have the 'classic' scorpion look, they still have venom, which is used to paralyse their prey, including springtails and mites, and is secreted from their claws. They can be found inside too, often amongst old, dusty books where they prey on dust mites, this explains their other common name: "book scorpions". One species found frequently in this habitat may have been first described by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, where he found them wandering amongst old scrolls. Similar to spiders, they can produce silk, but from their chelicerae at their head end, rather than with spinnerets like a spider. This is u...

  I found possibly the most comedic fungus, the Common Stinkhorn ( Phallus impudicus ), this week. Both the Latin and common names fit it very well. It is very stinky and phallic in shape. The species name " impudicus " means "immodest" or "shameless" in Latin, so the full name literally means "shameless phallus"! Before the unmistakeable shape of the stinkhorn emerges however, it is initially contained in an egg-like sac, which eventually bursts open, revealing the mature fruiting body of the fungus. This 'egg' is actually edible and can be enjoyed raw (though only if you can stomach the smell, as although it is not as strong at this stage, it's still pretty putrid!), it is reported to taste radish-like. This stage of the fungus can be observed all year round, but can be more difficult to detect without the aid of the far-penetrating smell of the emerged 'phallus'. This smell is so revolting that it has been mistaken for dead...

On the morning of a rather brisk and drizzly day in Norwich, the first year Ecology and Conservation students of UEA gathered to practice small mammal trapping and identification. The traps had been pre-laid the night before and some had promising signs. We collected the traps from the tangle of brambles and laid them out. The ones that had not been tripped were set aside and the ones with closed doors were assembled for opening. All 60 traps laid out, ready to be inspected. A close-up of a Longworth trap, showing the opening for the mammal to enter and the larger 'house' at the back. We used Longworth traps, consisting of a trapping mechanism and a 'house' where the mammal shelters and eats the food provided. When trapping mammals, the types of mammals that might be caught need to be considered, especially when providing them with the food needed to survive until the traps are collected. Mice are granivorous, meaning they mostly eat grains, so we provided a generous he...