A new species has arrived in the area but not a welcome one. A demon shrimp, Dicterogammarus haemobophes, was found by riverfly monitors in the River Dun at Hungerford. This is a large freshwater shrimp, up to an inch long (though more usually half that) with a striped body and some diagnostic conical projections on its tail. A native of the Black Sea area, it is increasing in British waters and is tolerant of poor water quality (which will suit it well). It is a voracious predator, killing and eating anything from fellow shrimps to small fish, and has the potential to cause a serious ecological downturn if it gets into our river, much as the (North American) signal crayfish has done. The demon shrimp lurks in the Kennet and Avon canal, probably disbursed by boat traffic, and presumably got into the Dun when it overflowed. This demonic beast can survive out of water for short periods. Riverfly monitors are keeping their eyes peeled for it.
I have heard another theory about why woodland fungi have fared so poorly in recent years. Many of them are in a mutually beneficial relationship with trees, infecting their root-tips, and supplying the tree with certain minerals in exchange for sugar and water. Like all green plants, trees manufacture food by photosynthesis, which needs sunshine. It may be that it has been so cool and wet, that tree growth has been impeded, and that the leaves have manufactured less sugar than usual. That will affect their partner fungi too, and so, although the fungi can survive underground, maybe there wasn’t enough growth to push up the fruit bodies we know as mushrooms and toadstools. Waterlogged roots would have a similar effect. I hate to trespass on Paul’s preserves, but I must mention a remarkable bird that was seen on the manor lake in November. It was a female hooded merganser, a small duck with a narrow bill and a fuzzy, russetbrown head. It is a native of North America, and although the odd vagrant bird has been recorded from Britain, this one is presumably another escape from the manor’s bird collection. Exciting to see, nonetheless.
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