P1700911
Report on visit to Clophill Lakes and upcoming events
Inbox
Andrew Green
Thu, May 19, 9:10 AM (4 days ago)
to naturespotter@btinternet.com
Morning all,
Yesterday, hosted by Sue Raven of The Greensand Trust, fourteen of us visited the Clophill Lakes nature reserve. The weather was good with broken cloud and a light breeze. We were greeted by the calls of a Cuckoo, whilst Red Kites circled low overhead. This former mineral extraction site is an excellent example of what nature can do if left alone to recolonise these brown field sites with minimal intervention. The site has a rich mosaic of habitats that would be extremely difficult to replicate with planned planting and, where planting has been carried out in the past, those lines of trees jar with the more natural regeneration.
There will no doubt be many interesting invertebrate records arising in the coming days as specimens are sorted. Once thought to be extinct in Britain but now reappearing across the country, the Alder Leaf Beetle was found in large numbers with its striking purple iridescence. Brown Argus, Common Blue and Small Heath were on the wing across the grass areas. Several attendees found a small orange and black sawfly which turned out to be Nematinus fuscipennis, a sawfly which has previously been found on only half a dozen occasions in the county. However, it is probably common along the River Flit wherever alder grows.
In a patch of Meadow Crane’s-bill, I was delighted to net a female Macrophya albipuncta. This distinctive sawfly is the only one of its genus to have iridescent green eyes. It is not commonly recorded nationally and is a new county record for Bedfordshire. Of the ten Macrophya species, that leaves just Macrophya blanda still to be found!
P1700911
Report on visit to Clophill Lakes and upcoming events
Inbox
Andrew Green
Thu, May 19, 9:10 AM (4 days ago)
to naturespotter@btinternet.com
Morning all,
Yesterday, hosted by Sue Raven of The Greensand Trust, fourteen of us visited the Clophill Lakes nature reserve. The weather was good with broken cloud and a light breeze. We were greeted by the calls of a Cuckoo, whilst Red Kites circled low overhead. This former mineral extraction site is an excellent example of what nature can do if left alone to recolonise these brown field sites with minimal intervention. The site has a rich mosaic of habitats that would be extremely difficult to replicate with planned planting and, where planting has been carried out in the past, those lines of trees jar with the more natural regeneration.
There will no doubt be many interesting invertebrate records arising in the coming days as specimens are sorted. Once thought to be extinct in Britain but now reappearing across the country, the Alder Leaf Beetle was found in large numbers with its striking purple iridescence. Brown Argus, Common Blue and Small Heath were on the wing across the grass areas. Several attendees found a small orange and black sawfly which turned out to be Nematinus fuscipennis, a sawfly which has previously been found on only half a dozen occasions in the county. However, it is probably common along the River Flit wherever alder grows.
In a patch of Meadow Crane’s-bill, I was delighted to net a female Macrophya albipuncta. This distinctive sawfly is the only one of its genus to have iridescent green eyes. It is not commonly recorded nationally and is a new county record for Bedfordshire. Of the ten Macrophya species, that leaves just Macrophya blanda still to be found!