Species Update

Friday, October 21st 2022

Foxglove Covert LNR is 30 this year. We had the brilliant idea that we would try to find 30 new species to add to our Species List.

By the time the Bioblitz day arrived in August we had manged 13 species, including trees, moss and a bird, the Avocet. The pair only stayed for a couple of days but we hope they will drop in again next year and hopefully bring some friends!

Although we still had several species to go to reach our target we were not downhearted as the moth morning always gives several new species. The traps were put out on the 5th, which just happened to be the coldest night of the previous two weeks so the catch was low but we did add another two species to the list.

August 6th saw the Bioblitz day. Sunny and warm, visitors and experts wandered around the reserve, recording what they saw and what they caught in nets. The highlight of the day was during the butterfly walk when several of our butterflies were recorded and after close examination through binoculars and of photographs a Silver Washed Fritillary was seen. Excitement! There was even more excitement when one of the Species Team realised that she had seen this butterfly a few days before, so it hadn't just dropped in for the day. It was seen several times after this. Along with our resident Dark Green Fritillary the caterpillars feed on Common Dog Violet of which there are plenty at Foxglove.

Once our excitment had calmed a little there was another shout, a blue, which had been missing from our list during the walk. Photos taken and then a realisation that it was not a Common Blue but a Brown Argus. Another new species.

So a few more species added to the list by the end of the day, but no where near our 30. So we waited for the results to come from our experts and they did us proud, with 36 new species being recorded, bringing the grand total to 51.

However things have not stopped there. Fungi have had an exceptional year and new species have been recorded. Dr C Fletcher visited Foxglove recently to look for leaf mining lepidoptera and he found a few! He added 20 new species to our list which stands around 80 now!

A huge thank you to the reserve managers, volunteers, the Species Team, visitors and our experts who gave their time so willingly in August and beyond.

I have suggested that we may have time to get to 100 by the end of the year?

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