It’s summer so it’s time to get out into gardens, parks and countryside to look for butterflies and count them for this year’s Big Butterfly Count! These annual surveys are run by Butterfly Conservation and map the distribution of butterflies and moths in the UK to inform us about changes in the environment. Doing a count at one location only takes 15 minutes, then you can add your results online and see them appear on the map! The survey began on 15 July and runs until 7 August (counts can be submitted online up till the end of August). This year’s survey is important to indicate how butterflies have been affected by a run of cooler and wetter than average weather. See Big Butterfly Count website for more info, butterfly id chart, results map and free smartphone app…

Bee feeding and pollinating

Butterfly feeding and collecting pollen

Insect pollinators are vital for fruit crops – from apples to blackberries – commercial and in the wild – and for our garden and wild flowers to set seed. Some fifteen hundred species of insects act as pollinators in the British Isles, including various bees, wasps, hoverflies, butterflies, moths and beetles. Most have suffered serious declines in numbers since the second world war; for instance, it is estimated that at least twenty of our native bee species have become extinct during this period! These declines are likely to be linked to changes in our landscape and patterns of land use since the 1940s. In early November 2014 the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs launched its National Pollinator Strategy “to protect pollinating insects which support our food production and the diversity of our environment” – planned actions to reverse the decline of the last 70 years. If you have a garden or allotment you can help:

• Simply grow more flowers! Native species are best and plants which flower early and late in the season are particularly helpful to insects emerging from or preparing for hibernation.
• Leave at least one patch of your garden to grow wild. This might look a bit scruffy to you, but it will provide habitat for your pollinating insects to breed, lay eggs and raise their young.
• Cut your lawn less often and let the grass grow longer to allow nectar-rich plants such as clover to flower and feed pollinators.
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  Miner bee leaving nest burrow

  Avoid disturbing places where pollinating insects may be nesting or hibernating. Most apart from honey bees live in the wild and hibernate or nest in holes in trees, walls, rotting wood or by burrowing into loose soil – careless garden tidying in winter can destroy next spring’s pollinators!

• Avoid using pesticides. Check your garden regularly so you can spot problems while they can be controlled by physical methods – hoeing; removing infected plants or parts of plants. If you have to use a pesticide keep quantity used and area covered to a minimum.

See the Bees’ Needs website for more on this topic.

Our latest local group newsletter, for spring 2014, is now available to read online or download as-printed. Features include: an appreciation of the life of Dennis Heffernan; a well-illustrated review of Bingham’s butterflies; this year’s spring fair; the future of our newsletter.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust have submitted a Planning Application for proposed work at Skylarks Nature Reserve, which is to integrate the newly-acquired land with the original reserve and to make habitat improvements. The planning application number is 14/00706/FUL and the plans are on Rushcliffe Borough Council’s planning website at www.document1.co.uk/blueprint/ Please take a look at them and feel free to comment if you wish – hopefully in support!

We have recieved notification that the application has been passed by the council, so another milestone for the project has been passed and the winter months should see some major engineering works at Blotts Pit as some parts of the site are re landscaped to create wet meadows, ponds and reedbeds.

We held our local group Annual General Meeting and Talk in West Bridgford on Thursday 24th April. The newly-elected South Notts committee is: Gordon Dyne (Chair), Valerie Holt (Vice Chair), Jackie Glenn (Secretary), Neil Pinder (Treasurer), Margie Richards, Geoff Fyles, Neil Glenn, Judith Booth, Graham Leigh-Browne and Cally Martin. The following documents presented to the meeting are available:

• Chair’s Report (PDF)
• Treasurer’s Accounts (PDF)

The Larwood & Voce ran a charity pub quiz on Sunday 13th April, raising a magnificent £570.40 to help fund the work of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust! Many thanks to Dan Cramp, the pub manager, and his staff for all their hard work in making this such a successful evening. More info on the Larwood & Voce…