COLEOPTERA

Annual Report (covering the period March 09- March 10)

Click here to download a copy of the report

My major field work project this year has been a survey of Parsonage Down, the NNR in the south county. Although often described as probably the most important calcareous grassland site in the UK information about the Coleopterous fauna was unknown. The survey involved monthly recording over a twelve month period and included, amongst other methods, flight intercept traps, vacuum sampling and pitfall traps. More than 10,000 insects have been recorded and 350 species identified to date of which several are new to the county. One very important discovery, made in a Dorchester attic during the course of the year, was of a large amount of data from a previous survey carried out by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology on behalf of English Nature in the 1970s and 80s, and abandoned after several years work for financial reasons. This is now being analysed and should allow comparisons of the faunas to be made.

My other preoccupation during the course of the year has been to write and publish Wiltshire Beetles: History, Status, Distribution and Use in Site Assessment. This is the first book to cover the county fauna and lists 1,839 species with information on locations, dates and names of recorders. The illustrations include 125 rare and notable species as well as many that are well known. Introductory sections cover the history of beetle recording from a cleric in the early 19thC to modern day professional entomologists, and include the important work carried out at Marlborough and Dauntsey’s schools. Major sites are listed and information provided about changes in the fauna. Further chapters cover the use of beetles in the assessment of woodland and grassland sites. I would particularly draw attention to this last in which I have proposed the development of a Calcareous Grassland Quality Index enabling sites to be scored and graded using a carefully chosen list of indicator species each of which is given a rating according to its fidelity and continuity within the habitat. A table listing the scores achieved by 30 sites within the county is provided.

I also published ‘The Beetles of Wylye Down National Nature Reserve’ in Wiltshire Studies, 102 (2009), pp.1-11 (results of an English Nature contract to carry out a 12 month survey. Lists 202 species of which 17 were new to the county and 24 nationally rare) and ‘Onthophilus punctatus from pitfall traps in Wiltshire’ in The Coleopterist, 18(2) (2009), p.147.

Michael Darby
25 February 2010