Butterfly Sightings: Britain's Smallest Butterfly spotted in Hertfordshire- Small blue butterfly

The small blue is Britain's tiniest butterfly

Britain's tiniest resident butterfly, the small blue, has returned for the second year running to a nature reserve in Hertfordshire.

Staff at Aldbury Nowers Nature Reserve, near Tring, have reported several sightings of the rare creature.

Prior to 2010, the small blue had been extinct in the county for eight years.

Reserves officer Paul Thrush hopes the return will mean a breeding population being established at the reserve for the first time in nearly a decade.

"Thanks to our ongoing management work, the chalk grassland habitat is slowly recovering at Aldbury Nowers.

"We carried out a big restoration project here in 2008 and now the butterflies are starting to reap the rewards," said Mr Thrush.

"To see the small blue here again is fantastic news."

The reserve is home to a number of vulnerable butterfly species with at least 25 species inhabiting the area.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-13696552

Insect Sightings: Rare scarlet malachite beetle discovered in Surrey

The insect was common in England until the 1930s

A volunteer from London's Natural History Museum has discovered a new population of one of Britain's rarest insects in Surrey.

The scarlet malachite beetle was found during a study at Bookham Common.

The 8mm insect is only known to exist in about eight or 10 sites around England.

Museum scientist Dr John Tweddle said: "To find a new population is great news. I think it's a great example of the more you look, the more you find."

The metallic green and scarlet insect had been fairly common until the 1930s.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-13699721

Butterfly Identification: What type of Butterfly is this? Taken in Hampshire

Moth and Butterfly Identification: What type of butterfly?

Photo taken in Hampshire

Comment below if you know!


Got a photo of something you want identifying? Send it to wildlifesightings@hotmail.co.uk and we post it on the site

Big Cat Sighting Kent: black leopard spotted in Kingsnorth, Kent

A couple have spoken of their shock at seeing a black leopard running across a field at Kingsnorth.

Eugene and Karina Rivers, of Hadleigh Street, Kingsnorth, saw the animal while walking their three-month-old Welsh terrier puppy Jasmine off Cheesemans Green Lane at 9.30pm on Sunday, May 29.

Mother-of-three Mrs Rivers said: “When we got to the railway line I saw in the distance what I thought was a dog.

"It came right across the horizon but we couldn’t see an owner. This thing was travelling so fast I could hardly keep my eyes on it.

"It got to the opposite corner from us, it did the whole length of the field in less than 10 seconds.

“It ran differently from a dog, putting its front two legs forward first and then its back legs followed.

"Then I said 'Oh my God, that’s not a dog’. We grabbed Jasmine and huddled in the bushes and just watched.”

The 31-year-old nurse continued: “It was definitely a cat but it was huge and black and the way it moved was not the way a normal domestic animal moves.

"Then as quick as we had seen it, it got to the edge of the field and disappeared.

"I was quite shocked to be honest. We were both a bit unnerved by it."

Auto-electrician Mr Rivers, 44, said: “We were both a bit shocked really to see that so close to such a built up area.

"It was quite hard to rationalise it in your head. You think it couldn’t be real and you tell yourself it’s not real but it wasn’t a dog. It was just very strange.”

Mrs Rivers added: “I’ve told a few people where I work about it and they looked at me like I was a loon but we know what we saw and how we felt.”

After walking home, they looked on the internet and reported it to Neil Arnold of Kent Big Cat Research, who collects data of exotic animal sightings in the county.

Mr Arnold received a second report of a big cat, which he believes could be the same animal, in the Kingsnorth area the day before.

An eight-year-old boy spotted a large animal in long grass spying on a domestic cat and ran to tell his father.

“The animal was described as a metre tall on its haunches and had yellow eyes which would fit the description of a black leopard,” said Mr Arnold.

“Ashford is such a vast area. There’s so much forest and a lot of cover which runs down to Romney Marsh, where I’ve found a lot of signs of a black leopard.

“I think there’s at least three or four between Ashford, Maidstone and Romeny Marsh.

"There are reports going back to the sixties so it’s certainly a viable breeding area.

“I’ve done quite a few talks in Ashford recently. It’s amazing the number of people who come up and see me afterwards to say they’ve seen one.

“Sadly, sceptics still argue these animals do not exist even though hair and faeces have been analysed and proven to belong to large cat species, sheep and deer have been found dragged high up into trees and eaten.”

Source: http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2011-1/june/7/oh_my_god,_that%E2%80%99s_not_a_dog%E2%80%99.aspx

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Rare Spider Sightings UK: Rare fen raft spiders released at Suffolk fen

Conservationists in Suffolk are releasing some of Britain's rarest spiders into specially-created habitats to try to save them from extinction.

The fen raft spiders will be released at Redgrave and Lopham Fen, where the species was first identified in 1956.

Only three sightings of the spider have been noted in the UK - in Suffolk, East Sussex and Swansea.

Dr Helen Smith, who is overseeing the project, said the spiders died "because of the way we've treated our wetlands."

The spider is listed as "endangered" on the UK Red List of species of extreme rarity and is protected by law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981).

The spider became critically endangered as the fen dried out when water was abstracted for public use.

Facing extinction

Although water levels have been restored on the fen and other wetland species have begun to thrive again, the spider population has not responded and its numbers have remained critically low.

Dr Smith has been working at the Redgrave and Lopham Fen, in partnership with Natural England and the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, on the ongoing project to restore spider numbers.

"There is always a danger that we could lose them altogether and they could become extinct," she said.

"It's really hard to know how many spiders there were at the lowest point but it's likely there were just tens of adult females.

"We're lucky to have them still."

Dr Smith has been rearing the spiders in her home.

"I am very privileged to have them living in my house - that's where we do the captive rearing programme," she said.

"I can share their secret lives and learn things about them I never would see in the wild.

"We need to know how they fit in the whole eco-system. It's important to protect them for the future."

Future preservation

A Species Action Plan was drawn up as part of Britain's response to the Rio Earth Summit on Biodiversity.

It aims to increase the number of UK populations of fen raft spiders from three to 12 by 2020, making them less vulnerable to extinction.

Conservation work has already begun. In 2010 a captive breeding programme was developed with a view to establishing new colonies.

The spiders were reared in captivity for the first three months of their lives because far more survive in captivity than in the wild.

They were released on Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserves further along the River Waveney, and new populations are being encouraged.

In 2011, a series of pond chains are being excavated to link the old and new population centres, and expand the suitable habitat for the spiders.

It is also hoped new colonies can be established further along the River Waveney on Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserves and in parts of the Norfolk Broads.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-13670879