Local naturalist, Dave Owen, discovered a Giant Lacewing (Osmylus fulvicephalus) at Sankey Valley Country Park. This locally rare species has only been sighted once in St.Helens, back in 1988 at the Goyt woodland, Carr Mill about a mile and a half north of Sankey Valley Country Park. Hopefully more of these very impressive insects can be recorded in our area and we can begin to learn more about their distribution!
The Environment Bill, currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords, is intended to replace much of the EU environmental legislation following Brexit. It will allow the government to set out long-term targets for the UK’s natural environment. During the latest debate in the House of Lords, Conservative former minister Lord Blencathra sought to amend the Bill. According to him the term “nature” commands greater understanding than “biodiversity”, and people can more readily relate to it. Such attitudes are not simply ignorant and wrong but, were they to be accepted and incorporated into the legislation then they could pose real risks to biodiversity in the UK.