Only recorded a handful of times in St Helens in 2013 and 2014 this beetle is very much to the North of it’s range. It may well be moving Northwards in response to climate pressures but also requires sensitive management of grasslands. In particular Hogweeds and Cow Parsely. This is certainly one to look out for with...
The Beautiful Demoiselle, Calopteryx virgo, is a Damselfly native to the UK and occurs in Cheshire and Cumbria. However, there are currently no verified records of this species for North Merseyside (see The LCFS ‘The Dragonflies of Lancashire and North Merseyside‘, 2015 for further info). All Odonata (Dragonflies and Damselflies) are considered local conservation priority...
I borrowed BioBank’s copy of “Poland” to try and resolve the mystery of its identity from a fragment I had taken – comprising fully intact leaves- and found myself keying out Saxifraga umbrosa (Pyrenean saxifrage) , or Saxifrage nivalis (Alpine saxifrage). I was really attracted to the latter because “Poland” refers to “the long wavy...
Formby Asparagus (also the name of the variety) is white at the base and green through the stem with a purple tinged tip. New asparagus crowns are grown from seed which is saved from the old plant. After the first year, the crowns are transplanted into a 20cm deep trench and a ridge 8cm high is piled up around...