Comprising the families Acanthosomatidae, Scutellaridae, Cydnidae, Thyreocoridae and Pentatomidae, shieldbugs comprise one of the most easily recognised groups of true bugs (Hemiptera, Heteroptera). About 43 species have been recorded for Britain and Ireland but a high proportion has a southern and eastern distribution. In common with several other insect groups responding to warming temperatures (Stewart...
Summary The ‘Devil’s Hole’ is a large active blowout that originated in the early 1940s at Ravenmeols Local Nature Reserve on the Sefton Coast dunes. Wind erosion produced two calcareous, seasonally-flooded, dune-slacks that are still growing. Their floristic development was studied between 2004 and 2022, annual changes being monitored from 2012. By 2022, a total...
Two cold snaps early in the month were followed by much milder, damp weather, 15 days of measurable rain leading to a 20cm (8 inches) rise in the sand-dune water-table. Nevertheless, we had slightly less than normal rainfall for the month. The Met Office reported that December was the only month of 2022 with below...
Just for a change, November was a rather damp month, with measurable rain on as many as 18 days. Even so, rainfall amounts for the region were about average. Therefore, the sand-dune water-table rose by only 5 cm, as measured at the Devil’s Hole. It was a generally mild month here with no frost at...