Hi Everyone, The Glow-worm season is nearly upon us so this is an email to encourage you to go out and explore at night time - Its amazing what other things you might hear or see! The prime glowing time is mid-June to July but they can also still be seen in August and sometimes even September.
If you know of a place that you used to see Glow-worms but haven't checked for a few years it would be great if you could go and check it out again and see if they are still there. Also we'd like to encourage the exploration of new sites, as well as known sites - if there's somewhere you think might be a good site for them why not go and have a look? Sometimes its worth visiting a site on two nights as I have seen 88 glowing on one night but a couple of nights before there were only 3! Your safety is obviously of paramount importance, so please take care: go out with another person if possible, and tell someone where you are going. Take a mobile phone, a torch and wear high visibility clothes. A day time recce is a good idea so you can see the route you will be taking, but also dangerous bits such as ditches! Here is a link to the UK Glow-worm survey for more information about their interesting life-cycles, habitats and ID etc: http://www.galaxypix.com/glowworms/ Female glow-worms are the ones that glow - they look like a green LED and are wingless. The males are black winged beetles that you may be lucky enough to see mating with the female. The larvae also glow but only a dull light and look quite similar to a ladybird larvae. Please send your records in to us, which we will then share with the UK Glow-worm Survey. The following details will be useful (examples given): Location name: Benfield Hill LNR, Hove Grid ref (either a specific point for each glow-worm or group of glow-worms you record if you have GPS or a start and end grid ref of a transect if this is easier): TQ263080 Number of glow-worms seen: 122 females and 8 males recorded on whole of site Recorders Name: I M Twinkling Date 30/06/07 Other information: It was overcast but mild. If you would like a spreadsheet and map showing where Glow-worms have previously been recorded please get in contact with me separately: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Please also send your records to this email address. I look forward to receiving some Glow-worm records at the end of the summer! All best wishes, Penny Penny Green Biodiversity Records Officer Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre Woods Mill, Henfield West Sussex, BN5 9SD Direct Line Tel: 01273-497521 Fax: 01273-494500 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.sxbrc.org.uk The Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre is the centre for reference for authoritative information relating to biodiversity in Sussex, working in partnership with both data users and data providers for public benefit. SxBRC is funded by a wide range of bodies; for a full list please see www.sxbrc.org.uk Sussex Wildlife Trust is a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Act. Registered in England, Company No. 698851. Registered Charity No. 207005. VAT Registration No. 191 305969. Registered Office: Woods Mill, Henfield, West Sussex BN5 9SD. Telephone 01273 492 630 _______________________________________________ Adastra mailing list Adastra@lists.sxbrc.org.uk http://lists.sxbrc.org.uk/adastra http://lists.sxbrc.org.uk/adastra-archives
