Bugs on Box Hill

Last Friday afternoon a joint group of volunteers, wardens, and Friends members were let loose on Juniper Hill with butterfly nets and collecting jars to see what they could find.

Gail Jeffcoate, from the Friends, had arranged for two entymologists, Mike Edwards and Graham Collins, who had carried out an insect survey on Box Hill to come and show us what was involved. Each armed with a net we advanced across Juniper sweeping the grass at different heights, sweeping the shrubs and lower tree branches, and collecting everything in plastic phials for identification. Mike and Graham identified the mixed collection of spiders, wasps, butterflies, and bugs we found before releasing them back.

The point was not really to find anything particularly rare but to show us what was involved in a proper survey, how the different habitats supported different species, and how important it was to maintain the right balance of grassland, scrub, and trees.

We then moved on to Happy Valley for a more general discussion of habitat management. Mike commented on the scrub clearance that had already been done by the volunteers and suggested, a bit controversially, that removing a few of the yews from the lower slopes would benefit the chalk grassland and help increase the flora and insect population. A joint working group of the Box Hill volunteers and the Lower Mole Valley volunteers will be returning to Happy Valley this week to carry out a large area of scrub clearance - but the yews will be left intact!