\n New species records and surprising discoveries have been made, some not seen in the county for decades.\n<\/p>\n
\n A peak count of more than 300 chalkhill blue butterflies was recorded at Hexton Chalk Pit, near Hitchin, while a great white egret was spotted at Amwell, near Ware.\n<\/p>\n
\n A Great White Egret was seen at Amwell Nature Reserve near Ware. (Image: HMWT)\n<\/p>\n
\n Dan Townsend, senior reserves officer at the wildlife trust, said: “One of the most exciting things about wildlife recording is that you never quite know what you are going to find.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This summer we\u2019ve had some extraordinary records, from species that haven\u2019t been recorded in Hertfordshire for decades to new discoveries for individual reserves.\n<\/p>\n
\n “They show just how much wildlife is out there, and how important it is that we protect the habitats it depends on.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Several discoveries were made through the Herts Invertebrate Project, which visited Fir and Pond Woods, near Potters Bar, at the end of June.\n<\/p>\n
\n During the visit, the team recorded euides basilinea – a planthopper associated with reeds, and never before recorded in Hertfordshire.\n<\/p>\n
\n The stripe-winged grasshopper was also identified, marking a new record for the reserve.\n<\/p>\n
\n Previously known from only three county sites, this species appears to be spreading.\n<\/p>\n
\n A stripe-winged grasshopper was spotted at Fir and Pond Woods near Potters Bar. (Image: Ian Carle)\n<\/p>\n
\n The survey also uncovered agyneta mollis – a tiny money spider classified as ‘nationally rare’ and listed as a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.\n<\/p>\n
\n An unexpected discovery was also made during a Local Wildlife Site survey at Hexton Chalk Pit.\n<\/p>\n
\n Volunteers found a glow worm – the first records at the reserve for 25 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n A follow-up night visit revealed a glowing glow worm elsewhere on the reserve.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hexton Chalk Pit near Hitchin. (Image: Kathryn Dunnett)\n<\/p>\n
\n Hot weather has had mixed effects on wildlife.\n<\/p>\n
\n Grasshoppers appear to be thriving, with species like the stripe-winged grasshopper recorded at more sites.\n<\/p>\n
\n Butterflies have also benefited, with some able to complete their life cycle more quickly in the heat and emerge in larger numbers.\n<\/p>\n
\n A peak count of more than 300 Chalkhill blue butterflies was recorded at Hexton Chalk Pit. (Image: Paul Thrush)\n<\/p>\n
\n However, the warm conditions have been challenging for bumblebees and hoverflies, which have struggled during the hottest periods.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dan said: “Every record matters.\n<\/p>\n
\n “These discoveries help us understand which species are present, where they are found and how they are responding to changes in their environment.\n<\/p>\n
\n “That knowledge is essential for informing the management of our nature reserves effectively and giving wildlife the opportunity to thrive.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New species records and surprising discoveries have been made, some not seen in the county for decades. A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-756834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}