Nature Guernsey Report – Autumn 2024
Following the three events reported on in the last Communiqué, the next Nature Guernsey outing was planned to coincide with National Insect Week. This took the form of a Bug Hunt which was organised in conjunction with the Entomology Section, and held at Bordeaux Mound on Saturday, June 22nd. It was a lovely, sunny afternoon and lots of really engaged children, armed with pots and nets, found all manner of things for our volunteers to identify – butterflies, ladybirds, lacewings, spiders, you name it, they found it. We also sneaked in some moths caught overnight in the garden of a volunteer who lives close to Bordeaux.
Nature Guernsey Bug Hunt. Photo courtesy of Emma Boughey.
One young man potted a cricket which he showed to two members of Entomology Section. Something about the specimen seemed different and so it was kept to be photographed. Research by our local entomologists identified this as a Brown-spotted Bush Cricket, a species they were unfamiliar with.
On sending a photograph to the British Orthoptera Society, confirmation of the identification was received. The cricket is a new species not just for Guernsey or even the Channel Islands, but also unrecorded in Britain! Quite a coup! This is not the first time a Nature Guernsey event has turned up an interesting and unusual creature, showing that they are not only encouraging children to actively engage with nature, but are adding to the island’s database.
On Wednesday, August 28th, Nature Guernsey, this time in conjunction with the Bat Section, organised an evening walk at Saumarez Park. As always, this was an extremely popular event and we were delighted that so many members of the public came to find out more about our natural world. The evening started with a fascinating introductory talk ‘Bats are Brilliant’ which contained information on the species we have in the Bailiwick, why they are important and how we can help to protect them. Bat detectors were then handed out and as we walked around the park, we could both hear and see bats, who came out a short time after sunset and put on a marvellous display for our enjoyment.
Nature Guernsey Bat Walk. Photo courtesy of the Bat Section.
Our final event of the year was the ‘Late Summer Family Event’ held on Sunday September 1st at La Société’s land at Pleinmont. As usual, the first activity of the day was to be moth trap emptying, and Entomology Section was delighted to be joined by three ‘moth-ers’ from the UK who also set their traps overnight at Pleinmont, excited to see which species might be found in this coastal habitat, quite different from their normal trapping areas.
Early Sunday morning, the traps were collected from the various overnight positions and brought to the gazebos for checking and recording. Unfortunately, although the (very!) early morning had been dry, rain began to fall. To continue or cancel – this is always one of the most difficult decisions to make. On studying the weather radar, it was decided that the rain was moving through quite quickly and the event should go ahead as planned. Although the rain did not stop quite as soon as we would have liked, the gazebos provided shelter for the moth trap emptying to begin, and there were indeed some interesting finds including three species of hawk-moth, with a Death’s-head Hawk-moth, being the most unusual. This is a spectacular beast, and was new to many people!
Privet Hawk-Moth. Photo courtesy of Emma Boughey.
Nature Guernsey was delighted to be gifted ‘moth tent’ by the visiting ‘moth-ers’. In reality, a mosquito tent, using it allows trap to be opened without the moths flying away before being identified, but also meant our younger visitors could ‘get up close and personal’ with many species, and it was extremely popular.
As the weather improved, we were gradually able to set up all the other activities and were delighted that many people had not been put off but came along to join us.
La Société’s Education/Conservation officers were on hand to help with making collages and colouring activities while keeping an eye on the bird identification game, which proved to be quite a challenge!
The Bug Hunt was as popular as always with a good variety of invertebrates spotted in the ‘weedy strip’ sown with a wildlife crop. These included Field Grasshoppers, Great Green Bush Crickets, Earwigs and various butterflies.
Bird ringing continued throughout the morning, and although hopes were not high for this weather-dependent activity, a steady trickle of birds were caught, including Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Dunnock, Wren and Whitethroat. This latter species was especially interesting, as it was on passage to its wintering grounds in Africa. All birds were ringed, winged and weighed, before being released unharmed.
Bat Section’s display attracted a lot of interest with youngsters keen to try out the ‘Bat Sounds Board’ which contains information about all the species found in the Bailiwick and allows us to listen to their Echolocation calls. (‘Seeing with Sound’ beyond the range of human hearing).
As well as the usual activities, we were delighted to welcome the two youngest members of the Conservation Herd, who were a popular addition to the event, and seemed unfazed by all the attention!
During the morning, prizes were presented to the winners of the competition we ran at the West Show, when entrants were asked to guess the number of bird species recorded in Guernsey since records began. The answer, up to the end of 2023, is an impressive 333. While no one had exactly the right answer we had some very near guesses and congratulations go to the winners in the different age categories.
The prizes were given out by La Société’s President, who is a knowledgeable birder and bird ringer.
As always, I cannot finish this report without saying thank you to all the volunteers who give so freely of their time, so that these events can go ahead. Enthusing the younger generation, and instilling in them a love of nature, is an important tool in ensuring that the natural world is protected in the future.
Lesley Bourgaize – Chairperson – Nature Guernsey
