Foxglove 25 - Species Audit

Saturday, April 1st 2017

During our 25th year we are doing an audit of the flora and fauna found at Foxglove. It is highly unlikely that we will record all 2602 species, but we will do our best.

The monthly flower walk recorded 18 flowers that fulfilled the criteria of being 'open', including Hairy Bittercress. This did need to be checked.

Checking a flower ID

Although looking for flowers our attention was drawn to some tiny things! Initially we thought they were spiderlings as there were so many of them walking about on the hand rail of the bridge. When home and photos downloaded only six legs could be accounted for, and they had a hairy bottom! With help from a friend of Foxglove they were identified as Globular Springtails. Photographing these tiny insects was not easy and when the photos were cropped and enlarged to show detail, they have become slightly pixilated.

Globular Springtail

We are still working on a species ID but think these could be Allacma fusca and if so it is the third new species for the reserve this year.

Globular Springtail

Back to the flowers, we were rather surprised that the female Hazel flower was still to be seen.

Hazel leaves growing over the female flower

Some species we rarely see, some like the Grey Squirrel are an all too frequent visitor to the seed feeders. We can also see where they have been, This neat line of empty Hazel Nut shells look rather fresh, so I am presuming they have been retrieved from some that were stored in the autumn.

Hazel Nut shells

Back at the Field Centre, we were easily distracted from the washing up by two Long-tailed Tits feeding from the peanuts.

Long-tailed tits

As spring continues the number of species, particularly the invertebrates, will increase so adding to our list, which already stands at over 100.

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Access to the Reserve: OPEN with limited access

Monday 18th March 2024 |

The reserve is now open, although again with limited access.

Visitors will be able to access the reserve with the use of key fobs provided at the pass office upon entrance to the camp, or will be provided entrance and exit through the access gate by an officer from the camp Guard Room. In this case visitors will need a mobile phone to call the Guard Room when they wish to exit the reserve.

Please be aware that due to these circumstances, entering and leaving the reserve might take a little longer than usual.