Amateur
Entomologists'
Society

Wildlife surveys in National Trust gardens

Published: 19 January 2008

The National Trust needs to learn more about the wildlife occurring in its 130 formal gardens, attached to historic mansions. Recent surveys of a small sample of gardens discovered four species of invertebrate new to Britain: a Mediterranean whorl snail, a bug on mistletoe, an obscure leaf litter fly and a paper wasp.

In fact, when we had a Bug Club stand at Osterley Park in the summer one of the Bug Clubbers found a newly emerged female stag beetle deep in some rotting wood. This species had not been found at Osterley before!

The Trust wishes to hear from naturalists visiting its gardens, particularly specialists in the less widely recorded wildlife groups. Many properties will welcome detailed surveys by specialists and can enable free entrance, including on days when gardens are not open to the public.

Full details of existing survey knowledge, garden by garden, and information for surveyors are on the National Trust web site.

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