Scarlet Malachite Beetle 2010

Last photo for now - but the best of all, our wonderful Scarlet Malachite Beetle, nationally rare and one of the world's endangered species which we are highly privileged to offer habitat to in Clavering and Langley. These mysterious little creates appear only for a few weeks in May and June and then disappear we know not where. They are so beautiful feeding as here on the flowering foxtails - later they move to one or two other plants but once their flowering is over, then the beetles go too.

Many people dislike nettles but they highly valuable for wildlife as this ladybird busy this week on Dick Ball Meadow appreciates very well.

Just some of the thousands of cowslips which bloomed this year on Hill Green - a fantastic display.

May in Clavering has been glorious - more cowslips than I can ever remember - I gave up counting after reaching 2,000 heads of cowslip (or pegle) flowers on Hill Green. On Stickling Green the chalkland flowers are doing well with lots of salad burnet for instance - we have been counting Scarlet Malachite Beetles again and there seem fewer than last year. In Dick Ball Meadow a muntjac has somehow ended up dead in the stream, but the flowers are looking lovely and it is full of wildlife. I will try to post some photos if I can.
On another subject, at the annual parish meeting, the community unanimously supported a proposal by the Countryside Group to start a Nature Trail project in Clavering so we will be working on this over the next year or two.