Darley and Nutwood reserve is rich in insect life. This list has been compiled mainly from observations by local experts Bill Grange Steve Plant, also myself. However , apart from butterflies (and my favourites, grasshoppers and bush-crickets), we have relatively little data on this vast group. And yet there is so much to see.
On a warm summer day, you may well see butterflies, but also bumble bees and hoverflies feeding at flowers. Dragonflies patrol, searching for prey, or for a mate. Hidden away, among the trees and bushes, there may be brightly coloured shield bugs, and camouflaged caterpillars and sawflies, on their various food plants. Down in the grass, mostly unseen, live grasshoppers and bush crickets and beetles, little jumping plant bugs and tiny green leafhoppers. Underground, ants (food for Green Woodpeckers) are toiling. Pond skaters may be found on any small ephemeral ponds. And surely plenty more creatures are to be found in the river.
Help us learn more about the amazing array of small creatures on this reserve. Do send in any records. If you’ve seen something interesting, and don’t know what it is, send us a photograph if you can and we will do our best to have it identified.
by Felicity Jackson