Latest News
Latest Wildlife News in the Charnwood Area
Please email your records and photos of anything you may think our Members will find of interest to Jim Graham
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27 October 2025 – The wasp gall Andricus gemmeus f. agamic on Oak
As many of you will be aware, one of my big interests in recent years has been the recording of plant galls. Although there are a wide range of plant galls caused by various organisms on many plants, I do tend to see the same ones regularly. My gall recording has usually taken the form of just looking at various plants and trees noting what I find, although I have searched for some specific galls such as those on buttercups, creeping cinquefoil and ragwort after I had been alerted to them. I have noticed recently on NatureSpot that more people are finding the wasp gall Andricus gemmeus f. agamic on Oak. This is something that I was never going to find by chance but needed to search for it.
On the Loughborough Naturalists’ trip to Swithland Wood on the 1 October 2025 I decided to make a priority of searching for it. This gall is often formed on dormant buds of the new twiggy growth on the trunks of oak trees. It is about 3-4 mm in diameter, yellow then orange, red to brown as it matures. The surface is covered in bumps. So far there are 22 records on NatureSpot for VC55.
To my delight I found it on two of the oak trees in the woods, and these have been confirmed by Sue Timms on NatureSpot. Both specimens were early and yellow to orange.
It is an interesting gall, only having arrived in Britain in 2008, but spread widely since then. It is another of the wasp galls on oak such as Knopper, Cola Nut, and Ramshorn, that need Turkey Oak for the alternate generation, where they should occur on branches and the trunk, but have not yet been recorded in Britain. I will have to examine Turkey Oaks more carefully in the spring.
Hazel Graves
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A report of recent Fungi sightings at Charnwood Lodge by Margaret McLoughlin in October can be found HERE
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A Report of the Field Trip to Swithland Wood on 1 October 2025 can be found HERE
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19 September 2025 – Willow Emerald Damselfly
It was a bit of a shock to find this male Willow Emerald Damselfly in our Cropston garden pond.
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A Report on the Club’s Field Trip Report to Kelham Bridge on 6 August 2025 can be found HERE.
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An updated report of the BioBlitz at Queen’s Park, Loughborough can be found HERE.
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1 July 2025 – New Dragonfly Species for VC55
Green-eyed or Norfolk Hawker has been recorded for the first time in VC55 along the Grantham Canal, close to Redmile. Follow this link at NatureSpot for full details.
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30 June 2025 – Cropston Reservoir – Scarlet Tiger
Found whilst monitoring the Sand Martin colony at Cropston Reservoir – looks like a first site record.
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25 June 2025 – Blackbrook Reservoir
Whilst doing a recce for a Loughborough Nats walk near Blackbrook Reservoir later in the year, Oscar Orridge and I stumbled across this Purple Hairstreak, which was a nice surprise.
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21 June 2025 – Emperor Dragonfly
A first for the garden. A female emperor Dragonfly ovipositing on lilies in our Cropston garden pond.
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A Report of the Club’s June 2025 Field Trip to Jubilee Walk, Shepshed and White Horse Wood can be found HERE.
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10 April 2025 – Goshawks in Charnwood!!!
The Leicestershire & Rutland Ornithological Society has recently announced that Goshawks seem to be establishing as a regular bird in the Charnwood Forest. After extensive discussion, there is now a Goshawk viewing area in Bradgate Park below the War Memorial.
For more details please see the LROS page https://lros.org.uk/the-phantom-of-the-forest-returns/
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8 April 2025 – House Sparrow Survey
The Leicestershire & Rutland Ornithological Society is carrying out a thorough House Sparrow survey in Leicestershire & Rutland during 2025. The House Sparrow has declined by over 50% in the last 20 years but it is still poorly recorded in VC55. The intention is to map their locations and work out the population size. Help is needed from everyone to do this. If you see any House Sparrows, please report them using the link below, which takes you to a simple recording form. Thank you.
House Sparrow Recording Form Link
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5 March 2025 – First Migrant Birds
The first singing Chiffchaffs have been heard in the area with singles near Thornton Reservoir dam on the 5th, Bradgate Park on the 6th and Swithland Res on the 7th.
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22 December 2024 – Starling Murmuration
Spectacular murmuration of approx. 10,000 birds this afternoon at Brascote Pits. Dropped into the reedbed close to the public footpath at SK44560231 – Steve Woodward
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4 December 2024 – Mycena pseudocorticola
A small troop of Mycena pseudocorticola was found in moss on an Oak tree at Bosworth Country Park at SK41150266 during the Loughborough Naturalists’ wildlife walk. Photographs and samples were taken and identify confirmed by renowned Mycologist John N Hedger. This is the first known record for the county since 6 September 2016 in Holly Hayes Wood, Whitwick. Jim Graham
Mycena pseudocorticola All photos (c) Jim Graham
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