Lovelocks Meadow Invertebrate Survey

Back in May 2006 Friends Of Swaines Green (FoSG) members Martin McCleary and Tina Maryan worked with professional entomologists John Ismay BSc, PhD, FFRES and Barbara Ismay MSc, DPSI to undertake an invertebrate survey of Lovelocks Meadow.

Since 2006, Swaines Green was been in the safe hands of the City Of London and Epping Town Council, but it was felt Lovelocks (one of the four fields that make up Swaines Green) had the potential for being very rich in invertebrates.

With the help of Countrycare the FoSG we were successful in obtaining a grant from the Big Lottery and John and Barbara agreed to supervise the survey.

The object of the survey was to provide a comprehensive record of the invertebrates of Lovelocks. It was carried out in two periods between May and July and then September and October 2006. Three moth trapping sessions were also conducted the following year in 2007.

Methods of collecting the insects were active sampling and passive sampling. The active sampling was done by means of sweeping, beating and suction sampling. Sweeping was carried out with a standard insect net. Beating involved collecting insects, which were resting on trees or bushes. A stick is used to hit or beat the bush or tree, while holding a net or tray underneath to catch the dislodged insects. Suction sampling used a converted leaf blower, which sucked insects out of tussocks or grasses into an insect net.

Passive Sampling was carried out using pan traps and aerial traps. These were white or yellow plastic containers with a small amount of detergent diluted with water. The traps were placed 15cm above the ground. Aerial traps consist of clear plastic Perplex vertical vanes with a Perplex roof, and a collecting bowl underneath, and were suspended roughly 5m above the ground. The insects from these traps were collected on a weekly basis

Species collected were: true flies, moths, beetles, spiders, bees, wasp, ants  and gall wasps and grasshoppers. Of these, 8 were RDB species, 31 were notable/nationally scarce species, 1 BAP species and 101 local species. In total 141 species of conservation concern were recorded.

In order to evaluate the quality of a site an Invertebrate Index is used, so for example, RDB species are scored 100 points, Notable-Na species 50 points and so on. As a general guide a site scoring 5.00 would be regarded as a good invertebrate site. Between 7.50 and 10 it would be of national significance. Lovelocks score was 5.38 which shows that it is good site for invertebrates, and of at least regional importance.

Article by Martin McCleary (Friends of Swaines Green)

• Report on the invertebrate survey at Swaines Green and Lovelocks 2006 (Ismay and Ismay 2006) File size 4.41Mb