The return of the beetles!

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust colleagues are a committed bunch – maybe it’s because wildlife is always throwing us surprises and we never know when a brief check might just reveal something new, startling or rewarding for all the work we put in. And so it was whilst pond-dipping on his lunch break in early December that team leader Jim Horsfall made a heartwarming discovery at Carr Lodge nature reserve in Doncaster. Tangled up in his net was Berosus luridus - a rare water beetle not seen for nearly 100 years.

Water exciting find!

Berosus luridus – tiny 5mm long brown beetles - has faced heavy declines in Yorkshire, having previously been found at a handful of other reserves including Askham Bog. Jim’s discovery was made about 1.5km away from Yorkshire’s one last record, noted in 1937 at what is now nearby Potteric Carr nature reserves - long enough ago that the beetle had been presumed extinct at Potteric Carr.

The area around Potteric Carr and Carr Lodge is significant in Yorkshire for its water beetles; in fact, nearly half of the 210 species recorded in Yorkshire have been found there since 2000!

This incredible diversity of species is down to the careful maintenance and diversity of habitat at Potteric Carr and Carr Lodge nature reserves by Jim and the team.

They’ve created new ponds to provide extra habitat, introduced river meandering and grazing livestock to prevent willow trees from taking over. Vegetation is kept in check with a range of plant heights around lakes and water courses to suit different species.

The view out of a bird hide at Potteric Carr nature reserve. The bright, blue summer sky is reflecting in the lake below. Photo by John Potter.

Cattle at Carr Lodge 10th May © Lynda Cristou 2020

Water with trees silhouetted in background

Enjoying the view over Potteric Carr, will we find any reptiles out there? Howard Roddie

View through the reed beds on a nature reserve

Reed beds at Potteric Carr (c) John Potter

In recent years the Trust has increased the area of nature reserve around this part of Doncaster, providing as much space as possible for wildlife to flourish. The drains in which berosus luridus were originally found in 1937 are now probably too polluted by the increasing urban sprawl of Doncaster for it to inhabit, but hopefully Carr Lodge and other parts of Potteric Carr will continue to be a home for this extremely rare species.

By preserving areas of biodiversity importance and creating stepping stones of habitat between nature reserves, we are creating an interconnected wild pathway that enables creatures of all sizes to traverse Yorkshire’s landscape and find new homes. Many of these creatures will be small, but incredibly significant invertebrates that we may not even know are there, much like these beetles that have been secretly fighting for survival in a remote Doncaster pond for the last 100 years.

Nature reserves alone are not big enough to restore wildlife that is continuing to decline, so working with others is vital. But continuing to search for and record wildlife helps us to understand what is happening, where work we are doing is having an impact and to prioritise work for the future.

Jim continues to pond dip on the site on his lunchbreaks in the hope that more species not seen for decades may re-emerge, or that he may – and this happens occasionally too - record a wild visitor to the site for the very first time, proving yet again that if you create a home, wildlife will move in.