News > Rugged oil beetle stronghold in the Stroud Valleys
Rugged oil beetle stronghold in the Stroud Valleys
Buglife and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust are celebrating the discovery of eleven rugged oil beetles at Elliott nature reserve, on Swift’s Hill near Stroud.
9th January 2012
Eleven rugged oil beetles, which are believed to be in serious decline, were counted at the Elliott nature reserve on Swift's Hill near Stroud. The Stroud valleys have been a stronghold for the beetle, as have reserves in Somerset and Wiltshire.
The rare Rugged oil beetle (Meloe rugosus) is one of four species of oil beetle that are believed to have suffered drastic declines in the UK. Another four oil beetle species are now thought to be extinct in the UK.
 Buglife.jpg) |
| Rugged oil beetle (Meloe rugosus) at Strawberry Banks © Buglife |
"Rugged oil beetles are fascinating" says Kathy Meakin, Survey and Monitoring Coordinator at the Trust. "Very unusually the adults are nocturnal and active in winter, whereas our other three oil beetles are usually found during the spring. Oil beetles are parasites of solitary mining bees, the larvae hitching a ride on the bees to their nests where they eat the bee’s eggs and pollen and nectar stores. We don't yet know which species of bee the rugged oil beetle parasitises, but good numbers of beetles must mean good numbers of solitary bees. It's a very good sign we are getting our habitat management right if we can find rare, specialised parasites. " Buglife are encouraging the public to go out and look for oil beetles and have identification information on their website. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust will continue to search for the beetle at its other Stroud Valleys grassland reserves. Anyone interested in getting involved is welcome to get in touch. Andrew Whitehouse, Conservation Officer at Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust says “We usually find Rugged oil beetles in low numbers when we survey sites – perhaps ones or twos, so to find eleven in one go is impressive. We know that the Stroud valleys are a national stronghold for this species – the work of Gloucester Wildlife Trust will ensure that they continue to thrive here. We are delighted that the Trust are helping us conserve these amazing beetles.”
Professional ecologist Jon Mellings, from Dursley, also recorded seven specimens of the beetle at Swift's Hill last November.
"After two and a half hours searching the site using torchlight, I found an aggregation of six Rugged Oil Beetles and another individual several metres away," he said.
"The beetles were feeding on various herbs and grass stems but were initially difficult to spot even with torchlight."
Click on ths link to find out about the national oil beetle survey. Click here to visit Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust website.
