So Lockdown is still on but, I haven’t been idle or ill. In fact I have been walking a fair bit in my spare time, exploring where I live and checking out all those lanes and footpaths I pass going elsewhere.
The long gap in the blogs is mainly due to having had some work for the last nine months in ………emergency planning! Who knew?
Anyway this excursion has been long awaited. Glow Worm hunting!
Until this year I’d never seen one then in the space of a week two people mentioned them.
So I thought I’d take a look.
First a couple of weeks ago more local to my home in Hampshire, a friend and I set of up a dark track on a mild but windy night. The moon was huge so the way was visible.
Not really knowing what I was looking for but, as my friend had seen them before we were quick to spot them in the grass, little greeny coloured lights, quite bright.
I can quite easily understand why people believed in fairies it was quite magical in its own right!
There are two species of glow worm in Britain but the one you are likely to see is Lampyris noctiluca. Its a beetle not a worm and its the female that glows, she is flightless and has a segmented body, her abdomen lights up to attract the winged male. She basically sits on a blade of grass with her bum in the air! Classy!
They are most active (for lighting up and breeding) June and July and prefer areas where the grass is short and un managed. I was told they prefer areas where there is little light pollution, I guess we all look better in a dark room!
The glow worm is not uncommon but it is declining so make sure if you see any you see to I-record.
So that was the first excursion, second one to follow soon.
The Travelling Bee 