WONDERFUL WILDLIFE

THE WONDERFUL WILDLIFE OF HAYDON BATCH

Haydon batch is a lovely site owned by Radstock Town Council. Over the years, the batch has been transformed from a flattened spoil heap to a mixture of valuable habitats that has a really good diversity of flowering plants and is especially good for butterflies, particularly some of the smaller ones. The tall and low-growing herbs, grasses, shrubs and trees provide the plant needs of many different animals throughout the year. Rabbits help keep down coarse grasses and herbs, helping to provide the conditions needed by smaller butterflies like Common Blue, Brown Argus and Small Heath and providing bare earth, used by basking butterflies and reptiles and important for various insects. Four species of Skipper and two types of Burnet moth (striking day-flying moths) breed on the batch. Excitingly, Dingy Skipper has had a second brood this year, a ‘first’ in this locality according to Butterfly Conservation. Dingy Skipper, along with Small Heath and another butterfly recorded on the site this year, the White-letter Hairstreak, are special butterflies – UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species due to their decline in the UK.

Small Copper by Diana Walker

You may have seen the striking adult Black-and Yellow Longhorn beetle, whose larvae use dead wood, nectaring on the batch. From July to September you can hear various grasshoppers and bush crickets singing in the sunshine. There are birds, toads, bats, slow worms, bumblebees, flies, many different flowers, and more to see. Cam Valley Wildlife Group does surveys and insect events on the batch. If you would like to know more about the wildlife of the batch or help record the wildlife there, please contact us at camvalleywildlife@ gmail.com or ring Deborah on 01761 435563. Our events programme is on our website, at cvwg. org.uk. We operate in Radstock, Midsomer Norton and the surrounding area.