Strandline Beetle Survey Wednesday 6th September 2017

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Back in the swing....

After fixing a stile, and crecoting (the new safer version of creosote) the door to the shelter Veronica and I had lunch on the beach, after what seemed a never ending drive though soft sand!

I wanted to start the September round of Strandline Beetle surveys so we walked the most productive stretch of beach between CE51 and the end of grazing field 2.

We found five beetles along this stretch which I was pleased about as in August I hadn't recorded any along the beach in the survey area, (Barry Stewart during the survey for Natural Resources Wales in 2016 felt that they disappear at that time of year).

The Strandline Beetle

All five beetles we found were under plastic of one sort or another, despite there being some "ideal looking" pieces of driftwood lying on the beach. One beetle was found under a plastic barrel at the foot of a near vertical dune cliff, not apparently having read the literature which indicates they don't like that habitat.

Hopefully the beetles found will go on to breed in the next few weeks thus sustaining an already fragile population.

There's still another stretch of beach to survey which proved productive early in the season.



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