Kemerton Cuttings: News From The Kemerton Trust

By John Clarke

Foot and Mouth has severely restricted activities but there have been a few notable records:

Quail was heard calling from one site - a first for Kemerton Estate.
A small colony of Purple Hairstreak has been found - I believe that the nearest known colony is at Tiddesley Wood (about 8 kilometres away).
A large mining bee 'colony' was discovered in 2000. This year we checked again and at one stage estimated 20,000 holes present in late April. The colony then went quiet but was quite busy again in late July. John Meiklejohn, Geoff Trevis and his contacts have been providing identifications of the few samples so far collected. The most notable species to date is Andrena flavipes - apparently a first record for Worcestershire. Once later specimens have been identified we will give more details. Hopefully, we can arrange visits by Worcestershire Biological Records experts in 2002. Meanwhile urgent management works are being undertaken to prevent the rapid spread of vegetation.

Kemerton Conservation Trust has negotiated a five-year agreement with a farmer in the area - to help conserve the rich arable flora on his land. Trust staff made three visits this year - some of the headlands were yellow with Corn Buttercup, there was quite a lot of Shepherd's Needle, both Fluellens, and in one field there were carpets of Blue Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis ssp foemina).

KEMERTON CONSERVATION TRUST Registered Office: Kemerton Court, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 7HY. Registered Charity No. 702488. Governors: A.M.G. Darby, M.G. Darby, C. M. Darby, P. S. Doble, R. C Knight, C.F. Nicholson, A.J.M. Teacher, R. H. Workman, J.E.J. White.

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