Hi Mike and co, I was talking to the Biodiversity Officer for Hampshire CC today. We were talking about getting an area of roadside verge protected/sensitively managed, to protect a colony of Striped Lychnis.

While it seems that this colony has gone unnoticed by the BC, she told me that the Wildlife Trust are doing a survey of roadside verges, and may already have knowledge of this colony.

Do the BC and Wildlife Trust not share acquired knowledge .

Regards Gruditch

Hi - you don't mention where this sensitive verge is, but the survey organised by the Wildlife Trust was part-funded by BC's Moth Count project, and co-run by myself and the North Hants conservation team, so the answer is yes, all knowledge is shared. If you can give me more details, I can give a fuller response.

Mike

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Please visit the Hantsmoths website at http://www.hantsmoths.org.uk

Cheers Mike, I thought there must be some coordination, it didn't make sense for the BC not to be involved.

The area in question is SU 293 361 the verge on both sides of the road on Five Bells lane, between Gastons Farm and the B3084, Nether Wallop.

Regards Gruditch

Gruditch,

The joint survey was in the Ellisfield / Candovers area, south of Basingstoke, so didn't cover that part of the world. All records received by HIWWT are forwarded onto BC, and in turn both organisations submit records to HBIC (Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre). With the Ellisfield / Candover survey, the Trust had immediate success with the county's highway maintenance division in getting verge cutting regimes changed. BC itself has no responsibility or powers to directly protect or manage areas where Striped Lychnis is found; but the HCC Biodiversity officer should be able to influence their own organisation. The response we received from HCC following submission of the survey results was that:
"presence of this species would make the road verges eligible for inclusion in the Road verge project, which the Ecology group administer, and Highways implement. Part of the project objectives is to include special management for those sites that require it; one of the management prescriptions' is for a late September cut, so this would be perfect for these sites."
So I suggest your contact should get your site included in the Road verge project as a first step.

Hope that helps.

Mike

Edit: we do have a record of larvae at SU293362 recorded in an earlier HWT survey back in Aug 2003. Is your record current (last summer), or is it based on this old find?

_________________
Please visit the Hantsmoths website at http://www.hantsmoths.org.uk

Cheers Mike, sure does.

The saga with Striped Lychnis started when my colleague Felix, over on UK Butterflies, spotted that I had incorrectly entered it as a Mullein Moth in a monthly photography competition.

Recognising that this was a species in need of some protection, I then got Tim Norris to write a official BC letter to my Parish Council. The HCC Councillor, Andrew Gibson, was at the meeting at which the subject was brought up. He directs me to contact the Biodiversity Officer, who because they had changed offices, no one could find. But we got there eventually.



Thanks for your help, Regards Gruditch