These guidelines and site selection have been based upon the dragonfly atlas (White, SJ & Smith PH. 2015. The Dragonflies of Lancashire and North Merseyside. Lancashire & Cheshire Fauna Society.)
Od1 Any site which regularly supports a breeding population of ten or more species of dragonfly or damselfly.
Od2 Any site which regularly supports a breeding population of a rare or scarce North Merseyside breeding species
This species is found mainly in moist meadows and hedgerows where adults feed mainly on umbellifers such as Heracleum sphondylium (Hogweed) and Anthriscus sylvestris (Cow Parsley). It is also found on nettles and thistles.
Their flight time is May to August but numbers peak in May and June. It is a stem boring species who’s larvae develop in the stalks of the host plant, working their way down while growing, eventually cutting off the stalk and creating pupal cells near to ground level. Adults emerge through a newly cut exit hole in the side of the stalk.
It is a large a very distinctive longhorn beetle, reaching a length of 10-22 millimetres. It has a golden, iridescent bloom on the elytra and thorax and the antennae are also very distinctive having dark and light bands.
1. CURRENT STATUS 1.1 National 1.1.1 Petalwort is a nationally scarce liverwort found mainly in damp, lime-rich sand-dune slacks. It occurs in 16 Vice Counties in Britain and two in Northern Ireland. The largest known populations are in Cornwall, Devon, Cardigan, Anglesey, South Lancashire, Northumberland and West Ross. It is thought that 25 – 49%… Read More »
1 Current status 1.1 National Purple Ramping-fumitory is a nationally scarce, endemic annual plant which used to be widespread in the mixed farming and arable areas of Britain. However, during the last 50 years it has undergone a drastic decline throughout its former range due to agricultural intensification. Recent records of the plant are mainly… Read More »
1 Current status 1.1 National Occurring in at least 22 coastal localities in the Isle of Man and western Britain from central Scotland to south-west England, the Isle of Man Cabbage is a nationally scarce British endemic. The New Atlas of the British Flora (2002) maps it as native in 34 post-1086 hectads, extending from… Read More »
1 Introduction The Biodiversity Audit of North West England (1999) lists 474 taxa of vascular plants of “conservation importance”, 145 of which occur on the Sefton Coast. Whittling these down to a manageable number for Species Action Plans has been a daunting task. Two, Dune Helleborine and Isle of Man Cabbage, are listed as UK… Read More »
1 Current status 1.1 National Stoneworts are large algae mostly associated with freshwater bodies ranging in size from deep lakes and canals to small ephemeral ponds. Most species require calcareous, low-nutrient conditions. They are, therefore, fairly restricted in distribution, being largely confined to high water quality habitats on sand, peat or clay substrates. Lesser Bearded… Read More »
1. Current Status 1.1 National 1.1.1 This habitat covers unimproved, semi-improved and improved grasslands occurring in urban and urban fringe areas. Soil types typically vary between a moist substrate with a pH between 5.0 and 6.5, a sandy, base-poor substrate or one which is less distinctive, due to former industrial processes or on-going urban greenspace… Read More »
1. Current Status 1.1 European and National 1.1.1 Coastal sand dunes are a declining and threatened habitat throughout Europe and the UK, particularly fixed dune and dune heath types. Their current status across Europe is “unfavourable declining”. 1.1.2 The total area of coastal sand dune in the UK is 54,500 ha: 11,897 ha in England;… Read More »
1 Current status 1.1 National 1.1.1 Urban trees can be defined as those that occur as individuals or small groups rather than in woodlands. Sites include roadsides and verges, parks, cemeteries and private gardens. 1.1.2 No national information is available on numbers, species or distribution. Trees in Towns” 1994 gives representation data status, species and… Read More »