This is another species which had been rapidly expanding its northerly UK range for
a number of years and by 2021 had become increasingly common across
Nottinghamshire and widespread in areas of long grass. It reached Leicestershire in 2016, when recorded from
Ketton Quarry (Nightingale, K.) and
finally reached Nottinghamshire in May 2019, when Darren Matthews found
and photographed one at Gedling CP. A second record followed from Gedling CP in mid-June
2019 (Tyler, M.), but it was a surprise
find at Sherwood Forest CP in May 2020, before turning up near Rainworth
Heath in September 2020.
It is now very common in areas of long grass and comes in a range of
colours. Thanks go to Darren Matthews, for allowing us to use
his photographs (bottom two). |
