A disappointing aspect of Nottinghamshire's present flora and fauna, is often the lack of freely available information. On a personal level, this is extremely frustrating when trying to ascertain the status of any particular species, but the problem is not always the fault of any county recorder, but the fact that people are not sending in reports of species they find.

The Glow Worm is just one example of this, but it is a difficult species to see through the beetle's nocturnal habits. Therefore, many reports recieved by the county recorder are probably accidental in occurrence.

Mated females lay eggs shortly after mating is completed. A female we caught with a male one evening, had begun laying by the end of the night. Eggs were laid just into the soil substrate, usually into available cracks and crevices. The larva is carnivorous, feeding predominantly on a diet of small snails. Maturity can take around two years to complete, but is often less in captivity, where the temperature is warmer.

Nottinghamshire and UK status

Although it has probably disappeared from many of it's former Nottinghamshire localities, there is a likelyhood that it may still be present, but in much reduced numbers. It is considered as being local across much of the UK, where numbers have declined at many sites in recent years.

Sheila Wright at the NBGRC at Wollaton Hall, said that the Birklands and Sherwood Forest areas were a stronghold for Glow Worms (about 12 reported sites in the last 20 years) and that there were several other known sites around the county.

However, contact with Robin Scagell of the UK Glow Worm Survey website showed otherwise, with little recent (post 2000) data from any Nottinghamshire sites. There were several very old records and sites listed, but few from modern times. We therefore decided to try and ascertain the current status of the Glow Worm in the Sherwood Forest area, by checking suitable areas and visiting old/historical sites where that had a known grid reference.

The light from glow worms is a form of bioluminescence and caused when luciferin molecules are oxydised to produce oxyluciferin, with the enzyme luciferase acting as a catalyst in the reaction (Ref: UK Glow Worm Survey website) Subtle differences are evident in the shapes of the glowing plates of four different females, photographed at Clipstone Old Quarter during June and July 2008, but the female in the bottom right photograph is possibly showing the presence of very small mites.

More Glow Worm photographs available here, including access to some larger images.

There are currently two main areas we survey/monitor for Glow Worms at Clipstone Old Quarter. The whole site and two main paths/tracks run north-south, with a natural (often cooler) hollow mid-way their lengths. A gravel path is especially suited to searching for larvae during early Spring evenings, due to the fine nature of material used in it's construction. Vegetation growth either side of this path is entirely different, being open grass on one side and more mixed herbaceous vegetation the other. A line of old Holly bushes runs much of it's length and there is occasional Birch crub growth and patches of Bramble.

The track has two directional aspects - running east-west and north-south. The east-west track is the warmest and sunniest section where Glow Worms are found (especially from mid-day onwards), but in 2008 actually produced very few Glow Worms. The average temperature along this track is also slightly warmer than the grass area, although we have not confirmed this as yet. This may be the cause of why adults appeared along this track earlier than in the grass in 2009. The north-south section has a sunny and warm aspect, but becomes lightly shaded by Pines during the afternoon, but is productive for glowing females.

Glow Worm habitat - Sherwood Heath SSSI

Sherwood Heath offers the study of Glow Worms in a more traditional heathland habitat, of which several areas remain around the Sherwood Forest NNR. Yet despite these other sites looking perfectly capable of supporting Glow Worms, only Sherwood Heath seems to hold them. In 2008 we found a very large number of females (well over 200) after drawing a blank on a previous early morning hours survey.

The site is largely grass, with areas of Bracken and both Gorse and Birch scrub. Some small sections of turf have been removed to allow for Heather re-growth. The heath has a very open aspect despite it's seemingly small acreage. The western section borders onto Oak and Birch woodland, which provides some shelter from westerly winds.