Sherwood Forest is well known to naturalists across the UK as a site of national importance for invertebrates and this page intends to look at the changes which have occurred within the Forest's Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Arachnida, since the late 1800's/early 1900's, through to the present day.

In 1977, a Nature Conservation review classed the 200 hectare Sherwood Forest Country Park as a Grade 1 area of ancient woodland and heathland. The site was later reclassified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act and then awarded National Nature Reserve (NNR) status in 2002. The Sherwood NNR is encompassed within a larger area, with the main sites being Sherwood Forest Country Park and Budby South Forest. There are several other areas of woodland which are included within both SSSI's and some of these are strictly private.

Due to a legal loophole, Natural England had to notify the ancient Sherwood Forest area as two separate Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which they continue to regard as representing the whole of the Birklands and Bilhaugh (Sherwood Forest) complex. The two SSSI's are known as Birklands and Bilhaugh, and Birklands West and Ollerton Corner.

The whole site lies on the dry, nutrient-poor soil of Sherwood Sandstone. Woodland is dominated by mature native trees including Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea) Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robor) and Silver Birch (Betula pendula) with Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) Holly (Ilex aquifolium) and Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) occurring in smaller numbers.

Areas of non-native trees such as Beech (Fagus sylvatica) and Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) are gradually being removed from the site as part of current forest restoration policy. The forest holds over 1 000 ancient Oaks.

Heathland habitat across the site is limited and fragmented, but outside the reserve, former Forestry Commission Pine plantations are been cleared as part of an ongoing heathland restoration project. Immediately to the north of Sherwood Forest CP is the more expansive heathland area of Budby South Forest.

Ground flora is poor over much of the NNR, with the limited diversity expected from such a heavily wooded site of this age and on this soil-type. Typically, much of the ground flora consists of various grasses and Bracken.

Invertebrate recording at Sherwood seems to have been much greater a century ago. There was certainly greater coverage of all invertebrate groups, most of which were given much time and patience in their recording. Perhaps much of this was down to the fact that naturalists around the turn of the last century, tended to be more diverse in their interests and maybe had much more curious minds than most of us do today. However, after saying that, there has been a noticable swing to the recording of the main invertebrate groups - Coleoptera (Beetles) Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths) and Arachnida (Spiders). These three groups are now attaining some coverage from an increasing number of birdwatchers, who are broadening their natural history interests towards invertebrates and their recording, whilst still maintaining their former interest.

Today's Nottinghamshire naturalist is fortunate to have reference to J.W. Carr's book "The invertebrate fauna of Nottinghamshire" published in 1916. Copies are difficult to get, but it is well worth having. Carr 's book produces many historical records from collectors who were active during the late 1800's and early 1900's, The majority of Carr's Lepidoptera records came from R.E. Brameld and Sterland, although Carr found many of Sterland's records to be unacceptable at the time of collating the records, based largely on the lack of supporting evidence and the rarity of the species involved. There are many examples of such 'one off ' records that Brameld never recorded during his work there.

Modern invertebrate recording

If we take 'modern' as being after the 1960's, then much of the modern work on Sherwood's invertebrates has come via specifically targeted surveys and a few personal long term studies. Specific site surveys have been conducted regularly since 1998. These have predominantly been surveys for both Coleoptera and Arachnida.

During the 1960's and into the 1970's, many Coleoptera records came from C. Johnson, P. Skidmore and F.A. Hunter, whilst over the last twenty years, S. Wright, A. and C. Dutton and A. and A. Binding and ourselves have all contributed records. D.A. Lott surveyed much of the Sherwood Forest area in 1998, which was subsequently followed by a further survey in 2000 by A.B. Drane. More recently, areas of Sherwood Forest were again surveyed by M.L. Denton, E.J. Green, D.G. Hemingway, R.J. Marsh and D. Sharp in 2001/2002, before being surveyed by ourselves in 2008. Records by A. Godfrey and B. Marsh in 2003, A. Godfrey again in both 2004 and 2006, have contributed a substantial number of records from the less frequently recorded area of Sherwood Heath and provided several new species for the Forest in the process.

No specific Lepidoptera surveys were ever undertaken at Sherwood Forest prior to some work we did in 2008, although Sherwood's Lepidoptera has always been relatively well recorded. This was especially so during the 1980's, with a Rothamsted trap in continual operation at the Country Park from 1986-1990 and an MV light trap in use between 1982 and 1988. Lawrence Bee was responsible for running the trap when at the Country Park and worked with several others including M.J. Sterling from 1982-1984, A.M. Riley in 1985, I. Tillotson in 1986 and J.D. Parrack 1987-1988. During the 1990's, B. Elliott spent much time recording Sherwood's Lepidoptera and contributed many records to the database of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Entomological Society and there were some regular light trapping sessions carried out by D. Budworth, I. Travers-Ayre and various other people. Since 2000, S. Wright and J.E. Osbourne have trapped with MV at Sherwood Heath SSSI, Buck Gates and at another private area of woodland in the NNR. We began regular trapping at the Country Park in 2008 and have maintained regular coverage throughout 2009. There has also been an increase in coverage at Budby South Forest, with trapping by I.Leach, P. Baker and D. Hursthouse and others during the latter half of 2009. Sherwood's Lepidoptera is currently being well covered and quite deservedly so.

Arachnida have not been so well recorded. An almost full site survey by M.L. Denton, E.J. Green, D.G. Hemingway, G. Legg, D.R. Nellist and D. Sharp in 2002 and at Sherwood Heath by A. Godfrey in 2003, 2004 and 2006. Further work was carried out at the Country Park by H. Williams, T. Faulds and T.Harris between 2003 and 2007.

Changes in species' diversity among Sherwood's invertebrates

Sherwood Forest has produced a large variety of invertebrate species since the late 1800's. Whilst it is likely many of the species recorded historically have since disappeared, new species appear to have successfully colonised the NNR in their place. Sherwood has certainly seen quite a turn over among it's breeding invertebrate species within the last 100 years. A combined total of 515 species from the three groups looked at here have not been recorded since the early 1900's, whilst since the turn of this century, 371 species totally new to the NNR have been recorded. This is quite a staggering figure within a small time scale of just nine years.

Likely factors for such declines/increases in species diversity include climate change, commercial forestry planting, forest management, and habitat change/loss. A large percentage of Sherwood Forest is still commercial Pine plantation. Ancient Oak woodland makes up a large percentage and heathland the rest. Clipstone Old Quarter in the Birklands West and Ollerton Quarter SSSI, is still largely all commercial Pine, but large sections here (and elsewhere) are gradually being restored back to heathland, but will this see the eradication of species which have recently colonised the area?. Hopefully, not all the mature Pines will be removed as the large-scale introduction of Pine has probably been one of the biggest single reasons for Sherwood's range of new species.

Pine has been responsible for the introduction of some spectacular species to the site, or at the very least, enabled previously rare species to become more common. Coleoptera to have benefitted through the increase in Pine include Striped Ladybird and the ground beetle Dromius angustus, whilst the larva of the Cobweb Beetle (Ctesias serra) is more often found on Pine at Sherwood, than on any other tree species. Some Lepidoptera to rely on Pine include not only the large and spectacular Pine Hawk-moth, but several species of micro moths.

Proposed thinning work at the approximate location of the RDB1 Hazel Pot Beetle (Cryptocephalus coryli) has since recieved further consultation and it is agreed that some thinning work will benefit this area of the forest and create additional habitat for the Hazel Pot Beetle. This beetle was only rediscovered at Sherwood in 2008, after an absence of at least 70 years and probably more, as the last records are not credited to any observer or recorder. The discovery of the Hazel Pot Beetle has been well covered previously on this website and it seems that the Sherwood colony is currently the only confirmed UK site for the beetle.

Another worrying aspect is that outside contractors are employed for some of the thinning work and it should be important that contractors employed to carry out such work, are reliable enough to be able to do the job correctly and follow the job description accurately. A year or two ago, Birch scrub on Budby South Forest was due to be thinned to leave some Birch scrub standing, yet whole areas of the site were simply cut down and the stumps treated to stop re-growth. In effect, large areas of Budby have now lost a succession of Birch at varying stages of growth, but it is hoped that steps will be taken to redress this in the near future, across the Sherwood Forest area.

Although difficult and perhaps costly to keep under control due to it's vigorous growth, it is important that areas within the Forest have the correct balance of Birch from scrub to mature specimens, to provide suitable hostplants for breeding invertebrates. Similarly, the removal of non-native fauna such as Sycamore, Beech and the control of species like Hawthorn and Sallow (both often removed at the scrub stage) has had a harmful affect on invertebrates in the past, but both these species encourage a much greater invertebrate diversity.

Over the last few years, there has been a concerted effort to control and/or remove Bracken in certain areas of the Country Park. In the long term, this will be beneficial to the forest's invertebrate diversity, but will it be at the cost of particular species? Most obviously affected will be ground living Coleoptera and Arachnida.

The continuation of this practice is most likely to affect both Ground Beetle (Carabidae) and Rove Beetle (Staphylinidae) populations and their diversity here over time. However, it also has similar implications to other Coleoptera and Arachnida, which either live or over-winter within leaf litter, under logs and under the bark of fallen branches.

The use of herbicide as a Bracken control method, is very likely to have some effect on the forest's Coleoptera in the long term. Certainly many species are especially affected by their use. Although weed wiping is the most environmentally sensitive method of chemical weed control, perhaps the manner of it's application reduces it's environmental sensitivity to a degree.

Climatic changes over the past hundred years, has also helped the considerable change within the range of species found across Sherwood. A succession of much milder Winters has been as the result of climate change and species which actually require a period of cold and generally dry conditions in order to survive, Sherwood has probably now lost.

A large aspect of Sherwood's management is a balancing act. The area is extremely popular with the public for obvious reasons and easier accessability via the increase in the motor car, has led to greater public use. Yet despite it's popularity with the public, it is still surprisingly easy to find you have the forest to yourself, especially in areas furthest away from the Major Oak. An extremely good network of paths crosses various areas of the site, with much less often used forest paths in all other areas. Most of the Country Park is fenced off into sections, which helps keep the public out, but also keeps the Longhorn Cattle in.

Longhorn Cattle have been used for several years now, in an effort to maintain the forest using more traditional methods. The use of cattle has certainly helped from a Coleoptera aspect, helping to add several new dung beetles to the site species list in the last few years, but they do some detrimental damage to habitat by removing the loose bark off trees and moving static logs. It could also be questioned as to whether a cattle dung will have any long-term effect on raising the nutrient content within the soil.

The future for Sherwood's invertebrate species

Much depends on any forest management plans and how keen organisations like Natural England are towards protecting invertebrates. The one sure fact is that species will continue to disappear at Sherwood, whilst new species will appear. Whether this will be through natural proccesses such as climate change etc, or artificially induced through future management, remains to be seen. The variety of different habitats and invertebrates across the site, mean that a variety of different management techniques have to be employed at each site. It's a case of balance. What is good for Sherwood Forest, is that it's invertebrates are getting much more attention and publicity now, than previously. There is a growing number of recorders who have shown an interest in recording (mostly) Lepidoptera, which includes ourselves and we have recently begun to give more time to recording the site's Arachnida, whilst continuing with our Coleoptera work there.

2009 has seen many new species added to the Sherwood Forest invertebrate lists, which we are also maintaining and which are freely available to download. Recent discoveries and records are shown in the latest editions of the lists, available via the downloads link below