Do you know your bugs from your beetles?

Budding coleopterists took to their microscopes as Manx Wildlife Trust hosted a beetle identification workshop at Ramsey town hall.

The course was led by Stuart Corbett, who has spent more than 20 years in agricultural research and a further 15 years as the conservation officer at the 7,000 acre Ministry of Defence site at Porton Down in Wiltshire.

During this career he became fascinated by a group of beetles called ground beetles (or, more correctly, carabidae).

The workshop involved microscope work and Stuart expertly guided the group through the anatomical features which lead to identifying beetles.

Unfortunately due to the weather a proposed field trip to the pitfall trap site was cancelled. However, the specimens caught within the traps were brought back to the hall.

These included the Great Blackclock beetle and the Rough-chested Blackclock beetle.

Both of these live in woodland, grassland and moorland habitats.

Dawn Dickens, biodiversity education officer for the Manx Wildlife Trust, said: ’As part of the Trust’s wildlife counts project we are trying to get members of the public to report sightings of wildlife to us.

’Detective work looking at beetle communities can tell us whether they have been found in urban, agricultural, forest, moorland or habitats. More importantly, further investigative work can decide if these communities are changing. So, for instance, it is possible to track the effects of building development, agricultural intensification or climate change. Of course, while playing detective, a valuable catalogue of biodiversity is also being compiled.’

If you are fascinated with the beetles and would like to become involved in reporting back sightings please contact the Manx Wildlife Trust on [email protected] as we are planning more identification work and field trips for beetles.