Four years ago I saw this post from Graeme Lyons and never in my wildest dreams thought that it was something that I'd ever contemplate. Fast forward to 2020 and I have a Black & Decker GWC3600 L20-GB 36V Blower Vac suction sampler sat in the car and all ready to go.
These are weird and confusing times but given that restrictions on personal movement are only going to get stronger I decided that I should get out for a walk and a poke about whilst I still could. I decided to visit the Devil's Dyke to the east of Cambridge. I only saw two other souls the entire time I was there and both of those were at a distance.
This site is an ancient earthwork designed to restrict movements of people before the fens were drained. It runs from the village of Reach in the north to south of Newmarket. Unusually for Cambridgeshire, because of the height of the excavation, you also get a view.
The site has extensive chalk grassland with a mixture of areas with bare ground as well as some bits that have gone over to scrub. Not something you find much of in Cambridgeshire (chalk grassland not scrub!).
Sheep graze much of it keeping the vegetation down to a low level. Work is ongoing in some places to clear the scrub to allow grazing to return. There are a few botantical rarities (for Cambridgeshire) here but my ability to ID on vegetative state only is too poor to have given that a go on this visit.
So given that it's so light and portable I decided to take the suction sampler with me and give it a quick whirl whilst there.
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| Locked and loaded. Ready to go (sans bag) |
It was a joy to use. It found stuff that I would just never find by the usual direct method of grubbing around. Bloody loads of ants. No, loads. Really.
Most numerous beetles were Syntomus foveatus and Phaedon tumidulus but the best species was a few individuals of Mantura matthewsii. This flea beetle I think is a leaf miner on rock rose and is not that often encountered, probably because folk aren't out in the right place with a sucker....
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