102 BR. J. ENT. NAT. HIST., 7: 1994 



BENHS INDOOR MEETINGS 



11 January 1994 



The President, Dr D. Lonsdale, announced the deaths of Mrs K. Emmet and 

 Mr C. B. Ashby. 



Mr R. A. Jones showed three 'bird nest' beetles, Hister merdarius Hoffmann, J., 

 (Histeridae), Quedius ventralis (Aragona) and Q. brevicornis (Thomson, C. G.) 

 (Staphylinidae), collected from Honor Oak, S.E. London, on 7.L94 from nest material 

 in a hollow tree (probably oak) exposed after wind had torn off a large branch. All 

 three species are regarded as very local or rare and are specifically associated with 

 birds' nests. There was no way of knowing what had made the nest, composed of 

 a mixture of leaves and wood mould, but the presence of two specimens of the flea 

 Orchopeas howardi howardi (Baker) suggests that its host the grey squirrel had used 

 the nest fairly recently. Although the grey squirrel must be about the commonest 

 wild mammal in this area, this was the first record of the flea in the 10-km square 

 TQ37. Mr R. S. George kindly identified the flea. 



Mr D. Hackett showed a male specimen of the spring usher moth Aghopsis 

 leucophaearia (D. & S.) close to the melanic form merularia Weymer. It had been 

 beaten from holly in Queens Wood, north London, on 8.i.94. This appears to be 

 an early date for a moth more usually seen in late February and March. 



Mr R. Softly said that he had also taken A. leucophaearia recently at light in 

 Hampstead and agreed the first week of January was early for this species. 



Mr S. Miles drew the meeting's attention to copies of the Wildlife Link newsletter 

 and Annual Report for 1992, which were made available. 



Dr C. Gibson spoke on the subject of "Insects and habitat restoration". The talk 

 was based largely on the restoration of limestone grassland at Wytham Wood, Oxford. 

 This ancient woodland has a number of grassy clearings which were converted to 

 arable farming but have now been allowed to revert to grassland. Before restoration 

 can be attempted, or its success monitored, it is necessary to know what plants and 

 animals were present in the past. The degree and speed of colonization is largely 

 dependent on how much of the original fauna and flora has survived in uncultivated 

 patches and how close these are to the restored areas. Recolonization has to take 

 place in a sequential manner with plants establishing first before their associated 

 invertebrate faunas can develop. Some insects, however, had arrived in the restored 

 areas at Wytham before their typical food plants were established. It was found that 

 the brown argus and marbled white butterflies had been able to colonize the area 

 by switching to alternative host plants. 



It can take 100 years or more for the floral diversity to become indistinguishable 

 from the original grassland, so restoration is inevitably a long-term process. Plant 

 colonization can be crudely divided into three phases. The early colonizers predominate 

 in the first 5-10 years, followed by a second group that flourish after 10-100 years 

 but later decline. The third group does not occur in numbers until the grassland is 

 about 100 years old. Each of these three groups has its own associated insect fauna. 

 Although the early colonizers are mostly common species, in some situations they 

 may include scarce or local insects. At a Center Pares holiday complex in the Breckland 

 it was found that the grey carpet moth, Lithostege griseata (D. & S.) quickly took 

 advantage of the growth of flixweed that grew on disturbed ground. The management 

 plan for the site now includes rotovating strips of land to maintain the habitat 

 requirements of the moth and its host plant. 



The insect fauna and plants at Wytham, especially in the grassy areas, have been 

 well documented in the past. Experimental plots have been set out to monitor the return 



