THE WILTSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST’S VERA JEANS NATURE RESERVE 271 
within a few metres of the reserve boundary. There 
are suitable habitats on the reserve adjoining this 
spot, So it is quite possible that they are present, but 
if so they have eluded detection. 
Foxes Vulpes vulpes, and their cubs, are seen 
regularly at all times of the day. Stoats Mustela 
erminea are seen far less often, but are still fairly 
common. Badgers Meles meles regularly use a tree 
trunk which has fallen across the river as a 
convenient bridge. There are several sets on the 
reserve and dung pits and dug-out wasp nests are 
found quite often. After the second world war the 
local keepers were busily shooting Otters Lutra lutra 
and nailing their legs to barn doors (Wall, 1999) 
but, as in most of southern England, they 
disappeared years ago. However, in the hope of 
their return, an artificial holt has been constructed 
next to the river. There have been no signs of them 
on the reserve so far, unless they, rather than Mink, 
have been taking the Crayfish, but it is encouraging 
that there has been a reliable sighting this year 
within 5 kilometres of the reserve. 
During the last ten years or so, Roe Deer 
Capreolus capreolus have been seen regularly and 
there are now at least six, including a fine mature 
buck. From dusk to dawn they roam all over the 
reserve, but during the day are usually in the carr or 
more remote areas of tall fen. 
Other Notable Species 
by Michael Darby 
Of the remaining insects recorded from the Reserve 
to date the most important are undoubtedly two 
sawflies and a hoverfly, all Red Data Book species. 
Dolerus megapterus, one of the ‘black’ Dolerus group 
of sawflies some of which are found in good numbers 
in grassland in Spring, is very rare in Britain with 
only 25 records mostly from Scotland. It uses sedges 
rather than grasses as a larval food plant. D. 
bimaculatus, one of the red-bodied members of the 
genus which lives on Equisetum, was also mainly 
known from Scotland with a similar number of 
- records until after 1980 when it was recorded from 
several English sites. Jones’s Mill represents the 
most southern record for both species. Interestingly, 
the hoverfly Cheilosia pubera, the third RDB species, 
is another whose main stronghold is in the north of 
Britain. Unlike many hoverflies C. pubera, which is 
believed to breed in Marsh-marigolds, is black but 
appears heavily dusted because of thick pubescence. 
A second specimen has recently turned up on the 
River Test in Hampshire. 
Two other scarce, dark-coloured hoverflies also 
found on the Reserve are the Notable Pipizella 
virens, Which is associated on the continent with 
aphids at the roots of Umbelliferae, and the larger 
Ferdinandea cuprea. The last is widespread in old 
woodlands but easily overlooked because of its 
habit of sitting on old tree trunks or dead leaves in 
dappled light. Other flies of interest found at 
Jones’s Mill are the local horse-fly Haematopota 
crassicornis, one of the group sometimes known as 
‘Cleg’ flies, and the soldier-flies Oxycera nigricornis 
and Stratiomys potamida. The Notable S. potamida, 
known as the Banded General because of its large 
size and black and yellow markings, has become 
more common since the 1970s and 1s nearly always 
found close to wet places. 
Finally, the hornet Vespa crabro has been 
recorded commonly on the Reserve, where it breeds 
in old trees, dozens being observed as recently as 
October 2003. 
SURVEYS AND MONITORING 
There has been on-going recording from the late 
1980s to the present, most importantly of the flora 
by Audrey Summers and also of the birds by, 
successively, Beatrice Gillam, Humphrey Kay and 
Beverley Heath and of the water levels by 
Humphrey Kay. 
Before 1990 various surveys of habitats and 
vegetation types were made by staff from the then 
Nature Conservancy Council. There were also 
surveys of lichen by D.J. Hill and B. Fox, fungi by 
M.W. Storey and leafhoppers by Keith Payne. Since 
then, there have been occasional surveys of several 
features and taxa: vegetation type and distribution 
by Wanda Fojt of English Nature and by Paul 
Darby and Piers Mobsby for the Wiltshire Wildlife 
Trust, hedgerows by Pat Froud, bryophytes by Rod 
Stern, invertebrates by Andy Foster, Vertigo 
moulinsiana by Ian Killeen, spiders by Martin 
Askins, moths by Dominic Counsell and 
Humphrey Kay, beetles by Michael Darby. Many 
valuable individual records have also been 
submitted by numerous visitors to the reserve. 
Surveys of small mammals using a grid of 
Longworth traps started late in 2003, and it is 
hoped that butterflies will be monitored regularly 
from 2004. There is a programme of recording for 
all Trust Reserves, but resources are stretched and 
there is plenty of scope for volunteers. In particular 
it would be good to know more about the 
invertebrates of the wet flushes, the bees and wasps, 
