In the morning we visited a site on Chester Zoo estate which is primarily unimproved grassland with rubble piles, south facing banks, ponds and veteran trees. In the afternoon we visited the zoo’s nature reserve (including the usually inaccessible wet meadow). The wet meadows of the nature reserve is a designated Local Wildlife Site. This is due to the marshy grassland plant communities which include species such as Ragged-robin, Devil’s-bit scabious, Marsh bedstraw, Bog stitchwort and Cuckoo flower.

Recorders: Chloe Aldridge, Phil Brighton, Iona Cowell, Eric Davies, Leanna Dixon, Elina Doss, Eric Fletcher, Gary Hedges, Tony Hunter, John Roberts, Richard Rowlandson, Clive Washington

Notable Records:

Datonychus melanostictus (Curculionidae), Chester Zoo Nature Reserve, G. Hedges.
• No Cheshire records since 1994, and very few from NW England.
• This weevil was vacuumed from one of its foodplants, Water Mint (Mentha aquatica), a lawn of which was growing beside a ditch.

Synapion ebeninum (Apionidae), Chester Zoo Nature Reserve, G. Hedges.
• 2nd Cheshire record after James Murray found the species at Helsby in 1909 with voucher material residing in Tullie House Museum, Carlisle.
• A few individuals vacuumed.

Aphrophora major (Aphrophoridae), Chester Zoo Nature Reserve, T. Hunter.
• Two adults swept in the wet meadow. Probably only the 2nd VC58 record after T. Hunter found two adults females at Swettenham Meadows during a Tanyptera Recording Day in 2018.
• A large Nationally Notable B froghopper associated with Alnus, Betula and Salix. Most UK records are from Southern England.

Haltichella rufipes (Chalcididae), Chester Zoo Estate, Rec. G. Hedges, Det. T. Hunter.
• Probably new to Cheshire. Just 9 UK records on NBN Atlas but a particularly under-recorded group, which is not covered by a National Recording Scheme.
• An adult female beaten from vegetation. This group of parasites have characteristically swollen femora.

Download Chester Zoo Species List & Raw Data 21.11.22 [Excel spreadsheet] last updated 21/11/2022

A key for the ‘Conservation status’ column is available in the above download.