The Heath Tiger Beetle

The Heath Tiger Beetle has been re-introduced to Iping Common!

Does this mean that, from now on, we will be hearing tales of disappearing hikers, of sheep horribly mauled, of a mysterious (and luminous) Beast that haunts the Iping Mire?

Probably not, as its only a tiny beetle.  And a very happy conservation story.

It featured in the last talk at yesterday's Recorders Conference at Hassocks. We had some great speakers.  We heard about wildlife conservation on the Rathfinny Wine Estate, and not only do we want to go and do the wildflower walk there, but now want to get some of their wine too.

We - or I - learnt that Fungi do not come under the heading "Flora and Fauna" but are a separate entity.  So the classification really is:  "Flora, Fauna, and Fungi"..  We learnt about Grassland fungi and how endangered they are.  Apparently the new craze for not mowing is damaging the CHEG fungi, and also a lot of wildflowers. They thrive with constant mowing, which re-creates the grazing that should be going on.   And we learnt some more about Dragonfly conservation, and about the most up to date methods of Recording.

Surely we will be doing this in the Paradise earth, as, under the perfect,loving guidance of the Kingdom of God, the heavenly government for whose coming Jesus taught us to pray, the earth is restored to the perfect harmony that prevailed in Eden.

It is a fascinating task even now - but a deeply frustrating and heartbreaking one sometimes, as the current world system is set up so wrongly, and we ourselves cannot put it right.


They also gave us an excellent buffet lunch.

A flight of Butterfly Paperwork has arrived, and I hope to set off up Butterfly Paper Mountain this afternoon.  Nigel was at the Conference and we had a talk about the changes in the way they report the new members.