John Walters, a local expert and Buglife volunteer, is running a Blue Ground Beetle survey training session on Tuesday 14^th May, in Newton Abbot. Exact meeting details will be given upon booking.

Volunteers will need to be at the meeting point at 8:15pm to start promptly at 8:30pm. We should be back at the meeting point by 11pm. During the session, we will learn how to survey for the beetles using timed counts and hopefully get a chance to see them up close. We will mostly be walking on flat terrain, but this can’t be guaranteed.

Blue Ground Beetle are one of the largest and rarest beetles found in the UK and is one of the flagship species for DWT’s East Dartmoor Landscape Recovery Area project.  Dartmoor is thought to hold at least half of the remaining populations of Blue Ground Beetle, where they can be found in ancient woodlands, mainly oak with occasional beech, in river valleys with a south-westerly aspect.

Volunteers attending this training will be supporting future surveys across the East Dartmoor Landscape Recovery Area, as well as supporting surveys already being carried out by Buglife for Blue Ground Beetles. Information on future surveys will be shared with volunteers at a later date. As this training has limited space, please do not book unless you intend to volunteer as a Blue Ground Beetle Surveyor afterwards.

Volunteers will need to bring:

1. A headtorch
2. Waterproof clothing
3. Any food and drink you will need
4. Appropriate outdoor shoes
5. Notepad and pen/pencil

No experience is needed, just come along and learn more about the elusive Blue Ground Beetle.