News Spring 2025
Species we are seeing in the Village: some welcome, some not!
Hedgehog in a local garden
Thank you so much for the photos!
A few hedgehogs have been spotted around Lordshill again this year and some of these sightings have been submitted to the Surrey Wildlife Trust to add to their hedgehog hotspots map - it is very simple to do on their website.
Sadly no evidence of dormice in the village yet, despite placing small mammal footprint tunnels in the woods around Barnett fields and Wonersh and Shamley Green school.
A less welcome species was spotted at the bottom of Woodhill Lane in March. At nearly 15 cm long it looks like it is an invasive American crayfish. This species is now found throughout England. Sadly they are aggressive, breed faster than the native species, and damage banks with their burrowing.
American Crayfish on Woodhill Lane
Another invasive species which should be removed (before it has the chance to flower and seed) is Himalayan Balsam. It can be pulled out easily in May, June and early July. Himalayan Balsam is a problem particularly on stream and river banks - it can get enormous in just one season and shades out native perennials, but being an annual it then dies leaving bare patches vulnerable to erosion.
We are lucky that we don’t have too much of it on our common land and verges but there is some around and if it is not controlled it can really spread so please remove it when you see it. Volunteers often do a few sessions along Norley Lane and in Norley Woods and will again this year - as ever the more the merrier.
Please contact us if you would like to be kept informed.
Himalayan Balsam
Shamley Green Village Litter Pick,
Saturday 10th May - update
The Shamley Green Environment Group enjoyed a lovely sunny amble around the village’s paths and roads for the Spring Litter Pick on Saturday 10th May.
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Huge thanks for the volunteers who joined us finding rubbish mainly themed around the habits of smoking, vaping and drinking. However we happily noted a significant decrease in the volume collected since our last walk in the Autumn, likely due to the efforts of everyone in the community who picks up litter when spotted while out and about but also the very lush hedgerow foliage might have played a part in obscuring some items from view.
Big thanks too to Wonersh and Shamley Green Parish Councillor Kevin Sloan, who kindly joined us meaning we were covered by public liability insurance, always good! (Parish Councillor and SGEG member Chris Howard usually attends but she was at the seventh annual Surrey Day in Oxted this time because she is also Visit Surrey’s Chair).
Jim and Glynis Drummond hosted coffee and cake at The Malt House for volunteers afterwards. The children were fascinated by the many newts in the pond and a new family joined the Toad Patrol.
Many thanks to Kate Elmes Rudd who organised and inspired the event.
If you’d like to join the next litter pick, or join the toad patrol, or find out more about SGEG’s activities check out the regular updates on this news page.
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And to get emails informing you of upcoming events drop us a line on info@shamleygreenenvironment.co.uk to be added to our volunteers' mailing list.
Ducklings and more on the Duck Pond
Lovely to see around 17 ducklings on the duck pond in the last week of April. It seemed that the mother duck was a really ‘good’ mother, trying to keep them hidden, but previous years have shown that it is quite a challenge to keep a brood of ducklings safe : she definitely benefitted from the vegetation around the pond. ​
The Canada Goose Family
First brood of ducklings
Sadly within a couple of weeks the ducklings were down to 8 and then 6.
Moorhens and Ducks swimming together
These ducklings were accompanied by 7 moorhen chicks and they swam about quite happily with a male goose guarding the pond from the bank. On 9th May mother goose swam across from the little island with 2 gosling chicks to rejoin her mate for life on the bank.
Is invertebrate diversity increasing in our village?
Green-veined White Butterfly Pieris napi
Results of a survey carried out by entomologist and ecologist Scotty Dodd in 2024 are very encouraging. In 2021 he found 9 different species of insects and spiders with a conservation designation in Shamley Green, whereas in 2024 this number had increased to 14!
All surveys are just a ‘snapshot’ of what is around at the time and should be read with caution, but we do think that a more diverse plant population in Shamley Green may be promoting greater diversity in our insects too, and that’s really encouraging!
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There has been a catastrophic collapse in insect populations in the last 50 years, not only in the UK but worldwide - just think, when was the last time you had to scrape a layer of squashed insects off your windscreen after a long journey?
Insects are at the heart of every ecosystem so this collapse can’t be ignored. Even food production will be jeopardised if the collapse is allowed to continue unchecked. So it’s good to feel that Shamley Green is doing its bit to help, both on our commons and in many people’s gardens too, simply by mowing less and at the right time to promote plant diversity, and keeping a bit more dead wood around for the creatures that rely on it.
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Click here for photos of our notable and rare inverebrate species, and details of Scotty Dodd's 2021 and 2024 surveys.
Over 200 species of moths recorded in Shamley Green in 2024
This is the third sequential year that moth recording by light trap has been carried out by local resident John Portess at The Bungalow. The prolonged heavy rains in the early part of the year played havoc with the lives of all insects, particularly butterflies. Local moths though appear to have weathered the storm and put on a good show with over 200 species recorded in his Shamley Green Garden.
See our Reports page for links to John's 2024 results, and a fascinating account of the equipment and methods he uses.
And see Moths in Shamley Green for John's earlier results and some of his photos from 2022 and 2023 - an amazing variety of shapes and sizes ranging from bright and colourful to resembling dead twigs!!
Dusky Thorn Moth Ennomos fuscantara