UK Nature and Environment

426 readers

109 users here now

General Instance Rules:

No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or xenophobia.
No incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies.
No harassment, dogpiling or doxxing of other users.
Do not share intentionally false or misleading information.
Do not spam or abuse network features.

Community Specific Rules:

Keep posts UK-specific. There are other places on Lemmy to post articles which relate to global environmental issues (e.g. slrpnk.net).
Keep comments in English so that they can be appropriately moderated.

Note: Our temporary logo is from The Wildlife Trusts. We are not officially associated with them.

Our winter banner is a shot of Shotley marshes, Suffolk by GreyShuck.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Glow worms: Spectators head to South Downs for breeding season (www.bbc.co.uk)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

1 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It’s late at night on the South Downs as a group of ardent wildlife spotters gather round a pair of glow-worms appearing to copulate.

While the insect is declining in many parts of the UK, the healthy population of glow-worms at the Sussex beauty spot is drawing in spectators.

Watched by a small crowd, the insects don’t seem to be put off by the lack of privacy.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

It’s late at night on the South Downs as a group of ardent wildlife spotters gather round a pair of glow-worms appearing to copulate.

Watched by a small crowd, the insects don’t seem to be put off by the lack of privacy.“I’m starting to blush”, says Prof Alan Stewart, an ecologist at the University of Sussex, who is holding the tiny wriggling creatures in his palm.

The flightless female glow-worm uses a green light at the end of her abdomen - which glows due to a chemical reaction called bioluminescence - to attract a winged male suitor.

Others attend free guided walks, like this one, which is organised by the Benfield Wildlife and Conservation Group near Hove.Christina came with her partner Matt after seeing the event advertised on social media.

“If you get a lot of them it’s like looking at a starry night but on the ground”, he says.Tonight, with the constant roar of traffic from the A27 in the background, the group find a handful of glowing females among the chalk grassland of the reserve and an abundance of males.

Prof Stewart is counting the population using simple traps fashioned from plastic drinks bottles that work like lobster pots.

The original article contains 523 words, the summary contains 201 words. Saved 62%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!