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The Noble Chafer Beetle and the Declining British Orchard. On 19th March 2008, the Society was pleased to welcome, at somewhat short notice, Anita Burrough of the People’s Trust for Endangered Species. Anita is the Orchard Project Officer with PTES, and she joined us to explain how the general decline in traditional orchard methods across the country is resulting in an impoverishment of wildlife, and a serious threat to the survival of some species. Anita began by defining an orchard as ‘an enclosure for the cultivation of fruit trees’. The word ‘orchard’ is derived from ‘wort’ (plant, vegetable) and ‘geard’ (garden). She went on to compare and contrast different orchard systems, using an attractive set of pictures. Modern, intensive, orchards are stocked with trees on dwarfing rootstocks, to ease harvesting. Between them is short, mown grass, and weedkillers are used to eliminate plant competition immediately around the trees. The trees are replaced after about 15 years, before fruit productivity starts to decline. There is no dead wood. The range of wildlife is narrow. A traditional orchard, by contrast, is an extensive system, with sheep grazing under large trees. Trees are left to mature and accumulate dead wood. Fruit harvesting involves ladder work. It is a haven for wildlife, with the longer grass harbouring small mammals, decaying wood attracting woodpeckers and supporting fungi, and the avoidance of chemicals favouring insects and their predators. The area of British orchards has declined by 60% in the last sixty years ,and the rate is much greater in Kent. There are only about 47,000ha. left in Britain, 28,000ha. of which are thought to be under traditional management. The decline continues, mainly because of neglect, development (an orchard often becomes ‘The Orchard’ housing estate, with no fruit tree in sight!), careless horse management, and cheap, imported fruit. There is little legal protection for traditional orchards at present, but there is hope on the horizon that at least some of this important landscape type and habitat can be saved for people to enjoy. Anita explained how she was involved in a project to assess the nature and state of traditional orchards across nine counties. She regarded an orchard as a stand of five or more fruit trees. Many orchards were now owned by people who did not fully understand the significance of their possession. Anita could obtain aerial photographs and maps, but relied heavily of volunteer helpers – and these were now needed to ‘map’ our area of the Garden of England. The second part of Anita’s presentation was more of a demonstration. It centred around the rare noble chafer beetle, Gnorimus nobilis. This beautiful, glossy green beetle had been thought to be extinct in Kent – until it turned up recently in a plum orchard near Sittingbourne! The hunt is now on for more sightings! The insect spends much of its time in the larval form, the grubs feeding on the decayed wood in the heart of mature plum and other fruit trees. Adult beetles (dead), grubs (live) and their characteristic ‘frass’ (droppings) were on display. Anita was pleased to know that we had a traditional community orchard and group in our parish – and a Society whose members carried out surveys and field projects. She left some maps of orchards in our immediate area that needed assessment, and details of where and how to detect the presence of the beetle. This had the makings of yet another project involving members of the Society. Several registered interest there and then, and the idea is to get together soon to discuss what could be done. Please contact the author on 01795 521 515 if you are interested in joining in. The beetle is most likely to be found in the decaying hearts of old plum trees. Would readers please contact me if they know of stands of such trees in the parish or locality - even if ‘hands on’ involvement is not for them? Bob Baxter |