A presentation to show results of a recent ecology assessment in the Three Cocks community showed a rare species of bug, that has fewer than 100 records in the entirety of the UK, to be living in the area.

On Tuesday, November 12, Daniel White from Just Mammals Ltd presented findings of an ecology assessment in the village to members of the community at St Peter’s Hall in Glasbury.

The event was hosted by Three Cocks Matters Community Group who are looking to make the village a greener place. A couple of years ago they got the opportunity to apply for some funding to commission the ecology assessment.

Speaking about the assessment, Daniel said: “Our aims have been to identify areas of ecological importance within the village and to provide some recommendations to Nick on the enhancements that can be made in the village to benefit biodiversity and wildlife. This project has been such a breath of fresh air to be a part of.”

The assessment started with preliminary research which consisted of a walk over of the village, mapping out habitats and looking for the potential presence of protected species.

Talking about their findings, Daniel said: “The north of the village is an orchard which we expect has a good biodiversity value.

“Disappointingly there was no evidence of any great crested newts in the village, and we didn’t find any reptiles which was less surprising to us given the agricultural landscape.

“To see no signs of great crested newts was surprising as they are prevalent in the surrounding landscapes.

“We did manage to find toads and voles and they are indicators of the quality of habitat that is here.

“Unfortunately, we found no snakes, which some in the village may be pleased about, but there was no evidence to suggest there are any here!

“A specialist helped carry out invertebrate surveys. 29 species were found in two of the sites and were noted as common, but what was much more special was in the orchard where 40 species were found, including the grass bug Acetropis gimmerthalii, which is usually in south Wales but being this far north is noteworthy.”

What Daniel and his team found to be even more interesting was the plant bug Pinalitus viscicola, two of which were beaten off mistletoe. There are fewer than 100 records of Pinalitus viscicola in the entirety of the UK.

Speaking on the rare sighting, Daniel said: “To have this in Three Cocks is really noteworthy and is strongly associated with mistletoe because that’s what it feeds off and mistletoe itself is quite scarce.”

Further to the assessment, the team turned over more than 1,000 rocks, walking up and down the streams as part of their Crayfish survey to try and find white-clawed crayfish as they live under stones and riverbanks. None were found.

A stone loach, a minnow, and a bullhead were found in the water, indicating a high quality of water. Unfortunately they did find some silt build up in the streams which Daniel believes might explain the absence of any white-clawed crayfish.

The assessment’s recommendations to the village was the installation of ponds and hedgerows to help improve connectivity. They also suggested installing hibernacula and meadow areas.

Chair of Three Cocks Matters Community Group, Nick Pritchard said: “Thank you all for coming and a big thank you to Daniel and Just Mammals. The main thing about this evening was to showcase the type of wildlife we’ve got here.

“We’re going to use the results from this to help with our green spaces designs and plans and this will also be presented to the community council.”