Gall Hunt Grantchester Meadows.

 Each year Cambridge Natural History Society focusses on a particular area for its monthly field studies. In 2026 it is Grantchester Meadows between Newnham and Grantchester, last fully documented in 2006. On Sunday, we spent the afternoon recording all the Gall species that we could find. As expected with the low insect numbers this year, Galls were also a lot less frequent than previous visits. They were identified as we found them and entered on i-record. I have identified from my photos as far as possible! The Coleophora moth was a late find and is fascinating. The larvae initially feed on the seeds, flowers or leaves of the host plant by tunelling into the structures, but when larger, they feed externally and construct distinctive protective silken cases, often incorporating plant material. Many species have specific host plants; discarded larval cases are often scattered thickly on affected plants.

CNHS Granchester Meadows

 The Cambridge Natural History Society surveyed the plants etc in Grantchester Meadows in 2006 and 2016 so this year is time to repeat the survey. We met on Sunday afternoon at the Cambridge end. The first two meadows are known as the Lamppost Meadows as each has a lamp-post at its centre from 1920-1940 when the meadows used to be flooded with water pumped from the Cam and used for skating. There is an attendant’s hut at the corner of the first field, where the fee of six pence for an evening’s skating was collected. It is managed in a traditional manner - once the meadow has dried out there may be a summer hay cut and it is grazed until the end of the year.  No fertilizer or herbicide has been used. The public path alongside these meadows emerges into open meadows stretching to Grantchester, owned by King’s College. The CNHS group were identifying and recording all the plants species including grasses and sedges while I concentrated on the invertebrates, lichens, galls etc. Here a few plus possible IDs sheet. I was intrigued by the spore cups of he nettle Rust, Puccinia urticata,