Thank you to the volunteer recorders from Surrey Botanical Society and Surrey Biodiversity Information Centre and our partners Surrey Wildlife Trust for carrying out a nature survey day at West Horsley Place. More than 30 volunteers with specialist knowledge spent the day on our 380 acre estate recording flora and fauna. The day marked the beginning of our National Lottery Heritage Fund nature project with Surrey Wildlife Trust and launches a programme of regular surveys, helping us to learn more about the biodiversity on our estate and how to improve it. The climax of the project will be a 24 hour 'Bioblitz' in spring 2022 when we will invite 200+ people from our community to become wildlife explorers and citizen scientists by identifying and recording as many species as possible. 

These reports and survey days will help to provide a baseline for future biodiversity surveys, so that we can measure how effectively we have improved the levels of biodiversity across the estate. They will also be instrumental in informing future estate management plans. 

Fascinating and beautiful creatures discovered on the day include a variety of insects such as the stunning Elephant Hawk Moth (called so because the caterpillar looks a little like an elephant's trunk. As protection from predators, it can make itself seem larger and emphasise its eyespots) and Chrysotoxum festivum and Syrphus ribesii species of hoverfly, pictured here. We will share more exciting finds with you as we receive reports from the day.