The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Bird’s first Ferry Meadows visit
A bird making its first every appearance has ruffled a few feathers at Ferry Meadows Park this winter.
A Great Northern Diver was spotted earlier this week - the first time one had ever been spotted in the park.
The bird is not the only unusual feathered friend who has been sighted at Ferry Meadows this year - with a Red Headed Smew, Red-throated Diver, Shag and Red-breasted Merganser all arriving.
A spokesman for the Nene Park Trust said it was believed cold weather caused by Storm Darcy was a factor in the birds arriving.
Paul Bolton captured a video of the Great Northern Diver during a visit to the park.
He said; “I was walking with my children in Ferry Meadows when a friend text
to say that a Great Northern Diver had apparently been seen on Gunwade lake.
“This is believed to be the first record for Ferry Meadows and the species remains very infrequent in the Peterborough area with perhaps one record a year if we’re lucky.
“So, we hurriedly made our way round to the west side of Gunwade where the bird was fishing. Very pleased to confirm the identification (adult in winter plumage) was correct bearing in mind the aforementioned status. The children were decidedly less excited!
“At the same time as I was watching the Diver, another very scarce winter visitor to the Peterborough area and even scarcer at Ferry Meadows, a Smew, flew round the inlet area before settling.
“This individual was either a female or first winter male and is commonly referred to as a ‘redhead Smew’ due to its head colour. This individual has been present for a few days and I had observed it on a walk previously.”
The Wildlife Trust said: “Great Northern Divers breed in Greenland, Iceland and North America, where they’re called common loons. There have been occasional records of them breeding in Scotland, but these are very rare.
“They breed on large woodland lakes or pools on tundra, with the male and female working together to build the nest on an island or shoreline. They’re excellent swimmers, using their large feet to chase after small fish under the water.
“GreatNorthern Divers usually spend the winter on the sea, favouring shallow areas close to shore. They can sometimes be seen migrating along the coast singly or in small flocks.”
A spokesman for the Nene Park Trust said: “The ‘smew’ is a scarce bird in the park with only a handful of records in the last 30 years. Smews are small ducks that arrive in winter to the UK in small numbers from Scandinavia and Russia.
“The ‘Great Northern Diver’ sighting is the first record for the park. There was an influx of these birds in the UK in November with inland waters producing multiple records. Rutland Water has had up to eight and Grafham has had up to five. Great Northern Divers are probably from Iceland or North eastern Canadian populations and winter in the North Sea.
“The recent influx to the Peterborough area, of what are normally sea birds, is attributed to Storm Darcy. The cold easterly wind and snow has forced many birds across the North Sea to the UK. There have also been sightings of Red-throated Diver, Shag and Red-breasted Merganser.”
The mystery of a pair of 4,000 year old beetles found in a field near Peterborough more than 30 years ago has finally been solved.
The oak capricorn beetles (Cerambyx) were found in a piece of wood that had been submerged in a peat bog in Ramsey Heights near Peterborough. It was found by a farmer in the 1970s and donated to the Natural History Museum in London.
Experts were baffled by the discovery at the time, as it was thought the species never existed in the UK.
But it is now believed they were endemic in the UK, but died out as the climate cooled
Now, because of the way the temperatures are climbing as a result of climate
change, it is possible the creatures could make a come back to our shores.
The finds were kept in storage at the museum - but were recently re-discovered, giving
specialists the chance to examine them in more detail.
Tiny samples of both the beetles and wood were recently sent off for radiocarbon dating, which placed their age at 3,785 years old.
Max Barclay, Curator of Beetles at the Museum, said: “These beetles are older than the Tudors, older than the Roman occupation of Britain, even older than the Roman Empire. These beetles were alive and chewing the inside of that piece of wood when the pharaohs were building the pyramids in Egypt. It is tremendously exciting.”
He believes oak capricorn beetles which exist today in southern and central Europe may have died out in Britain due to climate change.
He said; “This is a beetle that is associated with warmer climates. Possibly it existed in Britain 4,000 years ago because the climate was warmer, and as the climate cooled and the habitats destroyed, it became extinct.
“Now, with global warming, there are indications that it could return to Britain in the future.
“It is quite extraordinary to hold something in your hand that looks like it was collected yesterday but is actually several millennia old and can provide new insight into the weather and forest conditions in the Late Bronze Age. This pair of beetles provide a window into the ancient past and as well as hinting at what