Visiting the wildflower meadow that surrounds the pond area in July 2024, we spotted an insect that I had never seen before. It stayed long enough to get several photos for identification. It had yellow and black stripes so was it a bee, wasp or hoverfly? No, it was a sawfly with the name Tenthredo schaefferi classed as a vulnerable species. I was unsure of the identification so sought the help of an expert Andrew Green who is the sawfly recorder for the UK, see https://www.sawflies.org.uk/.
The photos were sufficient to tell it was a female sawfly, one of four similar species: arcuata, brevicornis, notha, schaefferi. The species schaefferi is the rarest and the larvae feed either on Tufted Vetch or Field Scabious both of which grow in Froyle Wildlife’s meadow.
The National Biodiversity Network collate species records across the UK and there is only one record in Hampshire (near Southampton) for this sawfly.
So why is one small insect significant? Indicators of habitat and biodiversity!
The food plants of this sawfly were once common in the wider countryside but now tufted vetch and field scabious are scarce in our field edges and hedgerow bottoms.