Recent content by Andrew Duff

Bournville is indeed some way from Knowle but both sites are close to canals and the hypothesis is that seaweed-laden barges might have been regularly using the canal network. The exact site of the mossy bank is unimportant because the beetles are mobile; it's sufficient to know that the beetles...

Yes, I understand that the mossy bank location has been identified but the habitat has now been entirely destroyed by a farmer.

Thanks for the suggestion. The question is whether untreated seaweed was imported into Bournville by Cadbury during the late nineteenth century. It's possible, but only an industrial historian is likely to have the answer.

With respect, I think you have misunderstood the problem. I am not interested in seaweed products being imported, as these are unable to support living seaweed beetles. I am simply looking for any *documentary* evidence that *any* kind of untreated (still damp) seaweed was imported into...

Thanks, however we need to focus on what (if any) uses were made of seaweed in Warwickshire in the second half of the 19th century. General accounts such as this do not provide any supporting evidence for their use in the midlands at that time.

This is a very interesting suggestion. It's plausible to think that once the oysters had all been sold the seaweed would be dumped somewhere, forming a suitable habitat for the beetles. Do you know of any published references on this trade, ideally into Warwickshire, which mention the use of...

Please thank your husband for the information as it sounds like a plausible explanation. We now have to establish whether raw seaweed or sodium alginate (manufactured close to the seaweed source) was transported to Bournville and if the former then by what route. A question for the industrial...

The key beetle collector was W.G. BLATCH (1840-1900) who was appointed Secretary at the Midland Counties Lunatic Asylum at Knowle, and collected extensively around the village. See: https://www.coleoptera.org.uk/biographical-dictionary?title=blatch. He found many beetles new to the district, but...

Since you ask, three species of omaliine rove beetle: Omalium laeviusculum, O. riparium and O. rugulipenne.

This may sound like a strange question, but it is perfectly serious. I am a specialist in the study of beetles (the insect, not the car) and for years my fellow coleopterists and I have been puzzled by the occurrence in Warwickshire (and incidentally neighbouring Leicestershire), during the...