A Biodiversity Information System for Cheshire, Halton, Warrington & Wirral

Hi all
Welcome to the brand new Coleoptera group!
I have noticed recently that there seems to be a bit of a renaissance re the study of beetles, in Cheshire and Lancashire.
Both counties have been home to some of the most important coleopterists of the day.
As a boost to the study of local beetles, I was thinking of doing a day in the field looking at ground beetles (Carabidae), using minimal keys, and seeing how far we could get using 'jizz' for the genera, with some key work for the tricky species. Would anyone be interested in this?
Cheers
Don

Hi all
Following 'expressions of interest', I will be leading a ground beetle foray in Cheshire next year.
I will look at a possible venue and date and post the information.
Cheers
Don

Hi Don

Excellent news. I will look forward greatly to that. Any incipient ideas at the moment as to what we would be looking for - just general see what turns up, or targeting specific families or methods/techniques ??

Cheers and thanks

Steve

Hi Steve
What a quick response!
We would only be targeting one family, the Carabidae, and I thought it might be 'nice' to see how far we could get by just looking at basic features - minimal use of keys. Techniques wise, we would be mainly using hand searching and pitfall trapping - benefits and limitations. If we pick up incidental staphs etc, we could be 'diverted', but the intention would be to have a good mooch for any carabids. A site with a variety of habitats would be nice.
Cheers
Don