BIODIVERSITY has been booming in Wellington’s Basins nature reserve since it was taken over two years ago by the town council.

The council now manages or owns 66 acres of connecting parcels of open space, which it refers to as a ‘green corridor’, stretching from Fox’s Field, next to Tonedale Mill, through to Hilly Head and Westford, in Rockwell Green.

The Basins has since seen a variety of wildlife take up residence in recent months, including herons and Canada geese, and the Wellington Weekly recently reported on a resident who filmed a water vole as evidence of the under-threat species making a comeback.

A council spokesperson said: “Much work has been undertaken in the past two years, from improving accessibility to working to create better habitats and corridors for wildlife.”

Now, video footage has emerged of hundreds of tiny beetles which appear to have infested parts of the Basins.

The alder leaf beetles are about six to seven millimetres long, a dark metallic blue in colour, and were at one time thought to be extinct in Britain.

They eat not just alder leaves but those of other trees such as silver birch as well, while the beetles themselves are predated upon by a variety of creatures such as birds, frogs, and other beetles.

The beetles are believed to have been introduced with some of the thousands of trees which the town council has been planting across the Basins in recent months.

Many of the trees came from a nursery in the north of England, where the beetles are known to be widespread.

The council spokesperson said: “I do not believe they cause any long term damage, they will damage the leaf and make the plant look worse for wear.

“We will keep an eye on this and see how it progresses.”