Unsung Heroes of the Soil

In the UK, we have around 60 species of dung beetles, the biggest species close to 3cm in length. Yet despite their small size, these beetles are unsung heroes, creating healthier soils by working around the clock to recycle nutrients and improve soil structure. They are powerful species that are helping us fight climate change and achieve our 2030 goal of creating a vibrant landscape, where nature and people thrive together. 

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has ambitious plans as part of our Wilder Derbyshire 2030 Vision, to rewild 100,000 acres of land and water by 2030. One of the projects helping us achieve this goal is the Allestree Park Community Rewilding Project. Our vision for Allestree Park is simple: a landscape bursting with wildlife, where nature takes the lead and vital processes like nutrient cycling are brought back to life. Due to its formal management as a golf course, we are particularly interested in healthy soils and improving nutrient cycling, when dung, dead plants and animals break down into the soil, providing nutrients. This process can be increased by dung beetles and a diverse plant community with deep root systems. 

As true ecosystem engineers, dung beetles shape the environment to help other species thrive. By recycling nutrients from dung straight into the ground, these tiny beetles enrich soil quality, boost plant growth, and aerate compact ground to improve water storage. Beyond underground engineering, they also suppress livestock parasites and serve as a vital food source for local wildlife.

Discoveries at Allestree

One dung beetle we are keen to see thriving at Allestree Park is the minotaur dung beetle, because it does not solely rely on cattle dung, instead it feeds mostly on rabbit dung – something we have in abundance. Excitingly, one mild evening last October, we carried out some torching (a night-time surveying technique for beetles) and found a male minotaur dung beetle clambering over the grassland in search of rabbit dung! In addition to the one male (photographed below), we found a number of burrows indicating that we had a small population of minotaur dung beetles at Allestree Park.

The minotaur dung beetle is a large, round, glossy black dung beetle found on sandy grasslands and heathland. With ridges running down the wing cases, the males and females can be easily distinguished – males have bull-like horns, whilst the female has pointed edges where the horns would be. This beetle, at only 2cm in size, can burrow up to 1.5 metres deep – moving rabbit dung into the burrows to lay their eggs in, ready for the larvae to eat when they hatch. As we approach autumn, these beetles will soon burst onto the scene for an intense feeding period to prepare for winter breeding. By this time next summer, the adults will have passed the torch, leaving their underground larvae to pupate and restart the cycle.

Get involved

Now, that we have found minotaur dung beetles at Allestree Park, we will be monitoring them and other dung beetle species this September and would love the help of the local community! Join us on Friday 18^th September, 10am-12pm for a beginners' dung beetle identification workshop, to learn more. To book, get in touch at allestreepark@derbyshirewt.co.uk.

We are also planning future habitat interventions to improve their population this September. They prefer short, grazed turf on sandy soils, so we will be working with the community to create areas of bare ground for them to start their burrows. Get in touch if you want to be involved and next time you are out and about have a look for minotaur dung beetle burrows! We are hoping that this mini but mighty species will have a transformative effect at Allestree Park with healthier soils being the foundation to a thriving ecosystem for all!

Click here to view our timeline of other events and activities taking place at Allestree Park.