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Scaynes Hill Village
Glow worms are not worms at all. They are insects with the scientific name Lampyrus noctiluca. They are closely related to fireflies, but the glow worms seen in England are wingless. It is the last two segments of the female that glow a greenish colour and the purpose of this is to attract a mate. In fact, when they do mate, the female turns off its light and dies. Very sad.
Glow worms
25 June Posted by Mike Lavelle
I then didn't see one for several years, in spite of being on the lookout, but about 5 years ago started seeing the odd one in the field near my house. I live just south of Scaynes Hill. I have also seen one on the road to Danehill, just north of Freshfield crossroads, opposite the brickworks. The ones I have seen have always been in grass about a foot long, often at the edge of a field, and it has usually been after a hot day in July.
Do look out for them in the coming weeks, especially at the beginning of July after a sunny day. If you do see one, there is a website where you can report your sighting. It would also be rather interesting and quite fun if you also sent in a sighting report to the website by using the Contact Us page, so that the number and locations of sightings in and around the village can be published. No-one is sure whether glow worms are becoming less common, but reporting sightings will help to work out the distribution of these fascinating creatures.
The website is www.glowworms.org.uk and is full of information.
I first saw a glow worm just outside my house when I was living near Bolney. I wasn't looking for one, but I often used to be outside on a warm summer's evening and saw a surprisingly bright light in grass. It was there every night for several nights, and on one of the nights I brought a book outside in the pitch dark and was able to read it quite easily by means of the light emanating from the insect.
The photos you see on either side were taken with my mobile phone. The first one shows the greenish light coming from the two rear segments, and was taken without any flash, and the second one shows the complete insect, and was taken using the phone and an ordinary battery-powered torch!
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