Selected parish / Wild Places / Public footpaths / Parish boundaries
To find out more about featured Wild Places in and around the parish (red boundaries on the map), visit the Wild Places page. Contact NatureSpot if you have an idea for any additional Wild Places.
Thurlaston village and its surrounding parish lie in the district of Blaby, just over 6 miles to the south-west of Leicester. The parish is relatively large, occupying the area between the A47 and the M69, bordered by the B582 to the north-east and by Watery Gate Lane to the south-west. The village itself is small with a population in 2011 of just 807, a rural community largely surrounded by agricultural land.
The only publicly-accessible wildlife haven within the parish is Normanton Wood, located 2 miles west of the village on Earl Shilton Lane, just before the junction with Thurlaston Lane. This was created by the Woodlands Trust as part of their "Woods on your Doorstep" project in partnership with DIY store Homebase. Everyone is welcome to walk here amongst trees planted in 1999, mainly oak, ash and field maple. The adjacent grassland has been sown with a mixture of meadow grasses and is allowed to grow long before being cut annually after the wild flowers have set seed.
Also to the west of the village, a footpath passes through the rolling parklands of Normanton Hall, overlooking a small tributary of the River Soar and a number of fishing lakes. Several other footpaths traverse the parish, passing mainly through farmland.
Total species seen in this parish:
Thurlaston Parish Council
Parish Councils are being encouraged to take over the management of selected road verges in their area in order to improve their value for wildlife. So far, over 70 verges have been adopted. Verge surveys by NatureSpot have revealed a surprising diversity of flora with an average of over 30 different wildflowers and grasses on each verge. More information can be found here.
Welcome to the new Thurlaston NatureSpot page which gives local residents the opportunity to find out about, and contribute to, our knowledge of the wildlife in the parish. Just click on the headers of these stories to read more.
We would like more wildlife observations from the parish. So, if you've seen a species you recognise, from a Blue tit to a Bluebell, click on the header to find out what to do.
Surprising little is known about many of the species that live in the county. What is its distribution? How common or rare is it? Are these changing over time? These are vital questions which NatureSpot, with your support, can help to answer. All the data collected is shared to help inform conservation decision-making.
The Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) is a recent invader from the continent, first recorded in Dorset in 2001. It spread rapidly along the south coast and over the last few years has been steadily expanding northwards. Following the submission of a record from Rutland in 2017, the first Ivy Bees from Leicestershire were recorded in September 2018 from Aylestone, Narborough, Stoney Stanton and Broughton Astley. In October it was finally recorded in Thurlaston.
In early September 2017 up to 100 juvenile Mallard moved into front gardens on Croft Road, Thurlaston, feeding on invertebrates and vegetation. The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is a common water bird found throughout the county, but it is rarely seen in gardens.
The images and records below are all from the parish/ward and have been submitted by members of the public.
The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.
In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.
| Species group | Total no. of species | Total no. of records | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 1448 | 6649 | |
| Moths | 604 | 3387 | |
| Wildflowers | 161 | 422 | |
| Birds | 71 | 554 | |
| Bugs | 68 | 222 | |
| Beetles | 66 | 240 | |
| Bees, Wasps, Ants | 66 | 266 | |
| Flies | 64 | 167 | |
| Hoverflies | 56 | 297 | |
| Trees, Shrubs & Climbers | 31 | 105 | |
| Grasses, Rushes & Sedges | 29 | 54 | |
| Craneflies, Gnats & Midges | 28 | 69 | |
| Butterflies | 21 | 284 | |
| Spiders | 19 | 81 | |
| Slugs & Snails | 18 | 65 | |
| Sawflies | 18 | 30 | |
| Caddisflies | 18 | 48 | |
| Mammals | 13 | 75 | |
| Fungi | 12 | 18 | |
| Dragonflies and Damselflies | 9 | 58 | |
| harvestman (Opiliones) | 9 | 25 | |
| Grasshoppers & Crickets | 7 | 32 | |
| Woodlice, Crustaceans | 6 | 21 | |
| Mites, Ticks & Pseudoscorpions | 5 | 6 | |
| insect - caddis fly (Trichoptera) | 5 | 5 | |
| Ferns & Horsetails | 5 | 5 | |
| insect - true fly (Diptera) | 5 | 8 | |
| Mosses & Liverworts | 4 | 4 | |
| Springtails & Bristletails | 4 | 7 | |
| Centipedes & Millipedes | 4 | 14 | |
