Between 20 May and 22 October 2021 I carried out a series of eight Coleoptera surveys of the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) gardens at Harlow Carr, on the western edge of Harrogate (SE2754, VC 64 Mid-west Yorkshire). The gardens were founded in 1946 by the Northern Horticultural Society to test plant survival in northern England. Following a merger with the RHS, the Botanical Gardens were opened in 1950,since when extensive landscaping and management continues to be an ongoing exercise. Wild flower meadows have been sown in recent years but, although floristically rich, these have attracted a limited range of phytophagous Coleoptera, probably due to the lack of natural meadows in the vicinity, and extensive urbanisation. Newly published plans for a large adjacent area of housing will leave Harlow Carr even more isolated. The remaining woodland and arboretum areas proved more productive and a total of 210 species of Coleoptera was recorded with most, as expected, being common widely distributed species. However, a few are of interest locally and nationally.
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