New Heligan Wild logo!
17th July 2012
In recent years Heligan Wild has been going from strength to strength, cultivating an identity that stems from The Lost Gardens and the diversity of life that exists within and around them. Particularly since the birth of the Heligan Wild website, which has had nearly 400,000 visits in the past twelve months! This exciting project has attracted a wide audience from all over the world who come to view the wildlife that thrives in the wide range of habitats in this tiny yet beautiful part of Cornwall.
The Heligan Wild team have joined forces with the Heligan Design team to completely revamp the Heligan Wild logo in a way that we think best demonstrates our aims at Heligan Wild, and we are pleased to announce that it has just been finalised and is ready for publication!
Now, almost certainly the questions you’ve all been asking are: “What beetle is it?” and “Why use it?”
The beetle is known as a Golden-haired Longhorn beetle or Hornet Longhorn (Leptura aurulenta) and is a member of the Longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), aptly named because of their long antennae. The females are larger than males and much more impressive with golden and black wing covers, orange legs and antennae, whereas the males are smaller with reddish orange and black wing covers and black legs and antennae.
They are found in localised areas throughout England with a stronghold in the South West, their preferred habitat is developed woodland, as the larvae require dead wood for protection, food and to safely grow into adults.
We chose to use this beetle on our logo as it is a fairly unusual beetle that most people would not see. We have a very good population of them here at Heligan, thanks primarily to our mature, well developed woodland and woodland management techniques, and we will continue to preserve areas of dead wood specifically for the welfare of such insects. Using this beetle has given the logo a much more eye-catching look; with an attraction to both children and adults alike.
A major part of the work we do at Heligan Wild is providing intimate views of behaviour that wouldn’t normally be seen or species that wouldn’t normally be seen, by using this Longhorn beetle within our logo we hope to promote thought about some of the species that require our help but are too often overlooked.
