RARE York beetles have been rehomed in a new habitat.

48 tansy beetles have been released at York St John University Sports Park in a bid to save the endangered species.

The rare species of beetle, nicknamed the "Jewel of York", is special to York with its main population situated along the banks of the River Ouse.

This location has meant that the species is endangered due to the risk of flooding along the river.

A decision was made to move some of the beetles to the site at the university to help preserve the species.

Geoff Oxford, from the Tansy Beetle Action Group, said: “We’d been looking for sites away from the River Ouse and away from potentially devastating floods, at what we call ‘ark’ sites.

“The idea of these ark sites is that they’re away from floods, but they’re fairly close to the Ouse.

“If something awful does happen on the Ouse, then the beetle is not lost totally.”

The habitat at the university’s Sports Park was chosen as it is not at risk of flooding but is still close the River Ouse, with the river running around the site. 

Sarah Williams, Energy & Environmental Projects Officer at York St John University, said: “(The release) is an experiment that we’re helping to support.

"It is to introduce the beetles into one location on the site and then monitor how they spread and populate, because that’s a little bit of an unknown about this species.”

Sarah hopes the project will allow for more to be learned about the beetle.

“I hope it’s going to go very well.” Said Geoff.

“The plan is to put the beetle into this one side of the site and then allow them to move out.”

The project first started in 2015, when the university contacted an ecologist who recommended the site.

Since then, lots of tansy “clumps” have been planted around the site which form a trail that walkers can follow to see the beetles.

Geoff said it is necessary for there to be a large amount of tansy plants in a close proximity at the site, as the beetles are only able to walk 100-150 metres at a time.

There are other, smaller, ark sites in the area, but Geoff does not have any plans for more.

He said: “We’ve got a small number of other ark populations and that’s probably enough for now – we’ll see how this one goes.”

Geoff hopes this new site mirrors the success of the others, with thousands of tansy beetles now being counted at some.

The site is open to the public and located behind the playing fields at York St John University Sports Park.