Rather Bracing

Wednesday 14^th January 2026, Shelve

This week’s outing was to the Forestry England plantation at Shelve. Having visited the northern portion of the wood last winter, we concentrated on the southern part this time. At about 360m altitude this is is one of the draughtier places in Shropshire at the best of times. And this was not the best of times! The ground was frozen and the air temperature was around 1 or 2 degrees. Here are a couple of photos to give a sense of the conditions:

photo: Keith Fowler

photo: John Martin

The sun did break through at  times, albeit rather weakly. Rather surprisingly, it was enough to stir a few insects sluggishly into life including the odd Yellow Dung Fly, one of which climbed onto my camera bag and posed for photos:

Other invertebrate finds relied mainly on the vacuum samplers. Among them was Notiophilus biguttatus, a  small beetle which reliably turns up most weeks.

photo:  John Martin

Another beetle which appeared was Cartodere bifasciata. It is described as being fairly common in leaf litter but at only 2mm long is easily overlooked. I can’t recall seeing it previously.

A Scarlet Tiger larva was dislodged from a tree. Goodness knows what it was doing up there; they  feed on herbaceous plants such as forget-me-not and comfrey for most of their lives, only moving to woody plants after hibernation, in their final instars!

photo: John Martin

Some finds did not rely on the vacuums. These included a moss, Orthotrichum pulchellum 

photo: John Martin

A liverwort, Metzgeria voilacea

photo: John Martin

And a lichen, Physcia aipolia.

photo: John Martin

The day drew on. We got colder and made purposefully for the ‘finishing line’ (well, most of us did) but not before half an Eyed Ladybird was spotted in the leaf litter.

The end of the track allowed a fine view of the nearby Stiperstones ridge.

photo: Keith Fowler

And with that we trudged back to the cars, and warmth!

 
Snow Flea update: we didn’t find any (again). Numerous patches of Polytrichum moss were investigated without success…
 
 
Photographs © the author except as noted. 

Weather Window

Wednesday 7^th January 2026, Harton Hollow

Our first expedition of the new year was to Harton Hollow, a Shropshire Wildlife Trust reserve at the southern end of Wenlock Edge. We were fortunate that the trip fell between the snowy weather at the start of the week and the much more severe weather at the end of the week courtesy of Storm Goretti. In fact we were surprised at how green the landscape was, the earlier snow having melted away almost completely.
 
On arrival in the car park we were greeted by a particularly confiding Marsh Tit. It was closely followed by three Bramblings, who perched briefly in the top of a tree. Unfortunately, as no-one had a long lens to capture these events, you will have to take my word for it! A scenic view from the site towards the Clee Hills was captured instead.

Harton Hollow is a small site with just one path through it. It is therefore difficult to construct a thrilling narrative of our day, which was largely spent walking in single file through the site, stopping at intervals to beat or vacuum for finds. And of course, also, very importantly, for lunch!  So here are photos of some of our finds…
   
A liverwort: Plagiochila asplenioides

photo: John Martin

A brace of 16-spot Ladybirds

A gall of Taxomyia taxi (a species of midge) on Yew

photo: John Martin

What might have been a slime-mould, perhaps a Didymium species

photo: John Martin

A pseudoscorpion which we presume  to be the ubiquitous Neobisium carcinoides  

One of a group of earthstar fungi, Geastrum michelianum

photo: John Martin

A springtail, Orchesella cincta

photo: John Martin

And its larger relative,  Orchesella  villosa.

photo: John Martin

Harton Hollow is not a large nature reserve and with only one route through it, we found ourselves back at the car park in rather quick time. So an early finish! As compensation, we were able to journey home in very pleasant sunshine.
 
Snow Flea update: we didn’t find any. One large patch of Polytrichum moss was located and investigated but no Snow Fleas were forthcoming. Maybe  next week...
 
 
Photographs © the author except as noted.

More Mince Pies!

 Wednesday 17^th December 2025, Dingle Farm, Bicton

This week we paid a return visit to Dingle Farm, an arable farm with sheep, cattle and free-range chickens among other animals. An area of the farm has been set aside to encourage improved biodiversity. The north of the site is bounded by the River Severn. A small tributary runs down the western edge in an area known as Bicton Ditch. This was the initial focus of our visit, before we moved northwards and examined various field  margins.
 
A foreboding weather forecast threatened continuous rain. In the event, this forecast proved to be about as accurate as usual ie it remained almost completely dry throughout our visit. Generally rather overcast, patches of blue did appear from time to time.

photo: Keith Fowler

Flocks of winter thrushes swirled around us all day; a few can be seen in the above picture. Early finds from the vacuumers included several species of springtail, among them Orchesella villosa,

and its relative, Orchesella cincta.

Moving into an area of denser woodland, a Birch Shieldbug was discovered clinging to a rucksack onto which it must have been brushed.

A fungus, presumed to be Velvet Shank, Flammulina velutipes was spotted on a dead Elm - typical habitat for this species.

photo:John Martin

Also spotted was White-tipped Bristle-moss, Orthotrichum diaphanum.

photo: John Martin

and the micro moth Ypsolopha ustella.

photo: John Martin

We moved out of the Bicton Ditch woodland and back up into the fields. This gave the resident livestock the chance to eye us with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. First up were the three resident Zebu cattle…

who were then joined by the sheep, who came and stared meaningfully at us as we pitched camp for lunch.

Lunch over, we progressed northwards along the field margins, the vacuumers’ efforts being appreciated by all. 

photo: Keith Fowler

Finds included the weevil Taeniapion urticarium,

 various ladybirds including Red Marsh,

Red-rumped,

22- and 16-spot.

Meanwhile a Cream-spot Ladybird was tapped from an area of dead dock plants.

Two small ‘non-ladybird’ beetles found were Paradromius linearis

photo: John Martin

and Demetrius atricapillus.

photo: John Martin

By now it was approaching 3:30pm and the daylight was showing signs of disappearing, so we began our retreat. The decision to call it a day was very much assisted by an invitation from our hosts to return to their abode for refreshments. For the second week running we were plied with mince pies (among other delights), these ones literally hot from the oven and very gratefully received!
 
This was our final trip of 2025. We will reassemble at Harton Hollow on 7th January. It only remains for me to wish everyone a Merry Chrismas and a Happy New Year!   
 
  
 
Photographs © the author except as noted.