Where are all the Shieldbugs? Keith Fowler

This is a question we ask ourselves each week as we venture out on Invertebrately Challenged Tetrad meanders. So far we have found two shieldbugs in five trips. “Is it worth the effort?” you may ask.

Last year the challenge concentrated on the tetrads around Telford that had the fewest invertebrate records. This year we are concentrating on supporting record collection for the proposed Shropshire Atlases for “Shieldbugs and allies”, “Micro-moths”, “Longhorned beetles” and “Bees, Wasps and Ants”. We are targeting tetrads in the region that have no or few records for these groups.

We started at Venus Pools. No shieldbugs here but we did find the Broom psyllid Arytaina genistae (see: http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/homoptera/Psylloidea/Arytaina_genistae.html) that does not appear to be have been recorded in Shropshire before. So a promising start, all we needed now ere the target species.

Our second trip was to Timlet Bridge on a fairly warm day at the start of April. We ambled along the bridle path searching sweeping and beating the vegetation as we went. We did find our first shieldbug (Hawthorn) tucked up in the Bramble and a flock of 100+ Fieldfare.

Flushed with success our next trip was to Broseley. Again the weather was fine but it was not very warm. Unfortunately there were very few invertebrates around so we amused ourselves by recording the birds and flowers making the very significant find of Taraxacum officinale agg. (Dandelion!).

The following adventure was down the Severn Way from Coalport. This is in a Wildlife Site so we expected great results. But again the Invertebrates let us down. Still, a nice walk in pleasant surroundings.

The latest instalment was to the Wenlock Edge to the east of the Harley road from Much Wenlock. We set off confident of shieldbug finds. And we found one within 10 minutes. A Hawthorn shieldbug beaten from Holly (well you did not expect it to be on Hawthorn did you?). That find cursed us for the rest of the day as we found no sign of any others. We did find a couple of micro- moths (Agonopterix arenalla and Eriocrania sp.) and a cranefly (Symplecta stictica) and a few ladybirds (2-spot, 7-spot, 10-spot and 14-spot) . We lunched overlooking magnificent views from the Edge and watched a group of 6 deer make their way across the fields.

So has it been worth the effort? The answer is “Of course it has”. Nice walks, pleasant surroundings and good company. What more could you want (except a few shieldbugs etc.). Come and join us. There are walks most Wednesdays throughout the spring and summer.

Some people search ....




   











others look ....
















.... whilst the rest look on.
















Post from WFV Member Keith Fowler