Sun, sea, sand and ... insects by Keith Fowler

Sunday 27th June

We went to Harlech to explore the dunes and foreshore in the company of Invertebrate Challenge. 

The weather forecast, which had caused the earlier postponement of this trip, was not great but acceptable, bright but cooler, showers in the afternoon, rain later. So, two of us set off very early from Telford. The plan was to breakfast on the way. The traffic was light and good progress made and breakfast in Barmouth seemed a good idea. Unfortunately Barmouth was shut as was Llanaber, Tal-y-bont, Llanbedr and every other settlement in between until Harlech.

A minor misinterpretation of a road sign took us through Harlech and out the other side. We took the scenic route back to the car park, which was by the Dunes and the Royal St. David’s Golf Course. We walked into (lower) Harlech. Nothing was open. We walked at great pace, driven on by hunger, UP to (higher) Harlech where we found a coffee shop (but no breakfast) selling poor coffee but an excellent Eccles cake (rated later at 9/10). The shop did direct us to another that was open and doing food. Sated by an excellent bacon and egg bap and drink we returned to the car park to meet five other members of the Invertebrate Challenge project.

In defiance of the weather forecast the sun was shining and it was very warm. In fact the sun shone for most of the day with no hint of a shower, who’d be a weather forecaster? It was not long before we were peering into alien habitats looking for insects that we do not usually find locally. And we were soon rewarded by the discovery of a sandy coloured shieldbug nymph. This elicited great excitement but on very close inspection turned out to be a Hairy/Sloe shieldbug.

This was followed soon afterwards by several sightings of the Rhopalid bug Corizus hyoscyami in both its adult and nymphal forms.

We wandered deeper into the dunes and further off the beaten track. One of the most common insects we found was the Bishop’s Mitre shieldbug. 

Amongst the Restharrow we found the rather bizarre looking stiltbug Gampsocoris punctipes and the mirid bug Dicyphus annulatus. The photograph is G. punctipes, not the best, but does show why it is called a stiltbug.

We lunched, rested, talked, then searched some more. Amongst the finds were 11-spot ladybird, the cranefly Nephrotoma scurra and the huge fly Tachina grossa. 

As some of the group wandered off to return home we lingered. As we wandered along the Great Stick Finder saw movement, after a bit of searching by binocular and eye he found a well (but not too well) camouflaged Grayling resting up in the vegetation. 

We made for the beach. We came across Sea spurge. Beating of several stands of this plant eventually yielded a nymph of the spurge bug Dicranocephalus agilis, which is associated with Sea spurge and Portland spurge.

Satisfied with our day’s exploring we returned to the car park, had a cup of tea, did not have an ice-cream and then made our way home.

Wednesday 30th July
Eight of us gathered by the ex-Nedge Tavern which has re-emerged as the Boscobel Tavern to explore the southern reaches of Randlay Valley. A request by the Chairman of the Friends of Hollinswood and Randlay Valley to the landlord to allow us to use its car park was met by a negative response so we parked on the roadside next to the newly erected (and disputed) fence.

Unfortunately bad health prevented the Chair of the Friends from joining us but he did suggest a route, which we followed.

We started out on the bridle path than passes through woodland. We had early success finding three shieldbugs in the first 100 yards or so. We also found stands of Hogweed which are always worth checking for the fauna they support, especially hoverflies. In this instance I found a white butterfly which seemed to be glued to the plant as it allowed me to get very close.

Apart from a few open areas the path was a bit gloomy but where the sun got through there were rewards. One example was the large black and yellow soldier fly Stratiomys potamida which has been allocated the strange common name of “Banded General”. 

Many of the soldier flies have been given militaristic common names. One of my favourites is Beris chalybata which is known as the “Murky-legged Black Legionnaire” Other members of the Stratiomys genus are known as the “Clubbed General”, “Long-horned General” and “Flecked General”. Amongst the names of other flies in the family are “Ornate Brigadier”, “Round-spotted Major”, “Delicate Soldier” and “Iridescent Centurion”.

I do not know what plans the Friends have for managing or improving the site but opening up this bridle path to allow more light in and encourage a lower layer of vegetation may be an option.

The bridle path led to a meadow. Earlier in the year this meadow is awash with orchids. At this time of year there is still evidence of the orchids but grasses and knapweed are the dominant plants. And this mixture combined with the surrounding trees and taller vegetation such as Hogweed and Willowherb yielded a rich collection of invertebrates for us to study and identify. This area is a gem. 

A seat is located next to this meadow so this naturally became our base camp for morning coffee, lunch, sorting and identifying the “catch” and catching up on the latest gossip.

With reluctance we left this meadow and followed the tarmacked path back towards the cars. On the way we passed another excellent stand of hogweed then an area of grassland. 

We paused in both these areas to see what we could see but the lure of the cars and home was getting stronger and eventually overcame our desire to stay and explore.

Thank you to the Friends for arranging the visit and Telford and Wrekin for giving us permission to do what we do. We will reward the Friends with 107 invertebrate records for the day.

Get well soon Graham.

Keith Fowler