Don’t Panic!

Bury Ditches – Wednesday 22nd July

Normally I have breakfasted before 7am so collecting the Great Spider Hunter at 9am on my way to Bury Ditches should not be a problem. Early breakfast also explains my tendency to eat lunch whilst the rest of the group have morning coffee. However on this day, after a troublesome night, I woke up at 8.11am. 

Don’t panic – plenty of time! I remembered that when I worked I use to get up at 6am and be at work by 7am so plenty of time.

I did not gulp down my breakfast or skimp on the morning ablutions and left the house at 8.50am giving me 10 minutes for the 20 minute drive if I was to get there on time. Don’t panic.

Then I remembered it was bin collection day so the road was bound to be blocked somewhere along the route by a refuse collection vehicle. And it was. But I did not panic as there was a small gap between the stationary lorry and the parked cars. I squeezed through thankful that the traffic coming in the other direction realised I was a little tardy and therefore needed priority for the gap.

Next a huge queue of traffic at the traffic lights. I did not need to panic as they turned green just as I started to slow down to join the queue. And the traffic lights understood I was a little tardy and did not change back to red until the whole queue had got through.

Plain sailing now and without panicking I collected my charge at 9.10am-ish. 

“Come and look at the moths” was the greeting as I apologised for being late. So, still not panicking I did – there was Swallow-tailed, an emerald and a few others.

We loaded up the car and set off.

As I was tootling along quite happily my passenger shouts “OWL!”. Concentrating on keeping the car on the road there is little opportunity to look around. “Above the car”. So I stopped in the middle of the Much Wenlock to Craven Arms road to look. Nothing to be seen – or was that something moving in the big tree over the hedge?

A van raced by and I imagined what the driver was thinking about this car stationery in the road, and it was not polite.

Then we saw the owl again gliding away from us, but we were unable to determine the species. 

We carried on our merry way until we got stuck behind a car doing 40mph whatever the speed limit. 

Thankfully it turned off in Church Stretton.

And now there was no need to panic as the chances of getting to meet point on time were nil.

After turning up the rather narrow road from Clunton towards Bury Ditches we were given another treat as we saw a Red Kite meandering around lazily over a field close to the road.

So we got to the meet point just after 10am, without one panic.

As always we looked around the car park and one beat of an oak tree yielded several bugs, so I knew it was going to be a busy day.

Which way to go? A suggestion was made to start at the hill fort so we left the car park taking a path that rose steadily towards the summit of the hill and the fort. We stopped lots of time to look at plants, search for insects and discuss the entomological and other topics of the day. And it started raining. How dare it? It’s a Wednesday. it does not rain on a Wednesday. 

It was not heavy rain, more a sea fret. Still waterproofs were donned.

Some of us deviated from the path to see lichen strewn trees.

Although some lichen develop in polluted air they are usually associated with sites where the air is clean.

We eventually made it to the summit. Only to find that one of the group had forged ahead and declared a coffee break.

The hillfort dates from about 500BC and is recognised as one of the best examples in the country. 

The site is huge and the ramparts are impressive.

Unfortunately it was a little breezy but we were able to find a sheltered spot for lunch. After that we explored the inner reaches of the fort which is dominated by grassland. We found a Small Skipper hanging on to a thistle.

As we descended the far side of the fort we discovered that it was more sheltered and there were many more insects taking advantage of the calmer, warmer conditions. Some had creating the next generation on their mind. A pair of the conopid fly Sicus ferrugineus:

And a pair of the picture-wing fly Terellia tussilaginis:

The tall flower heads of the angelica were proving a magnet for hoverflies, bees and wasps:

Time was marching on, which is not what we were doing! We found ourselves at the halfway point of the walk I had hoped to achieve. Drastic action was required otherwise we would be very late for dinner. Maps were consulted, a committee meeting held and a decision reached to abandon the “planned” walk and take the direct(ish) path back to the cars.

It was a bit of “Staffordshire” march back but we still managed to find things of interest and take in the views that tantalisingly kept making appearances between breaks in the trees.

On the way home in the car we were treated to a view of not one, but two Red Kites.

Excellent, what better way to spend a day?

Keith Fowler