Roadworks caused a late change of meeting point. Members of The Friends of The Beeches very kindly allowed us to park on their drive and garden whilst one member volunteered to man the “official” parking spot in case they were not aware of the change. Many thanks to them for easing our arrangements.
Seven of us gathered in the rearranged “car park”. After the usual preparations we were about to enter The Beeches when our volunteer turned up with three others – a child with grandparents on childminding duties. So what do you do? You give the child a net and he starts running around catching things and bringing the contents back for identification.
For a while we were like Victorian collectors as the child, grandparents and then others who drifted in after we had started brought us insects and spiders. In amongst these offerings was a Bishop’s Mitre shield bug. A really nice way to start the day.
Inevitably such a large group broke into smaller groups pursuing their particular interests. For example, the botanists went out to graze the plains.
Some went to investigate the trees and others went to the pool. The rest milled around the Great Spider Hunter who had set up camp and seemed to be attracting several interested folk with his identification skills and tales of derring-do in the mysterious world of arachnids.
I believe that at its height the number in the group reached 18 (eighteen) but I was not too sure as they never seemed to be in the same place at once and kept moving around. So I may have counted some twice, but there again I may have missed some!
The Beeches is an area of grassland with a small wooded area and pool. It is looked after by The Friends of The Beeches who have saved the land from the threat of development and produced a wonderful flower-rich meadow. When we visited the grassland was dominated by knapweed but other flowers are also abundant.
And the knapweed was teeming with Red-tailed bumble bees. Although it was all too much for this male which was resting on the path and took no notice of our close scrutiny.
One of our botanists and recorder brought me a tray with about a dozen Dock bugs. There were no adults but every stage of juvenile development was there. The route between egg and adult for the dock bug involves 5 stages (instars) over the period of a few weeks. Each stage brings an increase in size and development towards the adult. Unfortunately I did not take advantage of this bonanza to photograph each stage but I did photograph an early instar later in the day.
We decided to lunch in Lodge Field so we uprooted ourselves from The Beeches, gave our thanks to the remaining members of the friends and seven of us made the short transfer to Lodge Field. On the way we caught a glimpse of the Ironbridge Power Station cooling towers. I can never resist photographing them.
As we were lunching we were met by a member of the Lodge Field Friends (ah! that makes 19 overall) who gave us some information about the site. Lodge Field in its current state is more mature than The Beeches and is not as overtly flower rich. There is a stream that runs through part of the site, but this had dried up for our visit.
After lunch we did our usual thing and worked our way around the site. Green shield bug instars were found frequently.
As was the Common Flower Bug which usually only gets a mention when it decides that one’s hand or arm is a plant and sticks its rostrum into the flesh. (They are predatory but they normally take on something they can handle.)
As always time caught up with us so we made our way back, slowly, to The Beeches and the cars. Three of the group forged ahead and by the time the rest of us caught them up they were resting on a bench overlooking the gorge.
It was very tempting to approach them humming the tune to “Last of the Summer Wine” but we were resistant to temptation.
As it happened the Great Shiledbug Finder had found a harvestman and the Great Spider Hunter was trying to identify it. That is not quite true; he had identified it but was doubting it as it had not been recorded in Shropshire before. He later confirmed that this last record of the day was, as he identified, Opilio canestrinii, a new species for the county. What a great way to end the day.
My thanks to the Friends of The Beeches and Lodge Field for the arrangements, making us welcome and working hard to maintain these sites so that we can come along and enjoy them. Thanks also to the couple who allowed us to park in their drive and on their lawn.
Keith Fowler
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