Wellie swapping

Stanmore Country Park, Wednesday 6th April

As the grandchildren were staying with us I packed my bag early so that any grandparenting crises on the Wednesday morning did not affect the concentration needed to pack everything I may need. 

So far so good.

We had collected the children a few days before and remembering the amount of clobber we transported when our children were young I cleared the boot. So come Wednesday morning I had to repopulate the boot with nets, trays and the moth-vac. As there had been no crises I took my time and everything in the boot was neatly arranged.

Off I set and collected the Great Shieldbug Finder. I made a point of inviting him to see how neat and tidy my car boot was before adding his bits and pieces. We drove to the site and arrived with plenty of time to spare before the meet time.

After exchanging pleasantries with other early arrivals I opened the boot to start getting ready for the day ahead when I noticed amongst the great neatness a certain absence...

No boots! Oops! 

I looked at my feet in their sandals and wondered if I could manage the day in those - reminding myself that skin is waterproof – when the Great Stick Finder came to the rescue and offered me a pair of wellingtons that he was not going to use. 

Relieved I went to greet some other arrivals.

When I returned I found strange goings on. The Great Shieldbug Finder had swapped his wellingtons (size 11) for the Great Stick Finder’s (size 9½) and offered me his as I had the largest feet! He was adamant that the he was comfortable in the smaller ones so I ended up with the larger pair. 

All were now clothed an booted so we set off!

It started to rain then hail but after a few minutes it stopped and that was as wet as we got as the day continued with prolonged sunny periods and the woodland protected us from the cool brisk breeze that was blowing.

Our first shieldbug was found – a Birch shieldbug.

We made our way to a small muddy pool where, despite its rather bleak appearance, we found frogspawn in amongst the water plants. From the pool we wandered through the woodland.

We did not find a great deal but it was fun trying and, of course, it provided a chance to catch up with each other’s exploits since we last met.

All of a sudden we came across a small patch of grassland where we found a strange structure.

I assume that it is a goal with the screens around the goal providing a barrier to stop any slightly wayward shots. But I seem to remember from my youth that blasting the ball past the unfortunate goalkeeper from short range and making him run 50 yards to retrieve it was all part of the fun. 

Spoilsports!!

Lunch beckoned. We found a bench and as many as could perched on it, others sat on the ground or just wandered around whilst eating.

Refreshed we continued our circumnavigation of the site. The woodland edge provided us with glimpses of hoverflies, bees and bee-fly. It also provided a view of how regimented plantations can be. Is there is a reason why broadleaved trees are planted in straight lines?

We came across an extensive patch of violets which the botanists tell me were Earl dog-violet.

Finally we came across the memorial garden which surrounds the chimney of the boiler house of the RAF camp that was here between 1939 and 1963.

Time to go home. Wellies were returned to their rightful owners and we went our separate ways.

Dothill Local Nature Reserve, Friday 8th April

Half a dozen of us met on a drab but dry day to make our first excursion onto this site. When I arrived I was unsure whether Local Nature Reserve status had yet been granted but a notice on a tree close to Tee lake confirmed that it was now an LNR. 

The LNR process has been long and drawn out but, at last, it has been achieved, well done to all involved.

A little while ago I received a request from the newly formed Friends group for records so I felt that our group of enthusiasts could help this process with a series of visits this year.

This visit turned out to be a gentle figure of eight through most, but not all, of this extensive reserve. We started at Tee lake, a former jousting lake, now used for angling. Here we noted a few water birds including a Mute swan that was keeping an eye on us.

Along the edge of the lake I beat out an anthocorid  bug that is probably new to the county, Buchananiella continua. This is a recent arrival to our shores but it is now regarded as naturalised. 

Sorry – no photograph as it is too small for my equipment to get a reasonable image.

For some reason I became separated from the pack, but when I caught up with them they were peering intently at a concrete pillar. As it has aged it has become a microhabitat for moss, lichen and probably (although I did not find any) Springtails and other mini-beasts.

And on the subject of microhabitats we came across these plants trying to make a go of it in a damaged tree trunk.

We lunched. On a bench. But bounded not in the best spot as we were on the main dog traffic route. 

At one stage a pair of Labradors bounded up to us, followed not too closely by their “responsible” adult. Inevitably “they are only being friendly” was stated. Despite the dogs showing great interest in our lunches the responsible adult showed no urgency in taking control of the dogs but did eventually take them away. 10 seconds later they were back – I walked away in case I uttered something I might regret later in court. They were removed still with little urgency from the (ir)responsible owner. 20 seconds later they were back. This was too much – I walked away even further to avoid possible repercussions and was joined by another of the group. Fortunately this time the dogs were take away and we did not see them again. 

After all this canine excitement we continued our merry way recording what we could and generally enjoying the day.