Sun at last - for a bit of the day at least

Shavington Park, Wednesday 2nd May 2018#

The rain was hammering the window as I received my first email:

"Are we going?"

"Of course" was my reply.

Fortunately I had seen the early morning weather forecast which predicted that the rain would clear from the west and it would be brighter later.

How later?

That was the question!

It was raining hard when I was collected, but I had hope in my heart.

It rained for quite a while on the journey but there were signs of brightening on the horizon.

As we got closer the skies brightened more. And one or two small blue patches made a fleeting appearance. Not enough blue to make a pair of sailor's trousers but an encouraging sign.

By the time we got to the site, parked and kitted up the rain had stopped. It was very overcast for a long time but apart from the odd spot there was no more rain and the sun did eventually come out in the afternoon.

Enough about the weather ... time to get on with the story of the day. (OK the weather will get mentions later on.)

Parking was the early issue. We parked on a track within the site. "No-one will be using this track and if they do they can drive around on the grass." we were told.

Within minutes a van pulled up and the driver asked us to move one of the cars as he could not get around. This was done and the van went merrily on its way.

The grassland close to the parked cars was our first port of call.

Photograph: David Williams

Our first record, more or less, was the spider in the above photograph. It is Cyclosa conica, named after its distended abdomen, which really found us. It wandered into our spiderman's tray!

The tray had been put on the ground whilst a couple of us tried to vacuum sample some growths on a tree.

Photograph: David Williams

Our efforts were not rewarded.

The van returned along the track, this time with a trailer. With its extra length it could not get around the cars so all the drivers had to make their way back and move to a place that was definitely off the beaten track. 

Back to the wildlife.

This area supported a good population of the longhorn moth Adela reaumurella. Normally you see the males of these moths in a display flight whilst the females just sit around on leaves feigning disinterest. On this occasion all the moths were grounded.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

Having moved away from the grassland we made slow progress down a path towards the woodland and carr that borders the main pool. A female hoverfly, Eristalis pertinax, was spotted on the pathside vegetation.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

We then entered a field. This was easier written than done. The path was very muddy. Great care and precision in placing one's feet was required to avoid boots getting stuck or the ignominy of ending up on one's posterior.

Safely in the field we investigated the woodland edge.

An orange tip butterfly was spotted on a cuckoo flower.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

By now the clouds were breaking up and the sun was making short appearances. We meandered our way to the edge of the pool.

This seemed a good spot to break so we spread out our ground sheets and lunched. (Had we gone 10 yards further we would have seen a large log just right for sitting on!)

Photograph: David Williams

Lunch over, back to our quest. Although the sun was shining for longer there was a stiff cool breeze so we decided to head for the shelter of the woods even though this meant retracing our steps and running the gauntlet of the mud bath that called itself a path.

Needless to say we did not go in a straight line. We veered this way then that and the route took us past a hoverfly, Leucozona lucorum.

Photograph: David Williams

Eventually we reached a hedgerow and as the sun was shining we spent a good deal of time looking for insects that may be flying about looking for nectar in the improving conditions.

Orange tip butterflies lay their eggs on cuckoo flower and you can often find an egg by careful inspection of the plant's flower head as this excellent photograph shows.

Photograph: David Williams

The mud was renegotiated without incident and we made our way into the woodland and carr. The willow in the carr was often covered in moss giving them an other-wordly appearance.

Early season woodland plants were evident

Bluebells

Photograph: David Williams

Opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage

A primula hybrid

Photograph: David Williams

And insects also caught our attention

The bee, Andrena haemorrhoa, named possibly after the copious red hairs on its thorax.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

And a pair of mating flies, probably Scathophaga furcata.

Photograph: David Williams

There was plenty of dead wood lying around. This is often a fertile habitat for many beasts. In this piece we found a juvenile newt. Unfortunately we could not determine which species but it was either a Smooth newt or Palmate newt.

Photograph: David Williams

The sunshine was now unbroken. There was not a cloud in the sky. We had been lulled by this excellent weather into staying much later than we normally do, so it was time to return home. On the walk back to the cars this lovely beetle was spotted.

Photograph: David Williams

There has been some discussion about the species but in the end it was thought to be Ischnomera cyanea. This is a rare species (Nationally Notable B). There are a couple of similar species but these are even rarer. Separation of these species is based on the tarsal claws.

Eventually we went home.

My thanks to the owners of Shavington Park for granting us permission to do what we enjoy doing; to Gerry Thomas for negotiating that permission and to the photographers Jim Cresswell and David Williams for sharing their excellent photographs.