Sockless in Prees Heath

Prees Heath, Wednesday and Thursday 18-19th July 2018

I need to get the embarrassing part over with.

Yes, I had another sock incident. 

I forgot them on the Thursday. I got them out ready to take with me but unfortunately they remained at home whilst I was at Prees Heath. 

Thankfully I managed without them.

A curious week in the Joy of Wildlife programme. At the request of the warden we attended the "Chris Packham" bioblitz on the Thursday. As we thought it would be rather busy on the day we decided to make a "pre-visit" the day before to optimize the list of species that we found.

And as it was a curious "event" I will get the boring text out of the way first then treat you to some photographs.

Wednesday. 

Five of us made the journey to Prees Heath. Needless to say it was dry and very warm.

After some initial dithering we marched to the further end of the site as this was an area that we seldom visit and as it had no orthoptera records this group became the focus and were duly recorded along with numerous other insects and arachnids.

On the way we met a group from the Worcester Camera Club who were curious as to what we were doing. ("Curious" is clearly the word of the day!). They assumed that we were catching butterflies with our nets. 

After reassuring them that we were looking for smaller beasts we showed them the catch from the vacuum sampler. At this point one of the group made a rapid departure being afraid of spiders, but the others maintained their curiosity as the catch was sorted out.

From the further reaches we returned via the pool where we watched the dragonflies and damselflies over and around the water and did some pond dipping.

Our reverie was interrupted when a dog decided that it needed the pool and went into the water. It did not stay long but then it decided to wander around us dripping water in places we would have preferred it not to.

From the pool we meandered  back to the car park carefully avoiding the copious amounts of "dog waste" on the path which was easier than normal to spot as it had been sprayed pink.

Near the end we met Nigel, who is you'll all be surprised to learn "Only a puppy". 

A very yappy puppy; who insisted on following us rather than its owner. Eventually he got bored with us, thankfully.

Thursday. 

More curiosity. Two of us were at Prees Heath just after 8am!

Overnight a marquee had been erected so after some initial entomologising close to the entrance to the site we went over to investigate it. It had tables and chairs, the official recorder for the day, drinks and cake! 

We made the marquee our base and ventured from it for entomological sorties, returning to look at our specimens, report our findings and take in the occasional refreshment.

At 10.30am we met the remaining Joy of Wildlife attendees, but the nature of the day meant that we did very little as a group.

There is not much more to add and the early arrivals left at 1pm.

Did we meet Chris Packham?

No.

But it was his bioblitz.

He was also doing these events at several other sites and he was scheduled to get to Prees Heath at 5.30pm. 

We did not wait.

The BBC Midlands news carried a report of the day and, indeed, the great man did make it. If you watched the report you would have noticed my starring role as I entered from stage right, took a few steps, turned thoughtfully, then retreated from whence I came.

I am available to sign autographs.

Humbly I leave you with some images from the two days.

The long march

Silver-studded blue; Photograph: Ed Phillips

Meadow grasshopper; Photograph: David Williams

Cinnabar moth larva; Photograph: David Williams

Field grasshopper; Photograph: David Williams

Small copper ovipositing - an egg is circled in red;

 Photograph: David Williams

Common green grasshopper; Photograph: David Williams

Six-spot burnet; Photograph: Ed Phillips

Mottled grasshopper; Photograph: David Williams

The control tower

Pond dipping

The Marquee

My thanks to Stephen Lewis, the warden at Prees Heath for Butterfly Conservation, for inviting us to do what we enjoy doing and permitting us to visit on the previous day; to David Williams and Ed Phillips for allowing me to use their excellent photographs and especially to the cake makers.