An alien on an alien

Hodnet Heath SSSI, Wednesday 22nd August 2018

This is a site that we have looked at, enviously, many times as we have passed it on our way to other sites. Getting access has been beyond us but thanks to a good friend who now works for Natural England we were given permission to visit.

The SSSI citation, available via the Natutral England Designated Sites View website summarises the site as follows:

"A small remnant of the heathland which was formerly more extensive in North Shropshire.

"The site is predominantly wet heath, but areas of dry heath and secondary woodland occur. There are also a number of ponds."

Click here to see the full citation.

Here is a view looking roughly south from a very high tripod!

Photograph: Bob Kemp

We entered the site via the access track from the north. This passed through woodland. This area did not invite too close an inspection as the ground flora was dominated by bramble.

The woodland soon gave way to a small patch of rough vegetation, which produced a reasonable number of common bugs associated with long grass, nettle, dock and similar plants.

This ended quickly and we found ourselves on the heath. 

The vegetation was searched using sweep nets and beating trays. But for some reason invertebrates proved hard to find. Eventually the vacuum sampler was employed. This proved to be a little more successful.

A sample of vegetation in the area of the above photograph included a Shropshire first - the barkfly Kolbia quisqiliarum. Sorry, no photograph. It was a very small bland wingless insect. Pictures can be seen on the National Barkfly Recording Scheme website (click here to view).

The same sample captured a couple of "inconspicuous" ladybirds - so called because the are small and not brightly marked like the ladybirds we are used to seeing.

Wandering on, following the track, we came across a Ruddy darter

Photograph: David Williams

And a clump of Hard fern

Photograph: David Williams

We eventually arrived at the most accessible wet area (the others are buried in the woodland). It is the area that appears to be cut out of the trees in the following photograph.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

This is a photograph of what it used to look like in 1986

Photograph:Bob Kemp

Unfortunately it no longer looks like this but has succumbed to encroachment by bracken and birch. Some maintenance seems to have been undertaken as there are tree stumps in the vegetation and remnants do remain but it is a shadow of its former state.

Looking for invertebrates here was quite tricky as the ground was very undulating and sometimes unexpectedly very wet. But there were several tree stumps that had mental notices on them saying "Sit here and have lunch".

So we did.

Clearly one of the stumps was a regular resting spot for another Ruddy darter as it kept trying to push its occupant off. Eventually it realised that the size difference was too great to overcome and settled on the occupant's bag and tried to stare him out. This gave the perfect photo-opportunity.

Photograph: David Williams

Lunch over we moved away from the pool and ventured further south.

A sweep of the grass captured a Spike shieldbug.

Photograph: David Williams

And a Field grasshopper was photographed not much later:

Photograph: David Williams

On and on we went. The site seemed much bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. We passed a burrow where a rabbit had thrown out a lot of fresh sand. This was checked for anything that may be interested in this area, but nothing was found. Close by a Field digger-wasp was checking out another hole.

Photograph: David Williams

We were nearing the end of the heath. The track took us close to some of the neighbouring woodland. Regrettably a barbed wire fence stopped us going in but we were able to sample the overhanging branches.

Rhododendron was abundant here occupying the space under and between the trees. A Bronze shield bug was dislodged from one bush together with its meal, a 7-spot ladybird.

Photograph: David Williams

In the photograph you can see the shieldbug's rostrum piercing the ladybirds wing case.

Rhododendron is an alien plant and steps are being taken to remove it but it does support a wonderful garishly patterned planthopper Graphocephela fennahi. I beat some of the plant and found my first. I was disappointed that I could not appreciate fully its pattern as it had seen better days. 

I moaned about this to the others!

"No problem"

It is abundant here.

And when I looked more carefully I could see lots of them.

The planthopper is itself an alien being a native of the USA. So we had an alien insect on an alien plant. I suppose that is almost acceptable.

No-one thought to photograph the hopper but information about it can be found on the British Bugs website. (Click here.)

As we started back a couple of Agroeca spider egg-sacs were found suspended on twigs.

Photograph: David Williams

Walking back movement was spotted in sparse vegetation. We pounced and enticed the insect into a pot. It was a female assassin bug Coranus apterus.

Photograph: David Williams

The handkerchief was inserted in an attempt to keep it still whilst we had a good look at it!

A little further on a female Bog bush cricket was spotted in a dry drainage ditch. Our intrepid photographer climbed in and was, eventually, rewarded.

Photograph: David Williams

After another hard but excellent day it was time to go home, so we did. 

My thanks to Pete Boardman and Natural England for arranging access to this excellent site. Thanks also to the photographers David Williams and Bob Kemp for providing the images that provide the highlights of these reports.