28!

Button Oak Meadow, Wednesday 7th August 2019

This trip was a joint outing with the Wyre Forest Study Group to Button Oak Meadow which is a reserve managed jointly by the Shropshire and Worcestershire Wildlife Trusts.

The meeting point was Hawkbatch car park and it was full of people joining this outing. In all there were twenty-eight of us. The chances of us all being in the same place at the same time was very remote.

After introductions we were handed a map of the route with suggestions of which areas would be good to take a closer look at. It was quite a walk to the meadow from the car park so we set our sights on arriving at the meadow in time for lunch.

Off we went and indeed we did all eventually arrive at the meadow in time for lunch but the progress to the lunch site was at our usual pace as we observed here, swept there and beat elsewhere.

A lot of tortoise shieldbugs were found.

Photograph: David Williams

Within Shropshire these used to be a speciality of the Wyre Forest. Then, a few years ago one was found in Dolgoch Quarry which was to all intents and purposes the opposite corner of the county. Had they spread there from the Wyre our had they wandered over the border from Wales? We shall never know. Since then they have turned up on Catherton Common, Telford, Dudmaston and Church Stretton.

The grassland that formed the margin of the ride and clearings was a haven for orthoptera and amongst those found and photographed were a long-winged conehead nymph:

Photograph: David Williams

And a Roesel's bush cricket.

Photograph: David Williams

Keeping us company for a while, flying up and down the ride we were meandering down, was a Silver-washed fritillary which eventually settled long enough for a photograph to be taken.

Photograph: David Williams

Meanwhile the opposite strategy was being taken by a rather battered-looking Ringlet which looked as though it was hunkered down for the day with no intention of moving.

Wyre Forest is littered with the nests of wood ants. Normally I give these a wide berth as the ants do tend to swarm over anything in their way but one nest had drawn the attention of several people who watched as the ants tackled a wasp.

Photograph: David Williams

As we were nearing the meadow (and lunch) I noticed a large group milling around one spot - a sure sign that something of significance had been found.

It was a Green huntsman spider.

Photograph: David William

We finally arrived at the meadow.

And had lunch.

Before exploring what the flora rich meadow may hold.

There was a rumour that Lesser marsh grasshopper may be present and one was found only for it to be later identified as a Meadow grasshopper.

Photograph: David Williams

A spectacular fly was found and posed for our photographer:

Photograph: David Williams

This is Phasia hemiptera.

Its beauty hides its sinister lifestyle which makes it one of my least popular flies. It lays its eggs on Forest bugs and Green shieldbugs. The eggs hatch and the larva penetrate the host then devour it from the inside eventually killing it.

The meadow is surrounded by a hedge that contains many mature trees. Many of these are oak and one yielded a mirid bug Megacoelum infusum.

Photograph: David Williams

Time was marching on and it was time to leave the meadow. As I was leaving I spotted a Peacock butterfly settled on the vegetation.

We did move on to another spot in the wood which we looked over but nothing of significance was found. Eventually time and tiredness took over and persuaded us to return to our cars and home after another good day on an excellent site.

My thanks to Rosemary Winnall and the Wyre Forest Study Group for arranging this outing and to David Williams for providing his excellent photographs that enliven this report.



FOOTNOTE: Little did I know that when I wrote and published this report there was a possible first Shropshire record. It was found late in the day in the area where I stated above "we looked over but nothing of significance was found." How wrong I was!!

The insect in question was a moth identified as Assara terebrella. Here is a photograph of the moth kindly supplied by its finder Rosemary Winnall.