Spoilt surveyors

Wednesday 8th September 2021 - Pasford Farm

Pasford Farm is an arable farm on the Shropshire-Staffordshire border just south of Patshull Park. Part of the farm is a long grassland valley that snakes north to south, mostly along the county boundary. The southern end of the valley is very damp and a large pool was dug last year creating a wetland habitat. 

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Our arrival on a gloriously cloudless, hot day was greeted by early “elevenses” of drinks and biscuits. It seemed a shame not to accept this hospitality.

During this time we admired a fungus, Boletus radicatus, that had been found near by.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Following a brief introduction to the farm we were all set to get underway when my telephone rang …

Strange, everybody who said they were coming was there, so who was it?

It was a neighbour.

“Your burglar alarm has gone off!”

“OK, thanks for letting me know”.

There is little point in having an alarm if you do not check it when it is set off, so back home I went.

Only, it was not quite that simple. I had been given a lift to the farm which meant that the driver had to take me.

Anyway, I returned home, spoke to the neighbour. Relieved as it was clear that the house had not been broken into I checked the alarm, which showed the room in which it had been triggered. Checking it out there was nothing obvious in the room that could have caused the alarm to go off except a spider that had built its web in front of the sensor. I have no idea if this was the real cause of the alarm but it was removed.

We arrived back at the farm to be offered a drink and a lift to where the others were doing their thing. Both were accepted and we eventually joined our colleagues at the pond, perilously close to lunchtime.

Photograph: David Williams

We spent the rest of the morning in the vicinity of the pond, being amazed at how quickly the new pool had naturalised and what a good assemblage of invertebrates it and its surrounding vegetation supported. In all we found nine species of damsel and dragonflies, including:

A pair of Common darters;

Photograph: David Williams

And Ruddy darter.

Photograph: John Martin

Other finds of interest in the area that were photographed were:

A spider, Araneus diadematus;

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A micro-moth, Argyresthia geodartella;

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Yellow-tail moth larva;

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And a weevil, Hadroplantus litura.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

It was now time for lunch and our host arrived bearing a table, cloth, cold drinks and more biscuits. It would have been a shame not to accept this hospitality. 

What a wonderful sight. And a delightful spot to enjoy our break. 

Photograph: Stepjen Mitchell

At long last lunch came to an end and we continued to look a while longer in the area around the pool before drifting away up the valley into the grassland. A find in the grassland near to the pool was a Tortoise shieldbug.

Photograph: David Williams

Tortoise shieldbugs are a recent arrival in the county. The earliest record was in 2009 when it was spotted at Dudmaston. For the next few years they were only found in the Wyre Forest. But in 2014  one turned up in the opposite corner of the county at Dolgoch Quarry. In 2017 one was found in Telford and another was seen at Cramer Gutter. Since then they have been found regularly in several other sites around the county.

An exciting find was a Lesser marsh grasshopper.

Photograph: David Williams

It is believed that this is only the third sighting of this grasshopper in the county where its presence is a result of natural colonisation. It has also been found on a few brownfield sites in Telford but it is thought to have been imported with vegetation used to aid the return of these sites to a “greener” state. Worth another photograph!

Photograph: John Martin

The heat was rapidly sapping our energy but, with encouragement, we moved on up the valley exploring the grassland. Here are some of the insects we encountered:

Slender ground hopper;

Photograph: David Williams

A fly, Erothrix rufomaculata;

Photograph: John Martin

A robber fly, probably Dioctria atricapilla;

Photograph: John Martin

A hoverfly, Eristalis horticola;

Photograph: John Martin

And a Dock bug.

Photograph: David Williams

At some stage during the day, I know not when as the photograph was not timestamped, these objects were spotted on an oak leaf.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

They look like eggs and as there is a multiple of seven then quite possibly shieldbug eggs. (Please do not ask me why they lay clutches in multiples of seven.) The photographer’s best guess was Forest bug eggs. I sent the photograph to someone who knows far more about shieldbug eggs than I do and confirmation that they were Forest bug eggs was duly received.

Amongst the millions seed heads of the grass in the grassland someone spotted some unusual growths.

Photograph: David Williams

These looked like galls and checking the key to galls it suggested they were an ergot Claviceps purpurea.

The unrelenting heat and the increasing lethargy it was causing brought an end to the day. We wandered back to the farmhouse from which we had set off, pausing to look at the bee activity on a sandy bank where an Ivy bee had been spotted earlier in the day, and arrived to find afternoon tea waiting for us.

Obviously it would have been shame not to accept this hospitality.

Thoroughly spoilt, we returned home after an exhausting but excellent day on a wonderful site.

My thanks to our hosts for inviting us to visit their farm and looking after us so well. We wish them all the best as they allow their site to develop and we look forward to returning. My gratitude as always to the photographers for providing the material that illustrates this piece.

Other items.

More exciting news from a garden in Church Stretton.

Our correspondent from this area has sent me photographs of this moth that turned up in his moth trap earlier in the month.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

And its underside.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

It is a Clifden nonpareil. Goodness knows how it acquired that name, but, I assume, it means something to somebody somewhere. It is, I believe, also known as a Blue underwing, which makes much more sense as it neatly describes the moth. It is a rare immigrant from Continental Europe.

More mundanely, our spiderman was kept awake by an insect clattering around during the night. On giving up trying to put up with the noise he switched on the light and found the culprit, an adult Forest bug. Rather than catch it and put it outside he decided to find his camera and photograph it!

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

The day before visiting Pasford Farm four of us ventured onto the Somerset Levels with a local guide.

Why did we want to go there?

To see Large marsh grasshopper, a rare species which has an outlier colony in the area (they are normally found in east Dorset and the New Forest).

We were taken to Westhay Moor National Nature Reserve where, after a short walk, we located males and females close to the path we were on.

As you can see from the photograph the male is quite a colourful insect with its black knees and red underside to the femora of its hind legs. Its call is quite a loud tick which even I could hear.

A female on the path generated quite a lot of photographic interest.

And to finish with a touch of colour, a Brimstone butterfly that insisted on feeding about a foot in front of where I stood. I had no choice but to photograph it!

That’s all for this report.

Keep well.