Watching brief

Wednesday 31st August 2022, Cramer Gutter and Catherton Common Upper Marshes

This outing was to the Shropshire Wildlife reserves at Cramer Gutter and neighbouring Catherton Common.

Cramer Gutter (as apposed to the Cramer Gutter reserve) is a small stream that trickles along the northern edge of this part of Catherton Common and, in effect, acts as a border between the two reserves although, as far as I know, it is not accessible from the reserve of the same name.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

The photograph above shows part of Catherton Common in the foreground and Cramer Gutter reserve in the background. The stream runs just in front of the line of trees running across the middle.

We met by the entrance to Cramer Gutter reserve, which is just visible as the furthest tip of the site in the photograph.

The plan was to spend the morning in the reserve then move on to Catherton Common, specifically to an area of the common where there is a florally diverse wet flush.

I have mentioned before that I have suffered an ankle injury. As it seemed to be taking a long time to heal I decided that I would take a watching brief during this outing. This would allow me to “visit” the sites but stop me walking on uneven ground where there was a greater chance of reaggravating the ankle.

As the group dispersed onto the site I wandered along the northern edge and straight out of the site onto a lane. 

My intention in doing this was to check access to Catherton Common using what looked on the map the shortest route, rather than having a long, circuitous walk around the edge of the common, then a difficult trek through the vegetation to the wet flush.

Yes, there was a way, and it included a stile to get into the common; an “official” entrance. From the style it was a short walk to the area we were interested in.

Flushed with success I returned to the first site and took up my watching brief on a conveniently placed bench.

From here I could survey the world.

OK, maybe not the whole world.

But it commanded a good view of the reserve and the land beyond to a fairly distant horizon.

My remote position meant that I was not aware of what those who were diligently surveying the site were finding. Some specimens did come my way as they drifted towards me to gather for lunch but I was in the dark with regards most of the finds.

However, they did find one of the site’s “special” plants, Marsh gentian.

I do not know how many of this plant they found, but when I looked later, there were only a couple in flower, although, so I am told, there were several others that had flowered or were about to.

The Flora and Vegetation of Shropshire by Alex Lockton and Sarah Whild (2015, Shropshire Botanical Society) notes that in 1981 the area was described as a “hay meadow” and that it has suffered neglect since then, often becoming overgrown with gorse scrub. In the time between 1981 and about 2015, when the book was published, the population had shrunk from around 200 plants in three patches to fewer than 20 in a single patch. Unfortunately, the abundance of this plant does not seem to have improved.

Time for lunch.

Lunch over we made our way to Catherton Common and the wet flush.

Photograph Bob Kemp

Here I took up my watching brief in the middle of the action. There was no convenient bench so I just sat on the ground and watched.

A clutch of shieldbugs were found and photographed:

A Sloe bug, Dolycorus baccarum;

Photograph: David Williams

A Tortoise shieldbug;

Photograph: David Williams

And a Spiked shieldbug.

Photograph: David Williams

Although there is a lot of heather in Shropshire finding a Heather ladybird is very rare. So, it was very exciting to find not one, but two. Here is a photograph of one of them.

Photograph: David Williams

Another insect found in damp heathland is the Bog bush cricket, recognisable by having a pale band only on the hind edge of the pronotum’s side flaps.

Photograph: David Williams

You can only sit down for a certain length of time when all those around you are busy, so I ventured gingerly over to a sallow and gave it a tap. Out fell the larva of a Pebble prominent moth.

When I returned there was a discussion about the state of the site. I must confess I thought it looked pretty good, but the "veterans", who have visited this area since the early 1980’s, felt it was in urgent need of improvement, with clearance of the gorse and birch scrub and ongoing maintenance by, perhaps, grazing. 

I include three photographs of this area, dating from 1981 to 2022, to allow you to see the changes:

1981;

Photograph: Bob Kemp

2007;

Photograph: Bob Kemp

2022.

Time was marching on and so we started our walk back to the cars. Passing a log we noticed a Common lizard basking in the afternoon sun.

My thanks to the Shropshire Wildlife Trust for inviting us to do what we enjoy doing on this site, to the site wardens who allowed us to park by their house and to the photographers for providing their excellent images.