Wrekin Forest Volunteers: Explosion of Butterflies

21 Jul 2023

Explosion of Butterflies

Wednesday 5th July 2023, Barnes Farm

Barnes Farm has recently been acquired by the National Trust as part of their Stepping Stones project. It lies just to the west of Asterton, which is to the west of the Long Mynd, and within sight of the Stiperstones.

It is not the easiest site to reach and requires nerveless driving along some very narrow roads.

Nine of us met in the farmyard which served as a car park and, despite the tricky navigation required, we were more or less on time for our usual 10.30am start.

The vegetation around the farmyard, also known as the car park, was too attractive to ignore; it was quite difficult persuading people to leave and enter the first field.

There was nothing special about this field, but the hedge was well developed and checked thoroughly.

We left through the gate in the far-right corner which accessed a green lane that formed the spine of the farm and would take us most of the way to a Wildlife Site situated at the southern tip of the site.

This was densely vegetated and was not the easiest track to walk along but it provided plenty of for us to look at including this well camouflaged grasshopper, a Common green grasshopper.

Photograph: David Williams

What was most noticeable about the lane was the huge numbers of butterflies. They were nearly all Meadow browns, but it was a truly amazing sight to pass close to a flowering bramble bush and see an explosion of butterflies take flight.

It was impossible to capture this on a photograph, but to compensate here is one of a Meadow brown.

Photograph: David Williams

Eventually the green lane turned right, we went straight on, crossing a sheep-cropped field into a meadow.

Photograph: David Williams

And from this meadow into a further meadow where we found a Forest bug nymph.

Photograph: David Williams

Two minutes the nymph had grown up into an adult.

Photograph: David Williams

No, not really!

I think you know that they were two different insects!

It was in this meadow that we realised it was lunchtime and spotting this oak we picnicked in its shade.

Here we are in lunch mode.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

We were almost but not quite at the Wildlife Site. After lunch we pressed on.

A pair of ladybirds were dislodged from the foliage. They were a 10-spot and Larch.

Photograph: David Williams

A hornet was seen feeding at a sap run on old oak.

Photograph: David Williams

To me this looked like it may be an ancient tree, it has a considerable girth and the crown of the tree had reduced in height.

However, it is not on the Ancient tree register, so it has either been missed or it does not meet the requirements.

At long last we reached the Wildlife Site. It is in two parts. The first was mainly wet grassland, where we started, and the second drier grassland, where we finished. This is the drier area.

Finds came in thick and fast and the photographers and the scribe were kept busy!

A small ladybird, Coccidula rufa and a larva of the same species;

Photograph: David Williams

A Golden-ringed dragonfly;

Photograph: Neil Nash

A nymph of a Tree damselbug;

Photograph: David Williams

The web of a Nursery-web spider, full of spiderlings;

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A stonefly, Isoperla grammatica;

Photograph: Neil Nash

A male Common earwig;

Photograph: David Williams

A nymph of the shieldbug, Eurydema oleracea, which I know as a Crucifer shield but others call it a Brassica shieldbug - probably best to stick to the scientific name to avoid confusion;

Photograph: David Williams

Large skippers being bothered by a hoverfly;

Photograph: John Martin

A plant, Bitter vetch;

Photograph: John Martin

Another plant, Sneezewort – as no-one was afflicted with a sneezing fit we could not find out if it worked;

Photograph: John Martin

Another pair of ladybirds, a Larch ladybird and the larva of a Pine ladybird;

Photograph: David Williams

A Ringlet butterfly;

Photograph: David Williams

A micro-moth Pamenne aurana;

Photograph: John Martin

And finally, a Long-winged conehead nymph.

Photograph: David Williams

Phew!

After all that it was time to go. We trudged back to the cars and drove home after a tiring but rewarding day.

Wednesday 12th July 2023, Llanymynech Heritage Centre

I was away looking for bugs in southwest Wales so missed this outing. No-one has given me a report of the day, but I do have some photographs; you will have to make up your own narrative.

To get you started …

I am told the weather was not too bad. (This was a relief as I got drenched whilst out and about north of Llanelli in the morning. Fortunately, the afternoon was sunny and warm which dried me out.)

Brown hawker;