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Wednesday 23th October 2024, Benthall Hall

No 501. And I missed it! 

After missing No 500 as I was holidaying in Dorset, then having to cancel the next outing due to atrocious weather conditions, I now managed to miss our visit to Benthall Hall due to illness.

This visit was to the grounds of the hall which, in addition to the formal garden, consists mainly of grassland and fields with a couple of pools.

Mist and occasional sun gave way to sunny periods as the assembled throng set out to explore the site. Unfortunately, the fields were very wet so the footwear of choice had to be wellies.

The grass had been mown so searching was limited to the grassland margins, hedgerows and dead wood. In the conditions prevailing the suction samplers came into their own finding quite a number of beetles and bugs.

Highlights of the day were a couple of Devil’s Coach Horse beetles, a Cramp-ball fungus weevil and flocks of migrating Wood pigeons. 

Here are some pictures from the day.

The hall.

Photograph: David Williams

Some of the springtails found on a wall. They are possibly the species Hypogastrura vernalis.

Photograph: David Wiliams

An ichneumon wasp.

Photograph: David Williams

A Green shieldbug.

Photograph: David Williams

A Dock bug.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

The evidence of several leaf mines on a London plane leaf caused by the larva of the moth, Phyllonorycter platini.

Photograph: John Martin

A Devil’s coach horse.

Photograph: David Williams

A ground beetle, Pterostichus niger.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And a second ground beetle, Pterostichus madidus.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Staying with the theme of beetles, here are some more:

Paradromius linearis;

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Tachyporus obtusus;

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And some Red marsh ladybirds.

Photograph: David Williams

Time for a spot of reflection, relaxation and lunch.

Photograph: Neil Nash

During this time a Cramp-ball fungus weevil was spotted.

Photograph: David Williams

Lujnch over, the group carried on as before. Examples of what they found are:

A larva of The Drinker moth;

Photograph: David Williams

Another larva, this time of a sawfly, but we do not know what species it is;

Photograph: David Williams

A Blue shieldbug;

Photograph: David Williams

A water beetle, Colymbetes fuscus;

Photograph: David Williams

And a Long-winged conehead.

Photograph: David Williams

Finally, an unusual identification for the group, a thrips, Limothrip denticornis.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Wednesday, 30th October 2024, Badger’s Green

Badger's Green was the first half of a two site visit in Llanymynech.

This is a small patch of grassland, woodland and hedgerows that has been left at the edge of a recently developed housing estate. We were asked to visit the site by Shropshire Council as they had no wildlife records from this piece of land.

The stranger returned!

Getting ready for trip tested my memory. Over the years I have developed a method of preparing for each trip but a few weeks away had me having to think twice about the items I took. And the time it took was, of course, much longer than anticipated. As a result I left the house in a bit of a rush.

My rusty memory was highlighted when, at the site, I realised that I had forgotten to bring a pencil to write down the records of the day in my notebook!

Fortunately, I found a pen in the car.

Badger’s Green did not require much mobility as the whole site was within a 100 yards or so of the cars!

We set up camp in the grassland close to where we parked and radiated out from there.

An early mystery was caused by some beech that had some tiny black spots on it.

Photograph: Mary & Eric Steer

(The size of the spots can be gauged from the millimetre rule at the top of the photograph.)

It has been recognised as a lichen, but the species is “under enquiry”.

Several beetles were found and the one in the photograph below is a Celery leaf beetle.

Photograph: David Williams

A late suction sample revealed the following springtail, Neanura muscorum.

Photograph: David Williams

Lunchtime approached and we decided to move on to our second site for the day before indulging.

Llanymynech Heritage Centre.

After spending quite a while shoe-horning our vehicles in to the parking area we set off in search of a spot for lunch.

This was soon provided by some picnic tables close to, but hidden from, the entrance by the building known as the Stables.

I quickly discovered that my pen had ceased to work as I tried to record a couple of insects found in the hedge as we made our way to the picnic tables. Fortunately, a member of the group came to my aid by providing another which, I am pleased to say, survived the rest of the day.

The picnic tables were then used to sift through a suction sample taken from the area around where we lunched. In amongst the insects and arachnids we found was this orange springtail, Monobella grassei.

Photograph: David Williams

We spent some time in the vicinity of the stables exploring the woodland and ground flora.

As we were not finding much of interest we moved on, passing the Hoffman Kiln to the large areas of grassland.

In this area, in no particular order, we found:

A bristletail;

Photograph: Neil Nash

A beetle larva, possibly a cardinal beetle;

Photograph: Neil Nash

A slime mould with a millipede in attendance;

Photograph: Neil Nash

A collection of fungi on a tree trunk;

Photograph: Neil Nash

And finally, a splash of colour, provided by a Primrose.

My thanks to the National Trust and Shropshire County Council for granting us permission to do what we enjoy doing, to the group members who visited Benthall Hall for their snippets of information about the day, and to the photographers for their wonderful images and allowing me to use them in this report.