Wednesday 22nd October 2025, Melverley, Common piece
Common piece is a large parcel of land that borders Holly Banks SWT Reserve. It is being managed for the benefit of wildlife. It consists of three large fields, hedgerows, pools and ditches and has been grazed recently by cattle.
I was a part-timer for this outing as I had a mid-morning appointment to attend. This resulted in me arriving just in time for lunch.
Great timing!
Thus, I have little knowledge of what happened before I arrived.
The one snippet of news I did receive was a text message from a full-timer letting me know that the gate to the site had been padlocked. Undeterred they continued further along the entrance track and found another gate through which they could pass…
Then negotiate an electric fence...
To get in.
And here they are safe and sound in the first of the three fields.
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| Photograph: David Williams |
The cattle had done a very god job at cropping the grass in the drier areas but did not seem to want to venture too far into wet, rushy areas. It was these areas that attracted most of our attention.
Although, judging from the response I got when I arrived and asked about sightings in the morning, a lot of time must have been spent peering into the trees and sky as I was treated to a list of birds that had been seen.
This list included Jack Snipe, Whooper Swan, Redwing, Fieldfare, Bullfinch, Raven, Linnet, Skylark, Reed Bunting, Stock Dove, Buzzard, Kestrel, and a Crossbill.
Not bad considering we were concentrating on invertebrates!
Back to ground level a couple of insects that lingered long enough in front of the photographer’s lens were:
A 10-spot ladybird, Adalia decempunctata;
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| Photograph: David Williams |
And a planthopper, a Cicadula species.
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| Photograph: David Williams |
Regrettably Cicadulas cannot usually be identified from a photograph. In the main, only male Cicadulas can be identified to species with certainty and this requires microscopic examination.
You are now up to date with as much as I know about the morning’s activities.
Lunch.
After lunch we moved into the second field and made for higher ground…
Well, a few feet higher than its surroundings!
Time was spent here exploring the rougher vegetation and the area around the “hill”.
A couple of ladybirds were found.
A Red-rumped Ladybird, Scymnus haemorrhoidalis.
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| Photograph: David Williams |
And a Cream-spot ladybird, Calvia quattuordecimguttata.
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| Photograph: David Williams |
Gathering up our bags and equipment we moved on again to a spot by some mature trees where we found this unidentified, as yet, Rove beetle.
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| Photograph: David Williams |
Our encampment by the trees was close to a couple of small pools. Needless to say these attracted our attention.
Here is the larger of the two.
As it happened very few invertebrates were found here, but we did find some Fine-leaved Water-dropwort, Oenanthe aquatica, by the water’s edge and some Water-violet, Hottonia palustris.
Back to the vegetation under the trees. This yielded two ground beetles with lighter spots on dark elytra, for which we await identifications.
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| Photograph: David Williams |
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| Photograph: David Williams |
An unexpected find amongst the leaf litter was a Common Blue butterfly, Polyommatus icarus, larva.
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| Photograph: David Williams |
A last suction sample produced a cluster of spiders. Here they are trying to escape from the tray.
Time to go home.
My thanks to the owner for giving us permission to do what we enjoy doing, My gratitude to the photographer for his excellent images.
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