Getting Fat on Cake

 Wednesday 10^th December 2025, Colstey Wood and Red Wood

Colstey Wood and Red Wood lie to the west of Bury Ditches hillfort in south-west Shropshire. Both are Forestry England conifer plantations on the sites of ancient woodlands. Given our customary rate of progress and the short, winter day, we entirely failed to make it as far as Red Wood, so all the following events took place in Colstey Wood only!
 
After our two consecutive cancellations in November due to poor weather, this visit continued the welcome recent trend of benign conditions, the day being largely dry and sunny, overnight rain adding extra colour to our arrival with a rainbow.

We tore ourself away from the view & got down to business.

photo: Keith Fowler

Finds included (in no particular order): Holly Leaf-miner.

photo: Keith Fowler

The harvestman Nemastoma bimaculatum.

One Pine and three Larch Ladybirds, found in a fallen branch from a fir tree.

Several pseudoscorpions appeared from the moss. These included the inevitable Neobisium carcinoides which we find almost everywhere. But we believed some (including the one photographed below) to be Chthonius ischnocheles, merely the second commonest pseudoscorpion species.

photo:  John Martin

It was a day for contrary shieldbugs. Firstly, a Hawthorn Shieldbug was tapped from… a fir tree.

Then a very brown shieldbug appeared. It is (naturally enough) a Green Shieldbug - they turn brown in autumn, then back to green again the following spring.

 
We stopped for lunch and chose a spot next to this sign, adding a frisson of peril to our sandwiches.

photo: Keith Fowler

I should add that we kept to the ‘safe’ side of the boundary. You can have too much excitement! Lunch was royally enhanced by copious quantities of mince pies and cheese straws, devoured enthusiastically - it must be Christmas!
 
Near to the lunch spot were several species of fern, including: Hard Shield-fern

photo: John Martin

and a large quantity of Maidenhair Spleenwort growing on a low ‘cliff’ at the side  of the track.

photo: John Martin

A late find was the remarkable Prickly Snail, Acanthinula aculeata.

photo: John Martin

 Eventually we began our return to the cars. On arrival we  were plied with yet more mince pies before departure! I can’t say whether the calorific excess was responsible for an outbreak of creativeness, or whether it was just the scenery, but the following haiku was composed in celebration of the day:
 
Searching in the wood,
Joyful entomologists.
Nothing special - yet.
 
This was modified almost immediately to
 
Searching in the woods,
Joyful entomologists,
Getting fat on cake.
 
Well - mince pies actually, but that doesn’t scan as well!
  
  
Photographs © the author except as noted.

Blue Sky Thinking

 Wednesday 3^rd December 2025, The Isle, Bicton

Our venue this week was a large, mainly arable farm which is encircled by a meander of the River Severn, close to Bicton. The farm's practice is to reduce reliance on bagged fertiliser, improve soil health naturally and benefit the natural environment.
I left home in south Telford shrouded in fog but this had already given way to sunshine by the time we had reached the M54 and fortunately we spent most of our time on site under blue skies. Having parked and made our way through a small wood, we arrived at a field which had a wide, uncut margin.

photo: Keith Fowler

We set about examining this area for finds…

 

photo: Keith Fowler

 ...which included 16-spot Ladybird,
 

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Meadow Ladybird
 

 and The Mirid bug Stenodema laevigata.
 

The first Callitula pyrrhogaster of the day was also found in this area. A tiny, parasitic wasp, the females are virtually wingless and (exceptionally for the Parasitica) easy to identify. For some unfathomable reason this female wasp has become known to us as “The Boy”!
 

photo: John Martin

Having reached the bottom of this field we made our way into the field next door and settled down to eat our lunch in the sunshine.

 

photo: Keith Fowler

This attracted the attention of a small flock of uncharacteristically bold sheep, who advanced and eyed us with interest.

 

Lunch over, we made our way around the edge of the field, vacuuming and beating as we went. Low vegetation produced several 22-spot Ladybirds…
 

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

…and the attractive hopper Allygus mixtus.
 

photo: John Martin

A Hawthorn Shieldbug was persuaded from the hedge.
 

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Larch and a Douglas Fir were growing together. These produced one or two Larch and Harlequin Ladybirds, plus copious quantities of Pine Ladybirds.

Larch Ladybird (photo: John Martin)

Pine Ladybirds

Tiny creatures, less than 0.5mm long were spotted on the Douglas Fir needles. These are overwintering female Douglas Fir Adelgids, Hemipteran bugs related to aphids.
 

photo: John Martin

We reached the end of the field and passed through a gate into a field abutting the River Severn.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Vegetation in the area was investigated, the group settling to examine their finds in the sunshine.

These included several Water Measurers,

the rove beetles Paederus riparius

and Stenus bimaculatus,

and the moss Syntrichia latifolia, growing on the trunk of a willow.

photo: John Martin

From here it was a short walk back to the cars, pausing to admire a passing Long-tailed Tit

photo: John Martin

and thence home. However some of the group decided to walk the short distance to Isle Pool, a large fishing pool, where an overwintering Great Crested Newt was found under a log and quickly covered over again.

photo: Neil Nash

 A very pleasant day in the winter sunshine.
   
 
Photographs © the author except as noted. 

Rain, Snow and Walking Soil Particles

Before we reach the account of our most recent adventures I have to report two cancellations (or, hopefully, merely postponements):

Wednesday 12th November 2025, Blackbridge Quarry

A forecast of persistent and frequently heavy rain caused the abandonment of this trip. We hope to reschedule later in the winter.

Wednesday 19th November 2025, Block Wood (Kerry Ridgeway)

This time the precipitation was white and crystalline ie snow. Not over most of Shropshire, where the weather was frequently sunny and reasonably pleasant. But at 400m+ on the ridgeway, conditions were rather different, as reported by our local correspondent:
 “We have 5+cm on the ground near the house. Away from the shelter of the house, the snow is 10cm or so. Photo of the view down the valley - the wood and fields in the distance are above Clun.”

photograph: John Lyden

We thought better of it and stayed at home. We may be able to reschedule this visit for March 2026.

Wednesday 26th November 2025, Bucknell Wood

With the forecast threatening nothing worse than mildly unpleasant weather, this trip went ahead as planned - hurrah! In the event the weather was almost benign, in a Novemberish sort of way. In fact the journey to site was conducted in rather glorious sunshine, affording spectacular views of Brown Clee Hill from the Much Wenlock to Craven Arms road:

The woodland at Bucknell is managed by Forestry England and is a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees (oak, larch and Douglas Fir in particular). We set off on the southerly track, hoping that its sunnier aspect would provide more finds for us. No sooner had we started than a splendid Eyed Ladybird, Britain’s largest ladybird species, was persuaded from a cypress tree.

Before long the first patches of Polytrichum moss were sighted. The vacuum samplers got to work and soon extracted several bristletails. Britain only has a handful of species of these primitive insects, but they are nevertheless fiendishly difficult to identify.

Bristletails are not creatures that we find very often. On the other hand, Britain’s commonest species of pseudoscorpion, the Moss Neobisid, Neobisium carcinoides turns up regularly and today was no exception. These arachnids are not closely related to ‘true’ scorpions, are completely harmless and at 3mm or less in length are not at all fearsome - unless you are a springtail…

     

 

The vacuumers continued to target patches of Polytrichum, causing much interest...

photograph: Keith Fowler

Finally, the object of their endeavours was extracted - a Snow Flea. Not a flea at all, these insects are relatives of the scorpionflies and share their distinctive long snout. Unlike scorpionflies they are flightless and at about 5mm long, are much smaller. Adults are active in the winter, from about November to February - highly unusual for an insect. They live in moss, especially Polytrichum and its relatives, and are in no way dependent on snow! This is a male. Females are stouter and have a prominent ovipositor at the rear.

Two more Snow Fleas were found later, both of them also males. Another nice find in the moss was this Red-rumped Ladybird, Scymnus haemorrhoidalis, a 2.5mm long ‘micro ladybird’ species.
 

Away from the moss, the Douglas Firs yielded two more ladybirds, Larch Ladybird (on the left) and Pine Ladybird. Neither of them is particularly attached to their nominal species of conifer!
 

A slime-mould (Didymium sp.) was discovered on a fallen leaf.
 

Autumn is prime fungus season. Finds from the day included Calocera viscosa

photograph: John Lyden

Gymnopilus penetrans

photograph: John Lyden

and Stereum hirsutum

photograph: John Lyden

Moving into an area of more open canopy woodland and clear-fell we became aware that the disappearing sun had been replaced by a rather cutting wind. Vacuuming the mossy ground vegetation failed to turn up any any more Snow Fleas, but what seemed to be a minute particle of soil suddenly sprouted a head and legs! It was scrutinised, photographed and eventually declared to be a tiny larva of the Land Caddis, Enoicyla pusilla.

 

This is an extraordinary insect, Britain’s only terrestrial caddisfly. It has an equally extraordinary British distribution, being confined entirely to the Wyre Forest and the adjacent parts of Worcestershire, Shropshire and Staffordshire. This discovery represents a new location, significantly further west than any previously known site.
 
Once the first one had been spotted it became apparent that the trays were full of them! But they were truly minute: the cases of the ones photographed measure from between 1.54mm to 1.78mm long. Surely these must be first instar larvae (which is what would be expected at this time of year). To give an idea of scale, the below photos include one climbing over a springtail and another being ‘photobombed’ by a 4.8mm long Stenus beetle.
 

By now the cold wind was beginning to be felt. It also felt like the day had reached its natural peak of excitement, so we began to retrace our way to the car park, pausing only for a habitat shot of the area from which the Land Caddis had been extracted.

photograph: Keith Fowler

 A completely unexpected end to a splendid day.     

 
Photographs © the author except as noted.