Very, Very Frightening

 Wednesday 11th March 2026, Atcham Old Airfield

Atcham Airfield had a relatively short operational life, the majority of which was as a World War Two base for the United States Army Air Force. Prior to this, RAF Fighter Command flew Spitfires from here. When handed over to the Americans, two other aircraft were used to train their pilots. Our Arachnologist asked us to guess which these might be, offering the clue that they were “very, very frightening”. Can you guess? Answer at the bottom of the page (no peaking!). Now reverted to farmland within the wider Attingham Park estate (except the buildings which became Atcham Business Park), we were invited to survey the site by the National Trust, who plan to incorporate this area into an ‘outdoor hub’ public amenity site.
 
The weather was generally bright and sunny, but the wind was cold and fierce. Former airfields do not provide much shelter! Over the course of the day several signs of Spring were observed, for example mining bees, flowers opening etc. But invertebrate activity was undoubtedly curtailed by the wind and no butterflies braved it.
 
Early efforts were directed towards the grassy areas along the old runway, the first vacuum sample producing several ladybird species, including copious Meadow Ladybirds

A 22-Spot Ladybird,

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And a 7-spot with what looks like a cranefly pupa (which was very wriggly).

A few 16-spots were also present, but the below photo was taken later when a grass tussock was tapped and decanted them in considerable numbers.

Wandering towards the business park in search of shelter from the wind, I tapped a fir tree and was rewarded with a Harlequin Ladybird (left, not very thrilling) and an Eyed Ladybird (right, much nicer).

Of the solitary bee species that we saw, probably the two most numerous were Gwynne’s Mining Bee, Andrena bicolor

And Fabricius’ Nomad Bee, Nomada fabriciana.

Both these photos are of the less distinctive males. Nomad bees are nest parasites, mainly of Andrena species mining bees. Fabricius’ Nomad parasitises Gwynne’s Mining Bee, so it was perhaps not surprising that we saw the two together.
 
The group gravitated towards an area of woodland in the hope that it might offer some shelter. It didn’t, really, but the edges of it did produce more finds, including several shieldbugs.

Hairy Shieldbug. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Pied shieldbug

Blue Shieldbug

A Bordered Shieldbug turned up later in the day.

Very late indeed for it - it was dead. A living one was  found subsequently but not photographed.

 
Thistle Lacebugs are common enough but always an attractive find.

Spring flowers were beginning to show themselves:

Field Pansy

Common Whitlowgrass. Photo: John Martin

Weevils, once a beetle group to be dismissed by us as too difficult, are now among our core finds. Here are some identified by our Deputy Weevilist (the Chief Weevilist being unavailable due to the unfortunate necessity of having to work for a living…).

Apion frumentarium. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Exapion ulicis. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Andrion regenteinense. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Micro moths are another group which we tackle with more relish than formerly, largely (as with the weevils and most other groups) due to the efforts of one of our members. In this case (literally) the larvae were confirmed by the County Recorder.

Pammene giganteana. Photo: John Martin

Taleporia tubulosa. Photo: John Martin

Nemophora degeerella. Photo: John Martin

Next, one or two miscellaneous finds, including the rear end of a centipede (the centipede was intact, its just the photo which is incomplete).

Myrmica scabrinodis.  Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Armadillidium deepressum. Photo:  John  Martin

Schendyla nemorensis,. Photo: John Martin

Late in the day this very splendid little spider turned up. It is Micaria micens and it dazzled us all with its iridescent coat.

And finally, as we retraced our tracks to the car parking area (another bit of former runway) a Dark-edged Bee-fly, Bombylius major, landed almost at our feet for a quick bask in the afternoon sunshine. 

A Spring first for most of us and a fitting way to end the day. 

Thank you to our hosts for allowing us access to this interesting site.

     
Quiz answer: Thunderbolts and Lightnings (any Freddie Mercury fans out there?).     
          
 
Photographs © the author except as noted

Spring has Sprung!

 Wednesday 4th March 2026, Llanymynech Rocks

photo: Keith Fowler

Sunshine! Blue skies! Spring had finally arrived, for one day at least. Llanymynech Rocks nature reserve straddles the England/Wales border and is jointly managed by Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trusts. A disused limestone quarry, it has a particularly rich flora and invertebrate fauna.
 
Some of us arrived rather early and killed time by investigating the car park, where a Hawthorn Shieldbug and an Orange Ladybird were persuaded from Ivy.

Eventually (that is, at the appointed time) everyone else arrived and a plan of action was agreed. The first stop was an area of the site known as Underhill Quarry, in the Shropshire part of the site, where everyone quickly set about doing what they do.

The sunshine had brought out 7-spot Ladybirds in numbers or, as we have previously established, a ‘loveliness’.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

They probably had not emerged from this primaeval-looking swamp, at least not directly. But maybe in a sense we all did, in the longer term..?!

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Regular readers may recall that we make a point of looking for a small, flightless parasitic wasp, Callitula pyrrhogaster, which we have christened The Boy. The parasitica are near-impossible to pin down to species without a microscope, but this one’s combination of features makes it an all-too-rare exception. We duly found it again.

But! Our hopes have been raised by a poster on the dreaded ‘social media’ that a sibling species, Callitula bicolor, is also possible to identify in the field. It resembles The Boy closely with one major difference - it has wings. Well, we found one!

This one was indeed confirmed as C. bicolor by the traditional entomologist’s route - microscope and key. Unfortunately, deeper investigation suggests that the field characters which allegedly separate it from the very similar C. ferrierei are variable and obscure at best, unreliable at worst. It always seemed too good to be true…
 
Two tortoise beetles were found almost simultaneously by two different people. One (the green one in the picture below) was the very common Cassida rubiginosa, but the other was unfamiliar. 

It is Cassida nebulosa and it was only the second Shropshire record, a significant distance from the first. An attractive beetle. Here is another picture of it.

Another beetle found in this area was the small Staphylinid Anotylus rugosus.

This lichen attracted the attention of our lichenologists. It is Placynthium nigrum, its black centre fading towards its edges in a colour variously described as blue, green or turquoise.

We always enjoy finding slime moulds. This one is Trichia maylanii. Some of its sporangia (the orange ‘ball on a stalk’ fruiting bodies) had already matured and released their spores.

Time to move on. The path to the next quarry took us through dappled shade in which Lesser Celandines were flowering…

… eventually leading to the main quarry area.

photo: Keith Fowler

The resident Jackdaws were preparing to nest on the quarry face, their very vocal presence a constant accompaniment.

Here a second small rove beetle was vcacuumed up and later identified as Drusilla canaliculata.

Several shieldbugs and allies appeared, including Gorse Shieldbug,

Hairy Shieldbug

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And Dock Bug.    

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A rock was inspected and revealed a bristletail lurking on its underside.

We lunched here, basking in the sunshine. A Brimstone butterfly was spotted, but evaded the cameras. Other finds made around this time included a number of spiders, the inevitable Nursery Web Spider being one…

Nursery Web Spider + mini-me. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Ozyptila atomaria. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Euphrys frontalis. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Nigma walckenaeri. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

a Pea-leaf Weevil, Sitona lineatus,

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

and an almost always seen but never mentioned Common Striped Woodlouse.    

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

This area of the site is shared between Shropshire and Montgomeryshire, the precise border being the subject of some debate. Most of these finds were in fact made in the Welsh part. As we eventually moved on, such uncertainties were banished - we were now definitely in Wales, not that it made any difference to the weather!

photo: Keith Fowler

With a brief nod to the quarry’s former life - this winding drum for the inclined plane - we turned our attention back to the wildlife.

photo: Keith Fowler

The quarry floor at this point was a sea of Primroses, a heartening sight.

We also spotted two more butterfly species and had better luck with the cameras.

Comma

Peacock

An earthen bank was alive with an aggregation of Lasioglossum parvulum bees.

We continued to the furthest part of our walk, which took us into a third quarry  area.

photo: Keith Fowler

Here a number of Scots  Pines were interrogated and revealed several ladybirds, including 10-spot (left) and Pine (right). Between them is one of the micro ladybird species, Scymnus suturalis, known as the Conifer Ladybird and about 2mm long.       

The pines also produced another beetle, of similar size and general  colouration to the Conifer Ladybird. This is Laricobius erichsonii.

Our investigations drew to their close and we turned to head back, pausing to admire the view back into Shropshire.

photo: Keith Fowler

Thank you to the Wildlife Trusts for permission to visit this excellent site and to the weather gods for smiling on us!  
          
 
Photographs © the author except as note