Summer, What Summer?

 Wednesday 2nd September 2026, Stiperstones

A wet day. Much overnight rain meant that everything was already soaked, with the forecast offering only very limited grounds for optimism of an improvement. And sure enough, as we arrived in the upper car park the heavens opened again, soaking us before we started. We noted that the Bog Visitor Centre, somewhere below us in the murk, didn’t open until midday, so we couldn’t retreat to that – yet. We plodded off along a surfaced path at the same level as the car park instead, not feeling that an ascent to the ridge was very appealing in the circumstances.

To our right a Buzzard hung motionless in the gloom, two others wheeling around it.

Expectations for finds were low, but as is so often the case, the vacuums managed to extract some interesting creatures, though photo quality suffered somewhat in the circumstances:
Small Grass Shieldbug

photo: John Martin

16-spot Ladybird

Meadow Ladybird, Rhyzobius litura

Anthicus antherinus. We found this beetle at Abbey Manor last week, only the second county record, and here it was again!

photo: John Martin

 Other finds did not rely on the vacuums. This gall is on Sallow and is caused by Iteomyia major, a fly of the family Cecidomyiidae. A second county record, previously recorded from the southeast of the county, near the Staffs border.

photo: John Lyden

Also on Sallow were these galls, caused by Euura pedunculi, a sawfly.

photo: John Lyden

Phylocptes goniothorax (a mite) on Hawthorn.

photo: John Lyden

And finally (for the galls) a spectacular example of an Alder Tongue Gall, caused by the fungus Taphrina alni.

photo: John Lyden

 We had been blessed with an hour or so of dryness. But now the rain arrived again, this time with no obvious prospect of it relenting. It was near enough to midday for us to escape to the visitor centre, piling into cars in our soaking clothes as best we could. We arrived to find it in a state of controlled crisis, there being only one volunteer heroically trying to hold the fort. A whole series of mishaps had stopped others from joining her. Thankfully, reinforcements arrived before she was forced by health & safety rules to shut up shop and eject everyone back into the rain.
An hour or more passed. The rain refused to stop completely, but eventually reduced to a fine drizzle. We headed back out, but not back up to the summit, limiting our ambitions instead to the grounds immediately adjacent to the visitor centre. Here, in the drought-stricken but now soaked heather, were a few finds:

Small Heath

Common Blue

photo: John Martin

Mottled Grasshopper (a female)

As if the conditions weren’t miserable enough for the grasshopper already, more bad news appeared in the form of this fly, a female Dark-tailed Grasshopper Fly Blaesoxipha plumicornis. The larvae of this species are internal parasitoids of a range of common grasshopper species. Only the second county record, and to quote our Dipterist “This one pushes the western limit in the Midlands a fair way west – so it is nearly in Wales now. Our previous record was from Beckbury in the east of the county”.

photo: Nigel Jones

But there was better – a county first. A Sepsid fly, Sepsis thoracica. There seem to be no previous records from the Midlands at all, it being a largely coastal species. An excellent find, though sadly I don’t have a photo of it from the day.
 A couple of non-native trees were recorded before the encroaching damp finally defeated us:
Patagonian Oak (it must have felt quite at home in the circumstances)

photo: John Martin

Swedish Whitebeam (ditto)

photo: John Martin

And finally… the last find of the day, a species which is always a crowd pleaser: a Devil’s Coach-horse rove beetle.

With that, we gave up and went home to dry out and warm up, though after weeks on end of heat and drought, we could hardly complain!
Thanks to Natural England for allowing us to survey in this National Nature Reserve.
 
 
Photographs © the author except as noted.

Dame Edna's Glasses

Wednesday 26th August 2026, Abbey Manor, Buildwas

 
This week saw a return trip to Abbey Manor, a private residence and event venue, which we visted last November. Its long history started in the 12^th century when it was originally the abbot’s lodging and infirmary of the adjoining Buildwas Abbey. After the abbey’s dissolution it became in turn a private mansion, a farm and, much more recently, Ironbridge Power Station’s social club.
 
Our investigations began in the car park, an extensive Box hedge proving irresistible to those armed with beating trays. An initially puzzling caterpillar was dislodged.

Eventually, the light of realization dawned, helped by two rather large clues in the form of the host plant and an adult moth which was beaten out alongside it: it was a Box Moth larva!

A different moth also appeared:

This is Metalampra italica, a species which has moved into the area quite recently and is still represented in Shropshire by relatively few records.
A Green Crab Spider, Diaea dorsata, was another find.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

We moved into the garden proper, where another crab spider, the familiar Goldenrod Crab Spider, Misumena vatia was an early discovery.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Our Dipterist had a good day. His best finds came later, but the garden produced several nice flies. This is Palloptera (Toxonevra) muliebris. It has a habit of holding its ornate wings out at right angles to its body, which I believe leads it to be known informally as the Dame Edna fly!

The second fly to have its photo taken was this small Conopid, Thecophora atra. 

Among the shieldbugs, a single Woundwort Shieldbug was vacuumed,

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

whilst a Gorse Shieldbug was beaten from oak (of course!).

The smaller ladybirds were well represented. The first of these ‘micro ladybirds’ to appear was the smallest of the lot: a couple of Dot Ladybirds, extracted from an apple tree. At around 1.5mm long, this, along with the similarly diminutive Horseshoe Ladybird, is our smallest species.

Dwarfing it, at a mighty 3mm or so, is this Meadow Ladybird, extracted from the uncut edges of the lawn.

We moved on, into an area of flood meadow nearer to the Severn. 

photo: Neil Nash

Here, a third Micro Ladybird appeared, the Red-rumped Ladybird, Scymnus haemorrhoidalis.

We had noted Small Teasel back in November. Here it was again, mostly gone to seed.

photo: John Martin

More flies attracted attention. The Tachinids Tachina fera…

photo: John Martin

… and Linnaemyia picta,

photo: John Martin

plus a number of hoverflies, of which the largest was Volucella inanis. 

Also having a good day was our plant gall expert, who found sixteen species including Didymomyia tiliacea

photo: John Lyden

Adelges cooleyi, the Douglas Fir Adelgid

photo: John Lyden

The Butterbur Rust, Coleosporium petasitis (only the second county record)

photo: John Lyden

Hawthorn-Carrot Aphid, Disaphis crataegi, also rarely recorded - this was the fourth Shropshire record.

photo: John Lyden

Hawthorn Gall, Gymnosporangium sp., one of two or three species that can only be separated by DNA.

photo: John Lyden

Lunch beckoned. The day had threatened rain, but what it actually delivered was warmth and high humidity. We therefore camped in the shade of a large tree to munch on our sandwiches. Whilst we did so, a brief commotion overhead drew our attention to a pair of Sparrowhawks circling over us. This is the male.

photo: John Martin

Lunch over, we decided to head for the river. Finds continued to be made en route, including a smart bug, Malacocoris chlorizans.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Cream-spot Ladybird was also recorded around this time.

photo: Neil Nash

Next, more botanical interest. This is Creeping Yellow-cress…

photo: John Martin

 Our route took us into woodland at the edge of the site. In an adjacent field was a stunning display of Colchicum autumnale, known rather inaccurately as Autumn Crocus, or less misleadingly as Meadow Saffron. Another name is Naked Ladies, which might possibly have lead to a cry of “lots of Naked Ladies in the field!” from the person who first spotted them. I hope they feel suitably disappointed in themselves..!

photo: John Martin

 We reached the river and climbed down onto the exposed shingle.

Unstable river shingle has proved to be a happy hunting ground for us in the past and today was no exception. Two county first flies were discovered, though neither was photographed on the day: Lonchoptera meijerei, a very scarce fly of stony streams and rivers and Dolichopus vigutorlum, a formerly very scarce fly that has been spreading in recent years but is still only sparsely recorded over the UK. Also found but not photographed was the beetle Anthicus antherinus which we believe to be only the second Shropshire record.
Among those species which were photographed were a rove beetle, Paederis littoralis,

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A caddisfly, Mystacides cf. azurea

photo: Neil Nash

A Water Measurer,

photo: Neil Nash

A shore bug, Saldula saltatoria,

photo: John Martin

A Banded Demoiselle,

photo: John Martin

and a snail, Bithnia tenticulata.

From here the only route was to retrace our steps, taking us back through the grounds and past a fine view of the abbey ruins.

photo: Neil Nash

As per our visit last November, the abbey proved an irresistible draw, so in we went, via a (usually) locked door from the Manor’s gardens. Vacuuming soon produced a 2-spot Ladybird.

Earlier in the day, in the flood meadow area, we had seen some rather early Ivy Bees, out well ahead of the flowering of their preferred plant. Here in the Abbey grounds, a Medieval herb garden display had been planted. This included some sort of fancy variety of mint, which was absolutely covered in them.

Also present was another species which we had seen in the flood meadow, a Bee-wolf. This is a male.

The lavender was also proving attractive, here to a Small White.

By now the sun and humidity had sapped our resolve to continue, so we didn’t! To finish this post, here is a fancy photo showing the herb garden attracting the attention of both insects and entomologists.

photo: Liz Roberts

Many thanks to our hosts for allowing us to return and indulge ourselves once again.
 
 
 
Photographs © the author except as noted.