Oozing ooze

Wednesday 29th April 2026, Langley Fields, Dawley

I was absent for this trip, a return to a brownfield site on the edge of Telford Town Park, but fortunately I have the eye-witness accounts of several of the attendees to relate the events of the day. I will therefore let them take up the story….
 
We duly arrived at Duce Drive and, remembering that our group Scout had been shouted at last time for parking on the road, (whatever next - a car on the road!) we parked on the pavement. It is not illegal to park on the pavement apparently just to drive on the pavement so, providing your get your vehicle there by other means, you are within the law.
 
We were still grumping about the officialdom of non-officials including musing on whether Mr Shouty was, in fact a descendant of Mussolini, bearing in mind the name of the road, when a vehicle whizzed round the bend, failed to make the turn and mounted the pavement briefly. Perhaps the shouty one had a point.
 
After assembling our gear and, in some cases our person, we headed for the site but, on reaching it had to jump nimbly aside (oh alright shuffle off the path) to avoid being run over by a large young person on an electric scooter who hurtled past at a break-neck speed. Fortunately they had about their person some sort of miniature wireless or radiogram which emitted a noise at a decibel level of which Pink Floyd would have been proud in their heyday.
 
It is worth pointing out at this juncture that three of the group realised they only had two serviceable lower limbs between them – work that one out. Accordingly a lot of sitting down happened throughout the day. This was augmented by a younger member of the group whose warranty had only relatively recently expired finding some ooze oozing out of a tree and sitting down for an extraordinary amount of time to watch it ooze. Others within the group felt it was a lot like watching paint dry with flies but it kept him happy. Was it worth it I hear you cry – well read on.
 

Despite the lovely weather and close proximity to civilisation, very few other people were encountered apart from a couple of dog walkers with badly behaved dogs. We were assured by the owner of a particularly aggressive dog that, despite the snarling and baring of teeth, he was as gentle as a lamb and wouldn’t hurt a fly, In the same way, presumably, that a salt water crocodile, man eating tiger or mantis shrimp wouldn’t. And if you don’t think one of those is dangerous just spend a few minutes with one down your drainpipe trousers...

 

A very sunny day but a brisk wind kept temperatures down – except in sheltered areas where it was very warm.

photo: Neil Nash

The site was very dry but there still managed to be a few areas of thick sticky mud. Very little floral interest outside gorse that had more or less gone over and a few broom.

photo: Keith Fowler

Some of the trees were in flower and a sap run and nearby Acer providing some entertainment late in the day. Some hawthorn was in flower (imported varieties?) but I found next to nothing in them and got spiked for my troubles.
 
We started in the rough grassy area close to the cars which was relatively productive. The small pool there had long gone but there was some dampness.

24-Spot Ladybird

Bishop's Mitre Shieldbug. Photo: Keith Fowler

jumping spider, Euophrys frontalis

pirate spider, Ero  sp.

running crab spider, Philodromus sp.

sun jumping spider, Heliophanus cupreus

weevil, Exapion ulicis

Green Longhorn Moth, Adela reaumurella

We moved into the main site.

photo: Keith Fowler

It was hard work finding things but Neil found a Heather ladybird

and I located a Cream-streaked (spotty version). 

photo: Keith Fowler

A long net was used to sweep the Scots pine from which I dislodged the cream-streaked ladybird and three more were discovered. The pines also produced the  Pine  Cone Bug, Gastrodes grossipes.

photo: Keith Fowler

And we found the Boy (Callitula pyrrhogaster) – not a new site as we found it here last year.

The group lunched in a sheltered area by the large pool. Generally the pools were in poor condition but there were good numbers of Large-red Damsels on the wing. 

photo: Keith Fowler

Smooth Newt. Photo: Neil Nash

After lunch we continued to move through the site at the far side from the cars continuing to do our thing until the sap run and maple provided the late excitement.

Common Meshweaver, Dictyna arundinacea

Goldenrod Crab Spider, Misumena vatia (female) 

Goldenrod Crab Spider (male)

Nursery Web Spider, Pisaura mirabilis (male)

Trashline Spider, Cyclosa conica

wolf spiders mating

Scarce Footman, Eilema complana larva

Yellow-girdled Brusheye, Dasysyrphus tricinctus

Other finds included several ladybirds – Rhyzobius litura, 7-spot, 14-spot, 16- spot, 24 spot and Harlequin. Plus some shieldbugs – Green, Forest nymph and Gorse.

 
 
And finally,  we come to the sap run. 

photo: Nigel Jones

Our Dipterist  takes up the tale.... So, was it worth it? Spoilers - yes it was, with several scarce or uncommon species  present.  

 
I managed to grab some photos of the Brachyopa bicolor hoverfly (a scarce species) visiting a small sap run on Aspen.

photo: Nigel Jones

photo: Nigel Jones

I saw five individual Brachyopa, plus two Ferdinadea cuprea attracted to the aspen. Apart from the male B. bicolor photographed, all were attracted to the base of the tree. There were three Brachyopa insensilis (local) male and female, and two B.bicolor male and female.

We also had four species of Dasysyrphus, which these days counts as a good tally:
D. albostriatus – numbers
D. tricinctus (Jim caught this)
D. pinastri
D. venustus
 
Not a bad day out after a grim start with very little about.
 
Thank you to the site owners, Telford & Wrekin Council, for granting us permission to do what we do.
 
   
  
 
Photographs © Nigel Cane-Honeysett except as noted

Tick VG?

 Wednesday 22nd April 2026, Oaks Wood, Habberley

Oaks Wood is, despite its name, a mixed woodland with much Norway Spruce and other tree species in addition to oaks. There are also meadows, ponds and clearfell areas within its 200 acres, so we were only ever going to scratch the surface of its possibilities during this, our first visit to the site.        
 
The entry point for the site was Brown’s Coppice, an area which, as you can see, contained much Silver Birch.

photo: Keith Fowler

An early find was, unsurprisingly, a Birch Shieldbug.

The UK’s largest ladybird, species, Eyed Ladybird, soon appeared.

At the other end of the scale, Ivy Ladybird, a sub-3mm micro ladybird species, was somewht surprisingly vacuumed from leaf litter.

Nettles produced the large, emerald green weevil Phyllobius pomaceous.

photo: John Martin

Snails do not feature much in these reports. But this does not mean that they are not recorded - we just tend not to photograph them very often. We will attempt to correct this deficiency! Here are a couple to begin with. Firstly Euconulus fulvus

photo: John Martin

And this one is probably a Balea species but identification is ongoing…

photo: John Martin

We progressed from Brown’s Coppice into an open area of grassland which afforded an excellent view of Earls/Pontesford Hill on the other side of the Habberley Brook valley.

photo: Keith Fowler

Many Orange-tips were patrolling the grassland and it wasn’t long before eggs were located on Cuckoo Flower.

Three Rhopald bugs were photographed: Rhopalus subrufus,

Corizus hyoscyami
 

photo: John Martin

And Stictopleurus punctatonervosus.

It was also a good day for hoverflies (sadly, an increasingly uncommon event). Ferdinandea cuprea had been sighted in Brown’s Coppice but evaded the cameras. However Xylota segnis,

photo: John Martin

Epistrophe elegans and

photo: John Martin

a pair of Helophilus pendulus all had their likenesses captured. 

photo: John Martin

Two very smart moth larvae attracted attention. This is The Drinker

And this is a Scarlet Tiger, an increasingly common species but always a nice find.

The next revelation could hardly be described as a nice find though, by any except the most dedicated arachnologist. A Sheep Tick.

Worse news followed a few days later when one of the participants reported finding one on their person. We rarely encounter ticks during our outings in Shropshire but it seems that they may be becoming more common. A timely reminder to take precautions during feld trips and inspect carefully afterwards.

To change the tone, here is the third snail of the day: Clausilia bidentata.

Several Slender Groundhoppers were discovered in a nettlebed.

Photographing them proved to be a rather painful process. In contrast, this beetle was presented in a pot, a much easier target! It is Leistus terminatus. 

Exiting the fields we now re-entered woodland. A single, female Green Longhorn moth, Adela reaumurella, appeared almost immediately.

Aside from the Eyed Ladybird, conifer-specialist ladybird species had thus far proved elusive. But, finally, several Larch Ladybirds showed themselves.

A short distance into this block of woodland is a pond.

photo: Keith Fowler

Staring into it eventually revealed the presence of several Palmate Newts which, however, proved impossible to photograph adequately. A Large Red Damselfly was more accommodating.

photo: John Martin

As was Sanicle, though being a plant, it was never going to be very good at evading the photographer's lens!. 

photo: John Martin

Another of the several ladybirds noticed is this 14-spot, which was unusually lightly marked.

Moving through the woodland brought us to the final part of this vast site that we reached on this visit: an area of regenerating Norway Spruce clearfell, giving another good view across to Earls Hill.

Norway Spruce isn’t a great species for native wildlife, but the ubiquitous 7-spot Ladybirds didn’t seem to mind.

A better species is Broom….

…which belatedly produced a number of Pine Ladybirds amongst other species.

At this point time was called on a warm, sunny and altogether very pleasant day (bloodsucking arachnids notwithstanding!). Thank you to the owners of Oaks Woods for allowing us to explore this interesting site.  
     
 
Photographs © the author except as noted.