Ant-associated Excitement

Wednesday 8th April 2026, Severn Valley Country Park

Glorious weather marked our day at Severn Valley Country Park. This, plus it being the Easter holiday period, made the park very popular with families looking for a day out. So much so that the car park reached capacity (fortunately not until we had assembled) and people resorted to parking along the entrance road.

As usual, the actual car park and its environs detained us for some time. A number of Sallows were in flower, attracting various flies and bees. Ladybirds were also present in numbers, including a heartening quantity of 2-spot Ladybirds. This pair were in the business of creating the next generation. Note that one of them is the red-on-black ‘quadrimaculata’ form.

We eventually moved on to the immediately adjacent pond area.

photo: Keith Fowler

A number of Epistrophe elegans hoverflies kept their eyes on us from a safe distance above our heads…

…while at ground level a couple of surprisingly tame Bank Voles completely ignored us as they went about their business.

The vacuumers got to work, extracting several beetles from the surroundings.

Celery Leaf Beetle. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

14-spot Ladybird. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

24-spot Ladybird. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Tachyporus obtusus. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Oulema obscura. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Microplontus campestris. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Meanwhile, a Water Ladybird was found at the edge of the pond, not with a suction sampler but with a sweep net.

The cricket season has begun: two tiny first instar Dark Bush-cricket nymphs appeared. One was spotted and captured in the bushes but the second decided to do a  spot of sun-bathing on the tube of one of the vacuums! These are the earliest Dark Bush-crickets ever recorded in Shropshire, beating the previous best of 20th April in 2015 and 2025. Is this significant? Almost certainly not!

We decided to move into the meadows on the opposite side of the access road. But not before a couple of late finds were made: a Hazel Leaf-roller, who hadn’t read the instructions and was perched in a Hawthorn.

And a Nursery Web Spider who had snaffled a juvenile wolf spider for lunch.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Into the meadows we went.

photo: Liz Roberts

One notable feature of the day was the number of male Orange-tip Butterflies on the wing. Sadly they were unphotographable, never resting for a moment from their relentless patrolling. The same could be said of the Brimstones which were also zooming around. But a Comma was more accommodating.

The meadows soon delivered one of  the finds of the day: a Turtle Shieldbug. A species with only a handful of Shropshire records, all from the south-east quarter of the county. To prove it  wasn’t a fluke, a second one turned up a few minutes later.

It was a good day for shieldbugs and allies. Others which were photographed included a Forest Bug nymph

A Box Bug (another species which only moved into Shropshire in the recent past)

And the Rhopalid bug Rhopalus subrufus.

The Turtle Bug was good. But the find of the day must surely have been a small, unusual-looking rove beetle.

This is Nigel’s report of the find: “Yesterday’s rove beetle is the ant associate Lomechusa emarginata. There are only two post 2000 Shropshire records on NBN and a few from the mid 20th century, so it’s a good find. It’s not at all common anywhere with just 83 UK records on NBN. These are amazing beetles. The beetle and its larva both solicit food from the host ants by tricking them into regurgitating liquid intended for the ant’s own larvae. Basically, Lomechusa appear to have broken the communication code between ant and ant larva. There’s more! Lomechusa have different summer and winter hosts. Spending the summer with Formica ants and the winter with Myrmica ants. Extraordinary. This is what makes our Wednesdays so much fun.”
 
A few other finds from this area included a  couple of arachnids. Firstly a spider, Episinus angulatus

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And then quite possibly a Wednesday first: a positively  identified mite, Leptus trimaculatus.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Two Cream-spot Ladybirds were persuaded from a Field Maple.

As was, rather more surprisingly, a Common Groundhopper. Quite what this flightless, ground-dwelling insect was doing up a tree only it knows!

We moved on, heading deeper into the trees. Continuing the theme of wildlife not reading the field guides, a flatbug appeared randomly during the sweep of an aerial net.

Probably not uncommon but rarely recorded due to their hiding-under-bark lifestyle, this one was presumably having a rare trip out into the sunshine and got unlucky. It is Aradus depressus.
We arrived at our next intended target: a woodland stream.

photo: Keith Fowler

In truth this did not yield the quantity of finds for which we were hoping, but a nearby damp area did produce a second groundhopper species in some quantity: Slender Groundhopper.

Another weevils species also appeared around this time - Leiosoma deflexum.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

The open canopy of the woodland was also putting on a fine show of Spring flowers.

Lesser Celandine & Bluebells

Wood Anemone

With finds in slightly short supply, someone had a bright idea: give up and retreat to the visitor centre for ice creams! There was a conspicuous lack of resistance to this idea, so we examined what remained in the trays and then began retracing our steps uphill. Keen readers will recall the opening paragraph of this report, the consequences of which began to have ominous portents as we neared the visitor centre. Words such as “sold-out” floated through the air towards us as we passed families emerging from the building. And lo, it came to pass that there was no ice cream, except for dog ice cream (which is ice cream for dogs(!?), not dog flavoured ice cream, in case you were worried). The hoards of day trippers had eaten it all and the relief delivery had not yet arrived. Calamity! We were forced to make do with tea, coffee, crisps and cake (which was, admittedly, delicious).

photo: Keith Fowler

In due course,  refreshed, we prepared to leave. But what is this we see? People with choc ices! Yes, the emergency ice cream lorry had arrived, 15 minutes too late for us. Though, truth be told, I did spy a couple of our number with a crafty Cornetto as we walked back to our vehicles…

 
Many thanks to our hosts for allowing us to do what we do, and for providing delicious and refreshing refreshments!  
  
 
 
Photographs © the author except as noted

As Happy as a Pig in Prime Earwig Habitat

Wednesday 1st April 2026, Sweeney Fen and  Porth-y-waen

The first fixture of Joy of Wildlife’s 2026 Spring and Summer programme was a double-header in the north-west of the county. Neither of the sites we intended to visit are very blessed with car parking space, so we met in the large layby at Llynclys and decanted into as few cars as possible (three) before heading to our first destination: a farm at Porth-y-waen which has recently created a small woodland and meadow for wildlife. So far, so good. A longish and fairly bumpy track leads up to the farm. We drove carefully, in procession, up to the end of the track… where we were met head-on by a tractor towing a trailer. After some shunting back and forth from all parties we decided to stage a strategic retreat, backing carefully, in procession, back out of the track again. We went to the Shropshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Sweeney Fen instead, a one minute drive up the road. Here is a general view of the fen. 

photo: Keith Fowler

Sweeney Fen is definitely a Wellington boots sort of place. This was unfortunate for one of our number, who discovered he had left all footwear at home save for the sandals he was standing up in. Fortunately, a spare pair was generously offered and accepted, though they were a little on the snug side. But beggars can’t be choosers!

 
On arrival the first thing we noticed was a rather excellently laid hedge.

photo: Keith Fowler

We were all impressed but our lichenologists took a particular, and it turns out, productive, interest in it. Here is their account: “We spent quite some time looking at the section of new laid hedge and took some samples.  Well, we've been having fun as the first two samples we looked at where we thought we knew what the species was have turned out to not be, a reason to always check if you think the lichen looks a bit different.  We have one species which does not want to key out, we think we have the genus as the spores are distinctive, but it keys out to a species which does not seem right, so it a sample for next year's winter workshop. One other species taken from the lengths of branches used to weave in the top of the hedge has yielded a lichen for which there are no records in Shropshire - Arthopryenia cerasi. There was lots of the lichen on these branches. We are currently awaiting a reply as to the source of the branches that the hedge layer used.” One day later,  the reply came back that the wood came from one of two local sources, so definitely a county first record.  

 
Spring flowers were much in evidence. Carpets of Wood Anemones and Primroses intermingled with each other.

The Primroses had been intermingling in other ways too, as witnessed by the hybrid False Oxlips.

photo: John Martin

At the far end of the fen was a good stand of Marsh Marigold.

And elsewhere Early Dog Violets were showing well.

photo: John Martin

An old, vacated gall was spotted on Bramble. This is caused by Diastrophus rubi, a gall wasp.

photo: Liz Roberts

Beating the grass, sedges and rushes produced a number of Drinker moth larvae, a species common in this sort of habitat.

Another typical fen species is the cranefly, Ptychoptera albimana. Here is a pair in the business of propagating their species.      

Still on the marshy theme, this is a Red Marsh Ladybird, Coccidula rufa.

And this is Paederus riparius, a rove beetle found in wetland habitats.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Red-rumped Ladybird, Scymnus haemorrhoidalis, also turned up. A grassland species with a tendency to be commoner in damper habitats.

The vacuumers got to work  and produced a good selection of finds:

Dyschirius globosus

Rybaxis  longicornis

Apion frumentarium. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Kateretes cf pedicularis. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Lunchtime was approaching and, as usual, people who were spread far and wide across the site began miraculously gravitating towards the chosen lunch venue. Of course finds continued to be made during this reverse migration, including this spider carrying an unwanted passenger: the larva of a parasitic wasp, likely an Ichneumon of the genus Polysphincta.  Needless to say, it will not end well for the spider.

photo: John Martin

A sawfly was captured and identified in record time (but still measured in days, not minutes) as Dolerus haematodes.

photo: John Martin

Lunch over, it was time to move on. We decided to walk the 5 minute distance back to Porth-y-waen rather than risk more vehicular trauma, but not before one final find of note from Sweeney Fen was made: a Great Crested Newt.

photo: Liz Roberts

At our second site, the walk to the woodland took us through the farmyard and past the largest dung heaps we have seen in quite some time! Some of us (well, me, in fact) are immediately on red alert when a good dung heap is sighted. All sorts of interesting critters inhabit them, but particularly, from my point of view, the Lesser Earwig, Labia minor. Widely distributed in Britain but rarely recorded and probably declining due to the decline of their dung heap homes, which have been legislated into shadows of their former selves. Most heaps are also full of systemic pesticides courtesy of the livestock which produce them. Nevertheless, we continued on to the woodland, newly planted on gently sloping ground. Here, in a small clearing, a Tawny Mining Bee was spotted almost immediately.

More amphibious excitement was provided by a Common Frog.

photo: Liz Roberts

The vacuumers got down to work and produced several common ladybird species, including 22-spot 

And 24-spot.

At this point I could wait no longer, dug out my disposable, latex-free, 'latex' gloves and headed back to the heaps. Lesser Earwigs can be infuriatingly hard to find, partly because they are tiny (around 6mm, much smaller than the Common Earwig) and lightning fast. But mostly because they are rather picky about their surroundings and are frequently absent despite concerted searching. However! The first one turned up inside a minute and it quickly became clear that the whole expanse was absolutely heaving with them (and with invertebrate life in general). Here is an adult female, with the front end of an upturned nymph visible at the bottom of the picture. I was as happy as a pig, or an earwig,  in its favourite habitat!

Back in the trees, vacuumers vacuumed and others managed to temporarily disappear without trace into the scenery despite its relatively compact dimensions. Finds continued to be found,  including the small rove beetle Tachyporus obtusus

The fly Lonchoptera lutea

photo: John Martin

And an as yet unidentified Chrysomelid beetle which might just turn out to be something notable. Stay tuned for updates! 

photo: John Martin

This parasitic wasp was found, equally tiny and astonishing.

photo: Nigel Jones

I will let our Dipterist/Hymenopterist describe it in his own words: “Attached is an image of that Diapriidae wasp – Psilus species. It’s not possible to take it to species as the key is old and very rudimentary – basically there are almost certainly several new UK species not in the key. Psilus have the mandibles at the back of the head. No one knows why, but it is surmised that they are used to break out of the host (a fly pupa). The mandibles cannot be closed on one another, so they can only push outwards from the base of the head – weird!”
 
Our Arachnologist was as  busy as ever. Here are some of his finds:

Zora spinimana. Photo: John Martin

Larinoides cornutus, female & male. Photos: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Episinus angulatus. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Diaea dorsata. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Araniella sp. (Cucumber Green Spider). Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

I will end with a couple of botanical finds. Firstly Gooseberry

photo: John Martin

And finally another extensive patch of False Oxlips, with some parent Primroses mixed in among them.

photo: Keith Fowler

Many thanks to our hosts for allowing access to both of these interesting sites.  
  
 

Photographs © the author except as noted