Eight of us met outside the gates of the site on a sunny but chilly and breezy late April day. Whilst we were waiting for everyone to arrive we saw a Buzzard making a hasty exit as it was chased off by another bird. To everyone’s surprise the chasing bird was a Long-tailed tit.
Our first stop was within a hundred yards of the gate as we all parked up and got out to inspect the bank at the side of the road which is used as a nesting site by several bees.
Yes, they really are looking for bees (and other insects).
From here we returned to our cars and drove on for a while then stopped by a plantation above the lower grasslands where several owl boxes have been installed. By the road there was a clump of Gorse. I could not resist it, so I went over and tapped a bush and out fell a Gorse shieldbug.
What a change from a couple of years ago when I was on a visit to Veolia’s Coalmoor site with the Shropshire Invertebrate Group where I was unable to find a single Gorse shieldbug despite the rest of the party finding them for fun!
Buoyed by this early success we drove to the top of the hill and parked by the dam. From here we had an excellent view over the Severn valley to the hills beyond.
During the winter conservation work has been done on the dam to remove trees that overhang the pool to remove perches for predatory birds thereby improving the safety of any nesting birds. A side-effect is to open up the view of the pools.
By now the group had splintered into several smaller groups as we pursued our various interests. Walking along by the pool we were treated to the scratchy song of a Sedge warbler in full voice. This was replaced a few minutes later as we looked in some grassland by the beautiful song of a Skylark. I know which I prefer, but they both have their place.
Most of us gathered together in the lee of a bank for lunch in the north east corner of the site. This proved an excellent spot to rest as the sun shone and the wind was kept at bay.
St. Mark’s Day is April 25th so it was no surprise that there were St. Mark’s flies about. (Apparently they have acquired their name as they usually appear on St. Mark’s Day.) The males are quite large and fly with their legs dangling, often in swarms. We did not see any swarms but there were plenty of males on the wing and some were successful in wooing a female.
After lunch we continued our walk along the northern edge of the site. This brought us into more established woodland that is a remnant of Devil’s Dingle pre-dating ash disposal. Along this stretch I spotted my first damselfly of the year – a Large Red Damselfly. This posed patiently for photographs before flying off. Unfortunately as I was the one persuading it to pose I did not take one so you will have to use your imagination here.
We meandered on. I was fortunate to hear the calls of Little ringed plover and then see them flying around one of the pools. A group of Tufted ducks also put on a flying display. Eventually we got back to the cars where, remarkably, all the other wanderers had returned. After spending time gathered around a beetle trying to decide what it was we packed up and went home.
Some of the insects I look at are very small but one of the group looks for microscopic organisms. He picked up a Blackberry leaf with a rust on it, prepared a microscope slide and was able to identify it as Phragmidium violaceum. What an amazing thing.
Photo: © Les Hughes
My thanks go to E.on for permitting us to visit this excellent site.
Keith Fowler
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