We ventured into north west Shropshire to the Nant Mawr Visitor Centre near, surprisingly, Nant Mawr. This is the site of the Tanat Valley Light Railway which serviced lime kilns, the remains of which can still be seen on the site.
We arrived to find a contractor on site. He was using a large JCB to ferry soil that had been removed from the front of the kilns to the "platform" area where the said structure was being built. We pledged to keep out of his way; he was bigger than us with considerably more power at his disposal.
An attraction throughout the day, as we passed it and rested by it several times, was a Buddleia bush. Not only was it attractive to us.
It was also a food stop for several butterfly species which, of course, in turn increased its attraction to us.
A couple of us spent quite a while trying to get a photograph of the Red admiral's underside as this is equally as attractive but not, to me anyway, instantly recognisable. This is the best that I could manage.
We visited the site last year in May and the railway verge by the car park was full of life as the vegetation was thick and tall; we spent a lot of time inspecting it. This year it had been cut so providing us with plenty of time to explore other areas, especially the Buddleia!
The site consists of the railway track, verges and the kilns.These are bordered by a small meadow, woodland and a larger area of grassland. Tearing ourselves away from the butterfly bush we made our way through the woodland to the meadow.
The meadow had plenty of self heal and white clover and there were the remnants of common spotted orchids. From the meadow we descended down a fungus strewn path back to the lane at the side of the railway track.
I was summoned to my car. A Silver-washed fritillary had been observed taking on substances from my tyres. Needless to say it was no longer there when I arrived, but I did see a large butterfly of an orange hue fluttering into the surrounding bushes.
Some of the bushes were draped in clematis.
A coffee break was taken ... by the butterfly bush.
A couple of us took a look at the area by the kilns. There was a small pool where a Large red damsel fly and Common darter were sparring for the territory.
I tried to get closer to the kilns so attempted to skip across the rails. Unfortunately the ground between the rails turned out to be very gluey. I put my foot down; pulled it up; left my wellington behind stuck in the gloop; overbalanced; descended to the ground in an undignified manner; stood up and dusted myself down. To retrieve my wellington I had to put my unbooted foot down in the water - result a wet and dirty sock and foot. Still no harm done apart from to my pride. Fortunately no one recorded the event.
Was it worth it? Not really. I returned by a drier route!
Our next stop was the field where we made use of the picnic tables to eat our lunches, swap tales of derring do and, as generally happens, talk about cameras, focal lengths, depth of fields etc., etc. The sheep looked on briefly then continued to mow the grass.
Lunch over we made for the tracks, the surrounding verges and the rolling stock.
A few Cinnabar caterpillars were seen on the ragwort.
We continued to observe, rest, walk along the tracks, rest, inspect the rolling stock, rest, find the end of the line, rest and generally enjoy being on the site.
Once again we sought the refuge of the butterfly bush before returning to our cars and home.
A baker's dozen? Yes, here they are:
Small skipper
Holly blue
Small copper
Small tortoiseshell
Silver-washed fritillary
Small heath
Peacock
Speckled wood
Comma
Gatekeeper
Red admiral
Large white
Green-veined white
Dothill LNR, Friday 29th July 2016
Four of us met on a grey but dry day for our fourth visit to this newly declared Nature Reserve. Without ado we headed for the meadow at the side of Tee Lake. On the way we passed a Meadow brown feeding on the head of an umbellifer.
We have visited this meadow on each of our visits and it has been fascinating to watch it change in that time from early promise in our April visit, its growth in May, in full flower in June and now going to seed with patches of knapweed, ragwort and hogweed providing the main floral interest.
Another attraction of this area is a seat where you can sit and study a plant or invertebrate to determine what it is; have a drink; chat with passers-by or just take a break.
Dothill is a large site and there are still a few areas that we have not visited. Rather than march to one of these we used the cars to get us there quickly. Our target area was an area of rough grassland to the south west of the site.
One of the issues facing the nature reserve is Himalayan balsam. I know the Friends group have been tackling the issue but the entrance to this part of the site reminds you of the threat of this very attractive but invasive species.
The area proved to be quite a productive area for us so we pottered around it for a couple of hours before deciding to call it a day. Just as we got back to the cars the rain started!
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