A Site of Two Halves

Coppice Leasowes, Church Stretton - Wednesday, 16th August 2017

Another double-header! 

No, I have not been slow to write about the first visit.

Most of the words on Coppice Leasowes were written before the second visit, to The Hem, took place.

But as there are two visits this week I thought I would write a combined report. 

On with the first part of the report.


Coppice Leasowes is a site that straddles the A49 as it approaches Church Stretton from the north. On the left hand side there is an area of pasture and woodland. On the right hand side an area of grassland which is bordered on one side by a stream and the other by a ditch.

We met and parked close to the left hand half in the recently constructed housing estate off Watling Street North. When I was devising the directions to the site the online map I was using did not have a name for the street on which we parked, but I now know it is Leasowes Close.

After the usual delays in getting kitted up, including such crucial decisions as wellingtons or boots; net, tray or both, we entered the site.

The first thing to make an impression was a tree

This was identified by one of the group as possibly Metasequoia glyptostroboides (Dawn redwood). The foliage looks like anaemic yew tree leaves and is very soft.

The next things that caught my eye were three cattle settled in a rush bed. I was not expecting this - must change the risk assessment!

Apart from a brief period when I used moth-vac they were completely uninterested in our activities and got on with their own business. As we did with ours.

The grasses, plants and trees in this area did not look very exciting but they yielded a good selection of wee beasties. Certainly enough to keep most of us busy until lunchtime

Several spiders were caught, identified and photographed.

Female Araneus quadratus - Photograph: Richard Burkmar

Male Araneus quadratus - Photograph: Richard Burkmar

Female Nursery Web Spider on web - Photograph: Richard Burkmar

Female Larinioides cornutus - Photograph: Richard Burkmar

What have we here?

Photograph: Bob Kemp

I am informed that these are lacewing eggs. What a curious construction? What purpose does it serve?

I did not go into the woods as there was plenty for me to look at in the pasture but a few did, reporting that it was mainly sycamore with some oak and little ground flora. One emerged with a female Southern hawker dragonfly. 

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Lunch and where to have it was the next pressing issue. Should we go 300 yards through the wood to a designated picnic area, as advertised on the site's information leaflet, or stay we we were? 

One of the woodlanders told us that the picnic area had been re-seeded and access discouraged so we stayed where we were.

Lunch over, it was time to cross the A49. Ought we cross in a file like primary school children, or in dribs and drabs?

As I had not brought my hi-visibility vest to act as a shepherd for the school children I allowed the adults to cross under their own supervision. As it turned out the road was not very busy, so crossing it was not an issue.

The right-hand half was also grassland but with several damp, rush dominated areas, a few trees and a pool. The stream had dried up.

Like the first half plenty of insects and spiders were found so we were kept busy and time soon passed.

Photograph: Charlie Bell

A Forest bug was photographed on one of the trees.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Sometimes it is easy to identify an animal from a photograph, but at other times it is not. The following photograph was taken on a poplar.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

It is a planthopper and planthopper's are one of my things. It looks like Populicerus confusus, which is normally found on Salix, but as this was photographed on a poplar it may be the similar looking Populicerus nitidissimus. Unfortunately I am unable to check out the features that would determine which of the two it is. Hey-ho, never mind.

Our penultimate activity was to investigate the pool and its surrounding vegetation and show some high spirits for the photographer.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

The pool proved of great interest. One find was the hoverfly Eristalinus sepulchralis. A feature of this fly is its spotty eyes.

Photograph: David Williams

Another was a Small china-mark moth

Photograph: Graham Wenman

Nearby a red admiral caterpillar was disturbed

Photograph: David Williams

In and around the pool we saw many damsel- and dragon-flies. Here are a sample

Common darter - Photograph: Jim Cresswell

Emerald damselfly - Photograph: Jim Cresswell

Female Brown hawker ovipositing - Photograph: Jim Cresswell

Common blue damselfly - Photograph: Jim Cresswell

As we observed the brown hawker laying her eggs we were treated to the sight of a common blue damselfly deciding to use her abdomen as a perch.

Photograph: David Williams

Our last activity? To re-cross the A49 to get back to the cars. Thankfully, the road was still quiet.

We may not have visited this site at its best floristically but the abundance of insects, spiders, harvestmen, etc. more than compensated.

My thanks to Church Stretton Town Council for giving us permision to survey, the Friends of Coppice Leasowes for making the arrangements and Bob Kemp, Jim Cresswell, David Williams, Richard Burkmar, Charlie Bell and Graham Wenman for the additional photographs.


The Hem, Telford - Sunday, 20 August 2017

This was our second visit to this site this year. Our first visit was in May when the spring flowers were in full bloom. This time the site was in its late summer colours with taller plants and grasses dominating.

As has become the custom we made camp in the shelter

But, unlike our recent visits the charcoal burners were not in use.

This did not mean our host was taking it easy. On the contrary, as we swanned around his site making ourselves look busy, he really was busy removing large logs of wood from where they had been cut, to his store. It looked to be hard, exhausting manual work.

An early "find" was one our host pointed out - a stinkhorn egg.

I am told these are edible - but I am not going to try.

Other fungi of interest located during the day were a bracket:

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

And a common earthball:

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

This time of year turns many persons' thoughts to fungi but it is also a peak time, to my delight, for bugs, especially shield bugs. A couple were photographed at The Hem.

Birch shieldbug - Photograph: David Williams

Forest bug - Photograph: David Williams

There were several patches of Enchanters nightshade scattered about the earliest coppiced areas. Where I see this plant I look immediately for the bug that is generally found on it. Searches are often fruitless but this time one was located - the rather elegant Metatropis rufescens, beautifully captured on this photograph.

Photograph: David Williams

One insect we have seen a lot of this year is the hornet. I do not know if this is because we are better at spotting them or they are having a particularly good year. Whatever the reason, we observed them on this visit.

Photograph: David Williams

Another character we have seen before that took us by surprise when we first saw it is a "hairy" snail. The common hairy snail species is Trochulus hispidus but there are others. The hairs normally wear off in adulthood.

Photograph: David Williams

To finish this report here is a buff ermine caterpillar posed (I suspect) on a fallen oak leaf.

Photograph: David Williams

My thanks to Mark Ecclestone for allowing us to do what we enjoy doing and also apologies to him for only watching him work so hard. Thank you also to Jim Cresswell and David Williams for allowing me to use their excellent photographs and to Mags Cousins for information about the hairy snail.