Yet more April showers!!

Donington and Albrighton LNR, Wednesday, 25th April 2018

This nature reserve is split into three areas. To the west of the road that cuts through it is mainly grassland with some scrub, pools and woodland. The other two areas are to the east of the road. The middle area is a pool and easternmost is an area of woodland and carr. 

For our visit we were invited to survey the woodland and carr, an area that is not normally open to the public.

We assembled in the car park, but no sooner had we got out of the cars to exchange greetings the heavens opened driving us back into them again. The heavy shower soon passed and we managed to get a bit further in our preparations before....

Yes, you've guessed it.

The next heavy shower arrived, this time as hail. Shelter was once again sought in the cars.

It would have been easy to throw in the towel but we are made of sterner stuff!

The showers relented long enough for us to meet our host and his two work experience assistants who gave us an introduction to the site then escorted us onto it.

We were due to be joined on this trip by a group from the Shropshire Wild Teams. Unfortunately a traffic snarl up on the A49 meant that the group could not be collected and only their two leaders managed to get to the site. Let us hope we are able to arrange another date for this group to experience the delights of what we do.

When the weather is wet collecting invertebrates is even more challenging. Equipment soon gets wet and is difficult to handle; any invertebrate caught in it can become water-logged and may be damaged when extracted. So in these conditions the vacuum sampler comes into its own and it was soon brought into use and its catch examined.

This part of the site is very wet. Not only because of the rain! A stream flows into it and as it progresses it breaks up creating several little islands. In addition there are many small pools and very wet areas. 

Marsh marigold was in flower in many small clumps.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

A plant in abundance was wild garlic. A few just about in flower but the vast majority were waiting for that intangible indicator that lets them know its time to display. In the meantime the plants attracted the occasional passing hoverfly.

Helophilus sp. - Photograph: Jime Cresswell

The above photograph shows some rust developing on the leaves. It can be seen more clearly here.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

I believe this is the Arum rust Puccinia sessilis. Please let me know if you think I am wrong.

Two craneflies proved to be common on the day. The first was Tipula vittata, recognised by its distinctive wing pattern and stripes down the side of its abdomen.

The second one was Limnophila schranki - a smaller insect but also with a striking wing pattern. Here we have a male and female.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

In past reports I have often featured photographs of photographers usually when they are in discomfort taking that "one perfect shot". For once someone took a photograph of me taking the photograph of the Tipula vittata above. Fortunately I have not adopted an odd position to take the shot but if I am prepared to include photographs of others I must be prepared to include myself.

Photograph: JIm Cresswell

The weather remained changeable all day - heavy rain interspersed with sun - fortunately there was enough sun, and warmth when it came out, to encourage us to stay on site when next shower came along. We took advantage of a longer period of sun to have lunch.

A couple of shieldbug species were found. I did not find any but those that were pointed out to me were taking no chances with the weather they were on leaves of plants with higher leaves acting as umbrellas. What good eyes some people have.

Green shieldbug - Photograph: David Williams

Hawthorn shieldbug - Photograph: Jim Cresswell

An alder fly was photographed. There are only three species of alder fly in Britain but they all look the same! Identification is based on their reproductive organs so this alder fly cannot be identified to species. That said, the only species I have ever found is Sialis lutaria. Of course this one may have been different. We shall never know.

Photograph: David Williams

My thanks to Shropshire County Council for giving us permission to survey in this closed site. My thanks to the photographers for allowing me to share their excellent photographs with you. 

OH NO! It's not Trogulus!

New England, Highley, Wednesday 18th April 2018

New England is a former coal mining village built alongside the Borle Brook. Early in the 20th century, as Highley was being developed, the village was abandoned. The remains of one of the cottages have been preserved and there are some reminders of the past scattered around the site that has now developed into a wonderful streamside woodland.

Parking for the site was an issue. When I went for a preliminary visit the road down to the site from Highley was closed - or, at least, there was a big red sign indicating the fact. The site was accessible via the road but the parking was very limited and there was nowhere to turn around.

Good job I walked down!

As a result I decided we should park on the roadside in Highley and walk down to the site. 

About 1 kilometre - downhill. More pertinently, UPHILL on the way back.

When we arrived the big red sign had gone. Could we drive down to the site?

Four of us were in the car I was driving and, as we were early, a sentry was posted at the meet point and the other three drove down. There were spaces for maybe two or three cars but these looked more like passing places for the narrow lane. And we had to go about another quarter of a mile up a steep twisting crumbling road before we could turn around

On our return, as we passed the site, we left another sentry with the heavy collecting gear (mothvac) and returned to the meet point.

Eventually everyone else arrived and we set off at a leisurely pace down to New England.

Needless to say there were distractions on the way including some White dead-nettle in flower. This is the host of the Pied shieldbug and one was located and photographed.

Photograph: David Williams

Some time later we reached the remaining cottage in New England where there is a helpful, if slightly vandalised, information board.

This was where our (second) sentry was posted. He was now hard at "work" looking for arachnids of all shapes and sizes. Here is our "Stanley greets Livingstone" moment!

We looked around this area enjoying the sight of several bee flies hovering and feeding at the ground ivy.

The vegetation around the cottage included cowslips

And forget-me-nots

After a while we descended down to the water's edge where the Borle Brook crosses the road as a ford.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Should you want to cross the river on foot without getting your feet wet there is a footbridge across the brook from which this photograph was taken.

Just a little way up the hill is a footpath and if you take it you are soon confronted with a large rock.

It indicates that the bridge abutment for the Billingsley to Brookmouth tramway is in the direction indicated (to the left).

If you follow the arrow you soon come to another information board about the plateway (which I assume was the same as the tramway).

A reminder - all the pictures can be seen in larger versions by clicking on the image in your web browser.

There was a great commotion around a green tray ....

"We've found Trogulus! We've found Trogulus!"

The Trogulus in question is Trogulus tricarinatus, a harvestman that had, to date defied all efforts to find it in Shropshire.

Now, at long last, it had been found.

Or so we thought .....

As it was a new record for the county we persuaded our spider man to retain the specimen as proof of the find. It is just as well we did as when he got it home and checked it he discovered that it was not Trogulus tricarinatus after all, but Anelasmocephalus cambridgei. That was a bit of a let down as it had been found in the county before - once.

Here is a picture of the beast that caused a heart flutter or two:

Photograph: Bob Kemp

This experience gives us a timely reminder of the importance of retaining specimens.

We strolled along the path at the side of the brook taking in the strong aroma of wild garlic and delighting in the early spring blooms until we came to a clearing that ran down to the brook.

Photograph: Margaret Mitchell

Here the wild garlic and other vegetation was interspersed with lots of butterbur with their proud upstanding flower heads.

As the vegetation thinned out and all but disappeared close to the water's edge the butterbur continued to thrive.

A relaxed lunch was taken. Male Brimstone and Orange-tip butterflies entertained us as they patrolled their territories.

By now the temperature was well into the 70's (Fahrenheit - 20's Centigrade) and we were a bit exposed in the clearing; it was time to move on.

We returned to the road and the cottage. The Forget-me-not there was combed in the hope of finding a Forget-me-not shieldbug. Hand searching failed to find it so we tried mothvac. This also failed to find it, but, as we were inspecting what it did find, we noticed what we thought was a small spider attacking a snail.

On checking more closely it turned out to be a Land caddis.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

The Land caddis is our only caddis fly that as a larva is land-based rather than water-based. As you can see from the photograph it behaves in a similar way to the other caddis flies and constructs a protective case from grains of sand and similar material.

We now took another path that followed the brook but at a higher altitude. This brought us to a bit more of the old village - the sewage treatment plant. This was built before the First World War and continued in use until after the Second World War when it was replaced. It has now been preserved and converted into a picnic area.

Our heavy collecting equipment was stored here together with our second sentry and the rest of us wandered around the paths that went in several directions from the sewage works.

One path went over the Donkey Bridge. Sorry no photograph - mine was overexposed and no-one else seems to have taken one. This was followed for a short way through spring flower adorned woodland.

Photograph: Margaret Mitchell

Re-assembly occurred naturally after a while at the picnic site, where we rested, nattered, photographed small things, drank, sunbathed etc.. One insect decided to investigate what we were doing and landed on a bag.

Photograph: David Williams

As you can see it has lost its right forewing during its adult life.

Weevils are beetles that usually get ignored. There are a lot of them and many look alike so it takes a determined person to attempt to identify them. We now have that determined person in our ranks. He was given the recently published Duff beetle books as a present. These include a key to weevils - he is going to give it a go.

Good luck!

Here are two he took away

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Photograph: Bob Kemp

We await identifications ......

Time to go home. We tramped up the hill, in the searing heat, back to the cars and went home after a splendid day on an excellent site.
My thanks to Shropshire County Council for giving us permission to potter about the site in the way we enjoy; to the photographers Margaret Mitchell, Bob Kemp and David Williams for their wonderful photographs; to the sun for coming out on a Wednesday. And, finally, to the skylarks for serenading us on our slog up the hill.

Distress

Eardington Quarry, Wednesday 11th April 2018

Whilst we were exploring Eardington Quarry and its neighbouring woodland a couple of us came across a sight I would rather not see again. Earlier my colleague had spotted a deer in a field above where we were walking. Some time later we made our way into that field. and followed the path alongside the fence. After a while we saw a deer's leg trapped in the fence. It was only a few moments later that we realised that the deer was still alive.

What could we do? It had caught its leg between the top of the stock proof fence and the barbed-wire top strand and twisted the two together with its leg trapped between causing the wiring to tighten. It could not be untwisted by us.

What could we do? My companion went to summon help from the RSPCA or similar organisation whilst I stood guard trying not to spook the animal causing it more distress. Some time later my colleague returned with a pair of wire cutters and told me that Cuan Animal Rescue Centre had be contacted.

Do we wait or try to help. We decided to try to free the animal and used the wire cutter to cut one of the entangling strands. It took a lot of effort but eventually the wire was cut and instantly the deer took flight.

Regrettably it was clearly injured, as it ran, remarkably quickly, using only three legs with the leg that had been trapped stuck out at an angle.

Did we do the right thing? I do not know. But the distress of the animal was clear to see and it was impossible to stand by and not to do something.


Eight of us made the trip to Eardington Quarry Nature Reserve on a cold, breezy, damp, grey day. As we had been asked to look at their colony of the bee Colletes cunicularis and also their newly created "Bee Village" we had picked exactly the wrong day to visit. Apart from a few hardy bumble bees that we saw later in the day there was not a bee to be seen.

Erardington Quarry is a former sand and gravel quarry that was taken on by Shropshire County Council and turned with the help of a very enthusiastic Friends group the site into a nature reserve. One of their projects was to create a series of habitats likely to attract nesting bees. 

The village consists of a series of sandy south facing banks, wooden poles with holes drilled in them, earth banks contained in washing machine drums, bee houses on posts and general scrub clear sandy soil. Here is a view of part of the village

Unfortunately the weather and lack of bees meant that we did not spend as much time here as we had intended.

In cold damp weather  a vacuum sampler usually comes to our rescue and soon it was brought into use and its catch examined.

Meanwhile a younger person with younger eyes and reflexes managed to capture a Devil's coach-horse (Ocypus olens) our largest rove beetle.

Photograph: David Williams

When disturbed the Devil's coach horse will raise its rear end scorpion like - but, as you can see from the photograph, this one was pretty unconcerned despite being captured, put in a tray and photographed.

A reptile tile was lifted - no reptiles but lots of ants and some white woodlice.

Photograph: Ed Phillips

At first these were dismissed as juvenile woodlice and as, I am afraid to say, woodlice come pretty low down the identification pecking order they remained that. Fortunately a couple of members of the group were more persistent and later, independently, identified the woodlouse as Platyarthrus hoffmannseggii which is a white blind woodlouse associated with the nests of ants. Needless to say when the news broke about this we find out that one had been photographed at the same site last year - with an ant!

Photograph: David Williams

As the site was rather exposed to the cold wind we decided to look for cover and made for the wooded valley that adjoins the site. On the way we passed some jelly-ear fungus.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

It was definitely sheltered and warmer here and there were some spring flowers in bloom.

Primrose

Dog-violet

On the stream that passes through the valley was an extensive display of marsh marigold.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

Nearby a banded snail was tucked away in the decaying wood of a tree stump.

And elsewhere we were finding tripe.

Or more precisely - tripe fungus, which in a fungusy sort of way is very attractive.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

After the bleakness of the quarry and the difficulty in finding anything, apart from us, stupid enough to be out and about in the winter-like spring weather, the woodland was proving fairly productive. Another snail was photographed. This one was identified courtesy of the county recorder as a door snail Cochlodina laminata.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

Other species that caught the eye of our photographers were:

Pill woodlouse - Armadillidium vulgare

Photograph: David Williams

Dingy footman larvae

Photograph: David Williams

And the beetle Demetrias atricapillus

Photograph: David Williams

This little creature has been given the common name "Hairy templed thatcher". 

What?

Is that really easier to remember than its scientific name?

There was no convenient site for lunch other than the picnic tables in the reserve, which were wet, but, more pertinently, sited in the teeth of the arctic wind, so we lunched on the path passing through the woodland on a variety of barrels, tree stumps, the ground and even a portable stool.

Close to the lunch site a couple of springtails posed for photographs

Dicyrtoma fusca

Photograph: Ed Phillips

And Dicyrtomina saundersi

Photograph: Ed Phillips

We noticed that the birds had been getting on with the business of creating the next generation.

Blackbird nest - Photograph: Jim Cresswell

It was a little later that a couple of us tried to explore further into the valley that the incident of the deer occurred. This took the gloss off the day and we decided to return to the quarry then make our way home.

But as we passed through the quarry we felt the need to check the bee village - but there were still no bees and to explore an area of rough grassland, that included the rooves of the sand martin houses. This latter area proved to be a haven for small beasts.

From there we moved on to a meadow area where we collected a gatekeeper butterfly larva

Photograph: David Williams

Then we went home.

My thanks to Shropshire County Council for giving us permission to do what we enjoy doing and the Friends of Eardington Quarry for showing us around the bee village. Thank you also to the photographers Jim Cresswell, Ed Phillips and David Williams for letting me use their excellent photographs to supplement my own efforts.