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 |
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment on this post...