How hard the wind doth blow

Ifton Meadows Nature Reserve, Wednesday 19th September 2018

To quote the description on the 'Shropshire's Great Outdoors' website: “Ifton Meadows Local Nature Reserve is a former Colliery site which has since been re-clothed by nature to provide a diverse mosaic of habitats and notable species. From semi-natural ancient woodland with extensive swathes of British bluebell to skylarks nesting on the acid grassland with views across the wider countryside to the Welsh hills.” The reference to distant views might suggest to the reader that the site is a little exposed. And indeed it is. A most interesting place, but we chose to visit on a day marked by very strong winds. Nice in the sunshine, we nevertheless had to shout at each other to be heard. Before long, a decision had been made to retreat into the woodland on the lower slopes of the site in search of shelter.

Before we took to the trees, the grassland was swept, and a few recently planted oak saplings beaten. A caterpillar was spotted, sunning itself in the grass. This turned out to be the larva of the speckled wood butterfly. 

Photograph: David Williams

Later in the day we saw two adults flying in the trees, demonstrating the continuously brooded nature of this species. Three earwigs also appeared in quick succession, two from the grassland, one from the plantation. These were not the ubiquitous common earwig however, but its much less often seen cousin Lesne's earwig, Forficula lesnei. 

Photopgraph: David Williams

This species has now turned up at half a dozen sites in VC40, all of which have one thing in common: landscaping work which includes tree planting. The insect is usually discovered in the plantations themselves, and this was the case again here. Somewhere there is a tree nursery which is seeding Shropshire with this unobtrusive insect. Ifton Meadows is the most northerly Shropshire location yet, and I believe the most northern inland record in Britain. One of our group collected a couple of ichneumon wasps for later identification. Ichneumons are a large & difficult group & seldom (if ever!) feature in our species lists. So to claim these two records for the day was particularly pleasing.  

Acrotomus succinctus - Photograph: Bryan Formstone

Dyspetes praerogator - Photograph: Bryan Formstone

In the woodland, we were at least able to communicate without shouting, though the roar of the wind in the tree-tops was a little alarming. The weather also now decided to become cloudier, and was soon depositing rain at an angle nearer the horizontal than vertical. Fortunately this soon passed, and the day improved steadily from there, though the wind if anything increased in strength. The bark of a large tree-stump was peeled back, and revealed two cells formed in the underlying detritus. One contained a large ground beetle; the other a hibernating bumblebee, probably the tree bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum.  Clearly very drowsy, we snapped a couple of quick pictures & carefully replaced the bark over it. 

Photopgraph: David Williams

We reached the edge of the woodland and heroically decided to brave the maelstrom. Beating oaks at the woodland edge produced hawthorn and bronze shieldbugs, 

Photopgraph: David William

Photopgraph: David William

and the larva of the micromoth Diurnea fagella, all from oak. This last creature is distinguished from all but its two closest relatives by the modified third pair of thoracic legs, which have developed fleshy 'boxing gloves'. The colour of its head capsule clinches the species identification. 

Photopgraph: David Williams

Continuing along the woodland edge, a birch shieldbug was spotted on white poplar. Clearly a day for finding shieldbugs on the 'wrong' plants – perhaps they had been blown there by the wind!  

Photopgraph: David Williams

By now the sun was shining brightly. But the wind finally wore down our resistance, and we headed back to our cars and the prospect of a journey home along roads littered with twigs and branches.   

And to finish a photograph of a soldier fly - probably Sargus bipunctatus.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett