Herding cats

Corbet Wood, Grinshill - Wednesday, 10th April 2019

Corbet Wood is situated on the slopes of Grinshill. The site has been quarried extensively in the past and has now developed into a mixed woodland with a number of paths weaving between the old workings allowing exploration of the site.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Fourteen of us met up in the large car park amusing other visitors as we kitted ourselves out with all the paraphernalia required for our activities and caught up with colleagues that we had not seen for a while.

After a brief look around the car park we moved into an area to the east of the wood dominated by tall Scot's pines or similar. The area was very dry and yielded very little of interest but did provide a splendid view.

Photograph: David Williams (click on the photograph for a larger image)

The sight of these tall pines suggested that they may be a suitable site for the "Scottish" hoverfly Callicera rufa which we have found in similar habitats on Little Hill, Haugmond Hill and Nesscliffe. We must remember to come back and check in mid-May to mid-June to check.

Everywhere was downhill from here, a prospect not pleasing to everyone, but who said entomology is easy?

We descended down a sunken path to the next layer of the wood. As it happened we stayed on this layer, more or less, throughout the day, allaying the fears of those concerned by the sight of the slopes within the wood. The only other serious climb was back to the car park at the end of the day.

But I get ahead of myself.

At the bottom of the path we came to a dapple-shaded clearing where there was emergent vegetation attracting a number of hoverflies. 

Eristalis pertinax - Photograph: David Williams

As we watched, a bee-fly put in a brief appearance before disappearing. 

Moving on we came out onto a ledge that was in full sun. Here we saw a green shieldbug seemingly going through a warm-up exercise as it prepared for the day ahead.

Photographs: David Williams

It was lunchtime, so we took a leisurely picnic in this spot.

Lunch over we continued our wanderings keeping as much as possible in the sun and out of the bitter wind.

In amongst the abundant hoverflies which were dominated by Syrphus species that must have had a recent "mass emergence" a Scaeva pyrastri was spotted

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Another hoverfly had become lunch for a spider.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Whilst some of us were busy looking for spiders and invertebrates others were inspecting the rocks for lichens

Photograph: Bob Kemp

After a while we chanced upon another ledge where a large clump of bluebells were beginning to flower. On the trunk of a sycamore we found two cigar shaped objects.

Photograph: David Williams

These were later identified as the larval cases of the moth Taleporia tubulosa which has, according to the County Micro-moth recorder, "a very distinctive elongate tubular case which tapers to a triangular point". The triangular point at the end is clearly visible in the photograph.

The path we were following lead back to one of the main paths through the woods. We were faced with a choice. Follow the path down towards the bottom of the wood or back towards the car park. Guess which way we went.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

It was not down.

Although one did wander down and was rewarded with sight of the rare hoverfly Cheilosia semifasciata which is associated with Navelwort, their larvae form leaf mines in the leaves as it feeds.

Photograph: David Williams

He returned to the main group and announced his find, so a few of the others accompanied him to the spot where he had found it to have a look.

They were further rewarded by sight of another infrequently seen hoverfly Criorhina ranunculi

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Photograph: Bob Kemp

Whilst all this hoverfly tourism was taking place a Bronze shield bug was dislodged from a cherry. After photographing it was returned to its original resting place.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And so another splendid day had to come to an end. We plodded our way back to the car park but our leader (me) took the wrong path which lead to a difficult short descent so we had to retrace our steps. This was serendipitous as it gave us another chance to see a Criorhina ranunculi which posed briefly on a tree trunk next to the path.

Eventually we regained the car park and after lengthy good-byes went home.

Ah.... Herding Cats

Why that title?

With such a large group in hilly woodland it was difficult to keep an eye on everyone and get them to move in roughly the same direction at about the same time, allowing for everyone's particular interests and rate of progress. It was definitely more difficult than herding cats.

My thanks to Shropshire County Council for granting us permission to survey and to the photographers Bob Kemp, Nigel Cane-Honeysett and David Williams for allowing me to use their photographs.