Pizza galore

Denso Eco Garden, Telford and St. Peter's Church, Edgmond, Wednesday 24th July 2019

O dear!

What is it about me and socks?

Yet again I could not find a pair as I unloaded the boot of the car.

I had net, stick, tray, vacuum sampler (in two parts), boots and a bag … but no socks.

And then I remembered.

After last week's lapse I put a spare pair of socks in the first aid compartment in the boot (it seemed an appropriate place).

My feet and boots were saved. Now all I need to do is to remember to put another pair in the compartment for when, inevitably it seems, it happens again.

Sock panic over, as everyone I expected had arrived we ventured onto the site.

The Eco Garden is an area of land around two edges of the Denso site in Telford. A group of the firm's employees persuaded the firm to let them develop what was essentially waste ground into what it is now.

The garden consists of plantation around the edge through which a path has been constructed, a large meadow which was originally destined to be an overflow parking area:

A more formal garden area with raised beds:

And other constructions:

"Wilder" areas:

Pools:

And tree ferns.

If you have some tyres to spare you could also create a feature like this:

The garden is for the employees to enjoy but it is also used to entertain and for educational purposes. It is maintained on a voluntary basis but the firm provides support.

We spent a lot of time in the grassland area and its margin investigating what makes its living there. An early find was a digger wasp:

Photographs: David Williams

This has been identified provisionally as Oxybelus uniglumis but we await confirmation that this is correct.

One insect that we are certain of its identity is Lesne's earwig, Forficula lesnei:

Photograph: David Williams

This is a nymph and can be distinguished from the common earwig (as a nymph) by the colour of the abdomen which is plain dark brown in the common earwig and pale brown with two darker longitudinal stripes in Lesne's, as can be seen in the above photograph.

The grassland was a magnet for butterflies. In all we saw eleven species one of which was a Peacock.

David Williams

The trees and "rougher" vegetation around the edge of the grassland provided habitat that supported the aptly named Specked bush cricket.

Photograph: David Williams

On to the pools we went and someone had the foresight to bring pond-dipping equipment allowing us to indulge in this activity. We are very dry land orientated so our ability to identify aquatic species is very limited but here are a couple we could get close to naming.

First a newt - it is either a Smooth newt or Palmate newt. It is not a Great-created newt.

Photograph: David Williams

And a dragon fly larva.

Photograph: David Williams

One of the features of the garden I have not yet mentioned is the woodfired pizza oven.

And what do you use a pizza oven for?

Yes, I'm sure you could answer that question, cooking pizza.

We were offered generous amounts of a variety of pizzas for lunch in return for our morning efforts, and the offer was graciously accepted and everyone (even the non-pizza eaters) tucked in.

Thank you.

The Denso site offered far more than I had anticipated and half a day was not really long enough to do the site justice. We will return.

On we went to Edgmond and the Church of St. Peter's where we had been invited to look for spiders following a talk our spiderman gave to one of the church's groups.

I'll let you into a secret early … we did not look just for spiders.

On arrival we noted that the churchyard was quite spick and span.

But we did find a small area of grassland that had been allowed to grow.

We met one of the people who look after the church and grounds who told us that many people involved with the church wanted the churchyard to be immaculate. However with persuasion they had been allowed to be less rigorous in their grass-cutting and the above patch was the result. In the longer term I think they hope that more of the churchyard will be allowed to grow providing a greater range of habitats for invertebrates to exploit.

Most of our time was spent looking at the margins of the site which was mainly well developed hedge comprised of a variety of species and the trees that dotted the churchyard.

One of the species in the hedge was box and this yielded a box specialist, the psyllid Spanioneura fonscolobii.

Photographer: David Williams

Attention was paid to the Swedish whitebeam and yielded a couple of insects that were photographed.

The first was an oak bush cricket:

Photographer: David Williams

And a hawthorn shieldbug nymph.

Photographer: David Williams

Although it is known as the hawthorn shieldbug and is normally associated with hawthorn where it feeds on the berries it is found on other trees. In this churchyard the whitebeam was a host.

The afternoon then turned into the afternoon of the ladybird as ten different species were found. Here are photographs of some of them:-

Eighteen-spot ladybird:

Photograph: David Williams

This ladybird looks the worse for wear. Unfortunately it was worse for wear as it was dead and had been for some time. Nevertheless it was still identifiable - just.

Pine ladybird:

Photograph: David Williams

Cream-spot ladybird:

Photograph: David Williams

And finally a Kidney-spot ladybird.

Photograph: David Williams

The heat and pizza took its toll and weariness told us that enough was enough and we went home.

My thanks to Denso for allowing us to survey their green space and for providing the much appreciated lunch; to St. Peter's, Edgmond for inviting us to visit their churchyard and to David Williams for allowing me to use his photographs which illuminate this report.

Not quite to plan

Furber's Scrapyard and Moss Lane Flood Fields, Wednesday 17th July 2019

A couple of year's ago Natural England and Shropshire Wildlife Trust were awarded funding to acquire land abutting Whixall Moss to enhance the well-being of the moss. Part of the land acquired was Furber's Scrapyard.

Needless to say on acquisition the scrapyard was full of scrap, mainly from cars. In addition there were the buildings and other objects associated with the business. The first job was to clear it.

Clearance was completed a little while ago and the site now awaits work to make it completely safe to accept all visitors.

We were given permission to visit as long as we were aware that some hazards remain and took care to avoid them.

The other land acquired were areas surrounding the scrap yard and fields opposite on the other side of the Llangollen canal which were going to be the focus of the second part of the day - but more about that later.

The first part of the plan for the day was to park in the Morris' Bridge car park.

But it was full.

Work was being done on the canal and there was a Natural England work party close by. Their vehicles had occupied most of the car park. Other vehicles were on the verge outside the car park.

We managed to get a couple of cars in but the others had to park on the access road to the site. Not ideal, but we were not aware of anyone needing access on the day.

Eventually we were ready to make our way to the scrapyard. This involved passing this sign:

We had been warned … again!

The verge of the access track (designated as a bridleway and public footpath) was lush and encouraged us to take a look at it for things of interest.

We finally made it to our first objective. We were met with a vast expanse of concrete and sparse vegetation where the scrap had been cleared with patches of rough vegetation  surrounded by trees.

Curiously part of the site had been used to dump birch that had, presumably, been cleared from the Moss. I do not know what will happen to this.

Next to the concrete that greeted us was a large patch of rough vegetation and this drew our initial attention.

Sitting on top of a thistle was a factory fresh Small tortoiseshell.

A curiosity was a couple of bulrushes that where growing just off the edge of the immense concrete slab possibly as a result of rain water run-off from the concrete creating a small damp habitat.

An early find that took us a little by surprise in view of the "poor" habitat was a blue bug nymph:

Photograph: David Williams

We later found an adult. Or rather it found us as it landed at my feet just as we were leaving the site.

A couple of moth larvae were found which have been identified by the county moth recorder:

Common marbled carpet:

Photograph: David Williams

And Canary-shouldered thorn.

The vacuum sampler was used often in the morning and was by far the easiest way to seach in this habitat. One of its finds was a Denticulate leatherbug.

Photograph: David Williams

A fairly early lunch was taken before we dispersed to explore the further reaches of the site which had, in the main, been covered in scrap until recently. It was quite remarkable that we found a good number of species but its proximity to Whixall Moss probably helped the invertebrate fauna to move in.

The moss-side edge of the site yielded a couple of dragon- and damsel-flies:

A black darter:

Photograph: David Williams

And an Emerald damselfly.

Photograph: David Williams

Next two grasshoppers for the price of one!

The insect at the top of the photograph is a male Meadow grasshopper; the one at the bottom is a male Common green grasshopper.

The site has a few outcrops of denser vegetation including willow presumably where there was less inhibition from the contents of the yard.

And one mound to remind us of its former use.

In addition to the Small tortoiseshell we saw quite a few butterflies including a beautifully bright yellow Brimstone but one that posed for a photograph was a very well travelled and worn Painted lady.

And for our final insect another curiosity. Cinnabar larva - not on Ragwort which is the normal foodplant but on Colt's-foot.

According to the Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland by Waring and Townsend the larvae of Cinnabar are found mainly on Common Ragwort, other ragworts, groundsels and occasionally on Colt's-foot. Well this was one of those occasions.

Time to move on.

But before we left we had time to admire this piece of art at the second entrance to the site:

Photograph: David Williams

No doubt the artist has prepared a huge script detailing his/her every thought in the process of producing this desirable piece.

Or, perhaps, it was just too difficult to remove it.

The plan was to spend some time in the flood fields either side of Moss Lane on the other side of the Llangollen Canal to the scrapyard.

But they were flooded!!

Another part of the plan for the day had gone awry.

As the amount of water present made access difficult we contented ourselves with a bit of bird-watching before returning to the cars and heading home after another satisfactory if slightly disrupted day.

My thanks to Shropshire Wildlife Trust for giving us permission to do what we enjoy doing and to the photographer David Williams for his excellent pictures.

Sockless in Shropshire

Cunnery Road Cemetery, Church Stretton and St. Margaret's, Acton Scott - Wednesday 10th July 2019

This was our third outing with Caring for Gad's Acre. We visited two sites - the cemetery at the bottom of Cunnery Road just south of the centre of Church Stretton in the morning and the churchyard of St. Margaret's in Acton Scott in the afternoon.

In the morning we were accompanied by a film crew who were preparing a series of videos about the importance of churchyards and we were to help make the one about invertebrates. It was a bit like "Springwatch" as the crew flitted bout the cemetery filming bits of action, both invertebrate and human. 

And, of course, the interviews. 

Fortunately we had a volunteer to be interviewed. Somewhat reluctant, but a volunteer.

Whilst all this was going on we were joined by a group from Shropshire Wild Team who came for a morning of surveying.

The day started well. I was ready without stress early, collected the others on time and after a quiet drive to Church Stretton arrived on site early. It was only when I was getting ready that I realised I had forgotten something - my socks.

It was too far to nip home for a pair. The choice was boots without or the open toed sandals I was wearing. 

Wary of bramble creeping up on me and taking advantage of unprotected toes, my decision was easy. Boots without socks. 

It never occurred to me that I may have been able to buy a pair in Church Stretton. Hindsight, what a wonderful (but useless) thing.

All this writing and no pictures … I had better do something about that.

The cemetery has an information board:

If you click on the image your browser should give you a larger image that you may be able to read

And here is a photograph of a part of the cemetery:

In the main apart from a small patch where the grass had been cut the vegetation had been left to do its own thing. This was good for animals that like tall rough lush vegetation but less attractive to those that prefer sparser vegetation. 

There were plenty of meadow brown butterflies flying about and the film crew spent quite a while trying to film them especially one pair that were full of the joys of spring.

And what did we find?

I am afraid to say that overall it was a bit disappointing. Although there were plenty of invertebrates there was not a great variety of species. However there were some stars - my own interests may have clouded my judgement slightly!

A forget-me-not shieldbug nymph:

Photograph: David Williams

The nymph of a large plathopper, probably Evacanthus acuminatus:

Photograph: David Williams

The star of the day - a Tortoise shieldbug

Photograph: David Williams

This species had a curious distribution with all the early records being found in Wyre Forest. Then, a few years ago, one turned up in Dolgoth Quarry in Llynclys which is in the opposite corner of the county to Wyre. A couple of years ago they were found in Cramer Gutter close to Catherton Common and in Telford. It has now turned up in Church Stretton. Long may this expansion continue.

Look away gardeners, here are sawfly larva on rose doing the sawfly thing of eating whilst holding a picturesque pose.

Finally before we move on one of the "Springwatch" team in interview mode:

We lunched, said goodbye to the Shropshire Wild Team and the film crew and prepared to move on to St. Margaret's in Acton Scott.

As we were all set to go my passenger noticed a large moth on a car parked in front.

"Is that a Scarlet tiger?" he asked.

He got out of the car for a closer look.

It was. What an excellent spot.

Unfortunately it was disturbed and flew off.

Straight into the cemetery … so we recorded it.

On to Acton Scott we went.

This Grade II listed building dates back to the twelfth century with additions in the 14th; parts were rebuilt in the 19th, The porch, in a recent renovation was dated 1722:

The grass in the churchyard had been allowed to grow although it is due to be cut soon. The dominant trees yews, several of great girth.

We set about our "work".

What did we find?

First the same species of butterflies that the film crew had been chasing - Meadow brown:

Photograph: David Williams

And another bordered shieldbug:

Photograph: David Williams

A clump of tiny, recently hatched, Hairy shieldbug nymphs were found on Woundwort:

Photograph: David Williams

A couple of the larger hoverflies were spotted on flowers.

Volucella pellucens:

And with its distinctive pattern on its thorax Myathropa florea.

Photograph: David Williams

The heat and excitement of the day was beginning to take its toll and enthusiasm was flagging and the 1722 porch with its coolness and seats became popular.

But others continued searching and found a Narrow-bordered five spot burnet:

Photograph: David Williams

And a Field Grasshopper

Photograph: David Williams

What a day.

My thanks to Caring for God's Acre for inviting us and making the necessary arrangements. My gratitude also to the photographer, David Williams, for providing me with his excellent images for me to share with you.