Bits and Pieces 2

Monday, 24th August 2020

At the end of my last report I related the tale of the domestic problems of a swan family. On the same day our spider-man found that he had unexpectedly hired a new company, Earwig Ltd., to take care of his home security.

Photographs: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Less concerned with security was a Forest bug which was sunning itself on the vegetation in his garden

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Towards the end of July a visit to Granville Country Park yielded several dragonfly sightings. Among those that posed long enough in their frenzied activities were an Emperor dragonfly which was distracted from the perils of the camera whilst ovipositing:

Photograph: Peter Hodgkison

A Migrant hawker passing the time of day just hanging about on a branch:

Photograph: Peter Hodgkison

And a couple of Common darters pausing in their continuous search for food and mates.

Photographs: Peter Hodgkison

Another Forest bug put in an appearance, this time, drawn by the bright lights, not of Hollywood, but by a moth trap in Dothill.

Photograph: Neil Nash

And so, in this strange year, July came to an end and August entered in a blaze of hot sunshine. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you do not like the heat) this spell of weather was short lived to be replaced by frequent often heavy showers, occasional gales and generally much cooler temperatures. My brief spell of single layer of clothing entomology was soon replaced with three of four layers!

In a garden in Edgmond a rather elaborate and colourful caterpillar was spotted. An Alder moth larva.

Photograph: Jim Shaw

Around the same time the photographer "snapped" a couple of flies. The first, probably a mosquito or something similar, has wonderful feathery antennae:

Photograph: Jim Shaw

The second is a picture wing fly, Paloptera muliebris

Photograph: Jim Shaw

If you see this fly at the correct angle you can see, if you are of a certain age and television viewing habits, it has acquired a nickname of the "Dame Edna fly".

Photograph: Jim Shaw

I have used the term "nickname" above as I have no idea if it is the fly's "official" common name, but there again is any common name official, surely they arise through common usage rather than designation. I feel a rant coming along, so I will chill out with this lovely moth, also from Edgmond, a Black arches.

Photograph: Jim Shaw

On the first Wednesday of August a few people went to Titterstone Clee. I was unable to join them as I was away, but I am told it was very windy on the exposed hill and even windy within the "shelter" of the disused quarry. A very surprising find was a very worn Dark-green fritillary.

Photograph: David Williams

I thought that this would have been a very rare find but checking the records on the SEDN database I found that there were quite a large number of records of this butterfly.

Another find on the day was the spider Asagena phalerata, which is a close relative of the infamous and unfairly persecuted Noble false widow spider.

Photograph: David Williams

On the Friday I joined a Tanyptera Trust Recording Day at the Altcar Training Camp near Formby. 

The Tanyptera Trust project is based at Liverpool Museum and is a similar in scope to the BioLinks project in encouraging biological recording through training and recording days.

Following the gradual easing of the COVID regulations they decided they were  able to restart their recording days using policies and practices that allowed visits to take place whilst respecting the guidelines.

Essentially a maximum of 12 recorders could attend, including the project team. The attendees were split into two groups of six. each of the groups operated in different parts of the site and the two groups did not mix socially during the day.

To be perfectly frank all these precautions seemed unnecessary as once we started recording we rarely came into contact with anyone else!

I am now considering whether we can adopt a similar strategy to allow Joy of Wildlife visits to restart. There seems to be no reason why we could not adopt the same approach. However, my main reservation is that we are a far more sociable group than the Tanyptera recorders and introducing the social distancing rules and the maximum groups of six will cause much of the fun we have to be lost. But, perhaps, some form of recorder gathering is better than none.

Back to the visit.

Altcar is a Ministry of Defence establishment that is set amongst the sand dunes to the south of Formby. As such it is an good site for dune specialists, having little disturbance. I had a very successful day , finding several insects that we do not normally find in Shropshire, However I was very lax in my photographic duties and took only one photograph. It was of a pug moth. But, unusually for a pug, one that is easy to identify - a Lime-speck pug.

I think that is enough of my ramblings for this report. I will continue with this miscellany at a later date.

Keep well.

Bits and Pieces Part 1

Wednesday, 19th August 2020

It has been a while since I put fingers to keypad and produced one of these reports. Have my creative juices dried up? 

To some extent I suppose they have as there have been no Joy of Wildlife outings, which generally form the substance of these reports, to write about. 

There has, however, been the odd trip here and there that I can report upon, hence the title of this piece. 

In addition I have been sent lost of photographs of interesting animals that have been found in people's gardens or on their own rambles around the countryside.

In early July, on a visit to Bury Ditches, our lichenologist (amongst many other specialities and general knowledge of entomology) spotted this lichen:

Photograph: Bob Kemp

According to Bob "Usnea articulata is arguably one of our largest lichens, growing to over 1m in length. Often draped over twigs, branches and occasionally sand dune grasses, this species is local in Devon and Cornwall but rare elsewhere. It extends into Wales, most frequent in Pembrokeshire, and scattered elsewhere; extending its range slowly it seems. It is VERY sensitive to SO2.

"It was great to discover this in Shropshire but it isn’t the first record. Historical records are limited to two from the 1600’s, one of which was from Walcot Park.

"The photo shows the constricted, thickened, branches  “sausages” but it is only about 20cm long. There may be more about, particularly in SW Shropshire."

On a walk besides the River Severn beyond the former power station at Buildwas, Peter Hodgkison was able to photograph a damselfly with expanded tibiae that are mainly coloured white leading to its common name White-legged damselfly.

Photograph: Peter Hodgkison

On the same outing he also photographed a female demoiselle. Unfortunately the female's wing pattern does not follow the males and we think this is a Banded demoiselle. I am sure someone will tell me if this identification is wrong.

Photograph: Peter Hodgkison

Surveying his garden our lichenologist now turned 'shroomer and photographed this Chicken of  the woods fungus fruiting on a willow.

Photograph: Bob Kemp

How has it acquired the name? According to Wikipedia it is edible and resembles chicken in taste, sometimes being used as a chicken substitute in vegetarian dishes. But BEWARE! It can cause a reaction in some when eaten.

On the same day our shieldbug devotee and extraordinary finder and identifier of the early stages of these insects found her first Eurydema oleracea nymph in Shropshire.

Photograph: Maria Justamond

As all previous finds of this shieldbug within Shropshire have been adults, this nymph confirms that it is breeding within the county.

Whilst Peter and Maria were photographing their finds I was invited with our Arachnologist to survey a private garden on the slopes of the Onny Valley. As this is an area where little recording has been done it provided an excellent opportunity to boost the records. The garden included large areas of unimproved grassland which was the focus of our attention.

In the course of our meanderings we came across a field grasshopper that preferred to pose on the tube of the vacuum sampler rather than suffer the indignity of being sucked up into it!

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Not quite so alert to the power of suction was this pre-pupal peacock butterfly caterpillar. It appeared to be unharmed.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

As I was passing the more formal garden I noticed this rather large sawfly sunning itself on a bush. The closest match I could find in the key was the species Zaraea fasciata.

A couple of day's later our arachnologist's daughter spotted this monster on a bush outside their front door. An Elephant hawk moth caterpillar.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Two days later still he ventured out beyond his garden to Prees Heath where he was able to photograph a selection of shieldbugs, moths and butterflies. Here they are:

A gatekeeper

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Spiked shieldbug sizing up someone's finger to decide if it would make a tasty meal.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Gorse shieldbug nymph

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Six-spot burnet

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

One of the Skippers

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And a Small tortoiseshell caterpillar.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

In the meantime Neil was scouring the countryside around Dothill and amongst the things he found was a Birch shieldbug nymph.

Photograph: Neil Nash

On 29th July three of us visited the Mor Brook Area Nature Reserve which is in Underton close to Pam's Pools. It is a former sand quarry that has been restored.

On arrival we were informed that a swan which had been taken to Cuan Wildlife Rescue was to be released and reunited with its family. It had been taken to Cuan as it was seen wandering aimlessly about even though she and her mate had a family of nine cygnets to support!

Whilst she was away her mate had done a sterling job looking after the offspring.

Cuan had now declared the swan to be fit enough to return and it duly arrived in an IKEA blue bag in the back of a car. It was carried to the pool in the bag then released.

Unfortunately a big happy reunion did not occur. 

The family gathered close to the edge of the pool where she stood but she was not enticed in.

After a while she wandered off.

Eventually she entered the pool away from the family. But as soon as the male saw her, he summarily chased her away. She was last seen disappearing into the undergrowth at speed.

Having witnessed this strange turn of events we got on with some entomology.

An early unexpected find was a Stictopleurus abutilon, only the second time, to my knowledge, that it has been recorded in the county.

Photograph: David Williams

There was no sign of the swan as we wandered about but the family was happily enjoying the peace and quiet of the pool. 

In the grassland at the side of the pool we found some White melilot (I think) on which the bee, Melitta leporina was photographed.

Photograph: David Williams

Moving on we came to field that had an embankment. The embankment and edge of the path was luxuriously vegetated and on this we found a Bee wolf.

Photograph: David Williams

It was not spooked by our presence. When it did fly off it returned a few moments later to the same spot or nearby. This allowed plenty of time for it to be photographed, so here is another photograph of the wasp.

Photograph: David Williams

Descending the embankment we found ourselves in a damp grassland. A general sweep of this area and the base of the embankment revealed a second, second for the county - Ceraleptus lividus, which is adorned with the common name Slender-horned leatherbug.

Photograph: David Williams

This bug was found a few years ago at Dudmaston in sandy grassland where the grass was kept short by rabbits. At Mor Brook it was found in much lusher vegetation. The insect is normally found dry open habitats such as grasslands, sand dunes and gravel pits. As this was a formed sand quarry then it is possible that it has been an undiscovered resident here for a while. It remains to be seen if it survives the changes that have and continue to take place on the site.

I think that is enough for this report. I will continue with more bits and pieces when the weather dictates.

Ah! But what happened to the swan? Was it seen again?

Yes we did see it again and we assisted her in her rehabilitation.

We came across her on a section of path that is fenced on both sides with a gate at the end. We carefully skirted around her, taking care not to cause too much distress, then after a few more yards, passed through the gate, closing it behind us.

The swan ambled on after us and up to the gate where she stayed. After a while we wondered if she wanted to pass through the gate. 

We opened the gate and through she came. 

After a while she headed through the tall vegetation at the edge of a pool into the water.

As we were leaving we observed her washing and seemingly content on this stretch of water. We do not know if a reconciliation with her family took place subsequently.

Keep well.