Lunch

Wednesday 22th June 2022, Treflach Farm

Our first outing of Summer was accompanied by extremely hot dry weather. Contrary to most of our outings this year there was not a drop of rain. However, by the end of the day, the relentless heat made me long for a short burst of cooling water from the sky! Are we never satisfied?

The visit took us to Treflach Farm. The farm is nestled in the hills above Llynclys quarry, and the Shropshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Sweeney Fen shares a part of its eastern flank.

We were greeted by the owner of the farm who provided us with information about the farm, how it had developed over the four generations of his family who had owned it, and his own philosophy of how it is now managed. More information about the farm can be found on their website: https://treflachfarm.co.uk/

An offer of lunch was made and accepted. A time was agreed and off we set.

The farm covers a large area but on the day we only managed to look at a small part of it. Most of the area that we spent our day in can be seen in the following photograph.

Photograph: David Williams

(A reminder, if you need one, that selecting the photograph should open it in another window.)

As well as large expanses of meadows the farm includes a couple of gardens which are used for growing fruit and vegetables. A hint of one of the gardens can be seen in this photograph.

As you can tell from where the panorama was taken the only way is down, so down we went.

But not all.

Some seemed strangely addicted to the “high ground” and spent a lot of time searching that area.

Lots of Lucerne fleas had made their home amongst the clovers. These are not really fleas in the common understanding of fleas but tiny pale yellow/green springtails. Their scientific name is Sminthurus viridis. I must admit that Lucerne flea is easier to remember!

Photograph: David Williams

Staying with the tiny theme, here are a couple of minute snails that will only be found by dedicated searching of the vegetation.

The first has a wonderful common name, the Eccentric grass snail.

Photograph: Mags Cousins

I am not sure what makes it eccentric but it could be its scientific name which has expanded somewhat from the normal two word format to "Vallonia cf. excentrica sensu Anderson 2008"! I am sure it will be shortened when dropped into a conversation. 

However, according to the NatureSpot website NatureSpot - Eccentric grass snail eccentric refers to the shape of its shell and umbilicus (the hole within the shell).

The second snail is the Blind snail, Ceciloides acicula.

Photograph: Mags Cousins

Another observation that was made as the result of detailed hand searching was the larva of a weevil encased in a lattice like structure.

Photograph: Mags Cousins

Very brief research on the internet has drawn a blank on the purpose of the lattice, but my assumption is that it is a defence mechanism in a similar way that “cuckoo-spit” is for some larvae of planthoppers.

A few members of the group had made it to the pool at the bottom of the site. Here, within the vegetation that surrounded the pool we found one of the larger inconspicuous ladybirds Coccidula rufa.

Photograph: David Williams

It was quickly discovered that the vegetation around the pool was home to lots and lots of toadlets, so you had to be very careful where you put your feet!

I lagged a long way behind the advance party and by the time I had made it to the pool it was time for lunch.

Normally I would declare where I was as the site for lunch, but on this occasion lunch was in a building by the car park! So up the hill we stomped, meeting others on the way who had already decided it was time for a rest.

For lunch we were given baked potatoes, a selection of pies (what a shame our pie aficionado was unable to join us for the day), salad and various drinks. All of the food and drinks had been grown, collected or produced on the farm. 

An excellent lunch.

Anything after that was going to be an anti-climax!

Lunch over it took a great effort to tear ourselves away and carry on our survey. 

We returned down the hill, perhaps a little more wary of the effort that would be required later to get back up.

Passing a larch on the way we paused to see what creatures it held. One of the insects found was the larva of a Larch ladybird.

Photograph: David Williams

Down we went.

Eventually reaching the pool.

Some time was spent investigating the vegetation of the wet meadow that surrounded the pool before the heat and passage of time drew the day to a close.

Returning to the cars we found an animal for which, unfortunately, life had reached its inevitable end. A shrew, probably a Pigmy shrew, based on the length of its tail.

Photograph: Mags Cousins

Despite this we had an excellent day on an excellent site.

My thanks to the owner of Treflach Farm for giving us permission to do what we enjoy doing and sustaining us so well during a very hot day. As always my appreciation to the photographers for providing their excellent images.

Shock! County bug recorder finds a bug

Wednesday 15th June 2022, Pennerley Meadows

This was the bug.

A Gorse shieldbug amongst the seedheads of a Gorse bush.

Nothing special you may think. Photographs of this species have appeared periodically in these reports.

Why the reaction?

Over the years, especially since I became the shieldbug recorder, I have gained a reputation for not being able to find Gorse shieldbugs when everyone else around me is finding them by the bucketful. As a result whenever I do find one the event is treated like England winning the Ashes or not finishing last in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Right, now that I have got that out of the way, I can concentrate on the day’s main activities.

We were invited by the owner of Pennerley House to take at look at his meadows. This was followed by a visit to two of the SSSI meadows in Pennerley maintained by Natural England.

Arriving at Pennerley House we were met by about a dozen members of the Marches Meadows Group who had come to watch us in action and learn a little bit about the invertebrates that inhabit the meadows and their marginal vegetation.

There are two meadows at Pennerley House. The first has been established for the longest time.

The second, separated from the first by a stream, was created more recently.

In view of the cumulative size of the group, we split up into small groups and set about exploring the meadows, attempting to do as little damage to the meadows as possible. Thankfully paths had been cut around the edges of the two meadows making access easier.

With a mixture of our main techniques we attempted to demonstrate both the art of collecting invertebrates and the science of identifying them. Vacuum sampling from the meadows, beating the trees that bordered them and sweeping the longer vegetation that lay between the paths and the stream.

Just about everything that my group found was tiny! This was very frustrating as it was difficult to keep everyone’s interest high when just pointing to a series of small objects moving about a tray that could not really be seen in any detail without a magnifying lens.

Fortunately others were more successful in their searches and found some larger insects. They brought these over to show. We were also able to observe Chimney sweeper moths darting hither and thither over the meadow.

The sharing of information was not all one way as a couple of the meadow group pointed out a Greater butterfly orchid to me. (I would not have spotted it without their help.)

As morning turned into afternoon we left the meadows and made our way along a green lane to the SSSI meadows that we had been given permission to visit.

Arriving at the site we assembled at the gate. Then something caught our eyes from the other side of the lane. A large object was peering over a gate at us.

I believe this was a Rhea.

Having said “hello” to it I retreated rapidly when it turned towards me and looked as though it might give me a mighty peck.

We filed through the gate into the first of the SSSI meadows and settled down for lunch. Looking at the view we tried to work out what the hills were in the near and far distance.

We were not very successful!

By now the sun had all but disappeared behind cloud. It stayed that way for the rest of the day, reversing the usual pattern of weather we have experienced on our outings this year.

Lunch over we started to survey the first meadow. 

Obviously a group of people walking here there and everywhere in a meadow is going to cause a great deal of damage. To minimise this we kept to the edge and restricted our physical searches to the marginal vegetation and hedges.

Having been shown Greater butterfly orchids in the first meadow I started to notice them in this meadow.

They seemed to be quite common here, as were other orchids which went unidentified by me.

Moving into the second meadow I paused to appreciate the site and take in the view.

Wonderful.

What a shame such places are a rarity in our countryside today and those that still exist seem to be forever under threat of "improvement". We are very thankful to the individuals and organisations who do maintain the meadows they own.

We made our way back to the cars and then home.

Before you ask, I have not forgotten that these reports, to make them more interesting, are generally stuffed with photographs of what we found.

 
My camera set up is not good enough to take photographs of anything smaller than a shieldbug (hence the Gorse shieldbug at the start) so I am dependent on others providing images for me to use.

Unfortunately for this outing all the usual photographers were unavailable.

However, one of the group has come to my rescue. He has supplied the following photographs of insects that he took during the day. I am very grateful to him!

A hoverfly, Volucella bombylans;

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

A pair of weevils busy generating the next generation. I am informed they are probably either Phyllobius roboretanus or virideaeris;

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

A grassland micro-moth, Crambus lathoniellus;

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

And another hoverfly, Volucella pellucens.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

As we made our way back along the lane to the start we passed this Nettle rust which my camera just about coped with.

My thanks to the owner of Pennerley House for giving us permission to do what we enjoy doing and arrange our access to the SSSI meadows with Natural England. My appreciation to the photographer for providing his excellent images.

A very unwelcome predator

Wednesday 8th June 2022, Venus Pool

The pool at Venus Pool, a bird reserve owned by the Shropshire Ornithological Society, is not the largest part of the site. It is surrounded by large meadows and a large arable field that is used to grow feed for overwintering birds.

We had been invited to visit the reserve to see what we could find, other than birds, making use of the meadows.

For some reason I was late getting to the meeting point in the car park. When I arrived I was told that the keyholder had forgotten the most important piece of equipment, the key to the gate to the meadow off the car park.

Rather than put life and limb at risk by climbing over the gate he offered to return home to retrieve the missing item.

Off he went.

What did the rest off us do?

Some of us were still getting ready following our tardy arrival …

Others milled around the car park …

The rest wandered off into the arable field.

One of these groups located a pair of 22-spot ladybirds enjoying the fine weather.

Photograph: David Williams

And another photographed an immature male Common blue damselfly

Photograph: Jim Almond

Later the same person found a female of the same species.

Photograph: Jim Almond

It was not by design that I was still in the car park when the key arrived, but I was.

The gate was opened to give us access to the meadow.

Now we had to round up those who had escaped from the car park. This achieved, we moved into the meadow to start doing what we enjoy doing – observing, sweeping, beating and vacuum sampling.

An early find was a rather striking moth larva, Helcystogramma rufescens.

Photograph: David Williams

Together with a male and female soldier fly Chloromyia formosa which has been granted the rather unflattering name Broad centurion.

The female;

Photograph: Jim Almond

And the male.

Photograph: Jim Almond

Various trees and bushes grew along the edge of the meadow including Sweet briar.

Buttercups were very common in this meadow and many held at least one insect in their flower. This one was occupied by a Swollen-thighed beetle, Oedemera nobilis.

Photograph: Jim Almond

A couple more dragon and damselflies were photographed:

An immature male Black-tailed skimmer;

Photograph: Jim Almond

And a Blue-tailed damselfly.

Photograph: Jim Almond

We drifted into the second meadow.

And immediately settled down for lunch.

This gathering of people attracted the attention of a cleg, probably Haematopota pluvialis, which is another candidate for the title of the “best eyes” contest.

Photograph: David Williams

Mind you, you tend not to notice the eyes when it starts to burrow into you to feed on your blood!

There was plenty of Salix in this area and inspection of these revealed the shiny beetle Crepidodera aurata, known as the Willow flea beetle.

Photograph: David Williams

In the taller vegetation close to the Salix we found plenty of Ragged robin in flower.

And this group of very sturdy orchids, the variety is unknown to me.

The weevil, Thryogenes nereis, was found (but not photographed) amongst some rushes.

Photograph: Emm Cane-Honeysett

On the other side of the meadow, away from this taller vegetation area, in the hedgerow that separated the meadow from the lane that leads to the car park, there was a large Ash. Resting within its foliage was a Clouded silver moth.

Now seems a good time to include photographs of four other moths that put in an appearance during the day:

A Burnet companion;

Photograph: Jim Almond

A Silver Y;

Photograph: Jim Almond

A Clouded border;

Photograph: Jim Almond

And a longhorn moth, Nemophora degeerella.

Photograph: Jim Almond

Wandering along the hedgerow we intercepted an animal that is definitely an unwelcome guest on a reserve for birds:

A CAT!

Thankfully it was not a big cat whose possible presence is periodically reported in the press.

Photograph: Neil Nash

This one looks as though it would not hurt a fly but it may grow up with a taste for the local fare.

A diversion for one of the group took him off to search some oaks elsewhere on the site to look for a particular ladybird. Some time later he returned flushed with success.

Photograph: David Williams

This is Scymnus auritus, one of the group of ladybirds known as “inconspicuous” ladybirds. Many of us are familiar with the large boldly patterned members of the ladybird family, such as 7-spot and, as in the first photograph, 22-spot, but there are quite a number of generally smaller and less noticeable members of which the above is one.

Another member of the “inconsipuous” group was found later in a Scot’s pine, Scymnus suturalis.

Photograph: David Williams

By mid-afternoon we progressed into the third and by far the largest meadow.

By now, unfortunately, we were tending to find the same beasts that we had earlier in the day. A desire to sit down, relax and enjoy the ambiance of the site spread amongst us.

However, we were able to find a couple of beetles to add to our species list for the day.

Sphaeroderma testaceum;

Photograph: David Williams

And, from oak, this beetle with the most amazing antennae, Ptilinus pectinicornis.

Photograph: David Williams

Walking to the highest point of the meadow we were presented with an excellent view over the pool (but far too distant to determine what birds may be on it).

Weary after an excellent day we made our way back to the cars and to our homes.

This week's Wednesday Weevil of the Week is Sitona waterhousei, whose bulgy eyes are such a striking feature that it  makes it easy to distinguish from similar species.

Photograph: Emm Cane-Honeysett

My thanks to the Shropshire Ornithological Society for giving us permission to do what we enjoy doing and access to parts of the reserve not generally open to the public. My gratitude to the photographers for providing their wonderful images.