The Grand old Duke of York,

Wednesday 17th May 2023, Mossy Oaks

This outing was a little like the nursery rhyme:

The Grand old Duke of York,

He had 10,000 men …

For this outinge there were 12 including the Duke.

Who was the Duke?

You’ll have to guess.

And were they all men?

No!

There were entomologists, arachnologists, lichenologists and probably some other ‘ologists as well. 

We’ll call them ologists for convenience.

Thus …

Somebody impersonating the Grand old Duke of York,

He had 11 ologists,

He marched them up to the top of the hill,

The hill in this instance was the Stiperstones.

We were the guests of Mossy Oaks, a smallholding based in Brooks Vessons Farm, on the lower slopes of the Stiperstones. You can read more about the site by following this link: Mossy Oaks.

Our meeting point was the entrance to Brooks Vessons Farm where there was a considerable amount of building taking place. We parked in what we felt was a safe place to keep out of the way.

The smallholding occupies several fields and we started in the lowest.

The third line of the rhyme needs to be amended.

He herded them up a bit of the hill,

This was a large grassland field with a stream that leads to a pool at the bottom of the hill. Meanders and a second pool had been added to the stream to slow the flow of water. A small collection of saplings was situated on one side of the stream and a mature oak on the other.

A Cream-spot ladybird was eased out of the saplings.

Photograph: David Williams

And large numbers of a couple of insects, usually found in oaks, were spotted in a large nettle patch underneath the oak. The most common were Rhabdomiris striatellus nymphs (which had, presumably, dropped out of the oak).

The other species was Harpocera thoracica, which had wings and may have flown of its own accord to the nettles.

Photograph: David Williams

This distinctive mirid bug has a very short life out of the egg. Blink and you may miss them.

Once hatched the nymphs mature to adults in about two weeks. The adults live for about another two weeks during which they mate and lay their eggs. The rest of the time is spent as eggs. Emergence of the insect seems to coincide with the oak’s leaf burst. 

Another find around this time was a Ringlet butterfly larva.

Photograph: David Williams

Time to move on and upwards.

A new line is needed:

He cajoled them up a bit more of the hill,

We moved into a second field. This was a descending shallow valley between its higher surrounds. The lower areas were quite wet and there were a couple of small pools, but the top of this field was dry.

Part of this field was home to four Saddleback piglets. Here is one of them.

Photograph: David Williams

Their domain was surrounded by an electric fence.

And the fence was on, as confirmed when one of the four piglets became rather too curious (hoping for food?), touched the wire and retreated incredibly rapidly having emitted a loud squeal.

The meadow was also home to a good number of Cuckoo flowers.

Orange-tip butterflies lay their eggs on this plant. Careful inspection underneath the flower buds often reveals a small egg. There is generally only one egg per plant to ensure enough food for the larva and to avoid cannibalism.

I have mentioned food earlier, and yes, it was now time for our lunch.

Lunch over, a further line needs to be included:

He encouraged them to move to the top of the hill,

Refuelled, we continued up the hill, passing a couple tools of the trade parked in the field corner.

We walked along a lane with a clear-felled conifer plantation on one side and a semi-natural and ancient woodland on the other. Although not a part of the site we could not resist.

A longhorn beetle was located. This perplexed us for a while and, on the day, we identified it incorrectly. Fortunately the beetle was photographed before it was released and inspection of these made it possible to arrive at the correct species, Tetropium casteneum.

Photograph: David Williams

As we arrived at the final grassland within the site we noticed a delightful patch of bluebells in the woodland. 

Photograph: David Williams

We pottered around this final grassland for an hour or so, spotting a Brown hare as it traversed the field.

Photograph: David Williams

And just outside the top fence we found an Adder’s-tongue fern, perhaps it will spread into the site.

Photograph: David Williams

Now I can add the last line of the rhyme.

And he marched them down again.

However, it was more a weary walk than a march!

Yes, you are right, we did not get to the top of the hill, we only made it to about half way, but it is a big hill. 

To complete the rhyme:

Somebody impersonating the Grand old Duke of York,

He had 11 ologists,

He herded them up a bit of the hill,

He cajoled them up a bit more of the hill,

He encouraged them to move to about halfway up the hill,

And wearily he walked with them down again.

I do not think it will catch on!

Back at the cars, we were rather concerned that some earth moving was taking place next to the cars.

We watched as the excavator swung round from a dumper truck to a pile of broken concrete, collected a load, swung back to the dumper, deposited the load, then repeated the process. We did not dare to disturb the operator’s concentration! Eventually he stopped, we breathed a collective sigh of relief, got in our cars and went home after another fulfilling day in the field on an interesting site.

Other News

Dancersend

This is a nature reserve in Buckinghamshire. It is mainly woodland surrounding an area of grassland.

Surprisingly, despite the pleasant weather there was very little invertebrate activity. However, as we had a rest before leaving the site we came across someone looking for Fly orchid who was getting very frustrated that he could not find any. 

Fortunately we were able to come to his assistance and helped him find half a dozen or so.

Earlier we had noticed some plants that had been caged for their protection. A representative of the local Wildlife Trust was able to tell us that they were the rare plant, Meadow clary.

Eardington Quarry

The moth group trapped at the quarry recently. Here are some of the moths that came their way:

White ermine;

Photograph: David Williams

Oak hook-tip;

Photograph: David Williams

Lime hawk moth;

Photograph: David Williams

Peppered moth;

Photograph: David Williams

And Pale-shouldered brocade.

Photograph: David Williams

Rodborough Common

A return visit to this site was necessary to sample Winston’s excellent ice cream. But before indulging we walked around, up and down the hilly common. Here are a few of the species we spotted:

Red-headed cardinal beetle;

Brown argus;

Dingy skipper;

Yellow dung-fly;

Small heath;

Angle shades;

And Duke of Burgundy.

Thank you to the owners of Mossy Oaks for giving us permission to enjoy ourselves. We wish them every success in their venture. A relieved thank you to the workmen for missing our cars as they went about their work and finally my gratitude to the photographers for their images to illuminate this tale.

Present

 Wednesday 10th May 2023, The Cockshutt LNR, Telford

The Cockshutt is a large area of woodland, scrub, grassland and heath on what were probably  former mine workings close to Oakengates, Wrockwardine Wood and St Georges. 

We met in the car park at the Oakengates Leisure Centre from where we walked the short distance to the site. 

To get to the site we had to cross a busy road. But the planners of Telford had looked after us by arranging the construction of a footbridge across the road.

As we got to the end of the bridge the site was within touching distance on our left. However there was no entrance! 

A tree on the other side of the fence, which was in the reserve, overhung the path and on its branches dangled Pocket plums, a gall caused by a fungus.

Continuing along the path we came to a narrow stepped path that took us into the reserve. This met a wide path that we then followed to our right.

At this point the sun was shaded out by the trees, but some small patches of the vegetation at the side of the path did catch the sunlight and seemed appreciably warmer. An early find was this Copper underwing larva.

Photograph: David Williams

We chanced upon a small clearing which was a sun-trap. Lots of invertebrates were taking advantage of the clement conditions and we were delighted to see them. 

A pretty micro-moth, Ancylis badiana, was noticed.

Photograph: David Williams

If you are squeamish you may need to skip the next bit.

Unfortunately not all insects can be identified on sight or from photographs. It is occasionally necessary to capture them and, unfortunately, kill them to examine them microscopically. One such victim was this sawfly, Hoplocampa crataegi. They are not thrown away, but retained for future reference.

Photograph: John Martin

The subject of the following photograph is a longhorn beetle, Phytoecia cylindrica, known as the Umbellifer longhorn.

Photograph: David Williams

With reluctance we left this sunny haven behind and continued on our way through the wood. After a while we came to a large expanse of grassland.

Invitingly, there were several picnic tables in place. We took the hint and paused for lunch.

Afterwards the grassland and the surrounding vegetation became the subjects of our attention.

One of the many hawthorns, that were in full flower, yielded another longhorn beetle, Grammoptera ruficornis;

Photograph: David Williams

And a small juvenile Common earwig.

Photograph@ David Williams

Earwigs have several juvenile stages; the one in the photograph is at its second stage, having moulted once since emerging from its egg. It is already fending for itself, much to the springtails dismay.

Our circumnavigation of the wood continued as we left the grassland by a path at the opposite side to the one on which we had entered.

This led to another very wide path and another seat. 

Too many seats …

Too tempting to sit down and slow our progress …

Oh, go on then …

Just a couple of minutes …

We sat down.

Someone found a centipede. It was one that is easily recognised by its annulated legs and other attachments, Lithobius variegatus.

Photograph: David Williams

Moving on I managed to lag behind.

Everyone disappeared to the right. Where were they going?

Catching up I found that they had located another patch of grassland. 

On some vegetation a number of Dock bugs were busy preserving their species.

Photograph: David Williams

We had a fine view of Lilleshall Hill and the monument.

The dark clouds that were gathering in the distance gave us impetus to complete our circuit and return to our cars and homes.

Other news

Callicera rufa

In 2011 I chanced upon this hoverfly species on Little Hill (a smaller neighbour of the Wrekin) which at that time was unknown in England. (It transpired that someone else had found one earlier but had declined to make it public knowledge.) Each year since then I have returned to the site to check if its descendants have survived.

On the hill, I have found it usually in May, in sunny warm conditions, on Scot’s pine. In fact on a single, isolated Scot’s pine in the centre of a small clearing at the summit.

Sunday (14th May) was sunny in the morning but the weather forecast was for the sun to disappear around lunchtime to be replaced by heavy cloud and eventually rain. An early-ish start was needed.

That was a mistake, as when I got to the summit a lot of the tree was in shade. The top of the tree was in sun, but identifying flies at the top of a 30 foot or so tree, even with binoculars, was not within my capabilities.

I waited for the sun to bathe the lower part …

And waited.

I was joined by a longhorn beetle that took a liking to my hat, Rhagium bifasciatum.

The clouds overcame the sun and any brightness disappeared. I went home.

Needless to say no sooner had I got home than the sun came out again. 

But it was lunchtime!

A quick lunch over, with the sun was still shining, I returned to Little Hill.

Nearing the final ascent the sun disappeared! But I pressed on.

There were small breaks in the cloud so, again, I waited.

Eventually the sun appeared, very briefly – but this stimulated no activity on the tree.

I waited and about ten minutes later the sun came out.

AND shortly afterwards a fly appeared on the tree about 12 foot or so from the ground.

Not the best photograph but good enough to identify it as Callicera rufa.

It is still present.

Devil’s Hole, Formby

This is a large crater in the dune system at Formby and is part of the Ravenmeols Hills Nature Reserve. It is believed that it was created by a bomb in the Second World War with subsequent sculpturing by wind erosion.

Tanyptera Trust held a Recorder’s Day at the site and a couple of us joined them.

One of the first insects we encountered was a Northern dune tiger beetle.

Quite a few of these beetles were found as they patrolled the sand looking for prey.

Other insects that posed long enough to be photographed were:

18-spot ladybird;

A pair of planthoppers, Cercopis vulnerata;

A click beetle that decided to fly away rather than “click”, Agrypnus murinus;

And a Cream-streaked ladybird.

Rodborough Common

A jaunt south to the chalk grassland at Rodborough Common close to Stroud was rewarded with the following sightings:

Early purple orchid;

A treehopper, Centrotus cornutus, found in an oak;

A very hairy hoverfly, Criorhina floccosa;

Juniper shieldbug, found in Juniper;

A Dingy skipper butterfly;

And a micro-moth Pyrausta nigrata.

Thank you to Telford and Wrekin Council for giving us permission to enjoy ourselves and to the photographers for their images to illuminate this tale.