Green lung

Wednesday 9th August 2023, Lion Coppice, Shrewsbury

I received a request to visit this site a few weeks ago but as we had no free dates until November, I had let the owner know that the earliest we could visit would be in 2024.

Fate then played its hand.

Our planned visit for this Wednesday fell foul of planned road closures. As this would result in a long detour on tortuous narrow roads the trip was cancelled.

Thus, a few days after letting the owner of Lion Coppice know that it would be about a year before we could visit, I wrote to him for permission to visit the following week!

Fortunately, he was able to host us.

Lion Coppice is a small woodland surrounded on three sides by housing in the Battlefield area of Shrewsbury. 

The fourth side, which was a narrow triangle of grassland and scrub separating it from the A49, is now an ALDI supermarket. As a result, the woodland is now, in effect, an island.

It was described as a “green lung” by one of the group.

Unfortunately, I was absent through a leg injury sustained when I did this.

Photograph: Dawn Filtness

It was not the leg that went through that was giving me trouble but the one I landed on in the loft.

For those of you who are concerned…

The hole has been repaired, plastered, painted and the smoke alarm fixed.

The group found that the wood did not seem particularly old, no large trees were observed. It was a mix of mainly oak and birch, with an understory of hazel, honeysuckle and holly. There were a few glades with bracken and bramble; a pond, but this was overshadowed by the trees; and some standing and fallen deadwood.

I have received lots of photographs of the day but very little about the action. As a result, the rest of this report is a photo-diary of the day (which also included looking around the owner’s garden and orchard).

An Ivy ladybird, Nephus quadrimaculatus (it is normally found on ivy);

Photograph: David Williams

A collection of nymphs of Sloe (or Hairy) shieldbugs; 

Photograph: David Williams

And here is what they will grow into:

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A nymph of a Crucifer shieldbug;

Photograph: Neil Nash

A rhopalid bug, Corizus hyoscami;

Photograph: John Lyden

A hoverfly, Chrysotoxum bicincta;

Photograph: John Lyden

An Oak bush cricket;

Photograph: David Williams

A Birch shieldbug nymph together with an adult Forest bug (also known as a Red-legged shieldbug);

Photograph: David Williams

A micro-moth, Blastobasis adustella;

Photograph: John Lyden

A ground beetle, Pterostichus madidus;

Photograph: Mags Cousins

A 10-spot ladybird;

Photograph: David Williams

Several egg-sacs of a spider, Paidiscura pallens;

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A nymph of a Hawthorn shieldbug;

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A fungus with a rather sinister name, Dead man’s fingers;

Photograph: Neil Nash

A hoverfly, Volucella inanis;

Photograph: John Martin

A gall on fern caused by a larva of the fly, Chirosia betuleti;

Photograph: John Lyden

An Amethyst deceiver fungus;

Photograph: Mags Cousins

A gall caused by a mite, Cecidophyes nudus, on Wood avens, which is probably the first time this gall has been recorded in the county;

Photograph: John Lyden

A female Speckled bush cricket with a rather impressive ovipositor;

Photograph: David Williams

A beetle, Anisotoma humeralis;

Photograph: David Williams

A Copper underwing moth;

Photograph: Neil Nash

A larva of a Small ranunculus moth;

Photograph: John Martin

A blue discus fungus; I am not sure what the species is;

Photograph: John Martin

A Speckled wood butterfly;

Photograph: John Martin

And finally, a hoverfly, Helophilus pendulus.

Photograph: John Martin

I hope these photographs manage to give you a feeling for what happened during this visit.

Thank you to the owner of Lion Coppice for allowing us to enjoy ourselves, and to the photographers whose excellent images illuminate this tale.