Lunch & Study

Wednesday 12th June, Wintles, Bishop's Castle

Wintles is an area of Bishop’s Castle. Its residents collectively own a 13 acre area of woodland, planted about 20 years ago on former pasture, which includes large areas of grassland, an orchard and some allotments.

Slow traffic on the windy road from Melverley towards Bishop’s Castle meant that, although I thought we had allowed enough time for delays, we arrived 5 – 10 minutes late.

Everyone else was there and waiting for us!

If only we had set off 2 minutes earlier, we too would have been on time (possibly).

However, the time waiting for us was not wasted as the group were busying themselves inspecting the rather good verge at the side of the road on the border of the site.

Eventually everyone was ready, and we entered the site, guided by one of the owners.

We set off in bright warm sunshine and this brought out insects which were spotted on the vegetation bordering the path. 

Pausing by some allotments a few of the group went in to look at a recently dug pool which is already home to some water beetles. A few pond skaters posed on the surface.

From the allotments we continued along the path through a small, dark and dingy, vegetated former quarry (known as Spooky Quarry) to emerge at the foot of a mound that has been named The Motte.

Here a handy seat provided a resting spot before the short but steep climb to the top of The Motte.

Once on top there was a splendid view over the surrounding countryside.

As you will see from the photograph above, the sun had disappeared behind the clouds. But this was temporary, and the sun was out again before we left this part of the site.

The top, sides and base of The Motte were thoroughly inspected for invertebrate life. 

Some examples of what we found:

A Gorse shieldbug which was observed on Bramble;

Photograph: David Williams

An earwig nymph, not the usual Common earwig, but the less common Lesne’s earwig;

Photograph: David Williams

And a largish bee-mimicking hoverfly, Volucella bombylans.

Photograph: Nigel Jones

Before moving on lunch was taken.

Photograph: Nigel Jones

As you can see, we were having a nice social break, but one person is leering intently into a tray whilst another is peering through a lens trying to identify the tiny creature that the first person has given him.

The photographer has aptly entitled this as “Lunch and Study”.

The title reminded me, for no particular reason, of the song that was popular when I was very, very young – “Love and Marriage” which went together like a “Horse and Carriage”. I seem to remember it being sung by Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson.

Try as they might I do not think that they could have worked the words “Lunch and Study” into the lyrics!

According to Wikipedia they were our entrants in the Eurovision Song Contest with a song called “Sing Little Birdie”. They were far more successful than most of our entrants as they cane second.

It turns out the song was first performed by Frank Sinatra in 1955.

I digress.

As we prepared to leave the lunch and study spot our fly man returned from a foray rather excited. He thought he had found, Elachiptera brevipennis, a small tiny winged fly that he had yearned to find.

Unfortunately, that species still eludes him as, on closer inspection later in the day, it turned out to be a different species, Stiphrosoma sabulosum. Still, it was a new record for the county.

Photograph: Nigel Jones

Eventually, with some cajoling, we all left our cosy lunch spot and made our way through some plantation woodland to another grassland that surrounded the orchard.

A few ventured into the orchard, which was laid out as a labyrinth, whilst some stayed in the grassland area.

Here we found a small ladybird, Nephus redtenbacheri.

Photograph: David Williams

And it may have been in this area that another fly, Wagneria gagatea, was observed.

Photograph: Nigel Jones

This is a scarce fly but, for some reason, it is not so scarce in Shropshire.

Continuing our journey we made our way to a large meadow. On our way we passed one of the few butterflies that we saw, a Common blue, which was just passing the time of day in the grass.

And then some more shieldbug action as, firstly, a Small grass shieldbug was discovered followed almost immediately by a Tortoise bug.

Here they are, the Small grass shieldbug is on the right.

Photograph: David Williams

In the meadow we came across several nymphal grasshoppers. Here is a 4th instar nymph of a Common green grasshopper.

Photograph: David Williams

And finally, a species that put in appearances throughout the day, a majestic Red kite.

Photograph: David Williams

We had a very enjoyable day in a good site. Rather like the previous week there was a worrying lack of abundance of species, highlighted by the abysmal number of butterflies. Rather like High Leasowes I do not think it reflects the site but is a symptom of a dearth of invertebrates generally.

My thanks to the owners of for granting us permission to enjoy ourselves and to the photographers for providing their excellent images for this report.

Snakefly surprises

Wednesday 5th June 2024, High Leasowes 

High Leasowes is a collection of grasslands lying at the foot of Caer Caradoc and Helmeth Wood, just east of the A49 as it enters Church Stretton from the direction of Shrewsbury. It borders Coppice Leasowes Nature Reserve which is a woodland and grassland.

In 2022 in local residents in association with the Middle Marches Community Land Trust raised £400,000 in just 8 days to purchase this site. Their aim is to “create a patchwork of rich habitats that provides shelter, nesting and feeding opportunities for a great variety of wildlife, where there is space for people to walk and enjoy the area and for the community to participate in its care.” (https://middlemarchescommunitylandtrust.org.uk/high-leasowes/)

We had a magnificent turnout for this event with a couple of new people joining us.

There is a short walk from where we parked to the entrance of the site. The hedgerow accompanying this stroll became the first area to receive our attention.

As we entered the site one of the group was telling us about an encounter with a snakefly in her garden. These are enigmatic insects with an elongate pronotum which, with imagination, give the appearance of a snake. I had seen three of these before in the last 12 years or so. As it happened, I was with a group the previous weekend that found another.

Imagine my surprise and pleasure then when I was shown a snakefly found on the site by one of the attendees. It was identified later, from the photographs taken, as Atlantoraphidia maculicollis.

Photograph: David Williams

What a start to the day!

The site now consists of 4 meadows. There were three but a new hedgerow has been planted to split the largest one into two. 

Here is the first grassland, with Caer Caradoc in the background.

In the corner of this grassland there is an extensive area of scrub.

We spent most of the morning in these areas, where the snakefly was found, then moved on to the second.

In the second meadow a handy bench provided an ideal spot for lunch. The group, which was quite widely spread, somehow sensed the mood and converged on the spot. Who needs a gong or a whistle!?

After lunch we made our way gently around the rest of the site eventually returning the first grassland before making our way home.

It was a day of two halves. The morning was cool and it proved difficult to find species as they stayed sheltered. In the afternoon it was much warmer and there were more invertebrates out and about.

 

However, there was a worrying lack of abundance of a lot of the common species and very few butterflies. I do not think this reflected the quality of the site as I have noticed this lack of abundance on several other sites including some where I have seen good numbers before.

I seem to have reached the end of the report with very few photographs.

Do not fret.

For this report I decided to get the words out of the way first.

Here are the photographs, roughly in the order that they were taken as we progressed.

A robberfly, Leptogaster cylindrica.

Photograph: John Martin

A click beetle, Athous haemorrhoidalis.

Photograph: John Baines

A moth larva, Coleophora discordella, one of a number of species whose larvae wrap themselves in bits of vegetation for protection.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

Cercopis vulnerata. (A personal triumph for me as it is the first of these fairly common and distinctive insects that I have found this year.)

A sawfly that has been identified tentatively as Tenthredo notha.

Photograph: John Bains

A hoverfly, Eristalis pertinax.

Photograph: John Baines

A caddis fly, Limniphilus lunatus, known as a Cinnamon sedge.

Photograph: John Baines

The second meadow. The area towards the top right of the photograph with the large tree is a small quarry.

Another hoverfly, Volucella pellucens.

Photograph: John Baines

A Garden chafer.

Photograph: David Williams

A third hoverfly, Merodon equestris.

Photograph: John Martin

A weevil, Deporaus betulae. This is know as the Birch leaf roller. If you look closely at the photograph you can see the adult insect has started to cut the leaf. This will continue and the cut leaf rolled to form a cone into which an egg is laid.

Photograph: Caroline Uff

A bee, probably Andrena haemorrhoa.

Photograph: John Baines

A Cream-spot ladybird.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

A female Broad-bodied chaser.

Photograph: David Williams

A beetle that was seen throughout the site, Dascillus cervinus, known as the Orchid beetle.

Photograph: John Martin

A micro-moth, Celypha lacunana.

Photograph: John Martin

A couple of Small tortoiseshell larvae.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

By now we had returned to the top of the first grassland. Here it is looking towards Hazler and Ragleth Hills.

A small longhorn beetle, Grammoptera ruficornis.

Photograph: John Martin

A distinctive black and yellow mirid bug with a ludicrously long name, Dryophilocoris flavomaculatus.

A mining bee, Andrena cineraria, Ashy mining bee.

Another star find, a Bilberry bumblebee. This is a worker. Although associated with Bilberry and other plants in upland habitats, they can be found foraging in neighbouring lowland areas.

Photograph: David Williams

A micro-moth, Ptycholoma lecheana.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

And finally, another micro-moth, Elachista albifrontella.

Photograph: Graham Wenman

Despite the low numbers we saw a good range of species over the day.

Other news

A trip to Cranwich Heath in The Brecks near Thetford came across the following species:

A spectacular moth, a Cream-spot tiger;

Photograph: David Williams

Emperor moth larvae;

Photograph: David Williams

A Rhombic leatherbug, a species not yet found in Shropshire;

Photograph: David Williams

A further moth, a Clouded buff;

Photograph: David Williams

A Small blue;

Photograph: David Williams

A female Ant’s nest ladybird, Platynaspis luteorubra;

Photograph: David Williams

A male of the same species;

Photograph: David Williams

And a Black ladybird, Scymnus nigrinus.

Photograph: David Williams

Nearer to home this photographer found a Pale tussock moth in his garden.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Switching to the south-west of the county and beyond this photographer found these:

At the school where he teaches, found in Mistletoe, a colourful mistletoe specialist Pinalitus viscicola;

Photograph: John Lyden

A moth, Anania fuscalis, Cinerous Pearl, in his meadow;

Photograph: John Lyden

And to round this report off nicely, ANOTHER SNAKEFLY!!!, the same species as the one mentioned earlier, Atlantoraphidia maculicollis, in his garden.

Photograph: John Lyden

My thanks to the High Leasowes Management Committee for granting us permission to enjoy ourselves and to the photographers for providing their excellent images for this report.