Manoeuvres

Wednesday 18th September, Nesscliff Training Area

This outing was to the Ministry of Defence site close to Nesscliffe. For some reason the MOD have dropped the “e” and the site is signposted as Nesscliff Training Area.

Following a Dipterists' Forum meeting that visited the MOD area on Salisbury Plain our fly man was able to establish a contact with the MOD. He used this to gain access to the Nesscliff site. However, it took a great deal of effort accompanied by lots of frustration to get us in, but it came to fruition on this Wednesday as we met at the gates to the site.

The first thing we did on arrival is get back in the cars and leave.

We drove to another entrance where we made our way towards the area of the site we wanted to visit.

After driving along the track for a while we parked by a disused building.

But this was not our destination.

Arranging ourselves into as few cars as possible we proceeded to our final parking spot.

This series of manoeuvres was repeated in reverse at the end of our visit, apart from returning to the site entrance gates. We went straight home instead.

We started in in an area of grassland close to where we parked. Nearby was a Helicopter landing spot. Overhead, not too far away, was a helicopter. We assumed it was coming in to land, but it did not. It just flew around the site for what seemed like the rest of the morning.

When this area had been scouted out prior to our visit it was uncut grassland. 

It was uncut no longer!

However, a small island of long grass with a few trees and bushes had been retained, and this was the target of our initial searches.

After a while we moved on, following a track that would take us to our second target site, a large area of wet grassland. The track was bordered by a decent hedgerow, some mature trees and a few grassland clearings.

The track then crossed a field in which some cattle were grazing. We moved fairly swiftly across this field to an area of woodland where we had our lunch.

Lunch over we explored the woodland before ambling on the large area of wet grassland, where we spent most of the afternoon.

The vegetation was quite tall and difficult to walk through but, fortunately, cattle had roamed the area before us which had created some tracks that we could follow more easily.

This grassland was surrounded on two sides by woodland and on the others by hedgerow. 

After a good search of the grassland to see what we could find we concentrated on the woodland and hedgerows, before reassembling close to the track that had brought us to this part of the site.

A decision had to be made.

Return the shorter way, retracing our steps, or take a longer route.

Never ones for backing down from a challenge, we took the longer route, keeping an eye out for species of interest as we progressed.

Eventually we returned to the cars and undertook our reverse set of manoeuvres.

What a lot of words…

And no pictures to brighten up the text.

For this report I decided to tell the tale of the day and then present the pictures of some of the things we found.

Here they are.

But first, although the habitats were not particularly inspiring we did manage to find three species that had never been recorded in the county before.

A frit fly, Lasiochaeta pubescens. I do not have a photograph of the fly we found but a photograph of one can be seen by following this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sjthomasbotany4/53203169533/in/pool-chloropidaeuk

A Sepsid fly, Themira leachii.

Photograph: Nigel Jones

And a wasp, Eupelmus vesicoloris.

Photograph: Nigel Jones

One of the first observations was two species. A 7-spot ladybird with a cocoon of the parasitic wasp Dinocampus coccinellinae between its legs.

Photograph: Maria Justamond

I am afraid this is an example of a rather gruesome relationship. An adult wasp seeks out a ladybird. It oviposits an egg into the ladybird. The egg hatches within the ladybird’s body and develops within the live insect. The final instar of the wasp emerges from the ladybird’s abdomen. It then spins a silken cocoon between the ladybird’s legs and pupates. The ladybird is trapped and usually dies of starvation as a result.

Back to the photographs!

A Ruby tiger moth larva.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A weevil, we believe to be a Sitona species but do not know which one.

Photograph: John Martin

A fly with distinctive orange patches at the base of its wings, often seen basking on sunlit vegetation, Mesembrina meridiana.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A pair of Ivy ladybirds.

Photograph: Maria Justamond

The nymph of our largest planthopper, Ledra aurita.

Photograph: Maria Justamond

A leaf beetle, Galerucella lineola.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Field grasshopper.

Photograph: David Williams

Another beetle, this time a rove beetle, Micropeplus staphylinoides.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A small ladybird, Rhyzobius litura.

Photograph: David Williams

A carrion beetle, Phosphuga atrata.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A longhorn beetle, Pogonocherus hispidus.

Photograph: David Williams

A harvestman, Paroligolophus agrestis.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A very large moth larva, an Elephant hawk-moth.

Photograph: David Williams

Another leaf beetle, Chrysolina banksii.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

An Angle shades moth.

Photograph: Maria Justamond

A mirid bug, usually found on alders, hawthorns and birches, Pantilius tunicatus.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A sawfly larva that has yet to be identified.

Photograph: John Martin

A Common rough woodlouse.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A bee, a recent colonist of this region, which feeds at Ivy flowers, Colletes hederae.

Photograph: John Martin

A ground bug that is associated with nettles, Heterogaster urticae.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A weevil with very long and fine rostrum, Curculio glandum.

 

Photograph: David Williams

A fairly common beetle, but it could be either Oulema melanopsis or Oulema duftschmidi. The two species are indistinguishable based on external features so they are combined for our purposes and called Oulema melanopsis agg.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Another harvestman, Opilio canestrini.

Photograph: John Martin

A 22-spot ladybird

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Common darter.

Photograph: John Martin

A fairly distinctive spider Diaea dorsata.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

For some relief from all these invertebrates, a plant, Marsh cinquefoil, which likes wet, boggy places, fens and peaty meadows.

Photograph: John Martin

A collection of ladybirds. In size order, a 14-spot, a 16-apot and Rhyzobius litura.

Photograph: Maria Justamond

And finally, has anyone any idea what this is?

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Fordhall Farm Postcript

I have a confession to make. 

I was sent the following photographs before I prepared the report on this visit. Regrettably I forgot all about them and did not include them.

So, with apologies to the photographer, here they are.

Our favourite parasitic wasp, the tiny Callitula pyrrhogaster.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A pair of woodlice; the first is a Common striped woodlouse.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

The second a Common shiny woodlouse.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A hoverfly, Rhingia campestris.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A staphylinid beetle, Metopsia clypeata.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A moth, Argyresthia goedartella.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Garden spider.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

An adult of the mirid bug mentioned in the report, Pantilius tunicatus.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A wasp, no idea what it is, but it is a wonderful metallic colour.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

An ichneumon wasp which may be Ichneumon sarcitorius.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A female Rhinoceros beetle.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And, finally,  a leaf beetle that is uncommon in the county of Shropshire, Plagiodera versicolora.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

My thanks to the Ministry of Defence for granting us permission to do what we enjoy doing. My admiration and appreciation to the photographers for their excellent images and allowing me to use them in this report.

It's sunny in Horsehay

Wednesday 18th September 2024

The day before our visit to Fordhall Farm I received several messages full of doom and gloom about the following day's weather forecast. A check of the Met Office website confirmed that the pessimism was well founded with a predicted 80-95% chance of rain throughout the day.

It was only a forecast so I decided not to cancel but wait and see what the morning brought before making a final decision. 

The early morning of the outing was greeted by cloudless blue skies!!

However, the weather forecast was unmoved, still predicting 80-95% chance of rain.

The sun was beating down ... how could I cancel the trip?

As we set off on our journey to the site there was still not a cloud in sight and the sky was a radiant blue.

After a few miles we saw our first clouds.

As we approached Hodnet the rain clouds were gathering.

As we travelled along the Hodnet by-pass, it started to rain.

And as we parked the car at Fordhall Farm it was raining heavily.

Should we get out ... or stay in the car?

After a few minutes thought we got out ...

And made a dash to the café.

As we sipped our teas and coffees, resisting the temptation of the fried bacon smells emanating from the kitchen, we discussed, amongst other things, what we should do.

Weather apps on mobile phones were consulted. 

A pause in the rain was approaching.

How long was the pause?

About 10 minutes.

But there were more pauses expected later.

Oh, and by the way, it's sunny in Horsehay!

The rain stopped. We had finished our refreshments. We ventured out.

As more rain was imminent we did not venture far from the car park and café by moving towards the community garden area.

We dallied on the way passing a pig (Gloucester Old Spot?) enjoying some quiet downtime ...

Before returning to work feeding the hungry hoards.

An early suction sample from the vegetation at the side of the path to the garden revealed several Scarlet tiger moth larvae.

Photograph: David Williams

Moving into the garden we found the small ladybird Rhyzobius litura.

Photograph: David Williams

Our 10 minute pause was over. To be fair it was more like 30 minutes before it started to rain again. Fortunately, in the garden, there was a polytunnel and a covered picnic area that provided shelter.

The rain stopped after 15 minutes or so and we resumed our activities.

The garden contained 4 compost bins. One of these was formed from a mixture of food waste and sawdust. This was a magnet for our Demapterist, who, with little effort, uncovered a 4th instar nymph of a Lesser earwig, Labia minor.

Photograph: David Williams

The draw of the compost bin was far too great to overcome and he returned later in the day and found several adults. Here is a female.

Photograph: David Williams

And to give you and indication of their size here is another adult female alongside his thumb.

Photograph: David Williams

Looking over towards the horizon the dark clouds seemed to be gathering for a further assault.

The rain did not arrive ...

The sun came out!

We took advantage of this interlude and had lunch.

Lunch over we moved down towards the River Tern, On the way we spotted a log with finger-like structures appearing out of it.

These are caused by the fungus known as Dead moll's fingers.

We lingered for quite a while by the river inspecting the trees and wet grassland.

There were a number of Alders in this area and we spotted quite a few of the large, colourful mirid bug Pantilius tunicatus. There were also a few nymphs of this species; here is one.

Once again threatening clouds gathered.

This time they meant it. 

It rained. 

Shelter was sought under one of the large Alders.

The rain stopped, eventually, but we decided to call it a day. As we walked back through the garden area the sun came out and it was impossible to resist one last search.

The species collected from this area included several individuals of a tiny mirid bug, Chlamydatus evanescens. This was only the 3rd time this species had been recorded in the county. They are normally a coastal species but they have moved inland, possibly aided by imported Sedums. A little more can be found out about the species on the British Bugs website: Chlamydatus evanescens.

To finish the day we returned to the café for drinks and cakes provided. very kindly, by our hosts.

My thanks to Fordhall Farm for giving us permission to do what we enjoy doing and for their excellent hospitality, to the weather for giving us enough breaks in the rain to allow us to spend a reasonable amount of time exploring the farm, and to the photographers for sharing their images.