Au revoir

Wednesday 29th October 2025, Ketley Paddock Mound

This is my last report. 

After 14 seasons at the helm of the Joy of Wildlife group and its predecessors I am stepping back from making the arrangements, including writing the reports. 

This does not mean the end. Joy of Wildlife will continue as a group of regular attendees take over all the aspects of running the group. This includes the reports which will now be edited by David.

Please indulge me for a little while.

Little did I suspect when I arranged a few outings for friends and colleagues of the Wrekin Forest Volunteers and Invertebrate Challenge attendees in 2012 that I would still be arranging trips in 2025!

In that time, we have made 555 visits (by my reckoning) to over 270 different sites in and around Shropshire, contributed over 65,000 records to the County’s and Nation’s biological data, and were recognised nationally as the Recording Group of the Year in 2019. 

Despite the serious aims of the group, we have met as friends doing what we all enjoy doing and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. I have been very lucky to be associated with all the people who have attended over the years.

The group has been dynamic as people drifted in and drifted out, but a few have kept me company  throughout. During this time we have welcomed all-comers, from those who just want a day out looking at nature, those who are only interested in photographing wildlife, those who are beginning their interest in nature and experienced biological recorders.

In such a long period we have inevitably lost members, and I would like to finish by remembering those who have passed away over this time. (I apologise if I have missed anybody.)

Mike Coutts

Brian Herring

Paul Watts

Christine Littlewood

Stephen Mitchell.

Visit 555 – Paddock Mound

Paddock Mound is a Local Nature Reserve in Ketley. It is about 11 acres in area and was formed by iron ore workings in the 18th century. Nature has now reclaimed the abandoned spoil mounds. 

The vegetation is predominantly mixed woodland and acidic grassland. The site also has three bodies of water, the largest of which is the remnant of the former Ketley Canal.

Having met in the nearby car park we made our way to the site. Our first stop was a pool, the smallest water body.

We searched through the vegetation around the pool edge and close-by, noticing this Oyster Mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus, on a log.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Suction sampling the poolside vegetation revealed a Common Shiny Woodlouse, Oniscus asellus.

Photograph: John Martin

Sweeping the vegetation caught a caddis fly, Limnephilus marmoratus.

Photograph: John Martin

The first of many species of ladybird that we found and photographed was the invasive Harlequin Ladybird, Harmonia axyridis. This ladybird is so common now that it is hard to believe it only arrived in Britain about 20 years ago.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

In amongst a suction sample, we found this fly larva with attendant springtails hitching a ride.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Time to move on.

Passing the canal, we climbed some rather awkward steps to a grassland area.

This is where we spent the remainder of the morning, searching through the grass, the surrounding vegetation and trees, and the oak trees standing in the middle.

The finds in this area came in thick and fast.

Hairy Shieldbug, Dolycoris baccarum.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A distinctive sputnik-shaped egg-sac, with exit holes, on the underside of an Oak leaf, of the spider Paidiscura pallens.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Some shieldbug eggs which we think were laid by a Gorse Shieldbug, Piezodorus lituratus…

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And an adult.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

The Friends of Ketley Paddock Mound website states that the site's elevation provides excellent views to the North and West. Unfortunately the trees surrounding the grassland severely restrict the view to the west but at one spot the marginal vegetation parted to provide a view of The Wrekin.

Lunch was taken at and around a picnic table close to the above view-point.

After the break we moved into a second, larger, area of grassland.

The pattern of searching was similar to the first area as we slowly made our way down to the far end of the site.

A Hawthorn Shieldbug, Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale, was found languishing in an Oak tree, clearly it is not Botanist!

Photograph: David Williams

A Common Wasp, Vespula vulgaris, joined the group for a while.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And beating the wet marginal vegetation knocked out a banded snail.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A series of ladybirds followed:

A 16-spot Ladybird, Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata;

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And three for the price of one – a 10-spot (Adalia decempunctata), a 14-spot (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata) and a 7-spot (Coccinella septempunctata).

Photograph: David Williams

Then we found a species that we have been finding nearly everywhere we go since we were able to identify it nearly two years ago, the parasitic wasp, Callitula pyrrhogaster. This is normally found by suction sampling and requires very patient, dedicated, inspection of all the dots in the sampling tray to see which ones move and then identify the insect. It is rarely found by just glancing at the contents.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Searching a tree revealed a Birch Shieldbug, Elasmostethus interstictus.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Our exploration continued as we were joined by a couple of the “Friends” group who had a look at what we had found and had a general chat about the site.

Towards the end of this area of grassland we came across a couple of small patches of Heather, Calluna vulgaris.

Photograph: John Martin

And around this area we also found Butterfly Stonecrop, Hylotelephium spectabile.

Photograph: John Martin

Rather like the morning all sorts of species came out to say “Look at me”.

A missing sector spider, Zygiella x-notata.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

An Adonis’ Ladybird, Hippodamia variegata.

Photograph: David Williams

A leaf-mining fly, Liriomyza congesta, recognised by the pattern of the mine and frass in the leaf.

Photograph: John Martin

A pseudoscorpion, Neobisium carcinoides.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Green Shieldbug, Palomena prasina.

Photograph: David Williams

A Cream-spot ladybird, Calvia quatuordecimguttata.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A Bristly Ladybird, Rhyzobius lophanthae, was beaten out of a tree. This is another recent arrival. Its origins are in Australia. It was brought to Europe as a bio-control species and it spread to the UK in 1999.

Photograph: David Williams

A Selfie…

Smile everyone…

Photograph: John Martin

Or look busy!

Back to the “work in hand”. Beating Gorse disturbed a lace bug, Dictyonota Strichnocera.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And inspecting a patch of nettles turned up the relatively large ground bug Heterogaster urticae.

Photograph: John Martin

Time was marching on, and we joined it by moving relatively swiftly to the third water body.

As you can see from the above photograph, the pond has largely been taken over by vegetation but there was some more open water on which a Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, passed the time of day.

Photograph: John Martin

Suction sampling the vegetation at the side of the path that ran alongside the pool revealed a Dock Bug, Coreus marginatus.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Our time was up and we made our way back to the cars, spotting lying on the tarmac this wee fellow, which seems a good way to end.

My thanks to Telford and Wrekin Council for giving us permission to do what we enjoy doing. 

My gratitude to the photographers for their excellent images for this and all previous issues of this report. Without their skills and persistence these reports would have been very dull affairs.

And finally, many thanks to all the people who have read these ramblings over the years. It has been a pleasure reporting, in a not too serious way, on the “achievements” of the group.

Please continue to support my successor, David, as he takes on this activity.

Au revoir.

Part-timer

Wednesday 22nd October 2025, Melverley, Common piece

Common piece is a large parcel of land that borders Holly Banks SWT Reserve. It is being managed for the benefit of wildlife. It consists of three large fields, hedgerows, pools and ditches and has been grazed recently by cattle.

I was a part-timer for this outing as I had a mid-morning appointment to attend. This resulted in me arriving just in time for lunch.

Great timing!

Thus, I have little knowledge of what happened before I arrived.

The one snippet of news I did receive was a text message from a full-timer letting me know that the gate to the site had been padlocked. Undeterred they continued further along the entrance track and found another gate through which they could pass… 

Then negotiate an electric fence...

To get in.

And here they are safe and sound in the first of the three fields.

Photograph: David Williams

The cattle had done a very god job at cropping the grass in the drier areas but did not seem to want to venture too far into wet, rushy areas. It was these areas that attracted most of our attention.

Although, judging from the response I got when I arrived and asked about sightings in the morning, a lot of time must have been spent peering into the trees and sky as I was treated to a list of birds that had been seen.

This list included Jack Snipe, Whooper Swan, Redwing, Fieldfare, Bullfinch, Raven, Linnet, Skylark, Reed Bunting, Stock Dove, Buzzard, Kestrel, and a Crossbill.

Not bad considering we were concentrating on invertebrates!

Back to ground level a couple of insects that lingered long enough in front of the photographer’s lens were:

A 10-spot ladybird, Adalia decempunctata;

Photograph: David Williams

And a planthopper, a Cicadula species. 

Photograph: David Williams

Regrettably Cicadulas cannot usually be identified from a photograph. In the main, only male Cicadulas can be identified to species with certainty and this requires microscopic examination.

You are now up to date with as much as I know about the morning’s activities.

Lunch.

After lunch we moved into the second field and made for higher ground…

Well, a few feet higher than its surroundings!

Time was spent here exploring the rougher vegetation and the area around the “hill”.

A couple of ladybirds were found.

A Red-rumped Ladybird, Scymnus haemorrhoidalis.

Photograph: David Williams

And a Cream-spot ladybird, Calvia quattuordecimguttata.

Photograph: David Williams

Gathering up our bags and equipment we moved on again to a spot by some mature trees where we found this unidentified, as yet, Rove beetle.

Photograph: David Williams

Our encampment by the trees was close to a couple of small pools. Needless to say these attracted our attention.

Here is the larger of the two.

As it happened very few invertebrates were found here, but we did find some Fine-leaved Water-dropwort, Oenanthe aquatica, by the water’s edge and some Water-violet, Hottonia palustris.

Back to the vegetation under the trees. This yielded two ground beetles with lighter spots on dark elytra, for which we await identifications.

Photograph: David Williams

Photograph: David Williams

An unexpected find amongst the leaf litter was a Common Blue butterfly, Polyommatus icarus, larva.

Photograph: David Williams

A last suction sample produced a cluster of spiders. Here they are trying to escape from the tray.

Time to go home.

My thanks to the owner for giving us permission to do what we enjoy doing, My gratitude to the photographer for his excellent images.

A Heap of Delights

Wednesday 15th October 2025, Bagbatch

This week we visited the home of a member of the group, in All Stretton. The site is 12 acres of semi and unimproved grassland, hawthorn scrub and open woodland with some mature oak, ash and sycamore and dingle woodland. It is a Local Wildlife Site.

And it has a compost heap.

Once we had all arrived and readied ourselves, we set off to explore the site. We moved into a large pasture.

As soon as we entered the field the compost heap was spotted. Several of the group diverted to delve into its delights.

An early find in the heap was a pseudoscorpion. For once it was not one of the two species that we sometimes find. This was a Compost Chernes, Pselaphochernes scorpioides, which was, perhaps, not that surprising in view of the habitat in which it was found.

Photograph: David Williams

A target species of compost searches is Lesser Earwig, Labia minor, which prefers warm locations such as compost heaps. And initial searches found a first instar nymph of the species.

Photograph: David Williams

Another inhabitant of compost heaps is a small sheet-web spider, Ostearius melanopygius. One was found in the heap.

Photograph: John Martin

Whilst this breakaway group delved into the depths of the compost heap the rest of us carried on doing what we normally do, working our way across the pasture towards a gate that gave out onto a path through some woodland to another field.

It was obviously very hard work as a few of us had to take a rest before entering the wood. A spade brought along (for purposes to be described later) proved to be a very good leaning post.

Onwards…

And, as it happened, upwards.

On the way through the wood, we came across this fungus.

Having no-one with us who identified fungi, we resorted to AI and an app named Obsidentify, which was 100% certain it was Parasola plicatilis. On a second check it changed its mind and stated with lower confidence that it was Parasola plicatilis sensu lato (i.e. one of a group of very similar species). With that my confidence in its ability was eroded and I noted it as Parasola species!

A Laburnum bush provided our next species, a moth.

Photograph: John Martin

I aggre, this does not like a species of moth. It is, however, the evidence that the larva of the moth Leucoptera laburnella resided in this leaf, eating the leaf tissue and leaving a trail of its droppings in a recognised pattern.

Our next photograph is of something that does look like an insect, although not an adult. It is the larva of a Glow-worm, Lampyris noctiluca.

Photograph: David Williams

And just before lunch, suction sampling of the vegetation revealed a globular springtail, Allacma fusca.

Photograph: David Williams

We were now in the second field which is maintained by a small flock of Soay sheep. As they were nowhere to be seen we decided to lunch close to an old Ash that had seen its best days.

After lunch we continued to explore this field.

The sheep are there in the far distance, in front of the stables, in the above photograph.

Inspection of an oak revealed a wood-like Cola-nut gall caused by the asexual generation of the gall wasp Andricus lignicola.

More fungi.

Photograph: John Martin

These were identified as Glistening inkcap, Coprinus micaceus.

All the while the sheep were keeping watch over us.

Photograph: John Martin

Then something spooked them, and they spent the next few minutes running hither and thither.

Photograph: John Martin

We made for the barn, which was fenced off from the field, and left the sheep to settle back into their normal routine.

After bimbling around the grassland for a while we split into two groups. One group continued circumnavigating the site, the other returned to the compost heap and the garden of the house.

As those of us who continued the round trip emerged into a field the purpose of the spade was revealed. 

It was used to cut a squarish turf from the field, maybe 2 or 3 inches deep. The turf was then carefully pulled apart to reveal…

Worms.

It was very surprising how many worms of several different species were packed into that one turf. I cannot recall ever looking for these creatures on any of our outings.

Unfortunately, no-one thought to photograph this historic event.

Meanwhile a pool in the garden that held the compost heap was investigated and yielded a dragonfly nymph that may be a Southern Hawker, Aeshna cyanae.

Photograph: John Martin

More, careful inspection of the contents of the compost heap revealed:

A female Lasser earwig;

Photograph: David Williams

A woodlouse that is not one of the five or so species we normally come across, Porcellionides pruinosus;

Photograph: John Martin

And another Compost Chernes…

But this had eggs attached rather precisely around the edge of its abdomen.

Photograph: David Williams

As the title of this ramble announces, the compost heap turned out to be a Heap of Delights. 

My thanks to the owner for giving us permission to do what we enjoy doing, My gratitude to the photographers for their excellent images.