Phenomenonmenom

Wednesday 29th January 2025Black Hill

Snow Flea update – none were found.

After the strenuous effort required for our visit to Brook Vessons last week we were hoping for an easier day at the Forestry England plantation at Black Hill, just south of Clun.

The hardest and most anxious part of the day was getting there.

The road from Clun is relentlessly uphill and barely wider than a car. In places it was like diving up a river as water streamed down the road and in other places the existence of a tarmac surface was questionable. Fortunately, we did not meet anyone coming the other way and made it safely to the car park.

When everyone had arrived we set off and managed to get about 20 yards onto the site before we did our first extensive exploration of the vegetation. This was not going to be another Brook Vessons-like day!

Looking back we had an excellent view over the cars of the rolling hills marching off to the west.

Moving on we continued up the gentle slope to a division in the path.

Decision time.

Left or Right?

To the left the path continued to rise and was in full sun.

To the right the path curved from the sun into shade.

We went left.

Reaching the top of the short rise the path turned right then plunged into shadow.

We halted and explored this area.

Here we had a bit more success than our initial investigations close to the entrance.

A ground beetle Paradromius linearis.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

A staphylinid beetle which was identified as Olophrum piceum.

Photograph: David Williams

Larvae of  Ringlet butterflies.

Photograph: David Williams

A Common shiny woodlouse.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Another ground beetle, Loricerus pilicornis, with long hairs on its antennae.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Remarkably lunchtime was approaching fast. 

Another decision.

Have lunch where we were or move on?

This decision was aided by the cool penetrating breeze that had sprung up.

We moved.

But which way?

Continuing on the path would just lead us into the shade.

We returned to the earlier junction, which was in the sun and more sheltered from the breeze.

Over lunch we noticed a strange phenomenom.

Unfortunately, whenever I tried to say “phenomenon” it came out as “phenomenonmenom”. This was quickly adopted up by the others to describe what we were seeing.

Here is the phenomenonmenom.

Photograph: David Williams

This is a solar halo. It arises when the sun is shining through a thin layer of high cloud. Apparently, they are not very rare, so it is surprising we had not noticed one before.

Lunch over we spent a little time checking the vegetation close to where we were. We found a pseudoscorpion that is not one we normally find, but it is, probably, the second most common one that we do find, Chthonius ischnoceles.

Photograph: David Williams

We also found the spider, Walckenaeria acuminata, known to us as “Mr Periscopehead” as, bizarrely, its eyes are on a long stalk above its head.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Taking the path we did not take earlier we came to a small clearing at the side of track.

We had been hearing Crossbills all day. Disappointingly we did not spot them very often, and it was usually in flight as they flitted between the top branches of the conifers. For some reasons a few decided to pause and pose in a couple of trees close to where we were. Here is my attempt to photograph one.

The clearing had several bushes of broom and some gorse, and this latter plant yielded a Sloe bug (or Hairy shieldbug, if you prefer).

Photograph: David Williams

The urge to move on came over us once again. We continued along the track to an area of heather and moss and lichen covered tree stumps.

Using the suction samplers in this vegetation resulted in us finding:

An Angle shades moth larva;

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And a bristletail.

Photograph: David Williams

It was time to think about turning round and heading back to the cars, but looking ahead we could see that the path opened out and was bathed in the mid-afternoon sunshine.

Should we carry on?

We did … and marched to this area (away from the cars) where we set up our final camp of the day.

Checking a tree in this area we found the harvestman, Megabunus diadematus.

Photograph: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Venturing into the clearing, created by a clear-fell of the conifers, not yet dominated by the newly planted trees, required armoured trousers as there were areas dominated by dwarf sized gorse bushes. 

Dwarf sized they may have been, but they had full size spines.

Having braved the gorse, or found a way around it, we came to an area where the ground was covered in heather and grass tussocks.

In between these there was the occasional small patch of Stag’s-horn clubmoss.

Photograph: David Williams

As the sun was getting low in the sky and the temperature was dropping we called it a day and made our way back to the cars.

We did meet another car on the way back but, fortunately, it was after we had cleared the narrow road and were arriving in Clun.

My thanks to the Forestry England for granting us permission to do what we enjoy doing and the photographers for their excellent images and allowing me to use them in this report.