An Overdue Return

Wednesday 25th February 2026, The Haycop, Broseley

I can do no better than to start this account by quoting the following directly from The Haycop’s website: "The Haycop is a nine acre, locally managed nature reserve featuring a mosaic of habitats including a flower meadow, old established broadleaf woodland, heathland and aquatic ecosystems. The Haycop Conservation Group is a charity aiming to restore the Haycop back to its 1950s former glory, where wildlife flourished, fresh water flowed and butterflies flew in abundance."
 
This is, I believe, our third visit to this splendid site but the first since September 2017. Our return was therefore long overdue. We had a pleasant surprise on arrival: the Conservation Group were out in numbers to meet us. So much so that we were in the minority! The first decision to be made was which way to go: the path forks immediately upon entrance to the site. A higher path to the left or a descent to the right into grassy areas were the options. We decided to take the high road, a route which leads between a loose hedge and a line of trees. This soon opens up into an area of heathland. This was a rich source of finds for us back in 2017. The finds were less spectacular this time, but this was of course because we were visiting in February rather than September. Many things of interest were found nevertheless. Our rate of progress was  such that  we ended  up making our lunch camp here  (as we did in 2017) before eventually moving on through woodland, past the pond and  returning through the grassland.
 
Onto the photos. I have had a particularly large number of pictures from the day and rather than try to include them chronologically I have grouped them taxonomically instead, beginning with the beetles. The first picture is of what was undoubtedly the most abundant large (ie not near-microscopic!) organism of the day: 24-spot Ladybirds. Every tray was full of them. It is a mystery to me why relative species abundance varies so much from site to site. Last week at Venus Pool, we were deluged by 16-spot ladybirds whilst 24-spots were hardly seen. This week it was the other way around. Both sites are similarly grassy. A puzzle.

Meadow Ladybirds, the commonest and one of the largest of the ‘micro ladybird’ species, were also numerous.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Onto the remaining beetle photos, starting with three more ladybirds:

Pine Ladybird

Orange Ladybird

10-spot Ladybird

Anchomenus dorsalis

Leiosoma deflexum. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Parethelcus pollinarius. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Small Nettle Weevil, Nedyus quadrimaculatus. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

The Haycop has always been very good for shieldbugs and this visit was no exception with several nice species to be seen.

Green Shieldbug (in winter colours)

Hairy Shieldbug. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Crucifer Shieldbug

Tortoise Shieldbug

And a selection of other bugs (Hemiptera)…

Dicyphus stachydis. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Drymus brunneus. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Berytinus minor

Stenodema laevigata

…including a Water Measurer found near to the pond.

photo: Neil Nash

One of my favourite insects, and one with the most unjust public relations issues in my opinion, is  the Common Earwig. Here is a fine male, tapped from a Scots Pine sapling. 

Two ant species were subjected to Obsidentify, which gave the following verdicts

Myrmica sabuleti. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Yellow Meadow Ant. Photo: Nigel Cane -Honeysett

The Yellow Meadow Ant was an uncontroversial identification - areas of the site are festooned with its distinctive anthills.

 
Onto the Arachnids, starting with  the attractive Green Crab Spider, Diaea dorsata.

Euophrys frontalis. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

harvestman - Nemastoma bimaculatum

pseudoscorpion - Neobisium carcinoides. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And some miscellaneous organisms…

Springtails - Orchesella villosa. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Springtail - Pogonognathellus longicornis. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

gall on Yew - Taxomyia taxi. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Red Pea Gall (on oak), Cynips divisa. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Scarlet Elf-cup fungus. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

One of the Conservation Group members went off ahead of us (not difficult, given our stately rate of progress) and came back holding this splendid creature.

A Palmate Newt, identified from the similar Smooth Newt by its throat (Smooth = Spotty & yellow; Palmate = Plain & Pink).  To be honest, the spottiness or otherwise can be unreliable but the colour is always a good identifier. Palmate Newts are rather less common than Smooth Newts and so are always a notable find. The Haycop is known to be home to them.

We left having enjoyed another excellent day on this lovely nature reserve. Thank you to our hosts for their efforts in maintaining it and for making us so welcome. I leave you with one final image, of a nearly-in-flower Primrose. Spring is almost here!

  
 
    
 
     Photographs © the author except as noted.