Very, Very Frightening

 Wednesday 11th March 2026, Atcham Old Airfield

Atcham Airfield had a relatively short operational life, the majority of which was as a World War Two base for the United States Army Air Force. Prior to this, RAF Fighter Command flew Spitfires from here. When handed over to the Americans, two other aircraft were used to train their pilots. Our Arachnologist asked us to guess which these might be, offering the clue that they were “very, very frightening”. Can you guess? Answer at the bottom of the page (no peaking!). Now reverted to farmland within the wider Attingham Park estate (except the buildings which became Atcham Business Park), we were invited to survey the site by the National Trust, who plan to incorporate this area into an ‘outdoor hub’ public amenity site.
 
The weather was generally bright and sunny, but the wind was cold and fierce. Former airfields do not provide much shelter! Over the course of the day several signs of Spring were observed, for example mining bees, flowers opening etc. But invertebrate activity was undoubtedly curtailed by the wind and no butterflies braved it.
 
Early efforts were directed towards the grassy areas along the old runway, the first vacuum sample producing several ladybird species, including copious Meadow Ladybirds

A 22-Spot Ladybird,

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

And a 7-spot with what looks like a cranefly pupa (which was very wriggly).

A few 16-spots were also present, but the below photo was taken later when a grass tussock was tapped and decanted them in considerable numbers.

Wandering towards the business park in search of shelter from the wind, I tapped a fir tree and was rewarded with a Harlequin Ladybird (left, not very thrilling) and an Eyed Ladybird (right, much nicer).

Of the solitary bee species that we saw, probably the two most numerous were Gwynne’s Mining Bee, Andrena bicolor

And Fabricius’ Nomad Bee, Nomada fabriciana.

Both these photos are of the less distinctive males. Nomad bees are nest parasites, mainly of Andrena species mining bees. Fabricius’ Nomad parasitises Gwynne’s Mining Bee, so it was perhaps not surprising that we saw the two together.
 
The group gravitated towards an area of woodland in the hope that it might offer some shelter. It didn’t, really, but the edges of it did produce more finds, including several shieldbugs.

Hairy Shieldbug. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Pied shieldbug

Blue Shieldbug

A Bordered Shieldbug turned up later in the day.

Very late indeed for it - it was dead. A living one was  found subsequently but not photographed.

 
Thistle Lacebugs are common enough but always an attractive find.

Spring flowers were beginning to show themselves:

Field Pansy

Common Whitlowgrass. Photo: John Martin

Weevils, once a beetle group to be dismissed by us as too difficult, are now among our core finds. Here are some identified by our Deputy Weevilist (the Chief Weevilist being unavailable due to the unfortunate necessity of having to work for a living…).

Apion frumentarium. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Exapion ulicis. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Andrion regenteinense. Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Micro moths are another group which we tackle with more relish than formerly, largely (as with the weevils and most other groups) due to the efforts of one of our members. In this case (literally) the larvae were confirmed by the County Recorder.

Pammene giganteana. Photo: John Martin

Taleporia tubulosa. Photo: John Martin

Nemophora degeerella. Photo: John Martin

Next, one or two miscellaneous finds, including the rear end of a centipede (the centipede was intact, its just the photo which is incomplete).

Myrmica scabrinodis.  Photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Armadillidium deepressum. Photo:  John  Martin

Schendyla nemorensis,. Photo: John Martin

Late in the day this very splendid little spider turned up. It is Micaria micens and it dazzled us all with its iridescent coat.

And finally, as we retraced our tracks to the car parking area (another bit of former runway) a Dark-edged Bee-fly, Bombylius major, landed almost at our feet for a quick bask in the afternoon sunshine. 

A Spring first for most of us and a fitting way to end the day. 

Thank you to our hosts for allowing us access to this interesting site.

     
Quiz answer: Thunderbolts and Lightnings (any Freddie Mercury fans out there?).     
          
 
Photographs © the author except as noted