Wednesday 16th September 2026, Wern Farm, Sarn
I was absent from this trip, away sunning myself in Jersey. Fortunately,
I have eye-witness accounts from Nigel, Keith and John with which to relate the
events of the day…
Wern Farm lies just over the county (and indeed national) boundary
in Montgomeryshire. It is a smallholding, where three young couples are growing good
quantities of food in a small area of cultivation and polytunnels. I’m told
that there was a very good diversity of produce in considerable amounts!
 |
| photo: Keith Fowler |
The site was not too
big, and very flat. Very few trees but a nice hedge at the far side. It was
mainly grassland, some uncut, with a few damp areas, a pool (that was dry) and
a stream (that was also dry but clearly has a good and strong flow at times).
 |
| photo: Keith Fowler |
The morning was spent looking at the grassland
before the stream and in the area of the dry pond, plus a brief sojourn in a
polytunnel or two. “The Boy” (
Callitula pyrrhogaster, the small wingless
wasp which often features in these reports) was discovered within minutes of
activities commencing.
 |
| Vacuuming for The Boy. Photo: Keith Fowler |
A hornet was captured and liberated from a polytunnel.
 |
| photo: Keith Fowler |
The dried-up pond was full of ruderal plants including
lots of Red Goosefoot and a bit of the (up here) less
common Many-seeded Goosefoot, Lipandra polyspermum.
 |
| Many-seeded Goosefoot. Photo: John Martin |
The star invertebrate attractions in this area included
Adonis Ladybird, the spectacular blowfly
Cynomya mortuorum, the rarely
encountered fly
Hydrotaea capensis and a rather infrequently recorded
fly
Muscina stabulans.
 |
| Cynomya mortuorum. Photo: John Martin |
 |
| Hydrotaea capensis. Photo: Nigel Jones |
Hydrotaea capensis larvae live in carrion and other decaying
material, where they prey on other insect larvae. They have often been found in
the carcasses of large mammals (whales, humans), where the warm micro-climate
enables them to breed at latitudes or in seasons where they would not otherwise
survive. Both
M. stabulans and
H. capensis are new species for
Montgomeryshire (and would have been new for Shropshire if found there).
Another notable find was
rather infrequently recorded Sphaerophoria rueppelli, swept
from flowers in the pond where it may have been associated with the Persicaria
growing there.
 |
| photo: Nigel Jones |
Other finds to attract the attention of the photographers included a Knot Grass larva
After lunch we made for the stream and beyond,
setting up camp either in the dry stream bed or under a nearby magnificent old
Ash tree that looked to have escaped the ravages (so far) of Ash dieback.
 |
| photo: Nigel Jones |
 |
| photo: Nigel Jones |
Another new Montgomeryshire species was
captured near the dried up stream –
Tephritis praecox.
 |
| T. praecox wing. Photo: Nigel Jones |
This is another picture-wing that is reacting
to our warming climate by spreading north and west into new areas of Britain.
It was formerly a rare species in Britain. It has an association with Marigold
flowers,
Calendula, and indeed a row of Marigolds had been planted in
one of the nearby vegetable patches.
The stream bed itself was inspected for life but
yielded little. In two places, under the overhanging ledges of banks, a little
damp ground survived and here two species of Dolichopodid fly,
Dolichopus
griseipennis and
Campsicnemus curvipes, clung on to life
.
 |
| D. griseipennis. Photo: Nigel Jones |
The highlight of the afternoon was a Barn Owl
that a few of the group managed to see.
 |
| Spot the Barn Owl! Photo: John Martin |
Despite rain as attendees left Shropshire, the day was on the whole
dry and pleasant with only a few spits and spots of rain, although a cool
breeze did spring up for a while. I regret missing this trip to what was clearly a very interesting site. Many thanks to our hosts for allowing the group to indulge ourselves so richly.
Photographs
© as noted.
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