Turned Out Nice Again

 Wednesday 21^st January 2026, Morville Hall

Morville Hall is managed by the National Trust but is not generally open to the public. Our trip was to the wider grounds of the estate. We parked next to the church, dedicated to St Gregory the Great.

photo: Liz Roberts

The weather forecast ahead of the day was grim and unfortunately proved to be entirely accurate! A brief dry spell on arrival soon gave way to rain which persisted for the rest of the day, often rather heavily. The verges around the parking area were planted with snowdrops and Winter Aconites, doing their best to offer some cheer in the wet, gloomy weather.

photo: John Martin

We moved into the adjacent fields, arriving at one which was bordered by a linear pond on one side and the Mor Brook on the other. The brook was doing its best ‘raging torrent’ impression.

photo: Liz Roberts

photo: Liz Roberts

A  footbridge had been helpfully installed across the brook, but having given it some thought we decided not to use it…!

photo: Keith Fowler

The vacuumers got to work and managed to extract some sodden creatures from their sodden surroundings. These included a couple of weevils; Taeniapion urticarium 

photo: John Martin

And a Protapion species.

photo: John Martin

A Red-rumped Ladybird appeared from the rough grass near the pond.

It turned out to be a day for ground beetles, including the attractive Anchomenus dorsalis,

A splendid Violet Ground Beetle, Carabus violaceus,

And an unidentified (to my knowledge) species found in its overwintering cell and carefully replaced again.

The vegetation was inspected for galls, resulting in records for Psylla buxi (on Box)

photo: John  Martin

And Trioza centranthi on valerian.

photo: John Martin

Fungi seemed appropriate on such a wet day. The application of modern technology (Obsidentify) suggested (with 100% confidence) that this one is Schizophyllum commune (Split Gill).

photo: Liz Roberts

Whist this one is identified as Basidioradulum radula, but with a mere 76% confidence.

photo: Liz Roberts

The moss Grimmia pulvinata also seemed to suit the ambience.

photo: John Martin

We progressed to an even muddier, slippier part of the site whereupon lunch was declared in the middle of the quagmire!

photo: Keith Fowler

As I sat contemplating my sandwiches, a 7-spot Ladybird plodded stoically through the vegetation at my feet.

Lunch over, several participants decided enough was enough and left. The rest of us soldiered on a short while longer but were not far behind them. We trudged off site, through conditions which need no further comment…

photo: Liz Roberts

   Photographs © the author except as noted.

Rather Bracing

Wednesday 14^th January 2026, Shelve

This week’s outing was to the Forestry England plantation at Shelve. Having visited the northern portion of the wood last winter, we concentrated on the southern part this time. At about 360m altitude this is is one of the draughtier places in Shropshire at the best of times. And this was not the best of times! The ground was frozen and the air temperature was around 1 or 2 degrees. Here are a couple of photos to give a sense of the conditions:

photo: Keith Fowler

photo: John Martin

The sun did break through at  times, albeit rather weakly. Rather surprisingly, it was enough to stir a few insects sluggishly into life including the odd Yellow Dung Fly, one of which climbed onto my camera bag and posed for photos:

Other invertebrate finds relied mainly on the vacuum samplers. Among them was Notiophilus biguttatus, a  small beetle which reliably turns up most weeks.

photo:  John Martin

Another beetle which appeared was Cartodere bifasciata. It is described as being fairly common in leaf litter but at only 2mm long is easily overlooked. I can’t recall seeing it previously.

A Scarlet Tiger larva was dislodged from a tree. Goodness knows what it was doing up there; they  feed on herbaceous plants such as forget-me-not and comfrey for most of their lives, only moving to woody plants after hibernation, in their final instars!

photo: John Martin

Some finds did not rely on the vacuums. These included a moss, Orthotrichum pulchellum 

photo: John Martin

A liverwort, Metzgeria voilacea

photo: John Martin

And a lichen, Physcia aipolia.

photo: John Martin

The day drew on. We got colder and made purposefully for the ‘finishing line’ (well, most of us did) but not before half an Eyed Ladybird was spotted in the leaf litter.

The end of the track allowed a fine view of the nearby Stiperstones ridge.

photo: Keith Fowler

And with that we trudged back to the cars, and warmth!

 
Snow Flea update: we didn’t find any (again). Numerous patches of Polytrichum moss were investigated without success…
 
 
Photographs © the author except as noted. 

Weather Window

Wednesday 7^th January 2026, Harton Hollow

Our first expedition of the new year was to Harton Hollow, a Shropshire Wildlife Trust reserve at the southern end of Wenlock Edge. We were fortunate that the trip fell between the snowy weather at the start of the week and the much more severe weather at the end of the week courtesy of Storm Goretti. In fact we were surprised at how green the landscape was, the earlier snow having melted away almost completely.
 
On arrival in the car park we were greeted by a particularly confiding Marsh Tit. It was closely followed by three Bramblings, who perched briefly in the top of a tree. Unfortunately, as no-one had a long lens to capture these events, you will have to take my word for it! A scenic view from the site towards the Clee Hills was captured instead.

Harton Hollow is a small site with just one path through it. It is therefore difficult to construct a thrilling narrative of our day, which was largely spent walking in single file through the site, stopping at intervals to beat or vacuum for finds. And of course, also, very importantly, for lunch!  So here are photos of some of our finds…
   
A liverwort: Plagiochila asplenioides

photo: John Martin

A brace of 16-spot Ladybirds

A gall of Taxomyia taxi (a species of midge) on Yew

photo: John Martin

What might have been a slime-mould, perhaps a Didymium species

photo: John Martin

A pseudoscorpion which we presume  to be the ubiquitous Neobisium carcinoides  

One of a group of earthstar fungi, Geastrum michelianum

photo: John Martin

A springtail, Orchesella cincta

photo: John Martin

And its larger relative,  Orchesella  villosa.

photo: John Martin

Harton Hollow is not a large nature reserve and with only one route through it, we found ourselves back at the car park in rather quick time. So an early finish! As compensation, we were able to journey home in very pleasant sunshine.
 
Snow Flea update: we didn’t find any. One large patch of Polytrichum moss was located and investigated but no Snow Fleas were forthcoming. Maybe  next week...
 
 
Photographs © the author except as noted.