Wet Heath, Dry Heath

 Wednesday 5th August 2026, Whixall Moss

 

The above photo shows how uncharacteristically brown the moss has become in this continuing drought. It hardly needs saying that the water level was exceptionally low, which allowed us to explore parts of the site which would normally be treacherously, or indeed impossibly boggy.
But I am getting ahead of the day’s events. Parking in the Morris Bridge car park, we took the usual long, straight track from there onto the moss. At the start of it is a cottage and garden, complete with several Buddleias, which were covered in insects, including two Hummingbird Hawkmoths.

photo: John Martin

We hadn’t got very far along the track before the first of the mosses’ specialist creatures made an appearance: juvenile Raft Spiders, Dolomedes fimbriatus were quite numerous in the herbage. Already quite large, their green legs showed that they were not adult. They would get bigger yet! This one has caught dinner:

Here is a close-up, for all you spider-lovers out there. Who couldn’t be enchanted by those eyes?

Prolonged dry weather is not good for most spider species, so it was good to see these juveniles in decent numbers. Many common species are not faring well though, making it quite an event to see supposedly common species such as the Four-spot Orbweaver…

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

… and Garden Spider in the vegetation alongside the track.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

The splendid little jumping spider Evarcha falcata made another Wednesday appearance,

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

as did the harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus, another organism which has now been relegated to the status of ‘agg.’ as it is realised that more than one species is hiding inside apparently identical exteriors.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Further excitement appeared at this point, in the form of several big (queen bumblebee-sized) flies: Tachina grossa.

photo: John Martin

The track progressed towards and into a small woodland, where several beetle species appeared. The tortoise beetle Cassida rubiginosa was the first.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

22-spot ladybirds

For various reasons weevils don’t feature in these reports as frequently as they used to. Here is just a single offering, by way of partial compensation: Rhinoncus pericarpius.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Hemiptera were well represented in the woods…
The Rhopalid bug, Corizus hyoscyami

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Birch Shieldbug

Hairy Shieldbug

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Tree Damsel Bug

and Marsh Damsel Bug.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

We were nearly through the woods and out onto the moss proper, but not before we had played a game of ‘Spot the Toadlet’ on the track. There is one in the below photo. Can you spot it?

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Out on the moss, the main tracks have been populated at intervals by these rather ingenious and informative information posts.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

I had emerged ahead of the rest of the group. No sooner had I done so than a Hummingbird Hawkmoth flashed past me, hovered speculatively for a moment and then put down in a sunny spot on the ground for a rest. How different they look when they are grounded!

In due course the rest of the group emerged. We spent a short while beating, sweeping and vacuuming but that time of the day was approaching. Though the weather was intermittently sunny, the cloudy spells were accompanied by a surprisingly strong, cool breeze. Ineffectual attempts to find a sheltered lunch spot were made before we gave up and camped on the main track, hoping that the fringing saplings would offer some shelter (which they almost did).
During a rather extended lunch break, some of the party decided to explore an adjacent area of the moss which would certainly have been out of bounds in normally damp circumstances. We did of course, have special permissions for the day to allow us to wander off limits like this. Some of the characteristic plants of the mosses were present here:
Royal Fern

photo: Neil Nash

Bog Asphodel

photo: John Martin

Round-leaved Sundew

Bog Rosemary

photo: John Martin

Cross-leaved Heath.

photo: John Martin

This last is an indicator of suitability for the Bog Bush-cricket. My bat detector told me that males were singing all around, but they proved to be fiendishly difficult to spot until finally, a male gave himself away:

Most individuals have the fancy green highlights which can be seen above, but some lack them, as per this one, who was spotted later on in the day:

There was also time for a bit of fungus spotting, this Scleroderma citrinum attracting attention.

photo: John Martin

Back on the main track, the group moved on from the lunch spot, found another likely looking area and stopped to investigate. This is Jim, assiduously inspecting the results of his latest attack on the scenery with his vacuum sampler:

Here is one of the results, a 2mm micro ladybird, Nephus redtenbacheri, the Red-patched Ladybird.

And here is another, an as-yet unidentified rove beetle of similarly tiny dimensions.

Back to ladybirds, Whixall is home to two heathland specialists. We found both. This is one of three Hieroglyphic Ladybirds to appear in our trays. They predate Heather Beetles, among other things, of which there were plenty to keep them well fed.

This is the other heathland specialist, a Heather Ladybird. A scale-insect predator, they can also sometimes turn up in cypress hedges, which are home to several species of scale.

Meanwhile, back at the vacuum sampling department, a number of very notable flies were turning up. Let’s start with a frit fly, Aphanotrigonum nigripes. This is only the second Shropshire record and nationally it is very infrequently recorded, though this doubtless just under-recording rather than actual rarity, as it’s considered common on the continent in wet meadows and bogs. It’s very small and probably only really captured via suction sampling.

photo: Nigel Jones

Next, Opomyza lineatopunctatas. Not a county first, having previously been recorded at Whixall and Wem Mosses, but the most recent county record is as long ago as 1995.

photo: John Martin

The vacuums also captured Stilpon sublunatus, a species only previously recorded in Shropshire at Whixall in 1988 and described by our Dipterist as “a really tiny dark wing-marked fly” though sadly I don’t have a photo to prove it!
Not captured by the vacuum, but captured by a photographer, was yet another very notable fly, the cranefly Idioptera linnei.

photo: John Martin

Until it was discovered at Hodnet Heath in similar Sphagnum-dominated wet habitat, the Fenns/Whixall/Wem moss NNR was its only known Shropshire location. Shropshire remains the most southerly extent of this species in Britain.
We move away from flies and on to dragonflies. Our visit was too late for White-faced Darters, but just right for our smallest dragonfly species, the Black Darter. This male is respectably living up to its name.

Whereas this is a not very black at all female.

photo: John Martin

Other Odonata included Four-spotted Chaser…

photo: Neil Nash

…and Emerald Damselfly.

photo: John Martin

A spider, Micaria pulicaria.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

We finish with Lepidoptera. Our lunch break was enlivened by yet another Clouded Yellow fly-by. It even landed briefly, but only to tease the photographers, disappearing at speed before anyone could aim a camera at it. More accommodating was this Painted Lady, which perched in a beating tray to pose for portraits.

photo: Nigel Cane-Honeysett

Small Tortoiseshells have undergone a dramatic and much debated decline in recent decades, so it is always nice to see one these days.

photo: John Martin

Holly Blues seem to be having a good year.

photo: Neil Nash

And finally… no visit to the mosses would be complete without a healthy crop of Beautiful Yellow Underwing larvae, beaten from the heather. Or indeed just spotted at rest in it. 

photo: Neil Nash

But today, as our day drew to a close, a bonus: an adult, demonstrating just how appropriately they are named.

A pleasing end to a very good day, which also included sightings of Marsh Harrier, Curlew and other notable birds. Many thanks to Natural England for allowing us permission to survey this important site.

 
  
 
Photographs © the author except as noted.