Blitzing Blists Hill

Friday, May 27 saw The Wrekin Forest Volunteers descend on Blists Hill Victorian Town Museum to survey the area of woodland, ponds and canal around the site and what a great day out it was too!

We were somewhat distracted from our task as a policeman collared a bike-thief which was very entertaining. Was that Alistair’s bike?



Jim’s obviously just left the Victorian sweet shop with a huge bag of goodies and Pete looks ready to thwack the thief around the head with his clipboard!

Onwards!  We spent a very interesting day bimbling and fossicking around and found a plethora of interesting plants and invertebrates. Although the day was mainly cloudy, the rain kept off and many of our flying friends came out to play.




I’ve only recently started to  spot picture-winged flies and this one (Cerajocera ceratocera) was a beauty:-




And then there was this excellent shot from Nigel of a Longhorn Beetle:-



Did anyone get a firm ID? I don’t see it in Chinery and  I had a quick look on the net but couldn’t nail it. If anyone has a name please drop me an email and I’ll update this blog post.

The pond-dipping team were out in force today surveying the quality of ponds and canal. Engrossed as I was in inverts I didn’t hear the outcome of that but there was at least one very pungent pond I almost slipped into!

On the ‘leps’ front Lizze and I found many Common Blue butterflies along with a lone Burnet Companion moth and a few of us caught a lovely selection of micro-moth species - a couple of them I’m still trying to ID. But here’s one I did - was it Keith who caught this? It was one of a pair and they go by the fabulous name of Pseudargyrotoza conwagana - trips off the tongue nicely that one!



In a large wooded area of Common Nettle we found 50 or more Common Green Capsids, lots of colourful spiders were presented to Nigel, and Lizze came across an Eyed Ladybird



Lunch for some was a Cottage Pie in the restaurant but many of us couldn’t resist the prospect of savouring beef-dripping fried fish and chips. Fabulous!



The larva found on nettle was indeed as someone suggested (Les?) a Comma butterfly



I managed to find 3 species of shield bugs;- Birch, Green and a final instar Forest which I have here at home to bring through to adult.



I think between us we built up quite a list of flora and fauna and look forward to seeing the full tally once we’ve completed our final  ID’s.

All-in-all an excellent day out and thanks must go to the management of Blists Hill and for Pete of course for arranging the event.
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May Nature Notes from Pete Lambert

Nature Notes - May 2011 

I had not gone far, two fields in fact, from the house when the first pair of Snipe fired themselves skyward. Looking like some swept back ninja weapon they took off, shortly followed by a second pair. The pools were joined by a widened water filled ditch and edged with rushes and reeds, partially inundated trees lent safe cover to the other wetland fowl.

Less than twenty feet ahead  I disturbed another member of the uneasy bankside community, a  mature rusty-brown Fox which cantered away contouring the water and then off, using the folds of the land to hide its route. I met the fox later that same afternoon; further away this time but still looking straight at me before confidently moving off. Hiding in the slowly dying branches a pair of Teal called to each other, a coot and a moorhen fidgeted in and around the vegetation and out across the surface. Behind me on the dryer rise of the ploughed field a skylark rose, its call clarion clear, though with a murky sky I could not see the rising chorister at all.

Friends out on the canal in the closing dusk enjoyed the to and fro call of the Tawny owl, and a treat,  a much different sound that of a Short eared owl which has been known to breed in the North Shropshire meres and mosses. Lapwings added their bubbling spooky call as they settled to their night-time roost and earlier in the day Great spotted woodpeckers added their rhythmic woodwork tapping to the blanket of airborne sound.

I had wanted to visit Mitchells Fold stone circle for years and finally guided by our walking buddies we arrived at the parking spot on the edge of Stapley Common. A lumpen low cloud added atmosphere as we tried to imagine the circle intact and fully proud of the windswept moor. We had a panoramic view later from the summit of Corndon Hill which balanced our senses as we recovered form finding our most unusual find of the year. Fuligo septica is a slime mould; this is an organism which undergoes a remarkable series of transformations, appearing at first looking like expanded yellow foam, then an oozing crust, a browned granular patch and finally a pile of loose brown spores. This slime-moulds common name is Dog vomit slime-mould which I am afraid describes it exactly! To top a splendid day in unfamiliar hills we caught a flash of a purposeful Merlin on the hunt and tearing away uphill, a Hare.

My young companion spotted them first, in a rutted track, deeply puddled lying just below The Lawley. Frog spawn, and in the next sludgy pool, tiny tadpoles. The tractor and quad tracks were fresh, the prospects for this amphibian generation were bleak and we pondered such a poor choice for a nursery location. His eyes also picked up our next colony, honey bees commuting in and out of their tree hole hive. He wisely skirted the dangerous hum by clambering higher up the slope, I carelessly walked straight on and confirmed they were Honey bees because one flew straight into my face, and then dropped onto the grass, giving me time to recover and get an identification!

A short notice trip took us to the coast, Bluebells, Spring squill, oystercatchers, Pied wagtails on the shingle, beadlet anemones, crabs, barnacles, jackdaws clinging on the salt sprinkled turf, loose spikes of dark blue milkwort hiding in the grass and spiders webs slung artfully between scorched skeletal gorse branches. A seaside snapshot. I always feel that spring barrels past too quickly but a few idle rambles have yielded such pleasant memories, just got to make sure I get out the door, that’s all.

Pete Lambert, Grimpo, 2011

If you would like to share your wildlife spotting adventures please contact me on petewoodman@thewoods12.fsnet.co.uk , happy wildlife spotting.

April Nature Notes from Pete Lambert

I was recently confined to the house, a challenge to any wildlife watcher but fortunately I had stocked up the bird table and in the days before I had ventured out as often as possible to accrue some outdoor credits. I held on to the awed period we had spent marvelling at a starling flock, random yet synchronised swoops of hundreds of birds darkening a patch of late evening sky. A lone starling fed at the table a few days later, this close up view of shimmering plumage reinforced my promise to not undervalue this pretty and skilful bird.

 A short cycle of the lanes led to two close up Brock encounters, the first a pair spilling out across our path, the second a juvenile running alongside us until we could slow avoiding a collision. The canal side plants are shifting up a gear, pussy willows are bursting and shortly the blowsy blossoms of the blackthorn will burst; the blackthorns’ impatient flowers are always ahead of their leaves and the other hedge row show-offs.

From the front and back windows our local farmers had prepared a number of fields ready for this years' crop. Rooks strutted their stuff up front and to the rear black headed gulls made the most of the freshly turned soil. I was unable to hear the calls of both busy flocks but enjoyed their garrulous pleasure in each others company. The bird table attracted the usual ground hopping sparrows, dunnock, chaffinches, collared dove, great tit and a pair of sleek jackdaws. The Jackdaws distinctive call followed me into the dining room as yet again they occupied our disused chimney, maybe they will have a word with the house mice who have joined us in great numbers this winter!

A quick dash outside to fetch kindling left me with a puzzle. A subtly patterned moth had landed on my slippers, its identity only being solved by much more knowledgeable friends, a Dotted border. I sent them a photo and was rewarded by an ID by the end of the day.  Intriguingly I was informed the female is flightless staying in the hedges and bushes of their preferred habitat. A disturbed Engrailed moth settled on the kitchen wall, this one I photographed again and then with the incredible on-line resources got a name for this friendly flying invertebrate.

The sparrows still form mobbing gangs of eaters; one such group included a pair of yellow hammers. I remember the male calling repeatedly from the hedge alongside the garden last year. Yellowhammers are very vulnerable to predation by the corvid family that is rooks, crows, jackdaws and magpies. Fledging success for yellowhammers is directly related to invertebrate abundance near the nest site. When corvids are present the Yellowhammer will make fewer provisioning visits, this slows the growth and condition of the chicks, reducing body size and life span. A recent study showed that food availability enhanced by wide headlands and other measures may actually prove more effective than corvid control. For our yellowhammers I need to plan a little insect enrichment for healthier and longer lived broods if I wish to go on enjoying their glorious song.

The days are warming and I will shortly be back outside again, camera ready, and hopefully recharged to cope with the on coming freight train that is Spring proper!

Pete Lambert, 2011