Wrekin Forest Volunteers

Nature Notes - February 2012 by Pete Lambert

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:17:00 +0000

Just when I thought the winter was about to pass by in a gust of wet winds and swirling damp fog I awoke to find the garden decorated with a fine filigree of ice. A week ago we had sat in a bird hide sheltering from the drizzly attentions of the low cloud that had lain duvet like across the Pumlumon mountains. The object of our vigil, the Red Kite , or we hoped hundreds of kites as optimistically promised in the leaflet! Nant yr Arian is a Forestry Commission centre, an innovative building hosts a cheap, clean café and is the starting point for trails designed to please walker or off road cyclist. Each day throughout the year one of the Ranger team puts out raw meat scraps to attract the iconic Red kites to feed and enjoyed as they land and soar up and away once full.

The red kite represents the most successful reintroduction programme in the world. The UK population had been reduced to just two pairs by the late 1800’s, hiding out in remote mid Wales valleys and therefore making them extinct in England and Scotland. Last century captive breeding programmes were able to provide kites for planned release in Mid Wales amongst other locations. The Red kite though well known as a scavenger from Samuel Pepys description of the birds cleaning the filth ridden streets of Restoration London of offal and other detritus, also hunt rabbits and other prey. The bird soars buoyantly, its head and tail hang down slightly in flight and the characteristic forked tail constantly twists to help it maintain position. After 45 minutes of waiting since the bait had been cast and 5 tantalising glimpses of the kites wheeling away without landing just visible in the thick gloop of cloud, my young companions tummy began to rumble and we left the hide. Stopping occasionally to look back just in case the kites had noticed we had gone and swooped down in a russet swarm to gulp down the morsels, but no, and satisfied with the ghostly glimpses we both agreed to come back on a brighter day.

With the trees completely shorn of leaves identification is down to the subtleties of bud, bark, form , size and location. One little tree that gives itself away quite easily in the winter is the Crab apple. Piled at the foot of most Crab apples during the colder months we can find the yellow, hard fruits. Bitter and sour to the taste but they can be turned into the most grown up jelly for breakfast toast. The Crabapple’s scientific name is Malus sylvestris which means ‘apple of the woods’ and this small tree which grows rarely above 10m can be found in oakwoods and along hedge lines. The Crab is the rootstock from which all our orchard varieties are derived, the leaves of the domestic apple are usually wooly or hairy backed whereas the petioles or leaf stalks are hairy on the crabapple. My favourite Crab can be found on the flanks of Caer Caradoc, near Church Stretton, and in May a walk there will be rewarded by a profusion of white blossom. Closer to hand there are a few on the A5 and many in amongst the jumbled woodlands of Llanmynech and closer still the homebound hedged lanes play host as well.

The Small tortoishell butterfly upstairs battered against the window, whilst the Small tortoishell downstairs created a subtle lightshow by flying around inside the lightshade. These hibernating adults had risen too soon, the nettles have not begun growing again and sadly I think the gently lengthening days and our central heating had summoned these sleepers prematurely. Snowdrops have been noted and the radio had spoken of the first daffodils being sighted. Hard times are still to come though and the loping fox on Grimpo Lane spied earlier this week will be working hard to find food to keep him going. But for nature watchers this is the time of year to look out for those coming signs of Spring, so happy wildlife watching, fond regards, Pete Lambert.

Nature Notes - January 2012, by Pete Lambert

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:12:00 +0000

The road conditions have been dreadful and my journey slowed a number of times by broken taillights and emergency vehicles. The buzzard was unperturbed by the craning drivers as she pecked away at the road traffic victim, standing erect between tugging bites of her curved beak, talons pulling down on the lifeless body. The vixen or dog fox had probably perished the night before and become sustenance to a sharp eyed gourmand. Buzzards are usually seen circling lazily on high or perching on a lamp post, telegraph pole or handy tree look-out. The buzzard has soaring wings, long, broad and deeply cambered for maximum lift. The deeply slotted ‘fingers’ at the wing tips smooth out turbulence and the full tail gives manoeuvrability, stability and lift. A glide can take an individual birds speed up to 70 or 80 mile per hour and combined with excellent eyesight makes the buzzard a very successful predator. In fact a buzzard can discern detail eight times more sharply than a human. The fovea, which is a part of the retina, has one million cells compared to only 200,000 in man. Occasionally other birds will mob a lone buzzard, on most occasions the bigger bird will fly on unhurriedly to out distance its tormentors but sometimes it will flip over to meet its enemies with its powerful talons. My reflections came to an end as finally the traffic moved again and she slipped out of view.

An early Sunday ramble took me around Llanmynech and the little fields and paddocks of Llynclys Common. The incredibly varied habitats make for a constantly changing scene as I felt the weakened daylight try its best to lift the gloom and possibly the temperature. I followed a narrow path up between a wire fence and straggly hedge, not being in a hurry I paused to take in the sudden cacophonous pinging around me and found myself surrounded by Long tailed tits. The small pink tinged body a counterweight to the characteristic extended and slender tail. As we know they form up into mixed flocks with other tits, but invariably the long tailed tits will feed at the highest level of the group. But today hidden, well nearly, was an even tinier delight. Europe’s smallest bird is the Goldcrest, a lively, fearless and very handsome bird and there but two feet away was a gorgeous example. The crest is a deep orange bordered both sides by successive stripes of yellow and finally black. During courtship the crest spreads and rises, male behaviour can be very aggressive and fights to the death have been known between rival males. The Goldcrest favours conifers, slinging its intricate nest by ‘basket handles high in the evergreen crown. Harsh winters can depress numbers of this little bird very drastically but they have so far always managed to return.

The bare armature of the woodlands in the winter make a bird watch walk so much more rewarding than a stroll in the cloaked woods of late summer. My final treat of the day came in an unfamiliar part of the patch, a mixed gaggle of birds fled into the upper limbs but a group of three downward pointing Nuthatches hung around to give me a grand view of their sleek profile. The Nuthatch can be a regular at the bird table and invariably will climb down a tree seeking food in bark crevices. The bird enjoys working out on a hazel nut or beech mast, jamming the tough outer into a split in a tree and hammering away with its ‘hatchet’ like bill. I like the smart colouring of field grey, keen black eye stripe and soft buff-hued belly, and today three of these distinctive woodland specialists.

The winter may be keen to drag its heels but while it lasts I am enjoying my clear views of our great British birds. Wrap up warm and venture out, walk off the festive excess and who knows what might be seen?

Happy wildlife spotting , Pete Lambert.

WuFuV’s Xmas Party in the Big Shed in the Woods

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 14:32:00 +0000

Our second annual WuFuV Xmas Party took place once again at Cherry's Cafe at the Green Wood Centre with fine seasonal fayre provided by Polly and her very able team. So much to eat and so little time!

Last year saw 10 of us for our first criggy get-together and this year we filled the hall with 40 of us which included a posse from The Friends of The Earth all adding to make a truly atmospheric and enjoyable evening.

After stuffing ourselves silly and drinking ourselves into nearby oblivion (or was that only me?) we had our entertainers take to the stage.

Graham treated us to an excellent poem which took the rise somewhat out of many members of the Wrekin Forest Volunteers and then Margaret & Steve did a similar one and I think we all recognised who they were referring to.

I thought both poems were so good they were worthy of repeating so below is Margaret & Steve’s offering…

The Motley Crew
By Margaret E Mitchell

All hail to our great leader,
He tries his best, but well
To keep control of this motley crew
He hasn’t a hope in hell.

There’s always somebody missing
When it’s time to be back on the bus.
Fossicking, bimbling about
It could be any of us.

It’s most likely the one over yonder,
In his shorts, scrambling round on his knees
Shaking the bushes for insects
With his white sheet under the trees.

Or is it the one up The Wrekin?
Bashing the bracken, fair cruel
With his trusty stick, he slashes about
Like d’Artagnan fighting a duel.

It might be the one who hates ivy
With a passion that’s fiery red.
He cuts through the stems in a frenzy
“Take that!” he screams, “You’re dead!”

There’s one who keeps us all smiling,
He merrily cuts with a swish.
He jokes and laughs while he’s working
Singing, “I know a song about this!”

We’ve got our very own ‘hawk eyes’
No creature too small will she miss
You’ll see her off in the distance
With a ladybird sat on her wrist.

We’ve also got a ‘Town Crier’
Who is usually so gentle and mild,
But when he cries “Oyez-oyez!”
He is suddenly scary and wild.

There’s one who goes missing from time to time,
He likes to wander off piste.
Once he returned, he was waving a bone
Saying “A-Ah! Gnawed by the Ercall Beast.”

The Bicker Twins are joined at the hip,
On descriptions they never agree.
“Look! I can see two spots on the wing,”
“Let me see, that’s not two, that’s three!”

There are some who like insects and moths
Some love spiders the most
Or fungi or rocks or Yorkshire Fog
There’s a lot to keep us engrossed.

Some plod quietly onwards
Others are ever so clever.
We’re intrepid and bold and brave
And turn out whatever the weather.

No task is too hard; we’ll chop anything down
Our code is ‘Never say never’
Are we zany, eccentric and totally mad?
Yes, but hey,
We just have the best Fridays ever.

Thanks Margaret - brilliant poem! Says it all really doesn’t it?! Unfortunately, the pic I took of The Bicker Twins didn’t turn out but hey… you got the most space in this blog post!

Graham was going to send me his poem but he’s sooooo busy at the moment he’s missed the post but hopefully, we’ll get another chance to hear it at some point in the future.

Rob treated us to an expose of life in the North East with an accent so broad it left some of us bewildered (or was that the drink again?). But through the Sunderland mist came many hilarious gems and pearls of wonderful wisdom. Well done Rob!

Penny and Nigel, dressed in traditional WuFuV garb, then gave us a very funny rendition of Henry and Liza’s ‘There’s a Hole In My Bucket’ ending with Nigel’s foot stuck firmly in the bucket!

I left my spot till last, hoping that everyone would forget, but alas they didn’t, so I did a little thing with paper balls and packs of cards called The Malone Mystery, a journey into mind manipulation which surprisingly, and despite several attempts to mug the results, actually worked!

Anyway… it was an excellent night with so much to talk about, so much to eat & drink, with a great time had by one and all. Thanks to everyone who attended to make this a very special party.
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Nature Notes from Pete Lambert - December 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:06:00 +0000

The kaleidoscope of autumn lasted for so long but finally the gold, yellows and reds mellowed into the muted tints of winter. The last few months have eased past with a seasonal drift of memory stirring moments. We exchanged a smile, a father and grandfather, I popping conkers into my jacket pockets, he filling a bulging carrier bag with the rotund glossy chestnut finds. I recalled that my own grandfather used to deliver the same weighty bag of knuckle cracking globes. The largest I selected as potential champions, and then proceeded to eliminate all chances of success by cork screwing the crudest hole for my bootlace!

Little used curtains are brought into to service now, shutting out the cold dark and revealing snuggled queen wasps in their folds. One large specimen turned out to be a German wasp, one of about half a dozen social wasps found in Britain. Their delicate paper nests will disintegrate over the next few months, the numerous workers die and a solitary mated female will sit out the winter ready to initiate a new colony in the spring. Its wings were neatly folded longitudinally along it s body and as I studied the striping I noticed that between its large eyes were three tiny ocelli. Ocelli are very simple eyes and can be found on many members of the ant, wasp and bee order, the Hymenoptera. In fact I went back to the three red tailed bumble bees I have found in the yard, and though hard to see amongst the black hairs of the head there were the three ocelli. I had earlier tried to identify their ‘pollen baskets’ mentioned in the guide book. Thinking that I would reveal a wicker structure on the bees back, it took a while to realise that the two lines of in-curved hairs on the rear legs would do the job of carrying the important food source back home.

It was not only the wasp and bees making for shelter at this time of year, our much loved seven spot ladybird has been found in profusion. Snuggled into dry cavities, hollowed plant stems and potting shed frameworks, our ladybirds do like a bit of company for the long winter hibernation. The brightly coloured hemispherical beetles have short, retractable legs and my favourite is the little Kidney spot ladybird with its black background and two crimson spots, found invariably but not exclusively in the forks of ash trees.

I have filled all the feeders, and joined the local network of feeding stations for the jumpy flocks of sparrow, goldfinch, chaffinch, coal, blue and great tit, jackdaws, woodpeckers and collared doves, eager to drop in at our back garden fuel stops. I still have not expanded my stock to include sunflower hearts and niger seed, but think I will, seems to work elsewhere in the village. We too are not immune to the visits of the sparrow hawk, this time powering past the gap in the hedge. The song birds habit of forming large flocks is a deliberate attempt to counter this threat, extra safety gained by extra eyes, most of the times this works but sometimes a sacrifice is made.

We have a garden corner given over to lost pets and other creatures. The most recent internment being a song thrush, the size and dart patterning on its chest distinguishing it from its larger relative the Mistle thrush. The Mistle, alive and well turned up a few days later to feed on the holly berries and let us all know who owned the tree. Our winter thrush visitors are also in the neighbourhood, Redwings and Field fares have flown in from the continent, to now move around the rough grasslands of the area, noisy and distinctive. Lapwing are also about, a lovely wobbly winged group took to the air to flash their white ‘armpits’ at me as I flushed them from their wet sward just below the canal.

The weather remains mild and maybe the harsh freezes of the recent years might be avoided, all the same nature will do its best to sleep, eat and above all survive the stark challenge of a British winter. For us the logs are in, woollies pulled out from deeper recesses of the wardrobe and our boots are ready by the back door.

Happy wildlife spotting and seasons greetings, Pete Lambert.
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October Nature Notes from Pete Lambert

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 20:32:00 +0000

Piles of premature shrivelled leaves have washed up in the corners of the yard as the dying lashes of Hurricane Katia made a mess of the golden turning of the season. A late summer tidy uncovered a common frog, the coils of chicken wire encrusted with weed had created a cool damp hideaway, the congregating slugs unwittingly gathering for their communal contribution to our frogs pre-winter fattening. In the coming weeks our frog will search out a more permanent hibernation refuge and I will need to be careful to leave well alone any likely piles of stuff.

Weasels, stoats, pine martens, mink and otter are all members of the Mustelid family. On a recent foray along a small brook south of Telford we found an otter spraint or dropping on a bridge pier. The dark faeces twisted at one end contained fish scales and bones, and smelt strongly of the same. Otters are notoriously difficult to observe but other members of the family can be seen more often. The polecat or polecat ferret on the Rednal Straight had not made it across the road and though dark furred, insufficient remained of its characteristic creamy masked face for me to be finally certain about its identification. Ferrets are domesticated polecats, tending to be much lighter in colour and lacking the distinctive Zorro eye flash. Enough ferrets have escaped into the wild and interbred with the native polecat to create an endless spectrum of variations in between, the so called polecat ferrets. Polecats are mainly nocturnal, though can be seen hunting prey such as voles, mice and frogs, and though usually solitary can gather in sociable family groups. Polecats have few natural predators though like mine they are often killed by cars. At this time of the year their fur, known as fitch, grows denser and paler and the family units break up for the winter. The polecat has survived centuries of persecution and now out of it Welsh heartland this nifty predator is on its way back.

The Fox seen at Elbridge will also be in a seasonal mood. As autumn progresses the family groups formed to rear and protect the young cubs break up. Sub adults may stay with their parents, whilst young males disperse; in rural UK this can mean distances up to 25 kilometres, in urban areas as little as 3 kilometres. Dispersal will end around Christmas, though in disturbed territories final settling may not occur until the following summer. Life expectancy is low for these wandering youngsters. The tendency to disperse has been related to the amount of grooming the cub received whilst within the family and aggressive behaviour towards the cub as the group moves through the year. Foxes can not only be seen active during the day, the leftovers from their meals can also be found. Neatly consumed duck carcasses with the primary wing feathers still attached or with the ends sheared. The female rat found dead on its back in the garden had been killed by a bird of prey the small wound at the throat not a foxes M.O. at all.

Whilst the local wildlife manoeuvres in small ways to anticipate the coming winter our summer bird visitors are far, far away! R. has been tracking one of five cuckoo’s satellite tagged by the British Trust for Ornithology. The tags are solar powered, fixed to the cuckoos during a ringing operation in the Thetford Forest and since released back in June the birds are now in sub-Saharan Africa. Clement, Martin, Lyster, Kaspar and Chris are the first cuckoos to be tagged in this way and you too can follow their progress at the BTO website http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking

Finally, trying hard not to miss the accelerated autumn we visited Nant y Frith woods near Coed Poeth on Sunday morning, and on the back of a gorgeous ramble I advise you all to take yourselves to your favourite woods too and kick up the dried pages of another summer.

Happy wildlife hunting, Pete.

If you would like to share your nature notes my email is petewoodman@thewoods12.fsnet.co.uk

The Wrekin Wakes Sept 10th, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 07:48:00 +0000

The WuFuV's had a very busy weekend - no - I mean a VERY busy weekend!

But let's get the silly stuff out of the way first...

And not wishing to appear out of place by not donning a very colourful head garland...

The weekend started on Friday for the WuFuV's as we made our way to Forest Glen and then on to the Ercall's Quarry 5 to clear the areas of scrub, bramble, litter and pooey dog stuff in preparation for the next day's Wrekin Wakes.

Following a full day of that the WuFuV MuGs (for the uninitiated that's Wrekin Forest Volunteers Moth Group) had a moth night planned at Granville Nature Reserve so for some of us it necessitated a quick change, gathering up of moth equipment, moth pavilion and a bite to eat in order to be on site an hour before nightfall - but we all made it and the fact that none of the 27 keys given to me opened the main gate to the reserve didn't really matter at all!

We had a contingency plan - we headed for the furnaces where I've always wanted to run a moth-trapping. Incredibly one of the said 27 keys did in fact open the gate to that part of the reserve so it all fell into place really and in no time at all we were ready and waiting for the arrival of those little fluttery things of the night.

Enter Tony first though, flapping his arms to demonstrate to newcomer Becky how moths prepare for flight!

Or was that when we were getting ready to do the okey cokey? I forget. Margaret and Steve certainly seem to be up for it - oh... by the way you two; we made it for the Amen Corner/Searchers gig Saturday evening too - didn't spot you though!

Anyway the moth night passed all so quickly as we had to leave at midnight to be fairly fresh for the following morning and what in future years, I'm sure, will become a famous gathering of cheerful souls...

The Wrekin Wakes

There was a definite happy and somewhat nostalgically 'hippy' feel to the day

There was so much happening with 4 live acts on stage throughout the day including the wonderful harmonies of Luke + Cath, the superb voice and guitar playing of Claire Shaw, the great duo that are The Medicine Boys, The Vagabondi Puppets - great fun for all the little people and finishing with the very wonderful, the very tuneful and talented Day Level.

Luke + Cath

Claire Shaw

Day Level

And there was so much else going on too!

Did someone just hit the ball over the boundary?

No! That was the WuFuV's bug hunt, which started with just a handful of people and suddenly exploded! In the stampede to find what was in the undergrowth this little monster almost got trodden to pulp...

Ooops sorry - wrong pic - here's the little monster:-

This is an Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar which looks quite menacing with its big bold eye markings, but it is, of course, completely harmless. This little chappy was getting ready to pupate and will then emerge as the beautiful olive green and pink adult moth next spring/summer.

We also had our own fire-maker who demonstrated how to light a fire with a string bow which was amazing to watch. I actually resisted the urge to produce a box of matches.

We then had a tug-o-war but we had to make our own rope first! From grass!

We started with just two rows of grass taken from the roadside and then each side was twisted in opposite directions. Matt takes some time to think about this...

The two strands were then twisted together and we formed two teams and pulled!

Incredibly the twisted grass strands took all the strain of 8 people either side - some quite hefty blokes too. Great fun although the team I found myself on lost 2-1. Oh well - perhaps the WuFuV's should get a team up for next year and get some practice in. First though we have to work on the photo shoot for the forth-coming semi-nude (we're not doing the full monty) WuFuV Calendar.

Belly dancers! Let's not forget the belly dancers!

Bryony complete with little pink skirt takes to it like a fish out of water. Not sure about Pete though! Although to be fair he wasn't given a little pink skirt.

So an excellent day at The Ercall eventually drew to a close with the only rain descending right at the end when Day Well sang two songs about rain - well we definitely need the wet stuff! So any farmers out there who are worried about the lack of rain just employ the services of Day Well, stand them in the middle of your crop and they will summon up a heavy downpour just for your fields, thereby keeping your neighboring and competing farmers very worried!

I think everyone who attended would agree it was just a fab day and thanks must go to Pete Lambert and the rest of the crew for organising this superb event and massive thanks also to the organisations who funded it because without them it just wouldn't have happened. So BIG THANKS to Shropshire Hills, Defra, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the Rural Development Programme and Advantage West Midlands.

Looking forward to next year's Wrekin Wakes already! If you were there aren't you glad you were at the very first one? In 10 years time as the crowds build to 150,000 strong and Pete worries about taking the right key to open the gate we'll be able to say we were there. We were there at the start of it all. This could be the next - and better - Shropshire's own 'V' Festival.

Catch you all soon

Paul Watts

September Nature Notes from Pete Lambert

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:46:00 +0000

Nature Notes – September 2011

At long last the final camping gizmo was put back into the camping cupboard, and the warm mist of remembering took me back down the Anglesey lanes. Wall brown, Meadow brown, Gatekeeper and Red Admiral butterflies had risen as I pedalled past. Small delicate micro-moths took short hesitant flights when disturbed and a Small Copper butterfly had a narrow squeak with my rolling front tyre. This very pretty small creature enjoys flowery places though its larval food-plants are the undistinguished docks and sorrels. The Small Copper has dark chocolate hind under-wings fringed with a bright orange ripple and the forewings are a kind of negative with a striking orange centre marked with black spots and edged with brown. When the adult is in the early stages of its flying life it is a very tidy butterfly which cannot be said for location that day.

The untidy hedges of Ynys Mon do provide plenty of colour, the aged wrinkly leaves of Woods age are paired below spikes of tiny yellow flowers, bold purple ‘Hardheads’ of the Knapweed, Red Campion still in flower, flaming nodding spikes of Montbretia [a man made hybrid though to my delight this was everywhere], button blooms of rich yellow Tansy and green rosettes of what at a glance looked like Rusty back fern added depth to the hedge plant parade. The hedge shrubs of hawthorn or blackthorn invariably grew on top of banks or loose dry walls inter-filled with soil. There were none of the unbearably neat, flailed and tamed hedges here, but an older, wilder and unruly network of field divisions.

I was on my way to Cemlyn Bay to visit the Tern colony, apparently the third largest Sandwich tern colony in the UK. Terns like to roost and breed on shingle beaches and here at Cemlyn an artificial shingle ridge has been maintained by the North Wales Wildlife Trust and the National Trust. I had not seen a tern colony before and heard it first before seeing the busy thin winged birds feeding. Arctic Terns have reddish beaks and a neat grey, black and white plumage. Sandwich Terns are our biggest resident tern, my best views were of individuals returning from the open sea with a fish clasped firmly in their black and yellow tipped beak, a rakish crest clear to see, flicking cavalier like from their aerodynamic heads. Around the lagoon Oystercatchers hung around, their simple black white body pattern and bright red-orange beak reminding me of the bad penguin in The Wrong Trousers. A solitary Dabchick or Little Grebe pottered around another pool close by, with the ubiquitous Coots in the far distance.

The coast is a harsh place for plants to survive, adapting as they must to inundation by salt water, coated in briny spray or blown flat by unrelenting winds. On the banks and salt marsh flats I encountered the sea hardened cousins of our milder local plants. Sea mayweed, tall bobbly spikes of Sea Arrowgrass, the maritime Rush and the rubbery Spear leaved orache were easily found. Each subtly evolved to cope with the stress imposed by saline exposure. One of our commonest groups of native plants are the plantains, tolerant of a wide variety of soil types and trampling, they are found everywhere. Out of the six UK plantain species I found four together, Greater, Ribwort, Sea and Bucksthorn plantain. The last two very much associated with coastal locations and surprisingly main roads and motorways, the connection being salt in this case winter cast rock salt. Each plantain has a rotund spike of very tiny flowers best appreciated with a hand lens, that day they were shyly at their best.

Much of bays history as a wildlife site is tied to the story of a wealthy eccentric bird enthusiast, Captain Vivian Hewitt who first came to Cemlyn Bay in the 1930’s. He constructed a dam and weir, replacing tidal salt-marsh with a large and permanent lagoon which he intended as a refuge for wildfowl. He also had a scheme to nurture an area of woodland within the grounds of Bryn Aber, his home, to attract smaller birds. To this end he began construction of an imposing double wall, which was intended both as a wind-brake for the trees, and a means for observing the birds – the gap between the two walls had viewing holes. After Captain Hewitt’s death the house was left to his housekeeper’s family, but the walls themselves remain, and lend the site its mysterious, even foreboding presence. I enjoyed and treasured my day at Cemlyn and only yesterday did I clear away the last dried stem of rush, plucked and tucked in a forgotten pocket till now.

Happy wildlife spotting, Pete.

If you would like to share your wildlife encounters please feel welcome to email me at petewoodman@thewoods12.fsnet.co.uk

Grimpo Nature Notes from Pete Lambert

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:52:00 +0000

Nature Notes August 2011

I thought it was but doubted my gut reaction. The Village Shop hanging basket lush with bright flowers had a visitor, as I approached it dropped and whirled away. A few days later I received an email confirming the sighting of a Hummingbird Hawk moth in the area. This attractive moth will quite literally hover in front of flowers to feed, its wings beating so fast they make an audible hum.

I had first encountered this migrating marvel in Kent, then as now it had been attracted to an over flowing hanging basket. I was very excited by this exotic creature, I did at first think it was a humming bird my only reference material being the BBC! This very swift flying moth is actually often reported as a hummingbird. The orange brown hind-wing, together with the black and white on the abdomen sides, which are usually evident in flight, can help with identification. It is most frequently seen in the southern half of Britain and Ireland, particularly coastal counties, though the distribution maps being produced as the result of Butterfly Conservation’s survey work has revealed sightings from as far north as the eastern Scottish coast.

The full range of the Hummingbird Hawk moth extends throughout Europe, North Africa, to India, Korea and Japan. The moth is most frequently observed hovering and flitting from flower to flower, such as those of buddleia and Red Valerian, although sometimes seen flying around the eaves of houses, and examining cracks and holes in walls, possibly looking for a resting spot. The caterpillar likes to feed on Lady’s Bedstraw, Hedge Bedstraw and Wild Madder. Butterfly Conservation have been monitoring the Hummingbird Hawk moth, you can add your own sightings by going to http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/sightings/1096/humming_bird_hawk_moth.html . There are many ways to record your sightings try out the website www.naturalshropshire.org.uk for wildlife records in our area.

The frantic cacophony of spring has hushed now, strong sunshine along the lanes draws out the Ringlet butterflies feeding hungrily on the bramble flowers, occasionally testing out a Dog or field rose bloom. A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly having laid its eggs on the nettles at the edge of the garden now basks on the lawn. Meadow Browns and Gatekeeper butterflies enjoying the long grasses of neglected corners of our local field network. In the evening micro moths and their larger friends visit such as the Bee moth Aphomia sociella. Bee moths are sexually dimorphic, which means that the males are more brightly coloured and patterned than the females. Like some other members of the Galleriinae tribe, the larvae feed on the comb inside bee and wasp nests. We have a set of hives in the copse close by which is worrying though the more serious pest of beehives seems to be the Wax-moths. One of a number of natural causes of concern for our endangered bee friends, though fortunately we cannot include bears in this country, well at least so far!

Despite the bits and pieces hanging in the window she had not seen it and the collision was fatal. The female blackbird possibly avoiding another danger had not been able to see the glass and now we were solemnly burying her in the corner of the garden reserved for wild or domestic animal friends at the end of their free wheeling days. Earlier that week though we had been spooked on a late evening cycle by a barn owl, very much alive, gliding across the road in front of us and very skilfully negotiating a rhododendron thicket, perching briefly before silently moving on.

Our cycling preparations were for a longer trek which took us alongside two other perching specialists, firstly a Stonechat male on the moors above Llangynog, characteristically atop a hawthorn shrub calling out to its mate. Secondly at Maesbury a Reed bunting cleverly swaying atop a flag iris leaf contemptuous of the breeze pushing him to and fro. Many birds give their names away by their behaviour; careful observation can eliminate an insecure identification in favour of the correct one. So it was that I had been given a lift home and could without endangering my usual passengers look very closely at the bird as she flew in front of us, very low swooping flight, powerful and finally a tight dive up and down the back of the hedge. The dark brown plumage and barred tail combined with this distinctive flight gave us the lovely bird of prey the Merlin. The Pied wagtail and singing Yellowhammer both enjoy characteristic calls and habits making them great birds to watch and enjoy, and finally our first Goldfinch to the table, must be the new mix in the feeders, must top them up and put on the kettle!

Happy wildlife spotting, Pete.

If you would like to share your wildlife sightings please email on petewoodman@thewoods12.fsnet.co.uk , thanks
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Devil’s Dingle Moth Night

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:27:00 +0000

What a great night July 8th, 2011 turned out to be!

Our second trip to Devil’s Dingle was a fine, mainly dry night with just a light breeze, the temperature dropping down to just 13.5 deg C and a light shower at around 3am - not that we really noticed that, tucked up as we were in our sleeping bags then, but come dawn we were emptying the traps and a busy time it was for the three of us who remained all night.

And if you’re wondering what the opening pic is all about - it’s not actually an eerie-looking UFO about to descend on the unsuspecting clan of moth-ers with the threat of possible abduction and integration into an alien society - oh… it’s amazing what imaginative thoughts grab you in dark and remote places very late at night! No… it was in fact a glow worm - one of 2 we found not far from one of the traps. A search in the vicinity, however, gave no further records but a useful addition to this wonderful Wildlife Site.

But moths we had galore. Having finally identified her last remaining specimens Liz has added 4 more species to the already impressive count giving no less than 586 individuals across 85 species.

One of Liz’s additions was this lovely micro with the equally lovely name of Aethes cnicana. We didn’t manage a pic on the night so this one comes courtesy of the UK Moths website

We also saw Elephant Hawkmoth

Poplar Hawkmoth, Nutmeg

This rather striking Beautiful Golden Y also popped into one of my traps

And a micro that I haven’t seen before (in fact this was one of 9 moths new to me from the night). This is Nemapogon cloacella, otherwise known as the Cork Moth. The larva feed on various types of bracket fungus

Another first for me was the Brown-line Bright Eye not to be confused with the more common Bright-line Brown-eye, of course!

So an excellent night once again at Devil’s Dingle and my thanks go to Mary Thornton, Community Liaison Officer of the Ironbridge Power Station who kindly arranged access for the night staying with us to help set up and record in the morning.

Thanks also to Tony and Andy for their records and help with ID’s, not forgetting Keith’s sheet and torch which proved to be a very worthwhile addition with a nice white sheet spread out over his cars’ bonnet proving to be an excellent way to get up close and personal to the moths of the night.

Fellow WuFuV’s Stephen and Margaret also came along and were a great help with erecting the moth pavilion, traps and generally assisting with ID’s etcetera.

Last, but by no means least, for Liz’s contribution using Les’s old trap which for some reason seems to be bringing in far better results than Les ever had! Liz puts this down to the blue handles she’s attached. As that seems to be the only modification I can only assume that’s the reason for her success!

Catch up with you all soon

Paul Watts
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Apley Castle Moth Night June 24th, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:21:00 +0000

Report from Paul Watts

What a wet night last Friday was!

I think the rain started around 6pm and looked as if it was here for the night but I picked Liz and her moth-trap up at 7pm as arranged and had a brief conversation with Sean at Apley Woods on the way and I have to admit I was all set for cancelling the event. Although moths do still fly on a wet night the numbers are usually much lower and I just felt it might be prudent to postpone to another date.

However, when we arrived I discovered that Tony & Andy were already there with a trap and looking for a suitable tree canopy to set up. I had a wander around myself looking to see if it was feasible. It was still raining when I bumped into 2 people and asked if they were here for the moth night. They said yes! I later found out they were father and son Mike and Charlie here for their first moth night. A few minutes later I met a small group of umbrellas and discovered another happy band of virgin moth-ers sheltering under them.

And still it rained.

Graham arrived with his Heath Trap and more people emerged from the trees as I wandered around so I eventually decided on setting up in what I call the arena area of Apley Woods where once the grand Georgian Manor House stood. This seemed to be an ideal place to set up the traps under the trees that skirt the arena, also giving us space to set up 2 gazebo’s for shelter.

So that’s what we did. We set up a total of 5 traps running off 2 generators.

And the rain continued.

Within an hour we were ready to go and a brief under-the-canvas intro talk by yours truly led to us switching on the generators at around 9:15pm. Olly was on hand to bring a little extra heat to the evening with a much appreciated camp-fire just outside the gazebo’s.

It wasn’t long before the first moth appeared - an unexpected Light Emerald that popped into Tony’s trap. This later proved to be the 2nd most trapped moth of the night.

And still it rained!

On a night where I thought perhaps just 3 or 4 of us might have braved the atrocious weather I was very pleased to see around 20 souls congregating in the gazebos hoping for the rain to stop. So, all things considered an excellent turn-out. No doubt, had it not been for the rain, the numbers would have easily doubled.

But… d’you know what? It was an excellent night. We sat in the dry (apart from anyone who happened to position themselves under the 9” gap between the gazebos!) telling stories and chatting, with Tony, Liz, Graham and Keith bringing in the odd moth either trapped or found venturing out to see what the lights were all about. And still it rained.

And who was the strange hooded dude who arrived complete with a very suspect light sabre? Or was it just a very bright shining lollipop?

Was it Graham I wonder?

What made the night even better though was the food and drink supplied by The Friends of Apley Castle. Thanks guys for looking after us all so well.

The whole event was funded by Telford & Wrekin Council’s ‘£££’s 4 Projects’. So thanks go to all, not forgetting Sean Thomas, of course, for co-ordinating everything so well.

The Wrekin Forest Moth Night at Apley Castle is always one of the highlights of the moth calendar for us and they get better every time. You see so much change here with the careful and dedicated management of the woods, pools and meadow that it can only be a matter of time before it is recognised as a true wildlife haven and receives the designation it deserves. For all who work and volunteer at Apley Woods the increase in flora and fauna shows you’re doing something right! More power to your elbows, legs and backs!

And still it rained.

By midnight most people had drifted back home and then at around 12:15am the rain finally ceased (although it returned through the night)! Shortly after the witching hour the moths started to arrive in slightly higher numbers.

A lovely Peppered Moth dropped by

along with one of my favourite micro-moths - Agapeta zoegana

A couple of Snouts also made an appearance

along with a Clouded Silver and a Brimstone Moth



One of the traps at around midnight

Around 1am Liz and I retired to our tents whilst Olly tended to the dying embers of the fire. As is always the case I find it very easy to sleep under canvas drifting off within a few minutes and waking around 6am to find Liz sitting by the stoked-up and rejuvenated fire. “What are you doing?” I asked. She replied “My tent was leaking so I’ve spent most of the night out here in front of the fire!” I think you’d better invest in that new tent Liz - your beach tent is just not up to protecting you from anything other than the sun and we didn’t see a lot of that!

We opened up the four remaining traps and were surprised to find more than what we expected with a total, including Tony’s trap which ran till around midnight, of 114 individuals across 28 species. Numbers were obviously down from previous years at Apley (800 and 400 approx) but it was more than we hoped for so a good result and an excellent night spent in convivial company and topped off with an excellent breakfast of bacon, sausage and egg butties at Rosemary and David’s. All other trappers were off to Prees Heath early in the morning to watch the Silver-studded Blues emerging so it was just Olly and me who partook of this superb feast. Thanks again you two! You’re the best!

The Top 10 moths of the night were:

Heart and Dart        35
Light Emerald        14
Uncertain        14
Large Yellow Underwing    9
Garden Grass-veneer    6
Eudonia truncicolella    6
Scoparia ambigualis    5
Peppered Moth        3
Double Square-spot    2
Snout            2

If you’d like a copy of the full list of moths you can download it below and if you’d like to see pics and short info of the moths you can use the search field using either the Code Number or name at UK Moths

Click here for spreadsheet:-

Excel File of Moths trapped

Before I take my leave just a quick mention of Apley Woods’ new website which is looking superb at the moment and I know Sean and his team have loads of ideas to implement which can only make it glow even more. Take a look around - there’s lots to get involved with here!

Apley Woods Website

Paul Watts
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Prees Heath and Whixall Moss

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:07:00 +0000

Report by Keith Fowler

Liz, Graham and I travelled to Prees Heath to view Silver-studded-blue emergence, and to Whixall Moss to view Large heath, Argent and Sable and White-faced darter. We only saw one of these targets but we had an enjoyable day!!

It was cool, damp and breezy as I collected Graham from home and Liz from Apley Park where she had spent a wet night moth trapping. At 8am we arrived at the Butterfly Conservation site, Prees Heath, where we met Stephen Lewis, the warden and about six others who had turned out for the guided walk.

Although the rain held off for most of the time we were there it remained cool and breezy which was bad news for emergent Silver-studded blues but good news for viewing the emerged blues as they were still roosting which made them very easy to view.

Stephen pointed out several places where the moths were roosting. Eventually we got our eyes in and were able to locate them for ourselves.

After 90 minutes or so of searching for emergent butterflies we abandoned our search. So our first failure! It was not a wasted journey. We had the chance to get close to around 50 Silver-studded blues; we found other larvae – Mullein and Burnet; and saw very recently emerged Chaffinch chicks.

Failure number two occurred before we left Prees Heath when Stephen let Graham know that Argent and Sable were no longer flying at Whixall Moss. Also it had started to rain so we visited the local Transport café to decide our next move.

Refreshed by tea, coffee and excellent bacon sandwiches we travelled on to Whixall Moss, excellently navigated by Graham (apart from a rather dodgy short-cut).

There is quite a long walk to get from the car park to the moss along a well vegetated lane. At the start of the lane we were greeted by a couple of Swallows who posed for photographs. Here is one of them:

The lane yielded lots of butterflies, mainly Ringlets, and a few moths. I heard a Grasshopper warbler. As we watched the Ringlets one disappeared as it was grabbed in mid-air by a speeding swallow. We were in for a good session … or so we thought. When we got to the area of the moss it was blowing a gale. A passing bird-watcher told us that it was too windy for Hobbies and there was not much about. Such a gloomy forecast never deters the folk of WFV.

He was right, there was not much about, but, there was not ”nothing”. There was one blue damselfly but no dragonflies – so failure number three.

As we walked along Liz pounced and caught a Large heath – SUCCESS. Eventually we saw about half a dozen of these butterflies.

As we made our way back Liz pounced again and captured this moth

A Purple-bordered gold, a Nationally Scarce B moth (id confirmed by Tony Jacques).

After a late lunch by the canal we returned home … and the sun came out.
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Randlay Valley Moth Night June 10th, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 09:43:00 +0000

937 Agapeta hamana

The second meeting of our moth nights run by the Wrekin Forest Volunteers Moth Group (affectionately known as The WuFuV MuGs (a tad difficult to work out I know and somewhat tenuous but once said a few times, it rolls off the tongue quite nicely)).

A cold (min 7 deg C at midnight when we packed up) but dry night, meant for few moths in the traps although a number of species were observed around dusk flying in the meadows. I potted up and ID’d the above micro Agapeta hamana along with over 20+ of one of the more common grass veneer micro’s;
Crambus lathoniellus

As the sun started to set over the tree-line and with a plethora of song birds singing their evening lullabies Mark and Lydia obviously overcome with the ambience of the event burst into a slow waltz, skittling a surprised Keith to the ground. You can see why Lydia is so attracted to Mark though; he has a light shining out the top of his head! Now where can I get one of those? Aha… I’ll ask new kid-on-the-block Paul Fallon - he has one too!

As dark slowly descended, our 4 traps and Keith’s infamous sheet and torch were completely underwhelmed with moths! In fact there were very few, although there’s no telling how many would have been around after midnight. My guess is they were all waiting in the trees and grasses for us to leave! And where was Lizzie when we needed her?

I’m still working on the final count and ID’s but with the early evening observations and the traps-count there were over 80 moths including the first signs of yellow peril with a couple or so Large Yellow Underwings and a Peppered Moth made an appearance in my actinic trap too.

We were also joined by a couple of other newcomers Jessica and Marianne who popped in on Graham’s invitation to see what we were doing and why we do it. They’ve been working with the Green Gym on various nature reserve projects including helping to build the new steps on the Randlay site, but this was their first moth night. Hope you weren’t put-off too much by the antics of some members of the crazy gang and hope to see you both at the next one at Apley Woods on Friday, June 24th.

Eleven of us appeared on the night including County Moth Recorder Tony Jacques who no matter how I try to surreptitiously take a photo or two always seems to spot me. Tony, by the way, despite his fame (a reserved celeb), always shies away from the limelight and hates having his photo taken. Whoops! There I go again. How do you rub things out here?

I’ll publish the final count of moths once I’ve collated everyone’s results: Keith, I have your ONE record, Les, still waiting confirmation of your THREE was it?, Graham I think had FOUR and Tony/Andy - are you submitting your usual 3 pages even though you didn’t have a trap? How do they do that?

Catch you all again soon

Paul Watts
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Grimpo Nature Notes from Pete Lambert June 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 05:51:00 +0000

I have never been sunburnt this often in April in my whole life, even whilst working abroad. The driest April possibly since records began ended with a wet and windy welcome to May. I have tried a little harder to take note of the timings of things, our barn nesting swallows reappeared on 21st April, rebuilding their nest and bombing the sheltering laundry beneath with mud and droppings. On the 25th April my first St Marks flies droned along the lanes, [ punctual this year as they are said to appear on St. Marks day which is the 25th April!], legs hanging untidily beneath their black clumsy bodies and on the 28th April Maybugs or cockchafers loudly crashing into the backdoor.

Phenology is the study of naturally reoccurring events such as the flowering of plants and the appearance of migratory species. The murmurings are that this year the floral spring displays are at least two weeks early, certainly the bluebell in the woods and the hedgerow garlic mustard are beginning to go over all too soon. I felt that this year had been a good year for violets though a friend pointed out that with such good dry weather I had probably been outside more often than usual in April. Regardless of whether there were more or less this delightful low nodding blue flower was cherished on grassy verge and woodland path-side all the same.

An awkward path lead us up into the thick woods past brooding low yew trees beneath one of which was the carcass of a badger cub just feet away from a very active sett. I was intrigued even turning over the corpse to reveal a burying beetle making the most of the opportunity. Badger cubs have a clandestine existence for their first year, spending a lot of time underground, virtually ignored by the adult members of the clan. Adult badgers never initiate play, it is always the cubs that provoke the grumpy grown ups. A third of all badger cubs do not survive longer than 3 months, many are sadly the victims of infanticide by females other than their mothers, the corpse being dragged to the surface. I can only guess that this was the fate of this youngster.

It is the fate of many other mammals also to be prey items in the diet of a successful predator. Whilst following the footpaths through a local Estate I was admiring the collection of stately ancient trees, big, gnarled, long limbed living monuments. Another Estate that I visited a few weeks before had been felling their ancient trees for firewood, shame on them, that’s what coppice and plantations are for. Back to my walk, one of these trees had been rendered by time so it was hollow and pocked by holes, looking up I could see lots of twigs and stuff, and to my delight on the ground Barn Owl pellets. The pellets are the regurgitated remains of the owls meals, a matrix of fur, feathers or both which contains bone fragments. After soaking the pellet it can be teased apart to reveal the identity of the bone owners. I took home three pellets, in one the skull, jaws and limb bones of a Wood mouse or Yellow necked mouse , though more likely to be the first. The other pellets contained the bony remains of a House mouse and a Field vole. The jaw sizes are different, the teeth of the mice are vaguely similar to our molars but the vole teeth are distinct in being arranged as a zig-zag. Much can be learnt from the study of owl pellets, kestrels and other birds of prey leave them too, on the simplest level I now know that the three mammal species are found locally and even better I may even see a Barn owl with luck and good timing.

And finally the wildlife flyboat down by the canal is delivering again, a keen eyed friend has seen reed warblers, scimitar swifts, early damselflies, a Red Admiral and the pretty Common Blue butterflies. Keen-eared too he has heard a cuckoo in the Rednal area, I heard mine in a wet wood on the Weald Moors north of Telford and I hope you will also share in this simple early summer pleasure.

Happy wildlife spotting!

Pete Lambert

If you would like to share your nature notes please email me on petewoodman@thewoods12.fsnet.co.uk , thanks.

Blitzing Blists Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Mon, 30 May 2011 10:43:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Wed, 04 May 2011 06:02:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 08:13:00 +0000

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

A stroll around Granville

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:48:00 +0000

Hi everyone, as it was such a fab sunny spring day today I took myself off to Granville NR to see what the sunshine was enticing out.

A very pleasant couple of hours was spent rummaging around from way down in the undergrowth right up to tree canopy. Nothing particularly unusual but it’s just good to see the early flora and fauna isn’t it?

Coltsfoot of course is one of the first spring wild flowers - such a welcoming sight after yet another harsh winter.

Several leaf mines were around including these 2 on Holly and Honeysuckle:

I was hoping these would turn out to be micro-moth galleries but on searching the very comprehensive www.leafmines.co.uk website I discovered they were Diptera. The very common micro-moth gallery of Stigmella aurella was, however, abundant.

And talking of flies…

A pretty looking Green Bottle settled right in front of me and seemed to be saying “look at me, look at me!”

Amongst the birds I saw were Tree Creeper, Magpie, Coot, Robin, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit and Chaffinch.

A number of Scarlet Elf Cups were also spotted.

And when I got home I was pleased to see the Lily Beetles in the garden had survived the winter.

What was slightly disappointing is that I didn’t spot a single moth! Humbug! Never mind… Friday night is moth night!
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Ercall Dairypits

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:43:00 +0000

Blog post courtesy of fellow Wrekin Forest Volunteer - Keith Fowler

Pete got some money to permit the coppicing of the section of woodland at the Dairypits on the Ercall that we had started in Festive Mood for our Christmas day out. Unfortunately as the job had to be completed in a short time it was scheduled as extra work rather than the usual Friday tasks.

As we stared at the plethora of trees with our hand and bow saws at the ready some doubts about completing it did arise! But don’t say that Pete doesn’t look after us - we did have new saws and hard hats to help us.

However the chain saw gang arrived and we partitioned the area into the "beautiful handcrafted side" and the "cut ‘em down as fast as you can mechanically side".

We soon ran out of trees that we purists could handle so we had to yield to the “chain saw massacre” gang and go around clearing up after them.

After two weeks the carnage was complete and Pete decided that it was time for reinforcements so opened up the invitation to help to everyone in the group. This coincided with an unfortunate incident at Muxton Marsh that made Pete switch the Friday gang from there to the Ercall.

Some set about building a dead hedge for a deer fence whilst others collected the produce and created piles of logs for firewood, poles for the “proper” deer fencing, charcoal worthy lumps, fence stakes and rubbish. All of a sudden, we could see the wood from the trees! (Sorry tried to resist - but couldn’t.)

During our third week of work Domino the horse and his handler Phil came to clear the piles of firewood out of the coppiced area.

The Raby Estate sent their tractor and trailer to collect the wood. They estimated that we had provided about 9 tons of firewood: enough to heat a home for a year. Is that right - All that effort and wood for just one house?

The previous areas that we had coppiced had all suffered from the close attention of deer's’ habit of eating the emergent shoots which prevents the newly coppiced trees sprouting ready to be coppiced in future to complete the cycle. To combat this, deer fencing is to be erected around this new area and the one completed last year. This, thankfully, is being done by a contractor.

Unfortunately deer are canny creatures and will have no problem defeating this professionally erected fence so Pete devised a cunning plan - create an outer deer fence disguised as a dead hedge. At half the height that will outwit them!

So all hands to the fencing (apologies if I missed anyone – except Kevin who comes later):-

As different artists will paint the same subject in their own individual style so the same happened with the hedge. We ended up with a “charactful” hedge of different styles as the constructors brought their individuality to the task. See if you can identify the following five styles – I will give you a hint with one (but beware, I may be trying to mislead you):

In the process of coppicing the area we uncovered another mystery. A Pipe. Where does it go? Where does it come from? Kevin followed the pipe back from this area up the lane where there used to be a farm house so, perhaps it was a water pipe to the farm, who knows? Somebody will.

Being the Wrekin Forest Volunteers, we had fires most days and on the last day, when all was complete and we were patting ourselves on the back for a job well done we celebrated as only we can, with biscuits and baked potatoes.

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Nature Notes from Pete Lambert - Feb 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:18:00 +0000

Climbing steadily up out of the Ceiriog valley we aimed for the summit of Y Foel and planned to take our lunch break leaning against the ruins of the Biddulph Tower.

We passed from the sheep cropped grazing land and into heather moor, to be greeted by a red grouse call, a loud, far carrying, barking laugh. Red grouse droppings are fibrous, tubular and brown with one end tipped with white. They occurred in piles in little hollows between the ling, mosses and bilberry. This delightful bird is declining in numbers due to loss of heather moorland and possible disease. Land demand for forestry and expanded grazing intakes has significantly reduced our national store of high quality moor; the red grouse inevitably suffers too. Work in uplands across the UK has sought to reverse this trend, I wished them all well as we allowed the sun to set before strolling down into the dusk.

I knew the winter would end when a white tailed Bumblebee swung by whilst I was otherwise pre-occupied. It was the 5th February and combined with the white nodding clumps of snowdrops I had seen earlier that day I was reassured that spring was making its annual return. Bumble bees form a new colony each year; it is only the mated queens that survive the winter. My improbable aerial visitor was searching for a handy mouse-hole or tussock base to make this years nest. A set of wax cells to rear the next generation is wrapped in a ball of grass and moss. Bumblebees collect pollen in large baskets on their back legs, which they feed to their young. Since 1945 95% of our ancient meadows and pastures have been lost and alongside this shocking figure of floral bereavement we have seen the extinction of such species as the short haired bumblebee. I made a mental note to open up a new bed in the garden and finally sow the boxes of insect friendly wild flowers that I had bought at the end of last summer to do my bit for our bee friends.

Powerful full blue skies accompanied a number of final winter working days in the woods, racing through the wooding to avoid trampling the spring display. Our toiling reverie was broken by the crashing sprint of a pair of roe deer pursued by a black Labrador. Roe deer are grey brown in winter and when alarmed their rump fluffs up like a powder puff. The dog worked hard whilst the deer pronged their way easily into the distance, we stared slack jawed taking at this mesmerising sight.

As one of our co-respondents discovered this winter it is worth travelling to a wildlife hotspot.

Coed y Dinas is a purpose made wetland nature reserve and even on a wet Saturday offered up Tufted duck, Wigeon, Teal, Lapwing and a very handsome Goosander. The pools can be found just outside Welshpool, a visionary project of the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, intimate and with handy parking and a hide for birding in the dry.

In stark contrast to the delightful bobbing waterfowl earlier at their home a grim predator had made its deadly move. A reconnoitre by the Sparrowhawk in previous weeks paid off in a noisy pounce on a luckless blackbird. This sad loss was partially balanced by an infrequent visit of a Redpoll, also seen recently in a friends Shrewsbury garden. A result of the wide range of foodstuffs on this local bird table, sunflower hearts and Niger seed helping to draw in these pretty red capped residents, usually found feasting in seeding birch stands.

Winter I know has not left us yet but I sense a growing excitement as the spring signals its return, I think a visit to Coed y Dinas will help bring it all closer.

Wishing you happy animal adventures, yours Pete.

If you would like to share your wildlife sightings please contact me on petewoodman@thewoods12.fsnet.co.uk.

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Nature Notes - January 2011, from Pete Lambert

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:29:00 +0000

Limestone hulks drifted in and out of view, the heavy foggy shroud made spooky shapes out of the familiar quarried terrain, one of my favourite walking spots changed beyond recognition. To make the most of the slowly lengthening days I carry a torch so I can walk into the dusk. This evening the diffused grey light drew out the nights fall over a long hour. A pair of Bullfinches swung between the spiny tangle of the scrub, a white flash on the rump and the males hunting pink chest give the name away. The female sporting a finer pink breast, yet equally delightful, as they pecked at morsels on the dew dripped twigs.

A late frost gripped the ground, crossing the golf course I stubbed my foot on a rock hard molehill, I drew little comfort from knowing that he was warm enough below the turf. The frost causes soils to heave; poorly planted new hedging whips can lift completely and perish. Columnar ice separates the soil particles and breaks the surface. Rocks can split under the pressure of forming ice, cracking, spalling and falling to surprise the passing rambler. A late frost can rob the fruit bearing blossoms from our top fruit trees, much like the less popular habit of those Bullfinches, a hungry orchard visitor.

Amongst the hawthorns and whitebeams humped over with moss are the decaying stumps of cleared trees. Sulphur Tuft fungi display their fruiting bodies, the toadstools, whilst beneath the bark thread like mycelium feeds on the decomposing constituents of the once living tree. The fog left behind moisture wherever it trailed in particular I noticed sparkling drops on the lichens attached to the stems and twigs of the dominant scrub species, the blackthorn. Lichens are unique, a symbiosis of a fungi and an algae; a strange mutual interdependence. Over 85% of British lichen fungi only associate with just three algal species. They have lovely adjectives to describe their primary forms, crustose, foliose and fruticose, in other words crusty, leafy and shrubby. Lichens can grow on most surfaces, just have a look at your old shed, we had a camper that carried its own colony of lichens for company. Though difficult to identify accurately it is possible to separate the major different groups either by form or by growing surface. Lichens sustain themselves by absorbing nutrients, water and oxygen they need from rainwater or atmospheric moisture. This makes them very sensitive to atmospheric pollution. For our best lichens head high and west.

It has been such a tough winter and our garden feeding stations have been crucial to the local bird life. In fact a number of firsts have been scored as when food is unavailable in the wider countryside the bird-table has drawn in unfamiliar garden visitors. Bramblings, a large Chaffinch like bird has been seen in a number of gardens, Siskins too feeding on sunflower hearts. Reed buntings popped up in another garden along with Yellowhammers and Redwings. The Redwings stayed long enough to finish the berries then whirled off to find another rare feast. The top sighting has to be the 14 strong flock of Waxwing that burst noisily into one lucky householders view. The Brambling is a regular winter visitor, the Waxwing on the other hand is just plain irruptive, arriving from Scandinavia and northern Russia in large flocks and just as quickly dispersing. Starling like but pinkish brown, with a serious face and swept crest, the Waxwing is a striking bird close up. A Shropshire sighting is a valued treat as this unpredictable bird is likely to be encountered on the east coast, but then again who expected the minus figure temperatures of another ice bound winter.

Thank you for your wildlife sightings, if you would like to share your nature notes please contact me on petewoodman@thewoods12.fsnet.co.uk thanks, Pete.

Nature Notes - December - from Pete Lambert

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:34:00 +0000

Even the knobbly tyres of my friends Landrover failed to find purchase on the crumpled lumps of frosted slush. When he finally skidded back onto the lane I turned to inspect the lovely but daunting pile of logs and popped on my gloves. A half hour of happily tossing the split lumps noisily into the shed, scooping up a few strays and job done. Pausing I noticed the webs slung in varying patterns across nooks, stretched between beams and cleverly forming funnels of paralysing death in the gaps created by the old woodwork.

All spiders make silk, not only for web making but to cosset eggs or gift wrap prey. Amaurobius makes a lacy web in the crevices of window frames, crawling insects snared by the web are quickly grabbed by a leg and dragged to their death, paralysed and savoured later. The nursery web spider, Pisaura mirabilis, carries her eggs in a silken bag and on the point of hatching weaves a tent for her young, over which she will stand guard until they disperse through the shrubbery. Our friend the House spider creates a triangular web in a corner with a tubular retreat in the angle, it is this fellow that most commonly makes the family jump as it runs across the living room rug. Crab spiders save their energy, spinning no web, they lie in wait for prey and some species like the Wolf and Zebra spiders hunt. A Zebra spider can leap many times it’s own length holding down prey like Shirley Crabtree and then fangs out its curtains for the stunned victim.

The most beautiful constructions are the delicate orb webs, certainly a striking sight weighted as they have been by hard frosts, crystal suspensions shimmering in the cold morning air. Spiders have waxy hairs on their feet to prevent them sticking to their own silk. Some species like to pose in the centre of the web, others hideaway, one leg touching a signal thread, eager and quick when a tingle of food is detected. Intriguingly certain spiders include an extra weave called a stabilientum to strengthen the orb. Most spiders overwinter as eggs hatching as the days lengthen and the winter freeze is over. I know spiders make us jump and squeak but they are truly worth a little of our time and appreciation.

The roads have been capped in sheets of treacherous ice, even driving very slowly we still did a few dance moves during our comings and goings. A wood mouse sprinted from hedge to edge, briefly stopping in the lights as we urged him to complete his journey to a new hedge bottom haven. In very harsh weather they may slip into a state of torpor but do not strictly hibernate. The population hits a yearly low as the winter draws to a close. The average life span of the wood mouse is two years, normally less, but as the breeding season resumes the numbers recover. It is only a few animals that hibernate, the rest by hook or crook struggle through, and very occasionally we witness their frantic existence on the edge.

If you would to share your wildlife encounters please email me at petewoodman@thewoods12.fsnet.co.uk , take care and stay warm, Pete.
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Red Kites at Gigrin Farm - Keith Fowler

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 23:01:00 +0000

On the last Sunday of November Jackie and I went to Gigrin Farm near Rhyader to visit the Red Kite Feeding Station. The snow was on the ground; the sky was crystal clear and a wonderful shade of blue; the sun was shining ... and it was bl**dy freezing - who says watching nature is comfortable?

We arrived about half an hour before the feeding time to find the trees surrounding the feeding area packed with birds anticipating an easy meal. Nearest and boldest were the rooks and crows. Then a tree full of buzzards and a little further away several trees full of red kites. Kites were arriving in anticipation all the time.

When the tractor arrived with the food the kites took to the air; the others stayed where they were! As the food was distributed the sky was taken over by the acrobatics of the kites as they swooped down for the food. They take their food on the wing only landing by mistake. And they missed as often as they succeeded in picking up food.

Eventually as the kite feeding frenzy died down the rooks and crows moved in. The Buzzards never got a look in, nor did they try.

After the feed many kites settled in the nearest trees making spotting birds with wing tags and the leucistic ones easier.

The farmer reckoned that there were about 500 kites. Some travel up to 50 miles for this feed. The snow had prevented deliveries of meat so the kites were on short rations - probably the reason why the buzzards missed out.

The food is intended as a supplement to the kites' normal diet, it is not intended as a substitute for their natural diet. However, it does seem an artificial set up, but, I suppose, not really different to feeding birds in the garden.

Whatever your view on the rights and wrongs it was a fantastic sight, enhanced by the weather conditions. And one must marvel at the body clock of the kite that ensures it arrives at Gigrin at the right time!

I have posted some photographs in the album "Gigrin".

Clickety Click (Login or register to the WFV forum)

Keith Fowler
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Grimpo Nature Notes November/December 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:37:00 +0000

The turbulent gusts of November had finally stripped the leaves from the intricate architecture of their broadleaved woody hosts. For a brief while the discarded shapes stayed crisp and lifted easily in the lightest breeze, far too soon however dampened and trodden they began their return to the earth. I enjoy the autumn for its fleeting character, it’s finest moments being sublimely transitory. My best moment of this year’s transition was an early evening journey back through Shrewsbury, the orange sodium lights igniting an avenue of golden flaring Lime trees, whilst the road was covered in drifts of molten almost sparkling leaves.

The winter brings short days and new vistas. I was recently delighted to find that whilst chasing a sunset to get a better view, it was deliciously framed by an avenue of oaks, planted deliberately to enhance this natural wonder. The dark evenings have lead to other chance encounters, whilst driving through Maesbury Marsh our headlights picked out a Tawny owl, standing watchfully on a residents drive, foolishly I reversed to get another look, but of course he was gone. Driving on we illuminated a rat with its supper clenched firmly in it’s jaws, I know rats are a source of mixed feelings but this fella I am afraid to say was allowed to enjoy his supper and live another day.

Yet more tidying around the garden and before another frost cracks the lining I set about folding the paddling pool, unless we were contemplating ice skating of course! Staring out the window working myself up to dealing with the task I was taken aback to see a Grey wagtail working the edges of the remaining water pecking clean any bugs she found thereabout. The grey wagtail favours riversides; our crumpled plastic lookalike detained the bird only briefly. More regular if not insatiable visitors to our and other local bird-tables have included coal tits, nuthatch, long tailed tits, goldfinches and of course blue tits, the lucky few have also been treated to close up views of the Great spotted woodpecker. The great spotted woodpecker was among a clutch of sightings for a lucky cyclist recently whom whilst on a short jaunt down the canal sighted mute swans, heron, a pair of green woodpeckers, a kingfisher and a swarm of house-martins. [These being the ones that had got away from an eager Sparrowhawk hunting elsewhere in the area]

The longer evenings mean more time to sort out inside the house. Cleaning off a window ledge I scooped up the corpses of this years insect residents. A hoverfly, distinguished by the fused venation on the wings and wasp-like camouflage. A real wasp, Vespula vulgaris, one of roughly 11 species of social wasp found in the UK, it is only mated females that overwinter, the main colony like its paper nests disintegrating as the autumn turns to winter. A honey bee, a sad singleton of a close-by colony that can number upwards of 50,000 individuals. A crane fly, this one not much of a Daddy more a Diddly legs, though crane flies can range in size from mosquito titchy to the Tipula Maxima, which has a wingspan of nearly 3 inches. And finally an Ichneumon fly, parasitic, narrow waisted and glistening still.

The festive season is rushing towards my expectant young family, just to one side of all that glitters I can see winter wanders, chance encounters with hardy wildlife, wellies, fieldfares and redwings on the mosses, and fingers crossed I may get a glimpse of a twilight ghost as a Barn owl works the gloom of the winter day.

Happy wildlife spotting, Pete.

If you would like to share your wildlife encounters please email me at petewoodman@thewoods12.fsnet.co.uk
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Grimpo Nature Notes September 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 09:53:00 +0000

Wading through the piles of potential recyclables to clear a space for my split kindling in the log shed I paused a moment and glanced upwards. There in the old roof rafters the cups of this years broods remained stuck firmly in place. I briefly debated removing one to have a look but suspected I would be depriving a wood mouse of a winter snuggle pit.

As I write the swallows are limbering up for the long flight south, so we are not the only ones responding to the change of season.

Tidying the garden the frog gave us a start, his triangular head poking skyward from the water filled bucket, we knew how he got in but he was going to need some help getting out. Frogs only need pools to breed in, the rest of the year feggy, thick and tussocky grasslands will do, we flushed out a plague of the striped and spotted fresks when clearing a knotted patch of bramble. Our frog was carried carefully to the most tangled corner of the garden and gently slid back to freedom. Moments later a familiar nerve-jangling cry let us know that a toad had been found, this time in a watering can, for him a release spot near the veg. plot compost heap, bad luck slugs!

Adorning so many trees and woody shrubs are the long awaited fruits, the product of those delightful blossoms earlier in the year. Orange haws, rowan berries, red hips, elderberries and blackberries are steadily stripped from their stems by hungry birds. It is in the early autumn that the hideaway antics of birds following the annual moult come to an end. For the migrant bird the moult, a steady loss of old feathers to be replaced with new, has to be a quick process, a blackcap replaces it’s plumage in 35 days before embarking for the southern Mediterranean and north Africa. The resident Bullfinch takes its time over a leisurely three months.

Birds tend to avoid moulting during the breeding season, when food-stocks are low or whilst migrating, though there are so many exceptions as to defy simple classification. At a critical point during the moult all birds will experience an impaired ability to fly, and for some such as the willow warbler this occurs twice a year. The willow warbler spends its days in thorny scrub and consequently needs to revamp its flight kit more regularly. By now though our resident birds need to be fluffing nicely there is much work to be done as the temperatures drop.

Trying to make the most of the shortening evenings I headed out on the cycle, I liked the rustle of browned leaves on the road and gave my appreciation to a handful of late blooming wildflowers.

A sweet gang of Common Toadflax, also known as ‘Bunny mouths’, sent a yellow and orange peal down a grassy verge and will with luck still be showing off in early November. By the canal I encountered a number of Trifid Bur-marigolds, a scary name, I watched them for a while to check how firm rooted they might be before studying the small fire orange flower head. On the homeward leg a small powder blue patch of Harebell nodded from the hedge-bank, the Scottish bluebell. Contrary to my long held belief the harebell is not confined to the drier swards of the UK mountain districts but is found widely, avoiding damp conditions but held aloft on thin stems out of chalky or acid soils, lamp-like in a bracken forest or as mine were, dangling from the ancient grass banks of a raised field bounding hedge.

The end of summer is a slow affair, none of the urgency of the spring round of territory grabbing, display and procreation, but rather a gentler fattening up and hunkering down. The migrants will head off and our hardy residents will take up the sometimes unequal task of out-staying the winter. So after readying my log pile to keep the family warm I headed to the bird table topping up the nuts and seed to ensure this gardens feeding station was ready and waiting for custom.

If you would like to share your wildlife reflections please email Pete at petewoodman@thewoods12.fsnet.co.uk
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Extreme Moth-ing!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul e Watts) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:00:00 +0000

The night was cold. It was windy. And wet. Very wet. We’d chosen to do a moth night on the summit of Shropshire’s most prominent hill - The Wrekin!

September 10th, 2010 saw 4 intrepid Wrekin Forest Volunteers clamber aboard the Shropshire Wildlife Trust’s white Defender to drive to the top of the hill with all the equipment needed to set up moth-traps, small mammal traps and camping equipment.

Yep - we were there from dusk till dawn - or at least 2 of us were. Extreme moth-ing it may seem, but we were keen to find out what was flying up here at this time of the year. A similar exercise last year brought only a handful of moths but it wasn’t as cold then, or wet, or windy so maybe there’ll be nothing moth-ing at all tonight?! We’ll see.

So we set up camp attaching the Moth Pavilion to the jeep in an attempt to stop it from disappearing over the side of the hill in a gust of wind and secured our two small back-packing tents.

We were soon joined by Ian, Andy and Carl; the Ricoh Small Mammals team who with Pete Lambert placed several traps out in an effort to find out what mice, shrews and voles may be living up here. They were softies though - they were walking back down the hill later for home, hot tea and warm beds, returning in the morning to check the traps.

Keith brought along his now legendary moth sheet and torch which often attracts a few interesting species, not necessarily all moths. Graham also attended to help with ID’s (should there be any moths!) and to impart some of his wealth of local knowledge with us.

Moth and small mammal traps were set-up just as dark fell and an eerie mist descended casting weirdly huge shadows as we moved around the summit site.

Jenny (Telford Butterfly Group and Butterfly Conservation) climbed the hill with husband and dog to see what we were up to and helped when the generator died shortly after firing up. They pointed out that it might be something to do with the little breather-switch on the top that needed moving from ‘Off’ to ‘On’! How did I miss that? Thank you!

As predicted the bad weather kept most moths from flying but an Antler Moth popped in to see what all the fuss was about and somewhat later, after Graham, Keith and the Ricoh team had left, my first Autumnal Rustic of the year appeared.

Antler Moth

Autumnal Rustic

The gloom of the night moved in with yet more rain and stronger winds. Pete and I retired to our tents at around midnight and despite the foul night I managed to get a few hours sleep, faring better than Pete who struggled to push his way through the sound of rain and wind bashing the tents' fabric.

I was awoken a little after 6am with the sound of voices. It’s amazing the number of people who climb this most famous of Midlands hills from dawn to dusk and here were the first of the day.

It didn’t take too long to empty the two moth traps, identify and record the results:-

Large Yellow Underwing           Noctua pronuba            7
Antler Moth                           Cerapteryx graminis       2
Autumnal Rustic                     Eugnorisma glareosa      2
Lesser Yellow Underwing          Noctua comes              2
Silver Y                                Autographa gamma        1
Common Wainscot                  Mythimna pallens           1
Setaceous Hebrew Character    Xestia c-nigrum            1
Diamond-back Moth                 Plutella xylostella          1
Micro-moth                            Caloptilia betulicola agg 1

18 moths across 9 species with no big surprises but an interesting exercise nonetheless. Must mention that Keith had a minor success with his sheet and torch when a ladybird hopped on board.

Right on time at 8am the Ricoh lads returned having climbed the hill once more and with Pete did the rounds of all the small mammal traps

And amongst the inhabitants was this little chappie and I’m afraid I can’t remember whether this was a Yellow-necked, Wood or Field mouse but there’s obviously a few little mammals around up here.

Just time for a group photo and then a ride back down the hill again with a little delay caused by a tree that had fallen during the high winds of the night blocking the main path.

And I’m afraid I’ve no idea what was happening here but it certainly looks painful!

Catch you all soon

Paul Watts
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