The Naturalists' Notebook

The two Dave’s, Ron Crosby, Chris Butterworth and I headed over to Acrefair near Wrexham, Wales for the day. After alighting in the village we walked up Chapel Street through a small housing estate and continued along a country-lane called Bowers Road. Oxford Ragwort Senecio squalidus was growing on the side of a stone wall, a garden held Greater Periwinkle Vinca major and there was a field full of Common Comfrey Symphytum officinale. Fairies Bonnets Coprinus disseminatus were growing from a log beside the small stream that runs alongside Bowers Road and further up the lane was a most impressive Chicken Of The Woods Laetiporus sulphurous.

Chicken Of The Woods

Bird-life was quiet with only Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blue and Great Tit. We then heard the characteristic chattering of Greater Spotted Woodpecker chicks coming from the trees and tried to spot their nest hole. On a field a newly hatched Lapwing chick was being protected from a scavenging Carrion Crow by its attentive parents.

The lane edges were covered in a variety of plants including Meadow Buttercup Ranunculus acris, Hop Humulus lupulus, Greater Stitchwort Stellaria holostea, Red Campion Silene dioica,  Common Sorrel Rumex acetosella,  Broad-leaved Dock Rumex obtusifolius,  Garlic Mustard a.k.a. Jack-by-the-Hedge Alliaria petiolata,  Wild Strawberry Fragaria vesca, Wood Avens Geum urbanum, Tufted Vetch Vicia cracca, Dog’s Mercury Mercurialis perennis, Herb-Robert Geranium robertianum, Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris, Yellow Archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon, Ribwort Plantain Plantago lanceolata, Wood Speedwell Veronica montana, Cleavers Galium aparine, Crosswort Cruciata laevipes, Winter Heliotrope Petasites fragrans leaves, Spanish Bluebell Hyacinthoides hispanica, Ramsons Allium ursinum and Black Bryony Tamus communis.

We crossed a wooden stile and walked through a herd of Sheep, who immediately charged off with the intrusion, and reached the Bottom Reservoir where a female Mallard was swimming with a line of duckling in tow. Bugle Ajuga reptans, Water Mint Mentha aquatica and Parsley Water-dropwort Oenanthe lachenalii were growing at the water’s edge. We lunched in a meadow overlooking the Bottom Reservoir surrounded by Heath Bedstraw Galium saxatile, Cat’s-ear Hypochaeris radicata and Mouse-ear-hawkweed Pilosella officinarum and heard the call of a Nuthatch.

Climbing across a wooden stile and walking across another meadow we noticed a large number of Snipe Flies Rhagio scolopacea – there must have been a recent hatch, also a few Hoverflies Heliophilus pendulus, Eristalis pertinax and Syrphus ribesii. The Broad-leaved Dock Rumex obtusifolius leaves were infected with Dock Rust Puccinia phragmitis and one leaf had a juvenile slug sliming across it.

A muck heap beside a farm had some Inkcaps Coprinus sp. growing on it and beside the enclosing stone-wall was Round-leaved Crane’s-bill Geranium rotundifolium and Germander Speedwell Veronica chamaedrys with Common Dog-violet Viola riviniana and Salad Burnet Sanguisorba minor further along. We walked up the track beside Trefechan Brook to the Upper Reservoir where a bloke was fishing and Canada Geese were willing their crèche of 22 goslings down the bank towards the Reservoir. Large White Pieris brassicae, Orange Tip Anthocharis cardamines were on the wing and a few good insects in the vegetation: Wasp Nomada sp. Soldier Beetle Cantharis nigricans, Garden Chafer Phyllopertha horticola and Two-banded Longhorn Beetle Rhagium bifasciatum. Like other Longhorn beetles, Rhagium bifasciatum lays its eggs in dead wood, often using coniferous trees, where they bore deep, broad tunnels until they are ready to pupate after about two years.

Garden Chafer

The track continued through the coniferous Tyddyn-uchaf Wood where Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage Chrysosplenium oppositifolium was growing in a shady patch and we found two different Weevil species on Alder – one a metallic bronze colour possibly Phyllobius glaucus an arboreal species favouring Alder, the other a metallic green colour similar to the Phyllobius and Polydrusus Weevils usually seen on nettles.

Weevil Phyllobius glaucus

We exited the Tyddyn-uchaf Wood onto a patch of rough grazing land with scattered Hawthorn bushes and Apple trees and watched as a Buzzard circled and Raven croaked overhead. DaveB thought this would be a great spot for Redstart and as if by magic a stunning male flew from a nearby hawthorn and posed on top of a fencepost.

We passed a ruined building and were immediately out on the moors dodging the Tormentil Potentilla erecta growing on the track. We watched a male Kestrel hovering who flew off after being harassed by three Meadow Pipits. We could hear the calls of Red Grouse on the moor which appeared well managed for this species with swathes of Bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus running at intervals through the Heather. Common Cottongrass Eriophorum angustifolium and Mosses grew in the more boggy areas.

Moss with sporophytes  – the spore containing capsule on the end of a stalk

A male Black Grouse flew up from the edge of the track as we climbed higher. A few Reed Buntings were perched up, Cuckoos and Curlews calling and a Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus was flying around.

Cuckooflower

ChrisB was knackered and decided to retrace his steps. After a bit of deliberation the rest of us also decided we didn’t have enough time to continue across the moor and down the Eglwyseg into Llangollen so also headed back to the ruined building and returned towards Acrefair. Beside a stone wall we found the orange Nettle Rust Fungi Puccinia urticata causing swelling, distortion and discoloration of stems and leaves of Stinging Nettle Urtica dioica.

Nettle Rust

A boggy area held some fine Cuckooflower Cardamine pratensis and Green Alkanet Pentaglottis sempervirens was growing in profusion in a sunny spot beside another farm. As we continued down the lane we noted yet more plants with Lords-and-Ladies Arum maculatum and some late-flowering Primrose Primula vulgaris. I found some Red Pustule Galls on Field Maple Acer campestre leaves caused by the Gall Mite Aceria myriadeum. These are similar in appearance to the Red Pustule Galls on Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus leaves caused by the Gall Mite Aceria macrorhyncha which we also noted. Some Sycamore leaves were also affected by Felt Galls caused by the Gall Mite Aceria pseudoplatani.  

Field Maple Galls

We were amused as a Red-legged Partridge ran Roadrunner style through a herd of Sheep. All too soon we were passing the still raucous Great Spotted Woodpecker chicks in their nest hole and were back in Acrefair.

A wide photographic selection of birds, marine life, insects, mammals, orchids & wildflowers, fungi, tribal people, travel, ethnography, fossils, rocks & minerals etc. is available on my Alamy webpage

If you are interested in the wildlife of the North-west of England and would like to join the  walks and coach trips run by the Merseyside Naturalists’ Association, see the main MNA website for details of our programme and how to join us.

Today’s coach trip was to a new location for the MNA – the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Reserve Wheldrake Ings and adjacent Natural England Reserve Bank Island in the heart of the Lower Derwent Valley. These 390 acres of flood meadow bordering the banks of the River Derwent have been traditionally managed for Centuries; it is a Wetland of International Significance, a National Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Garden Warbler and Blackcap heralded our arrival allowing for song comparison for the beginners in the group. A huge Mayfly emergence had occurred and swarms of male were dancing around in the air hoping to attract a female. At least two species were noted: Dark Mayfly Ephemera vulgata – the spotted wings and the dark triangles on the upper abdomen are characteristic of this species of mayfly; Green Drake Ephemera danica – whose body is creamy yellow with distinctive brown markings on the segments.

Dark Mayfly dun

Dark Mayfly spinner

Green Drake

Mayflies were one of the many highlights of the day – another was the Banded Demoiselles Calopteryx splendens the metallic blue males numbering at least twenty with around six of the metallic green females seen. Other Odonata included a male Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella posed on a blade of grass – they are distinguished from the male Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum, that were also seen, by the U-shaped mark on the second abdominal segment separated from the segment’s narrow terminal black band. A few Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata females were noted and also Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans and a lone Emerald Damselfly Lestes sponsa.

Banded Demoiselle male

Azure Damselfly 

Out on the floodplain meadows I heard a distant Whimbrel utter its distinctive seven whistle call. Curlew were heard calling along with Cuckoo, Skylark and Yellowhammer and Pheasant.

The lush waterside vegetation along the path held a few molluscs identified by Chris Butterworth including the Common Amber Snail Succinea putris – which has a thin walled translucent shell often amber coloured and whose spire usually is very small compared to the huge apertural whorl and the Strawberry Snail Trochulus striolatus – which usually has five or six whorls in a flattened cone.

Butterflies seen included Large White Pieris brassicae, Orange Tip Anthocharis cardamines, caterpillars of the Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae on Nettle leaves, Peacock Inachis io, Comma Polygonia c-album and Wall Lasiommata megera. Moths included Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana and a Micro-moth Dave Hardy later identified as Glyphipterix thrasonella with its silver and black markings against a bronzy forewing. Its food-plant is the stem of Sharp-flowered Rush Juncus acutiflorus.

Small Tortoiseshell caterpillar

A pair of 14-spot Ladybird Propylea 14-punctata were seen mating and a 7-spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata was noted Other insects included Dance Fly Empis tessellata, Scorpion Fly Panorpa communis, Snipe Fly Rhagio scolopacea, Muscid Fly Polietes lardarius, Phantom Cranefly Ptychoptera contaminata, Hoverflies: Heliophilus pendulus, Leucozona lucorum, Tapered Drone Fly Eristalis pertinax and a more unusual looking Hoverfly with mottled eyes Eristalinus aeneus.

Polietes lardarius

Eristalinus aenus

Beetles included a rather nicely marked Wasp Beetle Clytra arietis, Red-headed Cardinal Beetle Pyrochroa serraticornis and a couple of species of Click Beetle: Athous haemorrhoidalis and the Wireworm Click Beetle Agriotes obscures.

Wasp Beetle

I noted a Cucumber Green Orb Spider Araniella cucurbitina feeding on a Fly – they are 5-8mm long and pale yellowish green in colour with a red mark under the abdomen. A Zebra Spider Salticus scenicus was in one of the hides and a Dark Stretch Spider Tetragnatha nigrita was sprawled out on its web in vegetation.

Dark Stretch Spider

We noted the bright orange Rust Fungus Triphragmium ulmariae which attacks the petioles and / or midribs of Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria leaves, causing swelling and distortion. Other Meadowsweet plants had smooth reddish rounded swellings on the upper leaf surface caused by the Gall Midge Dasineura ulmaria.

Triphragmium ulmariae

Another species of Rust Fungus Uromyces valerianae was found on Marsh Valerian leaves Valeriana dioica.

 Uromyces valerianae

From the Pool Hide we noted Mallards including a female with 4 ducklings, Coot, Moorhen, a male Shoveler, an unseasonal male Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck, pair of Mute Swans with 5 cygnets, Greylags herding a crèche of 4 goslings, Canada Goose, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Lapwings, scores of Swifts plus a few House Martins and Swallows, Sedge Warbler singing its scratchy song from the reedbed and a female Marsh Harrier which glided over.

Returning to the coach we caught up with those members who had visited Natural England reserve at Bank Island. Their sightings included – Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni, a Brown Hare Lepus europaeus leveret hunkered down on the path, a Whimbrel which was digiscoped by Barbara through Eileen Houghton’s telescope.

Whimbrel Photo by Barbara

On a less positive note were the empty bird feeders outside the offices of Natural England. “Null points” to Natural England!

Empty feeders Photo by Barbara

As a finale Seema Aggarwal had heard a Grasshopper Warbler reeling from scrub close by so a few of us raced along there. Amongst the notes of singing Garden Warblers, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler etc. an occasional reeling was heard by those whose acoustic range are still able to hear the high frequency Gropper song.

A wide photographic selection of birds, marine life, insects, mammals, orchids & wildflowers, fungi, tribal people, travel, ethnography, fossils, rocks & minerals etc. is available on my Alamy webpage

If you are interested in the wildlife of the North-west of England and would like to join the  walks and coach trips run by the Merseyside Naturalists’ Association, see the main MNA website for details of our programme and how to join us.

At last, a fine bright sunny day for a visit to Ness Gardens! As well as enjoying the fine collection of plants on display there was plenty wildlife to be seen. Growing broods of chicks were keeping the Blackbirds, Robins, Blue Tits and a Long-tailed Tit busy collecting juicy caterpillars.

At the main ponds a pair of Canada Geese were being protective parents of their three goslings, hissing at any visitor who approached to closely. The Coots were in an grumpy mood chasing each other round the pond. Single Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula and Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans were seen in the vegetation edging the pond along with a few Wolf Spiders Pardosa sp. and Ptychopteridae Flies which resemble a miniature Crane-fly with spotted wings.

Wolf Spider

Mayflies were dancing in the air over the ponds and Water Boatmen Notonecta glauca were doing backstrokes in the Wave Garden. A Buzzard circled and mewed overhead. A bloke mentioned that Crossbills had been seen in the pines in the Rock Garden – a wedding was occurring there though so I couldn’t check these out.  A colony of Mining Bees were digging holes in the sandy soil close to the waterfall and a Tawny Mining Bee Andrena fulva was also seen.

The sun had brought out the Butterflies with Small White Pieris rapae, Orange Tip Anthocharis cardamines, Peacock Inachis io, Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria – a pair of which I watched circling out 10m into the air in their mating dance and Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina. A Parent Bug Elasmucha grisea was a nice find – named for the female’s habit of standing guard over her eggs and nymphs to protect them from parasites.

Parent Bug

Various Flies were seen including a couple of Scorpion Flies Panorpa communis, a Dance Fly Empis tessellata – although Empid Flies are usually predatory on other Flies this one was taking nectar, Green Bottle Lucilla caesar and a mating pair of Yellow Dung Flies Scathophaga stercoraria.

Dance Fly

Yellow Dung Flies

Various Bees were buzzing around collecting nectar, favouring flowers such as Common Comfrey Symphytum officinale including Honey Bees Apis mellifera and Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum. Plenty of Hoverflies with Heliophilus pendulus and Eristalis species being prevalent, including the Bumblebee Mimic Hoverfly Eristalis intricarius which often has a white tail and always has a yellow scutellum.

Heliophilus pendulus

Eristalis intricarius

Whilst walking through a meadow area a bright scarlet red coloured Beetle flew in and landed on the stem of Ribwort Plantain. It was Pyrochroa serraticornis, a member of the Pyrochroidae Family whose adults and larvae are often predatory. It is similar in appearance to the Cardinal Beetle Pyrochroa coccinea but having a scarlet coloured head instead of the Cardinal’s black one.

Pyrochroa serraticornis

In the meadow I also found a female Green Dock Beetle Gastrophysa viridula and a couple of Spiders – Common Stretch Spider Tetragnatha extensa and a rather fine Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis.

Common Stretch Spider

Nursery Web Spider

Lots of Crane-flies including Tipula vernalis – one of the identification features is the light line that runs down the back of the abdomen, which is unusual because most other British species have a dark line.

Tipula vernalis

I also found a Common Earwig Forficula auricularia which was hiding in the leaves of a Nettle.

Common Earwig

All in all a great day with fantastic plants and insects!

A wide photographic selection of birds, marine life, insects, mammals, orchids & wildflowers, fungi, tribal people, travel, ethnography, fossils, rocks & minerals etc. is available on my Alamy webpage

If you are interested in the wildlife of the North-west of England and would like to join the  walks and coach trips run by the Merseyside Naturalists’ Association, see the main MNA website for details of our programme and how to join us.

Our last MNA coach trip to Cannock Chase was back in July 2009 so members were eager to return. A Garden Warbler and Willow Warbler burst into song from the car park bushes, heralding our arrival. We had a quick nose around the small visitor centre where a couple of display cases exhibited a taxidermist’s treasure trove of local wildlife including Nightjar, Black Grouse, Fallow Deer, Weasel, Red Fox, Adder, Common Lizard etc.

Scary Weasel

Outside of the visitor centre John Clegg identified an evergreen shrub as Pieris ‘Forest Flame’. A member of the heather family Ericaceae, the young foliage is bright red, becoming pink, cream and finally green.

Forest Flame

We set off on the blue trail across the heathland. Whitethroat burst into their scratchy song, Willow Warblers uttered their descending notes and a couple of Tree Pipits performed their parachuting aerial display flight. A flock of eleven Crossbills were gathered in a Silver Birch tree busy munching on the late catkins. A new tick for a number of members we cautiously approached closer having fine views of the blood red coloured males and more brownish looking females, the crossed mandibles on their silver beaks also visible. They eventually flew off to another stand of Silver Birches uttering a twittering flight call slightly deeper in tone than that of a Linnet. Cuckoos were calling and we found one perched in a tree below us giving great views – later two were seen in flight.

The heathland was covered in the usual heather and also the low growing scrub with pinkish flowers Bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus which is also known as Whortleberry, Blaeberry and Whimberry depending on which part of the UK you reside. Another scrub with evergreen leaves and pinkish white flowers was identified as Cowberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea.

Bilberry

Black Slug

Quite a few Black Slugs Arion ater, one of the brown –form variety were sliming their trails amongst the bushes. Plenty of evidence of Squirrels being around with nibbled pine cones found on tree stumps and other favourite feeding posts.

Nibbled Pine Cones

We ate lunch on the edge of woodland where some Alepo Pines Pinus halepensis were beginning to develop new cones. A Green Woodpecker yaffled away which was to be a feature of the rest of the day with approximately eight being heard – a couple of members eventually managed to see one but many didn’t and thought the Green Woodpeckers were mocking us with their laughing call. We entered the woodland – birdlife included Blue Tits, Coal Tits, a few Goldcrests, Chaffinch, Blackcaps, a lone Chiffchaff, Robin and a Wren carrying nesting material. A few Hoverflies were around including Eristalis sp. and they were particularly attracted to the flowering Bay Laurels Laurus nobilis which also attracted a Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria and Small White Pieris rapae.

Bay Laurel Flowers

Hoverfly Eristalis sp.

I took a rather poor photo of a Heather Beetle Lochmaea suturalis – in the Leaf Beetle family Chrysomelidae they are only 6 millimetres long and have a tendency to drop into cover if disturbed.

Heather Beetle

I also noted a few Common Wasps Vespula vulgaris and Nomada Wasps. A couple of Goat Willows Salix caprea were covered in the spiky pistillate (female) flowers, their bark looked as though it had been painted orange due to the carotene containing algae Trentepohlia aurea  and Pixie-cup Lichens Cladonia sp. were also present. The botanists identified a bush of Highclere Holly Ilex x altaclerensis = Ilex aquifolium x perado which originated in the gardens of Highclere Castle, Hampshire, home of the Earls of Carnavon.

Wood Sorrel

There was an impressive green carpet of Wood-sorrel leaves Oxalis acetosella with their delicate white flowers dotted around and we also noted Thyme-leaved Speedwell Veronica serpyllifolia. The mycologists found some Fungi with Birch Polypore Piptoporus betulinus, Hoof Fungi Fomes fomentarius, Bleeding Broadleaf Crust Stereum rugosum and the distinctive pink berry-like blobs of the Slime Mould Lycogala terrestre.

Lycogala terrestre

We descended back out onto the heathland where we quickly caught up with another of our target species for the day Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi, this petite butterfly took off as you walked through the Bilberry scrub but quickly settled, producing a flurry of clicking cameras.

Green Hairstreak

A couple of Peacock butterflies Inachis io were resting out of the wind in a shallow ditch with outstretched wings and a number of brown camouflage heathland Moths flitted around. A couple of male Stonechats were perched amongst the heather and yet more Cuckoos, Green Woodpeckers and Tree Pipits called. One young Oak sapling had a cluster of Oak Marble Galls caused by the Gall Wasp Andricus kollari and on overturning a large fallen tree trunk we found a small Black Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger curled up in a spiral and an unidentified Slug.

All too quickly we were back in the car park where we were to be given a final show from another flock of around ten Crossbills feeding on the cones in a Pine tree. A pair of Swallows was nesting in the ladies toilets 🙂

A wide photographic selection of birds, marine life, insects, mammals, orchids & wildflowers, fungi, tribal people, travel, ethnography, fossils, rocks & minerals etc. is available on my Alamy webpage

If you are interested in the wildlife of the North-west of England and would like to join the  walks and coach trips run by the Merseyside Naturalists’ Association, see the main MNA website for details of our programme and how to join us.

Report from John Clegg

On a wet and windy morning seven members started our walk by looking over the large expanse of water at the back of the Waterside pub.  Large numbers of Swallows and House Martins flew low over the water and we saw a group of about 20 more Swallows roosting out of the weather in one small tree on the bank. Out over the water two pairs of Great Crested Grebes were still doing their courtship display, very late in the year.

The woodland had carpets of white Ramsons (wild garlic) and of Bluebells, and in the wetter places there were yellow Marsh Marigolds.

Our lunch stop was, as usual, on the bridge, where we could see a nesting Great Crested Grebe. The Kingfisher wasn’t seen today because the water was far too rough for it to see any fish.

Below the bridge a Mute Swan was on her nest. When she moved off we could see her seven very large eggs. Later in the walk we met one of the water bailiffs who told us that the cob, her mate, had been seriously injured by a dog while protecting the nest. He was rescued and taken to a veterinary hospital but was too badly hurt and had to be put down. This was about four weeks ago, he said. The pen (the female) had laid about three eggs before he was killed and continued to lay (presumably infertile) eggs afterwards. The incubation period of the Mute Swan is 35 to 37 days, so there is still hope for the fertile ones.

The water bailiff also told us that six Mink have been trapped in the area this year.

Bird species seen (27): Mallard, Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Black-headed Gull, Blue Tit, Swallow, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Wood Pigeon, House Martin, Robin, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Magpie, Linnet, Great Tit, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Moorhen, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, Kestrel.