Bogs & Brownfield sites

I'm starting off this post with a lovely Common Whitethroat, taken at Whixall Moss, Shropshire. Whixall Moss is surrounding by 2 other mosses (Fenn's and Bettisfield) and straddles the border between England and Wales. Sadly, peat was being extracted from it until 1989 - a year later the Nature Conservancy Council bought 170 acres of Whixall Moss, 640 acers of Fenn's Moss and 112 acres of Bettisfield Moss. In later years, they bought another 363 acres of Fenn's Moss and 55 acres of Whixall Moss. 

The Mosses are now a superb mix of peat bog, woodland and heath. They also have the largest population of a nationally scarce dragonfly species, the White-faced Darter, as well as Adders, breeding Curlew, Hobby, Cuckoo and Skylark among many other species. The odd rarity too has turned up too; a White Tailed Sea eagle being the most recent and largest! There are many plant species on the Mosses too, such as Sundew, 18 species of bog moss, Lesser Bladderwort and White Beaked Sedge, all of which couldn't grow if there wasn't any of that brilliant peat bog habitat.

After watching a Common Lizard scuttle across my path, I continued my walk and emerged onto the towpath of the Shropshire Union Canal which flows through the edge of the Moss, where I spotted a large cricket sitting on the metal canal edge; it was a Bog Bush Cricket, another peat bog specialist and the first one I've seen.

Soon after, I came across a large group of Banded Demoiselle flitting across the canal and perching on Hogweed seed heads. I struggled with the light as it was rather harsh but I positioned myself so the male Banded Demoiselle was side-lit and so all of his hairs and features were clearly visible. I think they are truly beautiful creatures and if you catch them in the right light their colours are magnificent.

Back on home ground now, in an ancient orchard near Coddington in Herefordshire, when I noticed a small brown bird flitting around the apple trees - a Spotted Flycatcher. They have bred in and around the orchard for many years though very sadly, there were only 2 to 3 nests compared to many more last year. 

However, this individual had some juveniles flying around with it, so luckily at least one pair manged to breed successfully.

I watched it fly up into the air and catch flies on the wing, I then moved on to let it get on with feeding.

The Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) arrive in the UK to breed in April and leave around September to spend their winters south of the Sahara Desert in tropical Africa. Unlike most passerines, Spotted Flycatchers can distinguish their eggs from those of other birds, which is very helpful in protecting their eggs from brood parasites, such as the famous Cuckoo.

Sadly though, Spotted Flycatchers are less and less common in the UK and are now on the Red List, meaning that breeding numbers have fallen and their breeding range has contracted by over 50% during the last 25 years.

Even closer to home... my garden in Ledbury, Herefordshire!

This was a garden first for me, a Speckled Bush Cricket; I can tell it is a male as it hasn't got an ovipositor, used for laying eggs. 

On a recent Shield bug identification course with Hidden Herefordshire I found this stunning Dock Bug, helpfully on a dock plant on waste ground in Hereford.

 

I have attended a number of these courses on species identification in Herefordshire and have thoroughly enjoyed them all, I would highly recommend if anyone is a resident in Herefordshire: https://hbrc.org.uk/hidden-herefordshire/

Some lovely stripy aphids on Birch sapling leaves, being 'milked' by ants. 

Ants milk them by stroking their antenna on the aphids, who then eject a sweet liquid called honeydew which the ants eat. In return the ants take care of the aphids by protecting them from predators such as Ladybirds.

One of the star species was a Denticulate Leatherbug, the first recorded for Herefordshire. It just shows that even in the most urban and seemingly barren places, wildlife can still thrive.