A couple of miles to the north of Worcester the River Severn passes through a heavily managed area of alder and birch plantation, and I spent yesterday evening traversing the many public footpaths that criss-cross the area (branching off from the Severn Way) in search of early spring invertebrates.
Much of the woodland is heavily coppiced on rotation, leaving behind large open areas which - on such a warm day - act as fantastic sun traps for any insect emerging in the spring sunshine. The first
Bee-fly and
Peacock butterfly of the year were flying in the clearing above, doing their best to remind me that it is now
actually spring, and nearby a couple of dung beetles were active...
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| Aphodius prodromus with a tiny mite attached to its leg! |
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| Green Shieldbug |
Sheltering within an isolated clump of Daffodils by the Severn was the now famous
Norellia spinipes - the so called 'Daffodil fly' that gained popularity early last year thanks to
the pan-species listing movement.
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| Norellia spinipes |
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| Dicranopalpus ramosus on a tree trunk. This formerly rare species was first found in Bournemouth in 1957, but has since spread inland and is now fairly common throughout the country. |
A quick search on coppiced hazels revealed the two commonest species of Liverwort that grow on trees...
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| Dilated Scalewort (Frullania dilatata) |
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| Forked Veilwort (Metzgeria furcata) |
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| Another extremely common bryophyte (and one of the easiest to identify), Silver-moss (Bryum argenteum) growing in a field margin. |
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