Wild and Wonderful: Fungi

Showing posts with label Fungi. Show all posts

Saturday, 16 October 2021

Trimley near Felixstowe: Last of the Summer ... Hops

It was certainly milder today in our part of Suffolk than it has been recently, but the day began with overcast skies and drizzle. By the afternoon it was looking a bit brighter.

We ventured out to Trimley, above the river Orwell, near the port of Felixstowe, and were delighted to find a few decent bursts of autumn sunshine. It was lovely to see the final fling mounted by poppies and other wildflowers along the field margins. I was particularly surprised and delighted to see some hops in the hedgerow as these reminded me of the cultivated hop fields and accompanying oasthouses of my Kentish childhood. Our Harvest Festival baskets were often decorated with strands of hops, and I could never decide whether I liked or hated the distinctive scent!

I was quite surprised to find so many blackberries on the bushes

Rose hips ... which remind me of rosehip syrup, again from childhood days

What a large maize field!

You may be able to make out bits of harvested sweetcorn ...

I love to see wildflowers along those field margins ...

Hawthorn berries. It is definitely the season for hips and haws ...

... and hops!

Who can resist peering through a gap in a hedge?

Some creature, a mouse perhaps, has been enjoying this puffball!

Wednesday, 28 October 2020

Common Crossbill on an Autumn Afternoon

We were not far from the car when a birder hailed us, telling us to look up as there was a small flock of Crossbills in a tall pine tree. The Common Crossbill is a bird I have long wanted to see so I cricked my neck and waited for a flicker of movement in the high branches.

It was not long before I spotted a male...

...with his burnt-orange feathers.

I particularly wanted to capture the distinctive cross-over bill on my photo, and despite the distance and poor light, you can just about make it out in the photo above.

The kind birder mentioned that there had been a flock, and while we only saw three in total ourselves, it was not long before I noticed the female with her green plumage. You can see her at the end of the lower arrow in the photo above. I always enjoy seeing a new species, and keep hoping the day will come when I happen to be in the same place as a Hoopoe, but a surprise encounter, like this one with the Crossbills, is always a particular joy. Our friend told us there were also Redpolls about but we failed to see them.

The area in question has mixed swathes of woodland, and in the deciduous areas, there were plenty of chestnuts on the ground ...

... and a good selection of fungi.

Most fronds of bracken have taken on that beautiful bronze hue of autumn.

We noticed one small moth larva on the sandy soil. Autumn is not my favourite season, but I do particularly like the display of red (see below), yellow, brown and orange.

P.S. Apologies if the spacing looks odd on your screen. Since Blogger updated its platform, I have found it hard to use the html option and hard to position pictures evenly within text.

Friday, 9 September 2016

Tree Following for August and Early September 2016

Welcome to my Tree Following post for August and early September 2016.

These tree posts form part of a wider project initiated by Lucy Corrander from the Loose and Leafy blog and continued by Pat at The Squirrelbasket.

I am based in Suffolk, UK, where I have been keeping an eye on a Silver birch, B. pendula. I have added in a small Cherry sapling, Prunus avium Sylvia, for my second tree.

You will find the other Tree Follower links by clicking through to the Mr Linky button here ... so do take the chance to have a look at the new posts!

It has occurred to me for a while that my Tree Following posts are becoming a little unwieldy. I haven't entirely decided to what to do about this yet, but am thinking along the lines of keeping the extensive (and ever growing) list of sightings made so far, 'in, on, under and around' my trees, in a separate post. Please watch this space.

We have had a busy month and I am already running a little behind schedule, so I shall focus on a limited number of sightings.

First and foremost, in another year when butterfly sightings have largely been 'down', I am thrilled to report that we had a new garden record: a Painted Lady landed by the Silver Birch on 13 August.

These are such fine insects, and you can read about their migration here.

While I am on the subject of butterflies, do take a look at the recently released 2015 report for the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme report. There are a few bright patches but the general butterfly trend seems to be a downward one, making it all the more crucial that we plant flowers to provide nectar and preserve existing habitats.

As for the Silver Birch itself, it is scattering vast quantities of seeds to the winds. When the sun is in the right direction, I find myself watching these miniature keys as they flit hither and thither. A number ended up in the rather extensive web of a large spider next to the Cherry Tree. I wished I had had my camera with me at that point so that I could have tried to identify the splendid web-maker.

Silver Birch

This evening at 7pm I watched a fairly large dragonfly (it was too fast for me to see it properly) circling round beneath the foliage of the Silver Birch. It has been a warm day here, with cloud and bright spells, and I can only guess that the dragonfly was hoovering up mouthfuls of small midges or flies that flitted around the lower branches. We occasionally have dragonflies in the garden as we live in close proximity to a local nature reserve with a stream, but I have never seen them here at dusk before.

The small Cherry Tree has continued to grow upwards. Something is still eating its leaves, but the general picture is one of health. It looks as though we might need to trim the Euonymus back again...

Cherry Tree from above

I can hardly believe that the next TF post will be in October, though, having said that, we are already on to our second crop of (wild) Blackberries. The first crop fell victim to the rain and turned mouldy, but the birds and butterflies are thoroughly enjoying the new batch of fruit.

This photo of the Comma was taken this evening, when...

... I also noticed this ?toadstool near the Cherry.

All aboard for the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...

And finally ...

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Monday, 21 September 2015

NT Dunwich Heath - signs of autumn

We took a trip to the sea at Dunwich Heath on Saturday, and while we were there, we noticed two Red-banded Sand Wasps. One flew across our windscreen and you may just be able to make out the other in the photo above. I took a quick record shot (the photo you see), but the insect flitted off before I could take a better photograph.

I have noticed these unusual Sand Wasps on the heath before. This is what I wrote a year ago:

'... my eyes fell upon this strange insect, which I guessed was a kind of ant. There were three of them in the area, if I remember correctly, but they were pretty speedy creatures and hard to catch on camera as the kept vanishing beyond the wire netting. I was browsing the web earlier today when I spotted a photo of the insect here on the RSPB Lakenheath Fen page. The creature turns out (it seems to me) to be Red-banded Sand Wasp (Ammophila sabulosa). It has even appeared on a Romanian postage stamp. You can read about the wasp's kleptoparasitic behaviour in the Comments here on the iSpot nature website.
These wasps are quite striking. They are long, thin and ant-like.'

My photo from 2014

The heath was looking colourful, with the last flush of summer shades.

There were a few insects about, though we saw few birds.

I'm guessing this is Hoverfly Syrphus vitripennis or Syrphus ribesii

The sign serves as a reminder that this coastal landscape is a very fragile one. The sandy cliffs are prone to erosion and at the mercy of east coast storms.

The heath divides the sea (right) from the a wooded area to the left of this photograph. It will soon be the deer rutting season.

I have a hunch that this is either Birch Brittlegill Russula betularum or a similar species. I believe it is poisonous. There were certainly plenty of birch trees at the back of the reserve. I see 'Red Russula' were recorded on nearby Westleton Heath.

Fungi identification is not my forte, so please feel free to leave a comment if you can help with an ID.

Is this a 'Blusher', Amanita rubescens, perhaps? (see last photo on this link)

The old coastcard cottages on the heath are now National Trust holiday properties, a cafe and shop.

We have seen more Kestrels than ever this summer. This one was a fair distance away, but we had a good view through binoculars.

My thanks to Facebook friends, Matt and Paul, for confirming that this looks like a juvenile Stonechat.

Saturday turned into such a lovely evening that we drove on the short distance to Southwold, where we had fish and chips overlooking the River Blyth. You can make out Walberswick on the far side. We were keeping an eye (and an ear) out for skeins of geese when we were suddenly alerted to the presence of a very strange gull silhouette. It was flying slowly over the water, and as it approached, we could see very clearly that it was a Barn Owl.

Thursday, 10 September 2015

Pine Hawk-moth eggs at NT Sutton Hoo

After recent days of grey cloud I was keen to make the most this afternoon's lovely weather. NT Sutton Hoo was looking at its best. The mounds are in the background and the Visitors' Centre is beyond.

The blue flowers on the right of the mound are Harebells (you can't tell from the photo!).

There was also a good sized patch of Scabious, however ...

... what excited me at the time, and even more afterwards when David checked his Twitter feed, were these small white eggs on one of the pine trees. The tree was just inside the central roped-off mound area, making it difficult to get close enough for my camera to allow me to take a good macro shot. But at least I have a record of what are (it seems) eggs of the Pine Hawk-moth, Sphinx pinastri.

I am giving this identification because a glance at Twitter revealed that - who tweets as ‏@CuratorMolly - had seen not only the eggs but also a magnificent caterpillar here at Sutton Hoo only a few days ago. You can take a look on her Twitter account by clicking here. You might also like to see this brilliant model!

Don't forget that it is Moth Night (which goes on until 12 September 2015). Next year's theme will be Hawk-moths.

One of the Sutton Hoo Kestrels this afternoon

When I was up at Sutton Hoo last time, the local Kestrels were making their presence felt. I was delighted to find that the pair were active again today.

Kestrel over the Sutton Hoo burial mounds

Autumn is beginning to have the upper hand, and we saw a lot of fungi around the site.

Is this a Parasol Mushroom?

As we turned to leave, we saw a Hornet (too quick for us to catch on camera, my fifth Hornet of the season) in a gorse bush along with this spider, who had no intention of going anywhere.

Monday, 7 September 2015

Tree Following - August to September 2015

Welcome to my Tree Following post for August and early September.

These tree posts form part of a wider project run by Lucy Corrander from the Loose and Leafy blog. I am based in Suffolk, UK, where I am following an Acer negundo (aka a Box-leaf Maple). I am also continuing to keep an eye on my Silver Birch, B. pendula.

You will find the other Tree Follower links on the Loose and Leafy blog ... so do take the chance to have a look around!

August has been a strange month for us, with day after day of grey sky and a fair amount of rain. I think there must have been sunny interludes as I can remember trying to keep the wasps at bay, but the evenings have seemed dark and autumnal.

Strangely with the seasonal changes going on all around, my two trees have not changed as much as I might have expected.

There were a few brown leaves last month: there are still a few brown leaves. The nearby Downy Birch has definitely got more brown leaves, and a number of yellow ones, too.

There were toadstools along what seem to be the root lines of my Silver Birch: there are still toadstools.

The Acer negundo was displaying its seed keys. These are still green and they continue to hang in the same manner. Come to think of it, the dispersal of Silver Birch seeds appears to have slowed. This may or may not actually be the case: it may simply be that the lack of light has stopped me from noticing the dispersal.

Acer negundo keys

What of the wildlife? I watched a very small fly alight on the Acer negundo, but failed to see it once it had landed. Otherwise this tree has been something of a barren area in terms of insects and small creatures. I would love to know why.

The Silver Birch, on the other hand, has continued to attract a large family of Long-tailed tits. They chitter-chatter away and are a delight to watch. There are plenty of Bluetits, too, of all ages. The Great tits head up the pecking order when the Magpies are elsewhere. I have seen the Grey Squirrel on a couple of occasions, and there are two Wood Pigeons who like to vie for the best perch on the fence next to the trunk. Sadly we have not seen the hedgehog again.

Silver Birch

Silver birch, September 2015 (see here for Sept. 2014)

Butterflies have been few and far between. I suspect the Whites were largely attracted by my nasturtiums. There have only been a couple of Red Admirals, and they have made the white Buddleia their destination of choice (a second was spotted some days after my Buddleia post here).

There have been Lacewings on the window at night and one or two moths. Whether the Silver Birch has anything to do with their presence is hard to say.

My least favourite visitors this summer have been the Hornets. One flew in to the house through an open upstairs window and was incredibly difficult to get out again! No stings reported, I am relieved to add.

I expect we will notice more radical changes next month when I will post my updated list of species seen around my two trees. I am not an autumn person, though I have to confess that I do enjoy the rich colours that appear before the frosts set in.

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