New Species - Black Bulgar

I left some medium sized Oak logs in a pile for some months and when I came to put them in store they had numerous small black cup fungi on them. It turns out to be a common fungi called Black Bulgar or Batchelor's Buttons or even Black Jelly Drop. Its scientific name is Bulgaria inquinans. Interestingly it is suggested it is an endophyte living harmlessly inside the living tree but fruiting when the tree dies or in large branches which are cut off.

Giant Puffballs

Not here but in a field about a mile away - some serious Giant Puffballs ( Calvatia gigantea). Not a species I have found on site here yet.

Snowy Inkcap

In the absence of grassland fungi here I thought I would show a species from a local site a couple of miles away. This is a specialist on cowpats but can also be seen on horse dung sometimes. There were hundreds of these at Trellech Wet Meadow as the site is being grazed by 18 Belted Galloway cattle. Like a lot of inkcaps it is an ephemeral species lasting a few days at most.

Deer welcome for a change.

The sheep that normally come to do some aftermath grazing are not coming for the first time since we moved here. That has meant I am now welcoming the deer who are doing that job. There were about ten fallow deer in the Est Field this morning all grazing so that should help keep nutrients low.

Lesser Horseshoe Bat

Delighted to see him in residence today. This is his (I know it's a male) thirteenth year in residence in my shed. I saw hin May this year so that's another summer he has made it through. It feels such a privilige to have one of the UK's rarest bats living here.

Weevil - Acorn Weevil?

The moth trapping also caught a weevil, which is I think the first one on my invertebrates list. We think it is an Acorn Weevil (Curculio glandium) but it might be the Nut Weevil (C. nucum). An expert has been asked the question as the differences between the two are minute.

Moth Trapping (4) - Straw Underwing

We trapped 10 Large Yellow Underwings but only one Straw Underwing. As it was kind enough to display its underwing briefly and I managed to get a photo I thought it would be a good idea to include a blog post on it.