Deer numbers increasing

There has been a lot of deer activity this year and yesterday I found eight deer in the North field which is the most I have seen at one go. Seven appeared to be the standard spotted variety of fallow deer but one was the less common black colouration. I had spotted one of that colour close to the house the day previously and managed a quick photo.

Waxcaps - the season so far

It seems to have been an early start this year with a number of waxcaps fruiting here before September - we have had Glutinous waxcap (Hygrocybe glutinipes), Butter Waxcap (H. ceracea), Meadow Waxcap var pallida (H. pratense var pallida), Parrot Waxcap (H. psittacina), Fibrous waxcap (H. intermedia) and yesterday Blackening waxcap. There is a lot of debate about the taxonomy of blackening waxcaps with some authors recognising different blackening species and some accepting different varieties. Following Boertmann for the moment this looks like H. conica var conica but I am sure molecular investigation will sort the whole subject out in due course.

Deceiver 2 - Laccaria amethysta

This 'Deceiver' is the beautifully coloured Amethyst Deceiver and has a home in the shadow of our largest Beech tree where it appeared last year and this.

Deceiver 1 - Laccaria laccata

I didn't recognize this fungi but it turns out to be one of the most common in Britain. There was a small group of them in the West field but fairly close to the edge so it might be that the fungi is associated with the field edge trees. It is 'The Deceiver' so called due to its variability.

MAJOR NEW SPECIES - Lesser Horseshoe Bat

I know that Lesser Horseshoes are in the area - there is a big roost about three miles away but I hadn't even detected Lesser Horseshoes with my, admittedly fairly crude, bat detector. However I was in the shed, wondering again about the extent of the bat droppings in there so I glanced up and right above my head were a couple of Lesser Horseshoes. They are an outstanding bat whether in flight or hanging brilliantly and stylishly when roosting. There was a professional photographer on site at the time so he helpfully took a quick picture for me. Brilliant or what?

Fleabane back in numbers

I found Fleabane for the first time last year when it delightfully appeared in a field that had been used as a quad bike track and was slowly recovering due to our sympathetic management for nature. Just be leaving the couple of flower spikes to seed by cutting round them we have now been rewarded by around 20 spikes this year. It will be interesting to see how many come up next year.

New Species - Entoloma porphyrophaeum

There's going to be a focus on fungi for a while and I have some expert help with the identifications. This Entoloma came up as a group of four fruiting bodies and although there are 70 odd Entolomas to choose from in the UK this id seems clear enough. The only item that didn't fit exactly at first sight was the colour of the gills which seemed to me more brownish than pinkish but a spore print came out right and the specimen was a bit on the old side. That is one of the issues with identifying fungi - they morph rapidly with cap and gills changing shape and colour in a matter of hours or days

Bird Feeder Photos

I wanted to confirm that the occasional visitor to the bird feeder was a Marsh Tit and not the rarer Willow Tit and so I have left the trail camera taking pictures. The Marsh/Willow Tit is way too smart for this and appears sometimes but always facing the wrong way or hidden by the feeder so I still don't have the answer. However what I do have is 5,000 pictures, mainly of sparrows, the commoner tits, greater spotted woodpeckers and from time to time the full majesty of the jay who is about as big as the feeder itself.

First waxcaps of the year

Two lots of waxcaps have appeared and the one above is Butter Waxcap (Hygrocybe ceracea) (Note: 24 September - I now think the photo shows Golden Waxcaps and not Butter Waxcaps- I really must get these yellow waxcaps nailed) which is reasonably common here at The Beeches. The other I have not managed to identify though I have seen it here before. It is currently in the hands of an expert so hopefully I will be able to name it this year. In fact I hope this year to have a complete list of waxcaps at The Beeches by filling in the gaps of two or three that I have not managed to identify.

Broad-leaved helleborine

I was quite excited to discover a second orchid species on site in June - the Broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine). Now I have found a second example in a different field and a very strong, tall plant as well. They are both now in flower and already being visited by pollinators (see photo). I was concerned about the potential for cross pollination as they are separated by two field boundaries and some trees but the internet is telling me that they can self pollinate so I look forward to a whole crop of them in a few years.