First Clavarioid of 2018

After yesterday's Waxcap we have today's Clavarioid - White Spindles (Clavaria fragilis). I feel the grassland fungi season is now underway........

Spangle Waxcap

It's been a very quiet year so far on the grassland fungi front. Just a Fibrous Waxcap or two in June and the odd Pinkgill. However yesterday we had the first Waxcap since June, a solitary small Spangle Waxcap (Hygrocybe insipida). It is typically one of the early ones to appear so maybe we are about to start the season proper? The fresh photo was out of focus so the above is a shrivelled version taken today.

New Species - Climbing Corydalis

In a hidden away corner I found a giant clump of Climbing Corydalis (Ceratocapnos claviculata). It may have been there in previous years but this is the first time I have recorded this on site though I have seen it on Trellech Common.

Rewilding - Beeches stylee

The first two rescue hogs are tonight in their soft release pen and in three days we open the door..... There should be plenty of natural, pesticide and chemical free food around for them and we hope that we can re-establish a breeding population here. We haven't seen a hedgehog on the property for about four years. Thanks to Carol and Philip at the Rescue Centre.

New Species - Red Cracking Bolete

It's becoming a good year for Boletes even if there are no other fungi around. I spotted a Bolete, which at first I assumed was another Scarletina Bolete but closer examination and cutting of the flesh, which yielded no colour change told me it was something different. I then noticed it was under Larch and after checking the options I realised it was the Red Cracking Bolete (Xerocomus chrysenteron).

Common Fleabane

The Fleabane patch, as it now is, is left as a late-flowering treat for invertebrates. This means it is getting bigger each year and there are now well over 50 plants in the patch. The conditions must be just damp enough in this low-lying part of the field as the species has not spread anywhere else.

New Species - Scarletina Bolete

There is very little fruiting of fungi - none in the fields since mid June - so it was nice to come across a group of Boletes under a Beech Tree. I was able to identify them from and one particular characteristic is that the bright yellow tubes turn immediately bright blue when cut. It is quite spectacular and when you add the striking brown cap colour and the deep red pores, it is a dazzling fungus. It is a new species for The Beeches although I did see it last year on a neighbour's lawn.

Common Blue really are common in 2018

This has been the best year yet (since we moved here in 2011) for Common Blues. The second brood are pretty abundant in the fields at the moment and there were plenty of adults in the first brood earlier. I have read that numbers plummet after a hot dry summer so it could be a bad 2019 for the Common Blue. Photo is a male.

Flesh? Flies Mating

I have never got to grips with identification of True Flies - I think I would need a book as good as 'Britain's Hoverflies' to even try. However these flies mating attracted my attention so I took a photo and then tried to see whether they could be identified. As far as I can tell they look like Flesh Flies but that's as far as I can go - and I'm not even sure about that.

New Species - Burnet Saxifrage

Every year there seems to be a new meadow plant species but I was wondering whether this year was going to be an exception - until today. In the middle of the uncut part of the East Field is a single umbellifer which turned out to be Burnet Saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga). As usual I have no idea why it should turn up after we have been managing the meadows for eight years. Was the seed waiting all this time for the right conditions? Could a bird or animal have brought it in? Is there some Burnet Saxifrage in a nearby field or garden? Anyway it's a brilliant new flower to have - as a late flowering umbellifer it must be great for invertebrates. When I went to photograph it this morning there was a Silver Y moth resting on the stem. I just hope it manages to seed before it is eaten by a careless deer or rabbit

Deer en masse

We had nine fallow deer at the back of the house this morning, three fawns who spent their time like any children, hanging out together separate from the adults who were mostly engaged in stealing apples off the Golden Delicious tree. They did this by brilliantly balancing on the back legs and stretching up to pluck the unripe apples off the tree. One fawn lay down at one point but the mother came over and made it get up and join in with the other fawns.