First Pinkgill of the year - Star Pinkgill

This is one Pinkgill I can identify relatively easily as the spores are quite distinctive. The Star Pinkgill (Entoloma conferendum) is also one of the commonest in grassland.

Second Waxcap of 2019

The Fibrous Waxcap (Hygrocybe intermedia) is fruiting so that makes two species of waxcap before the end of June this year. The Citrine and Fibrous Waxcaps tend to be the early ones but often it is August before I see them.

Marbled White - flying today

I've seen some at other sites last week but here we are North facing and maybe a little behind and a Marbled White was seen for the first time this year the other day. We are due a few warm days so hopefully they can get their breeding up and running very soon. Painted Ladies have also been about for a few days and there are very many Meadow Browns around so the butterfly situation is improving.

First waxcap of the year -Citrine Waxcap

It is usually one of the early ones but is earlier than usual this year - my previous earliest waxcap was 30th June. This was spotted on the 22nd and had been fruiting for a couple of days by the look of it. The Citrine Waxcap (Hygrocybe citrinovirens) is regarded as uncommon but I get a lot of them here and see it elsewhere reasonably often. It is distinguished in part by a unique greeny yellow colour of cap and stipe (rather faded in this example) and gills which are whiteish tinted with a delicate green.

Orchid update

The caging of orchids has solved the deer problem and the only orchid casualties at the moment are the occasional slug (or similar) damage. Today we actually just passed the orchid total for last year and I am not expecting too many further orchids to appear. Last year we had 221 orchids in total comprised of 204 Common Spotteds, 16 Broad-leaved Helleborines and 1 Heath Spotted. This year to-date we have had 204 Common Spotteds, 17 Broad-leaved Helleborines, 1 Heath Spotted and 1 Twayblade making 223 Orchids in total. Of course they are not the same 204 but most are. The increase of only 1% (so far) compares with a 60% increase last year and a 12% increase the year before. In that sense not a great year but the presence of the Twayblade makes it into a good year for Orchids at The Beeches.

Deer problem

I like seeing the deer in the fields but they are causing an issue. Their appetite for orchids seems to have increased or at least the number of deer visitations has increased because orchid flower heads have been disappearing at a fast pace. I was not going to protect the spikes in the main orchid field this year but I have had to go back on that and put cages around them again this year. Hopefully that will end the carnage!

New Species - Brown Puffball

Another fungi species for the site list - the Brown Puffball (Bovista nigrescens). I removed the slugs around it so rather than see it eaten I could watch it over the time it gradually matured, turning as it does so from white to dark brown. It will end up freeing itself from its tenuous connection into the earth and rolling away with the wind scattering spores as it goes. The photos show it on the day I found it and nine days later.

Grasses

Having been on a grass ID course recently (thank you Gwent Wildlife Trust), I've been surveying the grasses here. My favourite is Quaking Grass (pictured) but I only found three single tiny plants and it doesn't seem to have spread at all in the five years since I first saw it. Other grasses seen so far include Sweet Vernal Grass, Perrenial Rye Grass, Yorkshire Fog, Meadow Foxtail, Crested Dog's Tooth, Rough and Smooth Meadow Grass, Barren Brome, False Oat Grass and Red Fescue. There are others still to identify and I know lots of Common Bent will be along shortly.

Butterfly update

Not a good year so far for butterflies with very few of the normal set around. The one exception here is the Common Blue of which there are loads and loads. I guess it must be based on conditions but also the population here has been building and building over the last few years. I saw six or seven in the space of ten metres today.

Fledging time

The food in our giant feeder is disappearing in double fast time as the eggs hatch and the young need feeding. This tiny blue tit was by the house yesterday getting fed by a parent. We currently have Great Tits, Blue Tits and Sparrows that I know of nesting in the house cavities and plenty more such as Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, Robins, Blackbirds, Nuthatches, Marsh Tits etc nesting in the trees nearby.