The Knoll, Hayes

Beech trees with Meripilus giganteus (Giant Polypore) at the base of the closest one.  The Knoll, Hayes, 6 November 2012.

These are a couple of photos I took while recording the progress of the fungus around the base of the nearest tree, the Giant Polypore.  It's a pleasant aspect of the small park, and these photos show the difference in the mood of the place between sunlight and shadow.  You can see that both days were sunny, but the shot above was taken at about 12:30 pm, whereas that below was taken much earlier in the day, at about 10 am, when shadows were longer and more pervasive.

In the lighter photo, the well-lit and colourful leaves dominate the picture.  Beech leaves in Autumn are beautiful.  In the darker one, even though some leaves are brightly lit, the closer viewpoint, and the fact that the leaves weren't yet turning colour, ensure that the gloomy trunks loom up. 

The photo I linked to above records the fungus nicely, but it seems rather bland.  I like both of these shots much better, because they show what the park is really like.  It's a pity that the big tree is doomed by the root-rotting fungus.

Beech trees with Meripilus giganteus (Giant Polypore) at the base of the closest one.  The Knoll, Hayes, 17 October 2012.

Diaea dorsata

Spider, Diaea dorsata, female.  Spring Park, 17 November 2012.  Brought back to Hayes for photography.

While we're on spiders, here is a pretty little specimen that one of the Orpington Field Club spotted on a walk in Spring Park.   It's a crab spider, a type that catches prey by lurking on spots they will visit and pouncing when they arrive.

The best known crab spiders wait in flowers, and catch the insects that come for nectar or pollen.   This one waits on tree leaves, typically Oak.  Like some other crab spiders, she can make some changes to her colour.  It takes a few days.  But this mixture of green, yellow and brown should work well in autumn.

Wasp Spider

Wasp Spider, Argiope bruennichi.  Keston Common, 15 September 2012.

I posted a photo of one of these earlier, from a visit to the Ashdown Forest, but they are so remarkable that I think this one is also worth showing.  It's not a native species, but seems to be well established in the UK.

This one was in a wet meadow on Keston Common.  They seem to like wet places.  I can't be sure what it's eating, but it looks as though it could be a bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum.  I saw several of those bees buzzing around the Water Mints in this area.

Broad-leaved Helleborine

Broad-Leaved Helleborine, Epipactis helleborine, on Keston Common.  14 July 2011.

Once again, I am pulling out some old photos that are worth a look.

This is an orchid that likes woodland edges, a habitat where several interesting plants like to grow.  There are more woodland edges than you might think, when you include the sides of paths and clearings. 

Broad-Leaved Helleborine, Epipactis helleborine, with two Seven-Spot Ladybirds, Coccinella septempunctata.
Blackbush Shaw, Cudham, 19 November 2011.

The first photo shows part of the flower spike in full bloom, right by the roadside on Keston Common.  It's part of a very small group, and I am always concerned that this one will get trampled by passers-by!  The second shot, from much later in the year, is from Blackbush Shaw, where there are many plants in a hedgerow beside a path. 

Common Darter

Male Common Darter, Sympetrum striolatum.  Mill House, Keston, 31 August 2012.

In 2011 I didn't get many dragonfly photos, but I managed a few nice ones in 2012.  This was a Common Darter I saw resting on a stone that bordered the lawn of the Mill House in Keston, during a trip to see Keston Mill.   It might be disconcerting to groups I'm with when I dash off and photograph something, but the insects won't wait.

One day, I was walking past Keston Ponds and I saw that the lake was buzzing with Common Darters, pairing off and laying eggs.  Dragonflies really do form into pairs.  The male clasps the female and guides her over the water, dipping down occasionally so that she can lay an egg.

Common Darters in tandem, ovipositing.  Keston Common, 8 September 2012.

We know it's the male who chooses when to lay, because it has been observed that even if the female being clasped is dead, the pair still make the same dipping motions.   Perhaps I should have posted this on Halloween ...

Common Darter, Sympetrum striolatum.  Female.  Keston Common, 15 September 2012.

Bleeding Mushrooms

Mycena crocata.  Keston Common, 7 October 2012.

It seems to me that most fungi are almost impossible do identify in the field.  There are some pretty experienced people in the Orpington Field Club, but often the best even they can do is get the genus and maybe a good guess at the species.  You need to get the spores under a microscope.  But a few are unmistakeable once you know what to look for, even among the smaller and less easily distinguishable groups.

For example, Mycenas, often called Bonnets.  They are small, and mostly very much alike.  But a couple of them bleed when damaged.  Mycena crocata, shown above, bleeds vivid  saffron-coloured drops.  Mycena haematopus, below, bleeds burgundy-coloured drops.  The books give them obvious "common" names, Saffrondrop Bonnet and Burgundydrop Bonnet, but most of these names are recent inventions unknown to actual countryside dwellers.

Mycena haematopus.  Keston Common, 11 November 2012.

The second one was in a troop of fungi growing over my head along the trunk of a dead Oak tree.  They were attractive, but just like many others until I managed to knock one off, bruising it in the process, and look at it closely.

Mycena haematopus.  Keston Common, 11 November 2012.

Crumpet?

Phlebia tremellosa (Jelly Rot) - underside.  Knole Park, 3 November 2012

How can something grow into an intricate pattern like this, weaving over and under alternate ribs?  This is the underside of a fungus from a fallen treetrunk.  It had a soft texture and reminded me of an uncooked crumpet.  The upper side was also creamy white, but hairy rather than patterned.

Phlebia tremellosa (Jelly Rot) - upper side.  Knole Park, 3 November 2012

Small White

Small White, Pieris rapae, laying an egg.   Riverside Country Park, 10 August 2012

While I was looking through my Riverside Country Park photos I was reminded of this Small White.  The other members of the group, being botanists, were looking at something else (and I didn't ignore that - it was the Sea-spurrey in my last post) ,  but butterflies always catch my eye and I spotted this to one side.  Small Whites lay single eggs on plants related to cabbages, like this wild crucifer.   This includes the Nasturtiums in your garden, though there you are more likely to find a big cluster of Large White eggs.  

This one is actually in the process of laying an egg, and though you can't see that one, another is visible, at the very top of the photo a little from the right.  

Seaside Succulents

Sea Beet, Beta vulgaris.  Riverside Country Park, 10 August 2012

This is going back in time a bit, to August, a set of photos that I have only blogged a couple of moths from.  But it's interesting and I don't want it to get lost.  I am going to show details of four plants that grow right by the sea, close enough to be wet by salt spray and maybe even have waves wash over them sometimes.  The first one is Sea Beet, a close relative to sugar beet.

Annual Sea-blite, Suaeda maritima.  Riverside Country Park, 10 August 2012

The next is Sea Blite, a quite different plant despite the similarity of the names.

Golden Samphire, Inula crithmoides.  Riverside Country Park, 10 August 2012

These Golden Samphires were in full flower, and looking very pretty.  I was at Riverside Country Park, near Gillingham in Kent, on a field trip with my wildflower class and a very knowledgeable teacher, so I am quite confident of the names of these plants even though I had never seen them before.

Greater Sea-spurrey, Spergularia media.  Riverside Country Park, 10 August 2012

Despite its name, the Greater Sea-spurrey is quite a small, low-growing plant.

I have shown these together because they all have a certain similarity.  They have waxy-looking, more or less succulent leaves.  Why should it be that they have the same sort of look as desert plants, when they are right next to the most water they could possibly find?   Well, salt water is a very unfriendly environment for land plants.  They find it hard to separate the water from the salt.  And then, the shoreline above sea level can sometimes be very dry, rather like a desert, because the sandy soil drains so freely.  Between these two factors, the plants need to hang on to all the salt-free water they get, and store it up when they have an excess.

To prove that it's not just the dryness of sandy soil that makes this a useful adaptation, here is a Glasswort.

Glasswort.  Riverside Country Park, 10 August 2012

This grows in a salt marsh and always has its roots in the water.