Farningham Wood

Gully with fallen trees.  Farningham Wood, 28 November 2013.

I walked through Farningham Wood recently and came across a depression, a sort of dry gully, full of fallen trees.  They had been there for a long while, perhaps since the storm of 1987, or perhaps they had fallen individually at various times, but none looked recent.  A strange place.

I was watching out for late fungi, but saw very few.  There were probably many more, but the fallen leaves will have covered some up, and also a single person always misses a lot compared to a group.  The only fungus photo I came back with was this:

Ascocoryne sarcoides, Purple Jellydisc.   Farningham Wood, 28 November 2013.

 I find it hard to resist taking a photo of this species, which looks like miniature intestines.  This growth was about three inches across. 

Broad Buckler Fern, Dryopteris dilatata.  Farningham Wood, 28 November 2013.

Not everything is brown.  You can see some leafage in the top photo.  And when there is less greenery, ferns stand out better, and there were a few of these Broad Buckler Ferns.  They are tripinnate; the individual fronds branch three times. 

At the top of a rise at the north end of the wood I saw a crudely made memorial seat.

Crude memorial seat.  Farningham Wood, 28 November 2013.

There were dedications on the oaks at either side, one of them quite old:

Dedication by crude memorial seat.  Farningham Wood, 28 November 2013.

The tree's bark has started to grow over the nail heads at the left of this one.  So, roughly made, but apparently well constructed, and I expect that many people will have rested here.  The slope up from the north is quite steep and there is plenty of undergrowth in other directions. 

Four Beetles From Summer

Red-headed Cardinal Beetle, Pyrochroa serraticornis.  Downe Bank, 14 June 2013.

Here are a few beetles I saw during the year that I don't think I have posted before.  Nothing unusual, but they do look good.  This one is called a Cardinal Beetle because its colour reminded someone of the scarlet dress of a cardinal of the Catholic church.  It's called Red-headed because it has a relative with a black head, known, of course, as a Black-headed Cardinal Beetle.

Black-headed Cardinal Beetle, Pyrochroa coccinea.  Hayes Common, 19 June 2013.

I only had my little Ixus 100 with me when I saw that one, so the depth of field is not so good.  Its close focusing is rather erratic, so I was happy to get this shot.

Orchid Beetle, Dascillus cervinus.  Orchid Bank at High Elms Country Park, 27 June 2013.

This one is more brown, with a hint of muted olive green.  I see it in places where there are lots of orchids, but not actually on orchids, thugh it is supposed to spend most of its time on flowers.

It's covered with short hairs, which helps to show that if you think of beetles as smooth and shiny, you are often mistaken.  At this magnification, the hairs on the plant leaf are also much more apparent than they normally are to the naked eye.

Click Beetle, Denticollis linearis.  Downe Bank, 14 June 2013.

This is one of several click beetles.  When disturbed, they can use those points at the back corner of the thorax to click against the front of their abdomen.  This can make them leap into the air, a good and surprising tactic to escape unwelcome attention.

That's all the beetles for now ...

Coppicing in Spring Park

Trees felled during coppicing in Spring Park, 6 November 2013.

This was a dark wet day in the woods.  The management programme for Spring Park's Small-leaved Limes was under way, with sections being coppiced and the felled trunks being taken out by heavy horses.

This is a Comtois, a French breed.  The use of horses minimises damage to the woodland floor.

Coppicing refreshes the growth of some trees, and creates glades of different ages which provide habitats for plants, insects and birds and increase the diversity of the woods.  The woods have been managed like this for hundreds of years, but now there is not the same demand for the produce, and we have to pay people to do the work.  There were uses in the past we would not think of today.  For example, in the mid 19th century many sweet chestnuts were planted here, and the chestnuts were supplied to London's bread makers.

This exercise concentrates on the Small-leaved Limes, Tilia cordata.  There are many in these woods, including even a few seedlings, which is rare these days as they need a warmer climate than England can provide.  But once established, they flourish.  Branches that touch the ground can root in, and shoots can come from underground.   They sprout easily from the coppice stools.  Coppicing seems extreme, but does no harm at all to the population, and encourages healthy new growth.

Trees felled during coppicing in Spring Park, 6 November 2013.

The trunk nearest us has been down there for some while.  Those fungi look to me like Sheathed Woodtuft, Kehneromyces mutabilis.

(This seems to be my 500th post in this blog, which surprises me!)

Unconventional Fungi at Keston

Purple Jellydisc, Ascocoryne sarcoides. Keston Common, 15 October 2013

Of course, there are lots of fungi that are not at all like the conventional toadstools or mushrooms.  This one, that looks like miniature small intestines, grows on dead stumps and logs. 

Black Bulgar, Bulgaria inquinans, on a felled Beech.  Keston Common, 15 October 2013

In fact, lots of fungi grow on dead wood.  Their mycelium is active inside the trunks, logs and branches, eating them away, and what we see is only a small part of the whole.  This Black Bulgar grows on fallen oak or beech.  In this case, it was on a beech trunk that had been felled as a precaution because it was infected by another fungus, the Giant Polypore, Meripilus giganteus, that causes a weakening white rot.  Such trees are felled by park managers so that they don't drop branches on passers-by. 

Lenzites betulinus,  Birch Mazegill.  Keston Common, 15 October 2013

But most  go for the dead wood.  This one is on a Silver Birch stump.  There are several species with this general appearance, small bracket fungi with a zoned appearance, but this one is particularly pretty; and not very common, apparently.

Pale Stagshorn,  Calocera pallidospathulata.  Keston Common,15 October 2013

This is another saprophyte, an eater of dead wood.  Those blunt spikes are about 1 1/2 cm tall.  There are several similar species, in varying sizes and shades of yellow.

Amanitas at Keston

Amanita fulva, Tawny Grisette.  Keston Common, 19 October 2013.

With names like Deathcap and Destroying Angel, Amanitas are not things you want to find on your plate.  They include the most poisonous and dangerous fungi in Britain.  They also include some of the prettiest.  And they also include Caesar's Mushroom, one of the tastiest edible mushrooms; the ones that the emperor Claudius loved.  It was, it is said, easy to add in some of the poisonous species that killed him. 

This one above, the Tawny Grisette, is also said to be edible.

Amanita rubescens var. annulosulphurea.  Keston Common,  19 October 2013.

This is a yellowish variety of a fungus called the Blusher, because of its reaction to damage.  It is said to be edible when cooked - but the water it is cooked in should be discarded.  In that respect it may be similar to this famous fungus:

Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria.  Keston Common, 15 October 2013

- The Fly Agaric.  Some say that if this is boiled for a while and the water discarded, it becomes edible.  But that relies on several chancy factors and I would not recommend it.  My book says it should be treated as deadly poisonous; this is probably an exaggeration, but even so, I do not think it would be good for you.

Amanita phalloides, Death Cap.  Keston Common , 19 October 2013.

This one, even less so. This is definitely a killer, and this one specimen might be enough to do it.  The greenish cap, that disintegrating ring, and the bag-like volva at the base are the things to look for.   Even experienced mushroom foragers tend to leave well alone anything with a cap of that colour, just in case.

Lactarius species at Keston

Lactarius rufus, Rufous Milkcap.   Keston Common, 19 October 2013.

Fungus season!  I have been out with a couple of groups and I am learning quite a lot, which is easy from a starting point of not knowing very much at all.

The fungi in this post are Lactarius species.  It's easy to identify the genus, because when they are damaged, they exude "milk".  Of course, there are quite a few species, but most of them are identifiable with a bit of care - or so I am told!

This first one was growing in clumps among Scots Pine.  There are two possibilities for something among conifers that looks like this, and the other one has milk that turns green after a couple of minutes; which this didn't.

Lactarius vietus, Grey Milkcap.  Keston Common, 19 October 2013.

This one just has white milk.  It hides quite successfully in the leaf litter.  There's actually another species that is very similar, Lactarius turpis, and I.m not going to swear that this isn't it.

Some of them can be told by the taste of the milk.  It's not a good idea to taste fungi unless you are sure they are not deadly, and there are some deadly ones out there.  For these, I touched my finger to the milk and dabbed a tiny bit on my tongue.  Some are acrid, some are hot like a chilli.  The first one above has milk which tastes a little acrid, then suddenly becomes hot. 

Lactarius chrysorrheus, Yellowdrop Milkcap.  Keston Common, 19 October 2013.

The milk of this species is yellow from the start, and flows copiously. 

The common names shown here come from the Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools.  It's not really complete, but it is pretty good.  But the common names are mostly fanciful fabrications.  Some fungi do have real country names, but most don't.   The ones that sound either convincing or odd are probably genuine, like the Yellowdrop and this one:

Lactarius quietus, Oakbug Milkcap.   Keston Common, 19 October 2013.

It grows near oak trees. 

One of my fungus books, Mushrooms by Roger Phillips, gives brief notes as to edibility.  Of these four, the Oakbug Milkcap is noted as edible; the Yellowdrop is poisonous; L. vietus is listed as not edible, which probably means it doesn't taste good or is perhaps tough or fibrous; and L. rufus, although also not edible, is said to be used in some places as a seasoning after unspecified "special treatment".

Fungus foragers need to know their stuff.

Autumn Sunlight on Hayes Common

Sunlight through the trees on Hayes Common, 6 October 2013.

 When I go for a walk, there is usually a point at which I find I am smiling because my surroundings are so pleasant.  This morning it was here, in the woods of Hayes Common.

The leaves are just starting to change colour and some have fallen, but most are still on the trees.  The air is cool and refreshing, and the morning sun slants through the branches and silhouettes them.  Sunbeams light up irregular patches of ground.

Sunlight through the trees on Hayes Common, 6 October 2013.

And interesting root formations are highlighted.  These photos were taken with my iPhone 5s, and reduced in size but not cropped.  I did lighten the foregrounds very slightly in Photoshop.