SUFFOLK: Minsmere fungi and fairy doors

Late October 2019

At the end of the month we went to Minsmere, where there was a 'wild things' trail around the woods, featuring fairy doors, wooden carved mushrooms and some sort of root creatures with eyes. This is the sort of thing that on smaller reserves might annoy local birders, but Minsmere is big enough that the trail was away from the main birding bits of the reserve. Incidentally now having a young daughter makes me appreciate things like this to attract families and children who otherwise might not visit nature reserves much more than I used to, although events do need to be compatible with the area they are being held in - for example fun runs around areas with lots of birds are probably a step too far I think.

The trail was in the woodland back along the track from the main car park, and we got off to an inauspicious start, with the way apparently blocked by a couple of logs. Usually this would be a sign that a path is closed, but there were several as we went round and I assume that they were placed deliberately to encourage children to clamber over. We then went off trail, as the path actually went along the east side of the woodland tower hide, but the map we'd been given had the path roughly marked on but going quite a bit to the west of the tower. All that said, the trail was nice when we actually stayed on it.

This autumn has been excellent for fungi, and the woods at Minsmere were packed with it. I recorded 39 species, which was good considering it was a family trip so I was trying not to linger too long and I didn't take anything home to check. Some of the more photogenic species are shown below.

 Hare's Ear

 Very young False Death Cap

 Common Puffballs

 Yellow Stagshorn

 Fluted Birds-nests

 Beefsteak Fungus

 Fly Agaric

 Parasol (a young specimen)

Winter Stalkball

As we got ready to leave we all stopped to admire the low autumn sun shining through the trees. Photos taken, we headed home.

NORWICH: Beer & Science Festivals

Late October 2019

Autumn is always a busy time - not only is it great for fungi and (sometimes!) bird migration, but it is also time for the annual Norwich Beer Festival and Norwich Science Festivals.

Karl, Adam & I visited the Norwich Beer Festival in midweek, with a researched list of beers to try. Because of the popularity of the festival not all of the beers are on at the same time, which usually means missing out on a few - unfortunately this year well over half of the beers we wanted to try had either already been drunk or had yet to be put on! This meant that I missed out on a new bird-beer, Gannet Mild by Earl Soham, plus the a couple of other more tenuous bird related beers. I did have Red Kite by Black Isle (I'd previously had this from a bottle) and could have tried Oystercatcher Ale by Brancaster Brewery (which I'd also had previously). Deciding to take in some ciders as well, Adam had Yellowhammer, and I branched out into dragonflies to have a Norfolk Hawker cider from East Norfolk Trading. Afterwards we called in at Brewdog, where I had a very nice fruit cider called Dead & Berried.

Cathy, Rose & I also attended various bits of the Norwich Science Festival. NNNS had a stall for the zoology and nature days, and there were some very good stalls for children - we came away with a pine cone bird feeder, plant pot bee hotel and various badges and stickers. Rose particular enjoyed watching a Large Silver Water Beetle in the Broads Authority pond-dipping table, especially when she was able to see it from underneath with the trapped air giving it the silvery look. I had to introduce Dave Goulson for his talk on gardening for wildlife, and we managed to secure tickets to see Jane Goodall in conversation with Ben Garrod at Norwich Cathedral.

Two very different events, but both very enjoyable and firm fixtures in my calendar!

WHITLINGHAM: An overdue boat trip and lots of fungi

Late October 2019

Back in 2012 the Broads Authority transferred the specially-commissioned solar boat Ra from Barton Broad to Whitlingham Great Broad, and since then it has been offering passenger trips around the broad every summer. I had always intended to go on one of these trips "at some point", but the circumstances outlined in my recent blog post (Changes afoot) meant that haste was needed. It was confirmed on one of the broads forums that as the Broads Authority would no longer be managing Whitlingham C.P., they would be re-homing Ra elsewhere on the Broads. Given that boat trips don't run over the winter I had a few weeks to go on one. Fortunately I made the time, and as the only one for that time slot had a very pleasant chauffered tour around the broad.

The birds seen from the boat were the expected species, a few Gadwall and Tufted Duck, Kingfisher and a Great-spotted Woodpecker on the main island. On returning I was looking at the Barnacle Goose when I noticed something resembling a Ruddy Shelduck. It didn't look quite right, and on close inspection I decided it was an Egyptian Goose x Ruddy Shelduck hybrid, which was agreed with by hybrid guru Dave Appleton. I also think this was probably the bird seen at Strumpshaw in September by David Bryant.

I spent a highly productive few hours looking for fungi in the wooded areas. Whilst I didn't see anything new, quite a few of the species were ones I'd not noted at Whitlingham before. These included Birch Knight, Earpick Fungus (a particular favourite of mine - it has a felty cap, spines instead of gills or tubes and grows on pine cones), Crimped Gill and Redlead Roundhead. There were also nice specimens of Freckled Dapperling and the various stages of Haresfoot Inkcap.

A couple of insects were of note, my first patch record of Aulagromyza heringii in Ash leaves (this leaf mining species seems to have had a very good autumn) and a bug I'd not previously recorded, Drymus brunneus, found on a bracket fungus amongst the leaf litter.

NORWICH: Mousehold Heath Benzoin bracket and other fungi

Late October 2019

Every year there is a fungus foray at Mousehold, but it is midweek so I can't attend. After this years one I was browsing some photos from it when I noticed Benzoin Bracket (Ischnoderma benzoinum). Neil Mahler confirmed that this species had been seen on the forays since 2014(!) and was still present, growing on a stump near the Zaks car park. I decided that when I next had a bit of time free I'd stop by and have a look.

Arriving at the Zaks car park I immediately saw a huge swathe of Honey Fungus around a stump and the surrounding grassland. Checking a log nearby I noticed Redlead Roundhead and Stump Puffballs. There weren't many stumps in the area, so I found the Benzoin Bracket without too much trouble, although it was facing away from the grass so I had to check all the way round to find it.

I wanted to head on to Whitlingham, but spent another ten minutes in the woods near the car park and they were full of fungi. There was an area of Shaggy Parasols and Common Funnels, plus Mycena spp, Dead Man's Fingers and several other species. I looked at some old Bracken hoping to find Bracken Club fungus, and I thought I'd found some only for it to be a small white species growing on dead grass mixed in with the Bracken. Clouded Agaric was also seen, and interestingly a clump of Glistening Ink Caps showed the complete life stage from fresh to old to turned-to-ink. A very productive spell, and there would have been much more seen if I'd had time to go over more of the site.

SUFFOLK: Thornham Walks

Late October 2019

One of the species of fungi I've wanted to see for a while is the Magpie Inkcap. Last year Chris Lansdell found some at Thornham Walks, and checking out the site on the internet it sounded like a good place for a walk, so I planned in a family visit this autumn. Unfortunately the weather was against us - it was drizzly to start with but in the end it chucked it down fo much of the visit! We began with a nice meal in the cafe, a Lord Of The Rings fonted place called The Forge. After a bit of splashing in the puddles we headed off into the woods.

It was immediately evident that there was a lot of fungi about, but we then had to take shelter from the rain in the bird hide. From here we got good views of several Marsh Tits, whilst a Blue Tit flew onto the edge of hte hide flap and looked in at us! Several interesting sculptures were present too, including a Green Man and a carved mushroom ring.

We didn't suceed at finding any Magpie Inkcaps, but we did see quite a few different species, including a huge patch of Agaricus sp, straight line of Trooping Funnels and a clump of Shaggy Scalycaps. It was a nice place, and should warrant a return visit in the dry sometime!

NORWICH: Coopers Wood LNR

Late October 2019

Once the clocks go back after work wildlife walks become impossible, so I made time to walk down Lakenham Way all the way to the end one evening to visit Coopers Wood, a small Fringe Project site that I had never got round to finding. This wasn't particularly suprising when I got there, as it was down a narrow cul de sac with nothing signposting the first entrance. A footpath into the woods became a boardwalk, which then followed the river along for a while before opening up into a large grassy area.

Wildlife wise a Marsh Tit called from within the wet woodland, but the drizzle meant that there were few insects about. I recorded some leaf miners -  a handful of Agromyzids and some leaf mines in Willow. I was looking for the recently arrived Royal Midge, Phyllonorycter pastorella, which makes a very long mine on willow leaves, but the only ones I could find were probably too small, with Phyllonorycter viminiella the likely culprit. Some small caterpillars on Willow looked interesting but beyond my knowledge to identfy.

As the rain got heavier I had a quick look at a Huntingdon Elm, which contained larval feeding signs of Elm Zigzag Sawfly, spots of the fungus Dothidella ulmi and leaf mines of Phyllonorycter schreberella.

WHITLINGHAM: October WeBS count & fungi

13th October 2019

After the Strumpshaw fungus walk I had to call in at Whitlingham for the October WeBS count. A Little Egret was present in a tree in the Alders along the Little Broad and the feral Barnacle Goose was still present on the slipway, and there were several duck species, although not as many as in 2018 when at this stage last year Pochard, Shoveler and Wigeon were also present:

Gadwall 6 (2018: 43)

Mallard 51 (2018: 68)

Teal 14 (2018: 4)

Tufted Duck 45 (2018: 52)

As expected there were quite a few species of fungus fruiting. One of the more interesting ones was a pale-looking Shaggy Parasol type, which Tony Leech identified as Chlorophyllum olivieri. There were several Agaricus sp(p) around, the one of which I checked was Inky Mushroom. Blue Roundhead, Ochre Aldercap and Pavement Mushroom were also noted.

The leaf mining season is beginning to tale off a bit, but I noticed a large vacated mine on a willow that was caused by a sawfly, Heterarthrus microcephalus, my fifth species in this genus but only the second here.