Monday 30 November 2015

Mewsbrook Park fungi

Art Deco shelter, 1930s, Mewsbrook Park
Today we walked through Lobbs Wood but couldn't find any fungi. We then tried Mewsbrook Park where we found Hairy Curtain Crust and two new species: Pleated Inkcap in the meadow and Silverleaf Fungus on a log in the woodland.
Garden Snails hibernating in Lobbs Wood, Helix aspersa
Hairy Curtain Crust underside, Stereum hirsutum
with pupa sheltering
Hairy Curtain Crust
Hairy Curtain Crust
Field Maple leaf, Acer campestre
Silverleaf Fungus, Chondrostereum purpureum
Art Deco bridge
Mewsbrook Park
Coots, Fulica atra
Hebe
Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos
Periwinkle
Pleated Inkcap, Parasola plicatilis
Pleated Inkcap

Pintails and Avocets at Farlington Marsh

Pintail, Anas acuta
On Saturday 28th November I left Littlehampton with blue skies and arrived at Farlington Marsh, near Portsmouth, just as the cloud rolled in and the wind got up. There were plenty of wildfowl on the lake. I saw Pintails, Avocets (a birder counted 37), Brent Geese, Lapwing, Redshank, Dunlin, Mallard, Snipe, Wigeon, Dunlin plus Stonechats and Carrion Crows.
On Sunday I went metal detecting again with my club and found an 1845 sixpence, 1915 farthing, 1892 halfpenny, plus many buttons and part of a toy soldier.
Avocets, Recurvirostra avosetta
Brent Geese, Branta bernicla
Brent Goose, Branta bernicla
Carrion Crow, Corvus corone
Carrion Crow
Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, Redshank, Tringa totanus and Dunlin, Calidris alpina
Pintail, Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos and a Teal, Anas crecca
Pintails
Pintails
Pintails, Common Snipe, Gallinago gallinago, and a Lapwing
Stonechat, Saxicola torquata
Teal, Anas crecca
Wigeon, Anas penelope
Victoria sixpence 1845
The 5 of 1845 is at an angle, and the P of PENCE also slopes. There are other slight differences in the letters compared to this mint version: http://bit.ly/1NkTOfs
I wonder if this is a forgery, though it is silver not plated like earlier Victorian forgeries.

Saturday 28 November 2015

Heyshott and more Ebernoe fungi

Turkeytail, Trametes versicolor
On November 25th I joined a conservation work party at Heyshott escarpment and then revisited Ebernoe Common and found some new fungi.
Heyshott - Mike and Mike on Chalky
Paul, Andy, Mike, Mike, Naomi
Ebernoe common:
Birch Polypore, Piptoporus betulinus
Birch Polypore
Bracken, Pteridium aquilinum
Dichomitus campestris
Hoof Fungus, Fomes fomentarius
unidentified bracket fungus
fruit of European Yew, Taxus baccata
Hairy Curtain Crust, Stereum hirsutum
Hairy Curtain Crust
Hairy Curtain Crust
Holly, Ilex aquifolium
Jelly Ear Fungus, Auricularia auricula-judae
King Alfred's Cake, Daldinia concentrica
Meadow Waxcap, Hygrocybe pratensis
Meadow Waxcap
Oakmoss lichen, Evernia prunastri
Parrot Waxcap, Hygrocybe psittacina
Parrot Waxcap
Puffball, Lycoperdon species
Southern Bracket, Ganoderma australe
Turkeytail, Trametes versicolor
Turkeytail
Yellow Brain, Tremella mesenterica