Thursday 19th November 2020 - Nice stroll or wander with fabulous wonders and my December copy for the local magazine - SEE BLOG BELOW THESE LINKS.....
CHECKING OUT SOUTHERN POLYPODY AND BLACK SPLEENWORT PLUS FUNGI, FUNGI AND MORE FUNGI - Click here
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Another recent blog on"The best moments of vis so far this year - click here
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Click over the Links:
2020 Visible Bird Migration records
"Strange Polypodium Interjectum found in Burton (17th Oct 2020)
Cloud and Sunrise photo blog - click here
The new Orchid book "Britains Orchids" by Sean Cole and Mike Waller - please click this link for details.
Varieties of our local Hutton Roof Gentians and the reason for the 50/50 Purple and White, plus my research survey results. Plus "Upland Enchanters Nightshade (circae x intermedia)
More Autumn Gentian photos (2020) can be seen here
Thursday 19th November 2020 Slape Lane, Lancelot Clark Storth (CWT)
It seems to take ages to get from A to B keep stopping to admire the rich beauties, but why on earth should I care when every glance is producing highlights whether it be fabulous plants most spent but some like the Red Campion coming back for another late blooming session! or fabulous fungi and lichens which have now come into their own.
I knew it was coming up somewhere along this canopied narrow slippery lane for me to see the Jelly Ear fungi which always appears to be so photogenic. A wrinkled ear or a furry velvety frosty look.
I feel pretty confident that this is the one called "Jelly Ear" (Auricularia auricula-judae)
found on Slape Ln, Burton In Kendal (Photo: 19th November 2020
It is coming up to the time of Holly and the Ivy, and for me the Ivy is so special and you get so much variation in the colour of it's leaves, just like the pair in the next photo. I feel it is such a shame when I see ivy cut back. Why I especially love this particular plant is that it is probably the greatest food resource during the Autumn months for some of our main pollinators which include the wasp and hover-flies.
(above) I wonder if this is "Nipplewort" ( Lapsana communis)
(Below) Hoggy, Hoggy Hoggy!! Hogweed - still blossoming some of the most beautiful umbellistic natural patterns, reminds me so much of when a child I would look through a kaleidoscope. So beautiful to see on a lovely November day.
This one I believe is called "Candlesnuff Fungus" or its proper name "Xylaria hypoxylon"
It was found on decaying moss covered wood, its very impressive and also common on both Slape Lane and also within Lancelot Clark Storth (CWT). I guess the first thing that comes into my head is "antlers".
This one I believe is called "Candlesnuff Fungus" or its proper name "Xylaria hypoxylon"
It was found on decaying moss covered wood, its very impressive and also common on both Slape Lane and also within Lancelot Clark Storth (CWT). I guess the first thing that comes into my head is "antlers".
(above) This is Crystal Brain Fungus or (Myxarium nucleatum which I am told is more recently called Exidia nucleata) I should have known straightaway, I have seen it thousands of times before.
One of my favourites showing some Harts Tongue Fern and lots of spent Sweet Woodruff.
The area within Lancelot Clark Storth is probably the largest Woodruff population on Hutton Roof with examples throughout the approach within Lancelot and even more within Pickles Wood. There is a time when Woodruff, Anemone and Bluebells can be seen at once covering the woodland/limestone floor.
(above) This is Crystal Brain Fungus or (Myxarium nucleatum which I am told is more recently called Exidia nucleata) I should have known straightaway, I have seen it thousands of times before.
Spring Sandwort (Minuartia verna)
Just Look at these splendid Mouse Ear Hawkweed and check the bristles
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Local Magazine copy - ready for December
Late Swifts, which we had in September, then we had another sighting in October and we have just left behind November, what is going on! Yes it appears that we are starting to get Swifts over Burton later and later in the year. It was only a few days ago (18th Nov) that local birdwatcher Phil Mann spotted a Swift flying around the Drovers Way at the bottom of Neddy Hill, he alerted the birding community on the hotline and one or two got there in time to see the bird for themselves, sadly by the time I and others arrived the bird had already moved on.
The Swifts are again in the highlights with fantastic things going on with the new builds behind the old Royal Pub. Our local builder Graham Wilson has given early initiative for the inclusion of several new Swifts homes to be built within his new properties together with the maintaining of their original nest sites on the older Royal Cottage and annexes. This is brilliant news and is a great example of leading the way and we are all so grateful to him for his actions.
Little going on now in the way of visible bird migration, but we have had some cracking parties of Pink Footed Geese and Whooper Swans in the past week or two, which have come over Burton some heading South West to Martin Mere but the majority heading to the South East and probably on to Lincolnshire or Norfolk.
The Holly and the Ivy time of the year is quickly advancing and it’s great to see so much of our area showing ivy. It is such a special plant and so important! It is the main source of food during the Autumn for our important pollinators the wasp and the hover flies etc.
It must have been especially mild this year because I am seeing several species of flowers coming through for their second showing. This week I have had some nice Red Campion flowering along Slape Lane and I am still seeing examples of the rare Spring Sandwort, Bush Vetch, Herb Robert, Nipplewort and beautiful flower of the umbellifer Hogweed.
Ferns are also on the menu. Now the birding vismig season is rapidly coming to a close, it give me more time to investigate some of our lovely local ferns. Only this week I managed to locate a small new population of the Black Spleenwort on Vicarage Lane, I checked out some of our rare Southern Polypody which resides on top of a boulder standing at about 8ft high, which lies deep within canopied woodland in Lancelot Clark Storth (CWT). It was a month or two back I last visited our two Holly Ferns and so they too will be on the agenda for a visit over the coming weeks. I am going to have some well stretched exercise walks on Hutton Roof.
Fungi and Lichen, well I keep taking photos of some lovely examples which I regularly find on Hutton Roof, but little do I know about them and constantly having to check out the knowledge of the field guide. I am glad I am not a forager and have the necessary need to find them to sustain a living, I would without doubt be one that would probably die of hunger or maybe a worse death of poisoning!
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