I Love Arnside and Silverdale: ELFIN SADDLE FUNGI (HELVELLA LACUNOSA) 22nd Nov 21

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Elfin Saddle fungi (Helvella lacunosa)

22^nd November 2021 – Dalton Crags.

A strange looking mushroom I found amongst the leaf litter on the floor beneath a Beech tree in Woodland making up part of Dalton Crags, Burton In Kendal, Cumbria (or old Westmorland). The mushroom was about 6cm tall and of a slate grey colour and so unusual appearance with humps and bumps, yet somehow it had something appealing about it that made you want to check it out more. According to the references it is not that rare, but a first for me. First discovered in 1783 by a Swedish naturalist Adam Afzelius who christened it “Helvella lacunosa” . Helvella means “aromic herb” and lacunosa means “having holes”.

"At first to me, it looked so strange in fact ugly - yet search deeper (look more than once) and you really do see a new found beauty". - The old adage "Never judge a book by its cover"

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If you want the most up to date blogs about birding and vismig and other stuff please click over this link:

Autumn Bird Migration over Burton in Kendal 2009, 2010, , 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021

Early movement and Spring Bird Migration over Burton In Kendal. 2020, 2021,

Monitoring our Swifts (Burton In Kendal - since 2010 - Check the summary for 2021 or any of the years previous histories.

Merlin chasing Skylark, yet Skylark evades capture by clever tactic

Notes on Lapwings (3rd March 2021) Demise (local 1960s onward) and also Winter Roosting on Factory Roofs in East Lancs between 1980s and 2000 see below the links:

Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) and Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)

Northern Greenland Wheatear (Oenanthe o. leucorrhoa)

Fieldfare numbers of Wintering Birds almost non existent Sth Cumbria

Money Spiders "ballooning"

Starlings

A Beech Mast Year

Chaffinch - large numbers overwintering/high beech mast yields

Crossbills (chicks in late December etc)

Redwing at roost (Birdy Brow-Kemple End)

Linnets - Extroadinary High numbers

Hutton Roof's Rinnentier (Rinnenkarren)

Arnside Naturalist party for Orchids 29th Jun 2021