Nature Notes Novenber 2024
Date Published: 02-12-2024
A dry, mild start to the month then changing to cold, frosty days and nights, turning to snow for a day. Storm Bert arrived causing flooding and waterlogged ground in the area.
SIGHTINGS
Birds (seen or heard): Carrion Crows, Magpies, Jays, Buzzards, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Tawny Owls, Sparrowhawk, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves, Nuthatches, Siskins, Stonechats, Dartford Warblers, Wrens, Goldcrest, Robins, Blackbirds, Song Thrush, Dunnocks, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Fox, Woodmice, Brown Rat.
Insect/Spiders: Flies, Midges, Buff-tailed Bees.
Butterflies: Peacock, Large White, Brimstone.
Plants in Flower/Berry: Rowan, Common Gorse, Ivy.
Fungi/Lichen: Blewit (Collbia nuda), Common Mycena (Mycena galericulata), Candle Snuff (Xyaria hypoxylon), Fragrant Funnel (Clitocybe fragrans), Goosebury russula (Russella quella queletii), Common Greenshield Lichen ( Flavoparmelia caperata), Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor), Bay Bolete (Xerocomus badius), False Chanterelle (Hygrphoropsis aurantiacus), Liver milk-cap ( Lactarius hepaticus).
Recorders: C Wilcox K Wilcox
NATURE FACT
The Common Mycena (Mycena galericulata) is a mushroom species commonly known as the common bonnet, the Toque Mycena, or the Rosy-gill fairy helmet. The type of the genus Mycena was first described scientifically in 1772, but was not considered a Mycena until 1821. They are saprotrophic, living off dead matter, and can be found on well decayed logs and stumps, most commonly on Beech and Oaks. Typically they appear in small clusters being bell-shaped flattening out to a central raised umbo. They are usually grey to brown in colour getting lighter towards the edges. Size up to 6cm across.
SITE MANAGEMENT
The monthly work party cleared scrub and grassland frequented by butterfly species in the area adjacent to the paddock bordering the western perimeter of the Reserve.
