Blog - Flora & Fauna

Monthly Mushroom: The Parasol Mushroom (Macrolepiota procera)

Monthly Mushroom: The Parasol Mushroom (Macrolepiota procera)

by Jasper Sharp, 17 August, 2018, 1 comments

Parasols should be popping up all across the UK at the moment. Paul Stamets in Mycelium Running calls them “one of the most majestic of all edible mushrooms.” The second part of the Latin name Macrolepiota procera literally means lofty, upraised or extended to a great height, and they are certainly hard to miss on late-Summer and Autumn forays. The Parasol mushroom starts out looking something like a drumstick, before the initially egg-shaped cap opens up to a maximum size of around a foot across (typically between 10-30cm) when fully grown. Read more...

Wood Ants film

Wood Ants film

by Angus, 15 August, 2018, 3 comments

WoodlandsTV has made a new ant film that shows wildlife film maker, Tom Hartwell taking a closer look at the life of Wood Ants. With numbers decreasing across the UK it is important to pay more attention to these fascinating creatures and the role they play within our ecosystem. There are over 200 species of Formica rufa - the scientific name for Wood ants. As the name suggests they are most commonly found in woodlands but some species are also found in grasslands. Read more...

Buzz pollination and bumblebees

Buzz pollination and bumblebees

by Chris, 11 August, 2018, 0 comments

Bumblebees are important pollinators; their bodies are often seen covered with pollen grains. However, when visiting certain flowers they have a special mechanism for releasing the pollen grains from the anthers (the special sacs on the stamens). This mechanism is known as sonication or buzz pollination. When visiting flowers of the potato / tomato family (the Solanaceae) or blueberries, they land on the flower, use their mouth parts to hold onto a stamen and then use rapid contractions of their (thoracic) flight muscles to make the stamen vibrate. The effect of these vibrations is to allow the pollen to be released from the tube-like anthers from a pore or small slits (poricidal stamens). Read more...

The loss of big trees

The loss of big trees

by Chris, 10 August, 2018, 2 comments

The world's larger and older trees are dying at in unprecedented numbers, according to Professor David Lindenmayer (Australian National University). One of the first clues to this phenomenon was a Swedish study of their forestry records - dating back some 150 years. Then an Australian study of (their) Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forest confirmed that the bigger and older trees were not only dying in forest fires, but were also dying at a higher rate (than normal) in non-fire years. There has been a similar loss of large, old pines in the forests of (western) North America - partly through selective logging but also through very severe wild fires. Read more...

The onward march of the bark beetles

The onward march of the bark beetles

by Chris, 5 August, 2018, 1 comments

The woodlands blog has previously reported on the havoc being wreaked by bark beetles. Such beetles may be small (about half a centimetre in length) but their effects on the western forests of North America is colossal - indeed some parts have lost 90% of their conifers. Outbreaks of these beetles have been increasing in size and severity. The beetles onward march was generally kept in check by long and cold winters, but with warmer temperatures (especially in the winter months) and a longer season for reproduction bark beetle populations have been gaining ground, even making their way into parts of the boreal forest of North America. Read more...

Common Earthball_Scleroderma citrinum_2

The Monthly Mushroom: Common Earthball (Scleroderma citrinum)

by Jasper Sharp, 31 July, 2018, 1 comments

We’ve had an exceptional Summer of scorched soils, withered leaves and parched lawns so far this year, so July’s Monthly Mushroom almost slipped by the wayside while I awaited a shift to atmospheric conditions slightly more conducive to a fresh seasonal flush. However, this choice specimen should be emerging just around now and should be with us until the end of the year. They are the same shape and size of many of the puffball examples listed in the last Monthly Mushroom post, but few amongst even the most passionate woodland wanderers tend to get too fired up by the sight of an Earthball. Read more...

The effects of nitrogen pollution on our flora

The effects of nitrogen pollution on our flora

by Chris, 27 July, 2018, 2 comments

For some time now the woodlands blog has commented on the loss of hedgerows, the homogenisation of our flora, and the disappearance of roadside plants. The loss of roadside plants is due in part to the enrichment of such areas with nitrates from fertilisers / waste from livestock from adjacent agricultural land the deposition of nitrogen compounds from car exhausts. This extra nitrogen* encourages some plants to the exclusion of others. The beneficiaries of this ˜extra nitrogen' are stinging nettles, brambles, various grass species and cow parsley. At the moment, cow parsley can been seen springtng up all over the country - by the sides of the roads, motorways, country lanes - displaying its umbels of white feathery flowers. Read more...

woodland butterfly

The big butterfly (and moth) count is here again

by Chris, 26 July, 2018, 0 comments

The big butterfly count is up and running for this year. It was launched in 2010 and has become one of the world's biggest surveys of butterflies. It is a nationwide survey and is aimed at assessing the ‘health” of our environment, and that of butterfly populations. Butterflies and moths are good indicators of biodiversity, and reflect changes in various environmental parameters. To join in with big butterfly count 2018, which runs from 20th July to 12th August, all you need to do is simply count butterflies for 15 minutes during bright (preferably sunny) weather. Read more...

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