Garden make-over

Our front garden in late August

When, in the middle of August, we moved into Trinity Close, the garden appeared reasonably tidy. But appearances can be deceptive; a rather large cypress was destined to become far too big - or would have done had we allowed it. A disproportionately large clump of pampas grass dominated the lawn. As for the lawn itself, grass was fighting a losing battle with weeds. It wouldn't do.




Out came the pampas grass and the cypress bit the dust (well, clay actually) and the lawn was painstakingly removed, spadeful by spadeful. It left us with a tabula rasa - a blank canvas on which we could work, putting our own stamp on the front garden.

The next step was the sinking of stones - local sandstone scavenged from various sources - in order to try and create the impression of a rocky outcrop in the form of a double ridge. I must admit that it doesn't look very convincing at the moment.

The same garden in mid-January.

Then came the delivery of 1.5 tonnes of gravel which was spread over the vacant ground to a depth of about 3 cms; I'm afraid that the front garden wasn't going to be wildlife friendly. A visit to a garden centre produced three hefty lumps of stone to be randomly placed about. A handful of dwarf conifers, carefully selected to remain small after ten or so years, were planted in an equally random manner.




At the moment there is little in the way of colour. Lavender will bloom and I hope to include some smallish shrubs such as Euryops acraeus and, perhaps, some cushion-forming relatives of broom and rosemary, from the pea family and the mint family. In March/April a good selection of alpines should become available from specialist nurseries. These will go into crevices in the stone 'outcrops' and give splashes of yellows, reds and blues. Hopefully.

Watch this space.

More moss musings

It was another grey, chilly day as I set out for a stroll around Byfield Pocket Park. Pleasant though the park is, I wasn't there in the expectation of stunning and unexpected discoveries - nor, as it happened, did I make any.

Xylaria hypoxylon, the Candle-snuff Fungus. Byfield
Pocket Park. 7 January, 2015

The tiny (12 mm tall) and easily overlooked Candle-snuff Fungus, Xylaria hypoxylon, was there, looking rather like a lichen. It was growing on a piece of decaying wood, as it always is. In fact both it generic and specific names are, of course, based on the Greek xylon: wood.







Not a spectacular start, and it was to be the only fungus seen on my walk.

Trees were dripping as a light rain fell; not ideal for a morning walk but doubtless appreciated by mosses, whose male cells, must swim to the female organs through film of moisture. (Ferns also have these 'motile' cells.)




Ancient woodlands, especially these in the west of Britain, carry a great range and variety of mosses but here we must be accepting of a very limited moss flora.

Plagiomnium undulatum in Byfield Pocket Park.
7 January, 2015

As I have said before, I make no claim to expertise in the field of bryology but even I couldn't fail to recognise the pretty Hart's-tongue Thyme Moss, Plagiomnium undulatum. It is not only abundant on damp woodland floors but is quite tall, often reaching 70-80 mm. 

Fissidens taxifolius in Byfield Pocket Park
7 January, 2015

Less obvious, but equally attractive in its diminutive way, was Common Pocket-moss, Fissidens taxifolius. It is easily found on patches of damp earth and is happy even on the clay soils of Northamptonshire. Despite having seen this moss in many places over many years, I have yet to find it bearing spore-producing capsules.

Dicranoweisia cirrata in Byfield Pocket Park.
7 January, 2015

The Common Pincushion, Dicranoweisia cirrata, (sometimes called Curly Thatch-moss in older books) was prominent on gateposts, where it formed rounded cushions. 

Dicranoweisia cirrata. A closer view showing
the capsules. 

The capsule (peristome) gradually turns from green, through yellow, to a glossy brown as it ripens. Altogether it is a most attractive moss, worth examining through a lens.









But to be honest, although an expert would have found far more species, that for me was about it.

Polytrichum juniperinum in Byfield churchyard.
7 January, 2015

I strolled back to the car in rather heavier rain but I took a quick glance at the churchyard, where the pretty Juniper Haircap, Polytrichum juniperinum, was flourishing on a rotting tree trunk - but again there seemed little more on offer.







A churchyard - God's little acre - can be an excellent refuge for beleaguered wildlife, but in the case of Byfield's church, the Holy Cross, there is far too much shade.  Two or three fine trees there are worth holding on to but several could be lost with no great detriment in aesthetic terms but with significant gains for wildlife. 

Oh dear! Not an exciting blog. Fond though I am of mosses and fungi it certainly doesn't get the pulse racing for most people. Roll on more insect activity. Spring flowers - hurry up! Lettsby Avenue - as we used to say as kids.

Badby and Badby Woods

Chris was off to Byfield today to meet up with her friend Lynda, so I arranged for her to drop me at Badby.

I made my way through the village and then, approaching via a steep hill, on to the Church of St Mary the Virgin. It is a fine, Grade II listed building dating from the 13th century with interestingly contrasting masonry. There were once quarries in the area but clearly the stone comes from more than one source.

An east-facing window in Badby Church,
Northants.  5 January, 2015

All the masonry consists of Jurassic sandstone but some has almost a terracotta hue - and very attractive it is too.














I would have lingered in the churchyard but it was a grey, chilly morning and I paused only to look at some curious gravestones. Should this lumpy piece of masonry be called a table gravestone or a pillow gravestone? (Gravestones are sometimes pillow-shaped, apparently signifying eternal sleep.) I could make out no trace of an inscription.




Opposite the church was a sign indicating the Knightley Way and heading south towards Badby Woods. I didn't hesitate.

A mist hung over the woods and it was very
wet under foot. The muddy footpath swooped downwards so conditions were treacherous but I avoided mishap.

On this steep footpath there had clearly been much erosion with tree roots becoming exposed as soil was washed away. But this sycamore seemed to be well anchored.












Holly, Ilex aquifolium*, was common beside the track. Many of the leaves bore a thin yellow-green encrustation. I had hoped to find that it was one of the curious foliicolous lichens, but a microscope proved that I was out of luck for it was merely a mildew, Erysiphe polygoni.

Once in the woodland I found a good deal of holly, perhaps originally having arrived on bird droppings from gardens in the village. Female plants carried berries and, on the leaves, the pale yellow mines of the fly, Phytomyza ilicis. I have never found a holly bush without these mines.

Hypogymnia tubulosa at Badby Woods,
Northamptonshire. 5 January, 2015

Growing on a dead branch was a lichen which I vaguely recognised. 











Once home I photographed it and was able to identify it as Hypogymnia tubulosa - common but new to me. Isn't it pretty!

Evernia prunastri . Badby Woods, Northamptonshire.
5 January, 2015

Stereum hirsutum on a dead branch. Badby Woods,
Northamptonshire.  5 January, 2015

Perhaps marginally more attractive is Evernia prunastri, a very common species which I found in several places, usually on tree branches but sometimes on the trunk.









Undoubtedly far more colourful and eye-catching is this fungus, Stereum hirsutum.
Extremely common it may be but I was happy to find it. It goes without saying that fungi such as this Hairy Stereum (to use its common name) play a vital role in the decomposition of dead wood and its eventual return to the soil as humus.







I did photograph other lichens but I am in a benevolent mood and will not try your patience by showing them. Jays screamed and woodpeckers were drumming away on suitable branches as I pressed on through the dank woodland.






Honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymenum, corkscrewed its way up convenient branches. It was already in leaf, just slightly ahead of elder, whose buds were swelling but were yet to unfold. In his poem, 'Broomsgrove' John Clare writes that:

   The woodbine may nauntle here...

nauntle being a dialect word apparently meaning 'to rise' or 'to rear'. Certainly it will rise to great heights in suitable conditions.

In contrast to the slender honeysuckle vines, great trunks of oak bore the huge swollen growths of Crown Gall, caused by Agrobacterium tumefasciens - tumescent indeed.

Garrya elliptica in a garden at Badby,
Northants. 5 January, 201

So, 'twas back to the village and its gardens, where my attention was caught by the long male catkins of Garrya elliptica. These silky catkins can sometimes reach a length of some 15 centimetres and, although I admit that the shrub is quite dull for much of the year, I am very fond of it. Catkins there may be, even pollen, but there will be no seed. Garrya bears the male and female flowers on separate plants and no one seems to bother planting a female. Indeed, I doubt whether female plants are available in this country.

Yellow Brain Fungus, Tremella mesenterica.
Hedgerow near Badby, Northants. 5 January, 2015

Badby sits in a valley beside a tributary of the River Nene. The area in general is hilly with Northamptonshire's highest point, Arbury Hill (225 metres), only a short distance outside the village. So for me, unfit after the Christmas festivities, it was quite a long drag up and out of the valley to those broad sunlit uplands (sorry, I got carried away) to Daventry. Yellow Brain Fungus, Tremella mesenterica, provided a splash of bright colour on dead branches in a hedgerow.

The scarlet berries of White Bryony, Bryonia dioica
in a hedgerow near Badby, Northants. 5 January, 2015

I paused yet again, this time to photograph the fruit of White Bryony, Bryonia dioica, ramping through the same hedgerow. Birds seem not yet hungry enough to take them. Although safe for birds they are, for humans, very poisonous. Even the juice on the skin can induce an unpleasant rash with blistering. These fruits, eaten in quantity, can be fatal. Strange to think that this climber is a member of the same family as cucumbers and melons.



By now the sun was warm on my back - and very welcome it was too. Welcome also was the coffee I was drinking fifteen minutes later having made it home in one rather weary piece.



* Although, on the face of it, the inclusion of the Latin name seems pointless, I get a great many 'hits' from other countries, particularly the USA. For people outside the Britain the name 'Holly' or 'Honeysuckle' may mean little.

Winter lichens

I've just re-read my last blog. What a load of tosh - sometimes I really want to go back and slap myself!

Can I redeem myself with stunning observations regarding lichens? 

I do face a genuine problem here. Tom Chester, in an article enticingly called 'The Saxicolous Churchyard Lichens of Lowland England' wrote: 'In landlocked counties such as my own (Northamptonshire) where there are no natural rock exposures and only vestiges of ancient woodland and heathland, the churchyard is by far the richest habitat for lichens'. (British Wildlife, Vol. 8, p. 161). In other words, if a lichenologist were asked to draw up a list of Britain's most exciting counties in terms of lichens, Northamptonshire would probably be firmly rooted at the bottom. (I accidentally typed 'Northamptonshite'; perhaps I should have allowed the error to remain.)

Out for a stroll today I saw no saxicolous lichens at all (saxicolous simply means growing or living on or among rocks) for I wandered through a patch of immature, scrubby woodland in a suburban environment - hardly a prime lichen habitat.

Xanthoria polycarpa - probably - on a twig adjacent
to Christchurch Drive, Daventry. 3 January, 2015 

But of course there were lichens to be seen. Indeed some branches were so thickly encrusted with them that hardly any bark could be glimpsed. The lichen responsible for this is probably Xanthoria polycarpa; the similar Xanthoria parietina has a more 'flattened' appearance. (I failed to examine the patch of grey lichen at the top so I cannot put a name to it.) 

A colourful cluster of lichens with the grey Punctelia
subrudecta prominent. Woodland by Christchurch Drive,
Daventry. 3 January, 2015

Punctelia subrudecta was present. It is common across Wales and England but in Northants and adjacent counties few records appear on the NBN Gateway maps. That is not to say that it is rare around here but that records may not have been submitted.

Lecidella elaeochroma on a tree trunk. Christchurch Drive.
Daventry. 3 January, 2015

'Ah.' I hear you say, 'A species of Lecidella.'  And I'm sure you are right - but which one? My money is on Lecidella elaeochroma; the appearance is correct as is the habitat - and it can withstand urban pollution too. 





 

Lecidella elaeochroma - a closer look.

It can take the form of an oval patch very much like that of Lecanora chlarotera (see previous blog) but a closer look shows that the ascocarps have no margin and so do not have that 'jam tart' appearance.

Parmelia perlatum beside Christchurch Drive, Daventry.
3 January, 2015

Thirty years ago this next species would have been a real surprise. Parmotrema perlatum is sensitive to atmospheric pollution but with the improvements in air quality it has steadily recolonised areas which were once a no-go area for this lichen. This was photographed about 50 metres from a very busy trunk road! In parts of India this species is used as a spice.

Cladonia chlorophaea adds interest to a section of
fencing. Christchurch Drive, Daventry.,
3 January, 2015

A section of fencing bore patches of Cladonia chlorophaea with its cup-like podetia. This is quite common and widespread as is the similar C. fimbriata. Cladonias are very tough cookies and are abundant in the arctic regions. Cladonia rangifera is the true 'Reindeer Moss' - from which it will be seen that the word 'moss' is often used wrongly (cf the word 'bug').

Hazel catkins near Christchurch Drive, Daventry.
3 January, 2015

Anyone who has read thus far will be all lichened-out so, as a reminder of what a mild winter it has been, here are more examples of fully-open hazel catkins. And it is still only the first week in January!






Tony White. E-mail: diaea@yahoo.co.uk

Now for 2015

I enter 2015, Dear Reader, with a conscience weighed down by guilt: for two days you have been deprived of the unalloyed pleasure of reading a new blog. But what can I offer for your delectation?

Daldinia concentrica in a burned-out tree stump.
Daventry Country Park. 31 December, 2014

I could make a start with Daldinia concentrica, a fungus generally known as Cramp Balls. Often standing out dark against a pale tree trunk, here a group stands out pale against the black background of a burnt tree stump, creating a vaguely contre-jour effect. These specimens are quite young and will turn coal-black on maturity (and are, indeed, recommended as tinder for starting a fire).


They were, in medieval times, carried in a purse or pocket by travellers to ward off cramp. They don't work. When cracked open these fruit bodies reveal concentric pale rings - hence the Latin specific name.

Unimpressed so far? Can't say I blame you. What else can I offer? What about some nice lichens on a tree trunk...

Lecanora chlarotera at Daventry Country Park.
31 December, 2014

Lecanora chlarotera is a very common lichen commonly (usually?) forming oval patches where the bark is reasonably smooth.

Lecanora chlarotera showing the ascocarps.
Daventry Country Park,  31 December, 2014

This close-up shows a cluster of the fruiting bodies, known as ascocarps. Each has a pale margin with a green-brown disc.








If that hasn't caught your attention then nothing will!

What about this oak tree, with a grotesquely gnarled trunk? It stopped me in my tracks. I could see no obvious diseased tissues and my first thought was that it was an abnormal form of Crown Gall, a malformation caused by a bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefasciens. However this usually develops a bit higher up so I remain in ignorance - unfortunately an all-too-common state of affairs.


So there you are. As I have said before, the winter is inevitably limited in terms of wildlife but it forces one to look more closely at things that, at other times of the year, would be overlooked. But I still want spring to arrive!

A Happy New Year to you all.


Tony White. E-mail: diaea@yahoo.co.uk

Lichens and leaves.

The lichen Psilolechia lucida. Christchurch
Road, Daventry. 28 December, 2014

One of Britain's commonest lichens is Psilolechia lucida. It forms extensive pale green patches on suitable stonework. Tom Chester has said it is 'almost as if a child with a large green stick of chalk has been on the rampage'. (British Wildlife, Vol. 8, pt. 33, p.166) But, common though it is, it is very exacting in its needs, requiring the correct levels of moisture, light, and stony substrate. This brick wall in Daventry's Christchurch Road seems to suit it. Lichens are regarded as primitive organisms, with an intellectual level only slightly above that of the Sultan of Brunei*.





30 December, 2014

Last night was bitterly cold (and even by noon the temperature had only managed to achieve 6 degrees). A sharp frost had left roads and footpaths treacherous but I girded up my loins and set off for the local pocket park. Several wolves were bounding around, fortunately in the domesticated form, accompanied by their owners. Genetic research suggests that our dogs are descended from the single domestication, some 15,000 years ago, of a wolf-like canid which is now extinct, but the picture is very complex, with much more research needed.

Frozen leaves, in a considerable variety, crunched beneath my feet.

The commonest were those of the Sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus. This is probably an introduced tree in Britain but, as with dogs, the picture is not yet clear and a reasonable case can be made for this being a native to this country. Hybrid Acers are frequent and this leaf shows some of the characteristics of the Norway Maple, Acer platanoides.

Leaf of Field Maple, Acer campestre, at Stefan Leys
Pocket Park, Daventry. 30 December, 2014

The similar Field Maple, Acer campestre, is undoubtedly native to Britain and can be recognised by the rounded lobes of the leaf edge.

Leaf of Sessile oak at Stefan Leys Pocket Park,
Daventry. 30 December, 2014

We all know the oak of course but very few are present in Stefan Leys Pocket Park. The leaf shown is that of the Sessile Oak, Quercus petraea. This species is native to Northants though much less common than the Pedunculate Oak, Quercus robur. Here the Sessile Oak is undoubtedly planted.

Leaf of Small-leaved Lime, Tilia cordata. Stefan Leys
Pocket Park, Daventry. 30 December, 2014

The leaves of Lime trees are distinctive for being abruptly narrowed to a tapering tip. This example appears to be from a Small-leaved Lime, Tilia cordata, again a native of our county but in this instance almost certainly planted.

Leaves of Beech, Fagus sylvatica, are simple in shape
and yet quite distinct. Stefan Leys Pocket Park,
Daventry. 30 December, 2014

Beech, Fagus sylvatica, though common and familiar to us all, is not a Northamptonshire native. It will - and does - regenerate from seed, but is initially always a result of planting. Among the loveliest of our trees, Beech is native in southern England. Its leaves are rather tough and are among the last to fall of our deciduous trees. They tend to be relatively slow to decompose.





Cherry leaves were abundant on the ground but I searched in vain for those of Alder, even though I carefully searched directly beneath a clump of the trees. Very odd!



*The Sultan, in his infinite wisdom, has authorised the introduction of sharia law, thus permitting the stoning to death of homosexuals. How civilised!

Catkins at Christmas

It's not that I'm afraid of Santa Claus - I'm not claustrophobic - but one can have a bit too much of the celebrations. So, following an excellent Christmas dinner with my daughter Jacqui and her husband Dean, a walk around Daventry Country Park seemed like a good idea. Chris, Jacqui, Dean and yours truly set off in fading afternoon light to do a circuit, which basically means a circumnavigation of the lake/reservoir which forms the centre of the park.

Some fine trees are dotted around the park, with huge oaks and beeches, surely pre-dating the reservoir by many years, being particularly impressive.

This specimen, though not large, has the typical shape of an oak. The branches do not sweep elegantly upward or outwards but spread with oddly angled branches, these angles once being particularly valuable for shipbuilding and other construction work. We have two species native to Britain: in the south,the east and much of the midlands the Pedunculate Oak, Quercus robur is the most commonly met, but in the north of England, together with Scotland and Wales, the Sessile Oak, Quercus petraea, is the commoner, preferring the siliceous soils with their more acid reaction. The leaves allow identification but hybrids are frequent and I didn't attempt to put a name to this specimen.

The alga Trentepohlia abietina - probably -
staining the trunk of an Acer at Daventry
Country Park. 25 December, 2014

We pressed on in fading light. Tree trunks here and there were stained bright orange-red with an alga. It is a species of Trentepohlia, almost certainly T. abietina. It likes cool, damp conditions so is most frequent in the north and west of the British Isles. Here, close to a significant body of water, it is flourishing. There are very few records of this species on the NBN Gateway site, probably because people fail to notice it or aren't sure what it it they're looking at.

Catkins of Hazel in flower on Christmas Day!
Daventry Country Park. 25 December, 2014

I was on the point of putting away my camera when I had a surprise. Hazel catkins had no right to be in this state - releasing their pollen on Christmas Day. A bit of a waste of time really because there are unlikely to be any female flowers ready to receive the pollen. But it was a nice little bonus to round off the walk!