Dune Fungi...

Just to show that you need not go to woodland or upland meadows to see some unusual fungi, at the weekend I found these three at Warkworth Dunes..

Black Earth Tongue Geoglossum cookeanum

Rosy Bonnet

Dune Waxcap

Also here on Sunday morning was a lovely male Bearded Tit in the reedbed down from the car park.

Late autumn migration

There are still flocks of Fieldfares, Redwings and Blackbirds on the move today in the Wooler area. Small parties of Siskins and Lesser redpolls also seemed to be moving through.  Approximately, 150 Pink-footed geese were feeding in stubbles the West Weetwood area.  A male Dipper was singing downstream of Wooler.

Sea trout were also on the move with 3-4 fish seen jumping and several trying to lay eggs in suitable sites.

Hogweed, Dandelion and Red campion are still in flower.

All the 'B's'......

A probable Bittern was seen flying east in the early gloom between Eglingham and Glanton on Friday (30th October). Initially, it was thought to be a big owl and was too small to be a Grey heron. It had possibly set sometime in the Branton / Hedgeley gravel pit area and was moving to new feeding areas.

A Barn owl was flying around the Alnwick Seconds pitch (30th October) whilst there was a rugby game in progress on pitch one!  This is not the first time that a Barn owl has been seen in this area.

A party of at least 30 Brambling were on the side of the road between Lilburn and Chatton on Saturday afternoon (31st October).

Sunday (1st Nopvember) produced a number of Peacock and Red admiral Butterflies in both Alnwick and Glanton.

Scandinavians

I decided to have a short visit to Holy Island this morning and was striding through the dunes by 8 o'clock. The weather was grey and hinted at dampness to come, perfect!, nothing was seen on the rarity radar but it was one of those days where you can just enjoy migration. The dunes were alive with the sights and sounds of wintering Thrushes, every bush held chattering masses, the air was filled with their calls. I eventually gave up counting and just enjoyed the spectacle but numbers did reach into the hundreds, Redwing( several hundred), Fieldfare(150+), Blackbird(several hundred).
Thrushes weren't the only migrants and during the morning I noted 8 Woodcock fresh in from the continent, 1 was flying up the main road from the Village to the car park and on Fenham Flats some 2500 Golden Plover were gathered.

Waxcaps off the Wall

At the risk of suddenly becoming a fungal bore I had a look on my home patch for more waxcaps last weekend.

Stewart had kindly suggested that if I'd had some of the magic mushrooms I might have found Parrot Waxcap.  Well on the moor at Shepherd's Law Jane and I did find some (without narcotic assistance!), as well as some other things.

Now I'll shut up about fungi for another year - probably

Parrot Waxcap

Parrot again

Meadow Coral

Honey Waxcap

Tomatoes?? or young Fly Agarics

Blackening Waxcap

Meadow Waxcap

Waxcaps on the Wall

On Wednesday I was on the Roman Wall at Steel Rigg.  Across the road from the carpark is a grassed area that is apparently well-known for its waxcaps.  2015 hasn't been a good year - too dry - and the grass hasn't been well enough grazed so it's rather coarse and tufted.

Nevertheless we found a decent selection of fungi.  Leaving aside the Magic Mushrooms (Psilocybe semilanceata) which are now classed as a Class A drug and so one must not be caught in possession (!), there were several club and spindle species.  The Scarlet Caterpillarclub (Cordyceps militaris) has its mycelium in the carcass of an insect larva or pupa.  The Smoky Spindles (Clavaria fumosa) and Beige Coral (Clavulinopsis umbrinella) were two more of the fungal flora here that I'd not seen before.

Then there were the Waxcaps - Hygrocybe spp.  We found seven, but I didn't get decent photos of all of them.  There were Crimson, Scarlet and Ballerina Waxcaps and not pictured were Golden, Heath, Honey and Blackening Waxcaps.  We looked carefully for Parrot, but failed.

As a non-mycologist I was pleased with the haul.

In sequence below are Smoky Spindles, Scarlet Caterpillarclub, Beige Coral, Ballerina, Scarlet, Crimson and Magic Mushroom.

Moorland Mystery

Sorry for many months of silence.  Must do better!

At the September meeting Jim Clark brought in some stems of Juncus squarrosus (Heath Rush) from the moor at Harehope.  Many of the fruiting heads had small white cigar-shaped structures and he wondered what they were.

After considering fungal infections such as Ergot, I had a hunch that they might be moth-related, so I went up on to our moor at Beanley and found the same phenomenon on Heath Rush and also on J. effusus (Soft Rush) and J. conglomeratus (Compact Rush).  I took a couple of photos and sent one to Alan Fairclough with my query about whether these were micro-moth structures.

Alan was quickly able to identify them as the larval cases of a micro moth called Coleophora alticolella.  Or at least it is probably that species - the other two possibilities are much rarer and a firm diagnosis can only be made by dissecting out the genitalia of the adult moths.

I'm sure there is a likelihood that these larval cases appear each year on the rushes, but neither Jim nor I had noticed them before.  Thanks Alan!