Speckled Wood in Queens Wood

At lunchtime I left the office for a woodland wander through Queens Wood which is on the doorstep of the university campus. Whilst enjoying the bluebell views I caught sight of what I thought was a bee amongst the foliage (at the centreof the shot), but turned out to be my first  Speckled Wood of the year, yay!

Here's the area where I spotted them, a recently cleared West facing sunny spot in the woodland, it did catch my eye as a good location for potential butterflies, I love it when that happens. 

The clearance work is part of the University's ongoing woodland management programme, extensive thinning  has been carried out to get rid of diseased and non natives with some replanting to encourage the growth of native species. Felled wood has been retained and in some cases the tops of trees have been removed but left standing for woodpeckers. I heard a couple of Great Spotted Woodpecker and Chiffchaff, and saw Wren, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tail Tit, Magpie, Crow, Robin, Goldfinch, Wood Pigeon & Grey Squirrel.  

Frost pockets

Earlier today in Queenswood, tucked away from the warmer, sunnier margins, the temperature dropped and a dusting of frost covered the low lying plants. These Ivy leaves caught my attention, the edges highlighted with a fine outline of frost.

This spot marked the transition between the clear and frosty vegetation.

Settled on top of the ivy and brambles, were an assortment of last season's leaves made up of Oak, Beech and Maple.

A couple of metres on these deeply veined green Bramble leaves dusted with frost stood out against the muted terracottas of Beech leaves and colourless dried stems.

Queenswood fungi

On a walk around Queenswood I found a cluster of eyecatching Flammulina velutipes 'Velvet Foot' growing on a tree stump. The pumpkin coloured convex caps flatten out with age, its one of few mushrooms to appear in winter.  

Beech leaves in Queenswood

During a lunch time wander through Queenswood, the afternoon light streamed through the woodland to light up last season's persistent beech leaves.  Marcescence is the term used to describe the retention of autumn leaves.  

  

The juvenile Beeches provide a welcome sprinkling of colour to the shrub layer of the bare woodland.

Queenswood, Beckett Park

On my way in to work, I walked along the outskirts of Queens Wood adjacent to Beckett Park. Sunlight began to illuminate the woodland edges. The tall smooth trunks and papery golden leaves of Beeches began to glow below the jumble of twisted Oak branches.    

What a stinker!

This week I discovered the aptly named Stinkhorn fungi (Phallus impudicus) found on campus near the Victorian Monument on the edges of Queens Wood, amongst leaf litter and clipped rhododendrons in dappled shade. The unpleasant odour, one smelt never forgotten, alerts you to its presence before setting eyes on it.

The above pic shows how it looked 24 hours after emerging from the initial egg-like structure (below). I'd read how quickly they grow, so returned the next day to check on its progress. Surprisingly it had grown to full size and the insects of the manor had busily removed all of the spores, quick work!

The fruitbody begins as an egg-like structure from which the stalk grows rapidly, the stalk tip is covered in a stinky slimy spore mass known as the gleba. This thoroughly malodorous slime is what attracts the flies, who ingest and cover themselves in the substance to deposit the spores elsewhere. The fungi examples I found the slime has already been removed revealing the pale off-white honeycombed top.

 

Here's the spot where I found it, in a cleared verge in dappled shade amongst rhododendrons. Unfortunately I managed to crack my head on the diagonal branch which wasn't quite what I had in mind for a lunchtime fungi foray but luckily I have a resonably dense head so no damage was incurred.

Here are two more spotted in the vicinity earlier in the week, with a minimum of spores still visible.