A blustery Mote Park with Lichens

Ramalina

There is supposed to be a very large Holm Oak there, Quercus ilex, listed In Bean's Trees and Shrubs, "Mote Park, Kent, 88 × 8 ft (1984);" but I do not remember seeing it at all! I wonder if there is a map of the Mote Park Trees? I shall have to ask Jadie.

This crustose lichen is I think a species of Lecanora, a very common species quite tolerant of high aerial Nitrogen, which Maidstone appears to be very subject to. The tan to brown centres of the "jam-tart" apothecia fruits are just visible, they should become more obvious later. This might be L. chlarotera, one of the commonest species of this very difficult complex.

 
This is the second extremely common crustose species we found, with black "jam tart" fruits and I think this is probably a Lecidiella species such as L. elaeochroma.

I think this one below is a Parmelia species, perhaps P. sulcata. The lobes of this species are stated to have distinct white lines and dots along which soralia form, and you can see the white "crinkling and dotting in this photo. The thallus is said to be rather flat, which I would not have said was obvious in the picture. The closely related P. encryptata can only be separated by DNA analysis.

This is Flavoparmelia caperata, which is said to be apple-green. I think the colouring is easier to see a) in real life, and b) from a distance. Although this is difficult to see in the image below, compare the greeny "greyness" in this particular thallus to that of the very grey lichen to the bottom right, possibly the Parmelia.

Flavoparmelia is not at all common at Mote Park, where there is probably too much N in the air for this species, and we only found this on one of the half dozen trees we looked at. The photosymbiont in Flavoparmelia caperata is thought to be Trebouxia (or Pseudotrebouxia?) gelatinosa, http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/0-306-48173-1_23#page-2, which is thought to be able to produce zoospores and potentially free-living colonies, thus allowing later recombination with other strains of the fungal mycobiont http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=960512.

This large tree trunk is covered in two main lichens, one of the common Xanthoria species (one common one is X. parietina) almost reliant on high N. levels, and then a grey Physcia sp. with very narrow lobes in comparison to the Parmelia we looked at earlier.

This is I think a Phaeophyscia species, a foliose grey lichen very lobulate at the margins, next to developing thalli of Xanthoria:

Cherry or Myrobalan plum - Prunus cerasifera

The hedge-line of trees between Rhubarb and Great Court is in full blossom at present and definitely seems to be Cherry Plum, Prunus cerasifera, rather than the rarer "Wild Plum". 

Conwy

Had a lovely visit to RSPB Conwy this afternoon, and got some photos of a few duck, using the new lens. 

Leybourne at last!

There were a few Common Gulls, Larus canus, on the Ocean, including this one on a buoy at the far end:

Reculver in a Force Five

Great sight of the Dark-bellied Brents flying past out to sea, they are such wonderful animals.

The second bird here MIGHT be a first year, just getting a white v-shaped collar, but still (maybe) with the whitish barring on the flanks. 

Here is a link to an excellent video of a juvenile bird, taken in October 2011, before the white collar develops in mid winter. The white edges to the greater coverts seem very visible, and the generally browner tinges to the dark upper parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhILLrcXo_w

A slightly warmer Leybourne

A lovely, still slightly sunny, and only moderately cold afternoon as I arrived, but the light and brightness went after about 3:30, leaving the underlying greyness.

There were Mallard in the small stream downstream of the bridge on the other side of the feeding area, possibly with some hybridisation - the body plumage is way off typical!

The same drake is now on the left, pointing right, and a completely different hybrid is centre top, with totally different plumage, and a female to the right.

The new hybrid flaps vigorously, perhaps to show off to the female, his irridescence picking up the sun!

Here is yet a third hybrid drake, with a brown "unsleeked" head.

Plenty of Black-headed Gulls, Coots, some Moorhens, Mute Swans, Mallard and various hybrid ducks, one Muscovy Duck but unusually no Greylag Geese (that I saw) were at the feeding area. Further along a Little Grebe whiffled across the North End of the Ocean, where there were a pair of Great Crested Grebe, with newly developing crests.

There were some Herring Gulls of different ages mixed in with the Black-headed Gulls, Coots and Tufted Ducks across the Ocean. These are first winter or (more likely I think from the light colours of the wings and back, and the relative lack of black on the beak) second winter birds.

And here is an adult on a fairly distant yellow buoy against the sun.

This is first winter Black-headed Gull, on the bright yellow buoy. Brown primaries and coverts have persisted since fledging, orange beaks and legs, and a dark bar near the end of the tail.

A Great Tit sang from the willows at the start of the channel path. Further along two Canada Geese were in the channel, with a moorhen very close by. The goose on the right is probably a first year bird with the duller colours on the head. The patterns on the flanks may be different as well.

Two or three Herring Gulls were in amongst the Black-headed Gulls on Larkfield Lake. Some of the Black-headed Gulls (at least the three in this photo) were "washing their wings" it appeared. I've not noticed this behaviour before.

and then they dipped their heads in:

I got some record shots of Tufted Ducks here as well.

including one looking as though it was still in moult - a Juvenile bird perhaps?

A Song Thrush scuttled across the Marsh, together with several Blackbirds. As I turned back I flushed a pair of Mallard from the Marsh stream.

The Long-tailed Tits, and one Blue Tit were in the Alders as I skirted the North end of the Ocean on my return journey. Blackbirds were also regularly flushed, giving their alarm calls as the flew off.

A Cormorant flew over. There was one Great Crested Grebe by the feeding area, diving for weed I think. 

Frosty grey Leybourne

A pair of Shoveller on the Northwestern corner of Roaden Island Lake