Stereum subtomentosum possibly in Fox Wood, Dene Park

 Having a quiet undisturbed walk in Fox Wood.

Thinking this might be Stereum subtomentosum, although I didn't get any obvious yellowing it did sort of gradually turn a little darker over a few hours in the house. The decision was mainly guided by the narrow attachment of the bracket to the log, about 5 mm across on a 40 mm bracket.

The upper surface is tomentose, but not very obviously so, which fits with FOTE. Oddly enough however, not even a mention of this species in Geoffrey Kibby's book.

The undersides:

The brackets had dried quite hard and woody 24 hours later.

Updated a month later - today I definitely thought I saw a yellowing when the hymenophore was rubbed hard. This however was particularly obvious when I tried a very young cap indeed, that hadn't yet even developed the red-brown colours of the mature cap. Examples are towards the top right, with one top-left. That's the trick! p. 972 FOTE.  

In Buczacki, there is mention of a black line between the hymenophore and the tomentum. I saw little sign of this on the cross sections I cut, except possibly in one section on the "older" tissue near the stipe, so I am not sure how useful this indicator might be.  

In the photo below you can see older and younger caps. In the older caps the white edge is now much less clear, and the central section near the stipe is now much more green-grey.

Be careful - on Google Images there are much paler brackets to be found - the bright red-brown of these caps may not be characteristic of the species.

Postia tephroleuca aka Postia lacteus or ??

 

Walking up through Fox Wood at Dene Park today as the main woods were so busy, I came across a partly buried log, about a foot in diameter, with what appeared to be a couple of old Daedalea quercina brackets on the end and two very white lumpy brackets on the side.

I suspect these to be a Postia species, based on the superficial resemblance to a couple of images in the ID books. 

Starting off with the solid features of species in the genus, I measured the depth of the tubes at just under 1 cm. The two members of the species characterised by tending towards blue colourations on the cap, Postia caesia and Postia subcaesia have much shallower tubes of the order of 6 mm or less in brackets than can often be thinner. Also no signs of blue, nor an obviously tomentose cap surface, so we I think we can fairly safely eliminate these two species.

That leaves us with Postia stiptica and Postia tephroleuca. The log should have been deciduous wood, so for an apparently white Postia, that would push us away from Postia stiptica, which grown primarily on conifers, towards Postia tephroleuca, perhaps more commonly referred to as Postia lacteus. 

I tried to taste a small bit of the flesh, but didn't come away with much of any sort of taste, which again suggests P, lacteus rather than P. stiptica, generally described as distinctly astringent.

And after taking it home, there were definite tinges of grey developing on the cap surface, a third indication of Postia tephroleuca. Finally the pores appeared slightly laciniate, rather than rounded as in Postia stiptica, a feature noted for Postia tephroleuca by Geoffrey Kibby.

However are the pores far too large?? If so, could it be Aurantioporus fissilis??

More Dene Park crusts

I wonder whether this is an example of Stereum rugosum, with its largely resupinate nature, slightly turned up edges and fairly uniform pinkish colour?

If so it should be multi-layered as it is perennial. I so wish I had scratched it - maybe I did, but unsuccessfully?

I don't know the species of tree unfortunately, but it looks a bit hazel-ish..

 

This one is very pale, but I don't know anything else that has such a hairy upper surface, so I am assuming that this is yet another colour variation of Stereum hirsutum, (Willd.) Gray, the Hairy Curtain Crust or False Turkey Tail.

Leaf mines at Pembury Walks and Newbars Woods

 A walk in dull and eventually rainy weather from Half Moon Lane across Pembury Walks to Newbars Wood.

A fairly typical Phyllonorycter nicellii mine (in my view), upperside then underside. Although fully established, it might be at quite early stage as I haven't seen any creasing on the underside tent surface, and there is no upfolding of the leaf obvious. The alternative identification is that of a long mine of Parornix devoniella. Whatever species it is, the edge of the mine at the leaf margin is particularly well placed I feel!

And here is another pair of mines. Are they both Phyllonorycter or perhaps both Parornix?

Squirrel damage on Aspen

 Mammals or trees?

Most of the individual Aspens planted in Dene Park have been damaged by Grey Squirrels. Fun animals to watch but these animals do spell real trouble for trees in the UK.

And a closer view, showing the bark damage and the top subsequently ripped out:

Lyonetia clarkella perhaps on Rhamnus cathartica - or not?

 

I found a tenanted corridor mine on what I initially thought was a Common Buckthorn tree in Dene Park today. The mine was very thin with a central line of black frass, and solely on that basis I wonder whether it might have been Lyonetia clarkella. However the larval shape and its green colour did not look quite right.

This is the underside of the leaf:

and this is the upperside.

However maybe as a consequence of this result just not fitting anything sensible, I would have to conclude that the leaf is just not Rhamnus cathartica. So, have a look instead at the next two photographs, upperside and underside. Here you can see that the leaf has many more obviously rounded teeth on the margin, so is much more likely to genuinely be Rhamnus cathartica. There is a long gap marking the last position of the larva, and the mine has crossed the veins and the midrib freely. My best guess is that this actually is Lyonetia clarkella, although it is not supposed to be found on this foodplant in the UK as yet. What other alternatives are there, as it doesn't look at all like the hairpin mine of the only UK-named species on this host, Stigmella catharticella:

Because the mine has been vacated, this ID cannot be officially confirmed, but..... I think this is fairly good evidence for the first record of this very common leafminer on this particular host in the UK! Nothing like being ambitious!

Phyllonorycter joannisi (Le Marchand, 1936)

 Along the driveway to the house in Dene Park there are quite a few Norway Maples, Acer platanoides, and today on the underside of one of the leaves of one of the saplings I found a second generation typical smooth grey-ish tentiform mine of Phyllonorycter joannisi, the White-bodied Midget. This leaf miner used to be known as Phyllonorycter platanoidella (Joannis, 1920).

The mine may be smooth or there may be very many very weak folds in the tent surface. This example was on the underside and between major veins and also more or less in the centre of the leaf, as suggested is the general pattern, on the Bladmineerders website - but not necessarily backed up by photos on the Google search for images.

The timing is right for the "second" generation if mines, October. Pupation presumably occurs over winter leading to the first adults flying in May. These lay eggs leading to the "first" generation of mines occurring in July, and then the second group of adults flying in August.

Generally known as a southern species but has now moved as far north as Yorkshire and Lancashire.