Fieldfare in the garden

We were so pleased to see a Fieldfare in the snow in the garden today (probably the same one more briefly yesterday afternoon). I hoped that it was attracted by the newly planted Crab Apple, and sure enough it spent some time feeding on the crabs on the tree itself. Paula took a photo with the iphone, and I followed up with a few of my own. Fieldfares are very dramatic thrushes, and I was also very pleased to see over a score scattered across the College grounds, but particularly on the banks of the ditch along the main drive. Make the most of it while its there I thought!

All plumped up...

The Fieldfare, Turdus pilaris, is a common winter visitor to the UK, one which I always absolutely delighted to see, and of course to hear. Perhaps a couple of pairs breed in the UK.

They do have a bit of a reputation of being driven into gardens in hard weather, feasting off crab or domestic apples and whatever they can find. Today was no exception, Twitter containing many similar experiences to our own. I must get some apples to put out! Meanwhile this particular bird has found my crab apple fruits.

I have come across one (only one) website that suggests that the female is a little duller. The juveniles are duller, without the grey head, but I assume they will have moulted before arrival in the UK I think.

About three quarters of a million migrate over to us each winter, starting in September but continuing until November at least.

25 cm long, wingspan about 40 cm, so quite a large thrush, nearly the size of a Mistle Thrush.

When a group is in a tree they all tend to face in the same direction, keeping up a constant chatter. When foraging on the ground, often in association with Redwings, the group works its way up wind, each bird pausing every so often to stand erect and gaze around before resuming feeding. When alarmed they fly off down wind and the feeding group reforms elsewhere.

When berries ripen in the autumn these are taken in great number. Hawthorn, holly, rowan, yew, juniper, dog rose, Cotoneaster, Pyracantha and Berberis are all relished. Later in the winter windfall apples are eaten, swedes attacked in the field and grain and seeds eaten

Leybourne Lakes

The species aggregate (probably) willow rosette gall, Rhabdophaga rosaria on Crack Willow behind the dipping pond. Hoping to cut it open to reveal the larva!

Dene Park

There seems to me to be relatively few visible macro-fungi in Dene Park, and today on a very muddy and rather miserable late afternoon turned up very little for me to photograph.


This close-up is of a crust fungus, probably the Hairy Curtain-Crust, Stereum hirsutum,  which really does seem to be very orange much of the time, whether as small tiers of brackets, or as resupinate crusts. This species is one of the commonest species recorded in the UK, found on hardwoods in very large patches and very commonly covering logs. There is another species, Stereum rameale, which is supposedly less hairy. I do find it a little difficult to be sure about differentiating these.

Just a couple of notes on Stereum rameale or aka ochraceoflavum. The habitat is said to be fallen twigs and small branches of broadleaved trees.  

Stereum hirsutum is found mainly on dead wood, but is occasionally seen on live wood, perhaps near wounds and it might be mildly parasitic. However it is mainly known as an abundant saprophyte. I wonder whether it is much more zoned and hairier at other times of year?

I assume from some of the pictures that the resupinate crust is often an earlier stage of development and the little turbinate bodies are the intermediate stage where the bracket is about to develop.

This is rather more highly magnified and showing the early stages I think - is that mycelium underneath these crusts? I think its more likely than being the hairy upper surface?

Stereum hirsutum is an all-year annual, and I think the crusty brackets fairly quickly discolour , darken and perhaps get covered in algae. However the colours of these are rather bright rich yellow to orange. Bibby has the hymenial (lower) surface as smooth, yellow-ochre to yellow-brown NOT reddening when injured. Bibby also has the upperside of the crusts as hairy-tomentose, zonate, yellow-orange, ochre to greyish-ochre. Buczacki has it as wavy, and distinctly downy-hairy.

This photo may indicate some dying off of the Stereum, possibly caused by the attack of another fungus or other pathogen.

Here are some more brackets, 2 - 5 cm diameter, on the same log, often with much darker brown centres, perhaps with a few velvety hairs glinting slightly in the flash light. I think that this is a different species of Stereum, but it might just be better developed Stereum hirsutum. The needles belong to the Douglas Fir I think, but that might be entirely incidental.. 

The flesh is tough, elastic and clearly inedible. There is no taste or smell. The spores, which I have never seen, are supposed to be white.

This is just a bit further up, and to the right of the last image.

In another place, this is a white resupinate fungus on fallen wood, unknown ID.

And in yet another spot, here are some mosses on an old stump, possibly a Sweet Chestnut.

and another species, this one with capsules,

And some stump lichen:

Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve

We had a great walk around with the Kent Wildlife Trust on their Winter Trees Id walk. The warden had excellent inter-personal skills and made everyone feel at home. One possible improvement would be to know beforehand what everyone wanted to get out of the day, and to do a bit of personal tailoring?

Plenty of tree pictures, and then I went round the "circuit" again to try and find some fungi.

This appeared to be a double mushroom on this horizontal log covered in mosses, but when I turned it over it was poroid rather than gilled. After consulting Bibby, I thought it might perhaps be the Winter Polypore, Polyporus brumalis, and there was some support for that on the Kent Fungus Group. However it was a fairly poor photo, and of course people, however polite, could not be sure.

Polyporus brumalis is a white rot that has at least some strains that are extremely effective at attacking lignin.

On a blackened log pile I found what I thought were Turkeytail, Trametes versicolor and also Phlebia tremellosa.

First Harvest Mouse survey of 2018

Late in the afternoon I left Wrotham and got down to the Hadlow Access Trail pull-in on Victoria Road.

I found a lovely gilled bracket near the base an Ash tree with quite a lot of Ash Dieback around the area of the small bridge from the trail. Best bet is Pleurotus ostreatus at the moment.

Put up what sounded like a Mistle Thrush from the riverside towards the copse at Hayse Farm.

I then had a lovely chat with a kind lady from the Bourneside Oast, who said that the College Fisheries people had said that she had the most diverse stretch of river, not straightened as perhaps it had been further down.

Jackie and had put up No Hunting signs on the corners of their property.

But no sign of suitable habitat for harvest mouse nests.

Haysden Country Park

A small troop of Bonnets, Mycena, among moss on the bark of a Goat willow in Haysden Country Park just by Barden Lake.

There was a probable hybrid Canada x Greylag Goose, maybe with some Domestic Goose parentage, feeding with the mixed flock by the roosting area near the first bird feeding area.

Clowes Wood, The Blean

Lots of cars in the car park, and people along the paths. Frost-edged leaves and few birds to be seen.