White dead nettle

Pure white in the December gloom.  It doesn't sting but the leaves are so like stinging nettles that people usually steer clear of the White Deadnettle.  

The Wildlife Trusts website says:

"Lots of different species of long-tongued insects visit the flowers of White Dead-nettle, including the Red Mason Bee, White-tailed Bumblebee and Burnished Brass Moth. The caterpillars of the Garden Tiger and Angle Shades moths feed on the leaves, as do Green Tortoise Beetles."

Bees land on the lip of the flower and then probe the long tube to get at the nectar.  While they do this, the stamens in the top petal are bent down to dust the bee with pollen, which she then carries to the next flower.  
Symbiosis:  the bee gets a treat and the plant gets pollinated.  Win-win.

Hogsheads

The seedheads of hogweed have a persistent, architectural beauty, 
even in the face of winter gales.

Christmas Post

Eventually even treated timber rots of in the ground.

When our 20 way-marking posts snap off we re-install them
 but each time they are a little bit shorter.

Here's number 9 in the middle of the Valley Woodland, with the stream in the background.

Number 6, at the top of the steps leading to the viewpoint, was found lying wounded  on the ground  .  .  . 

.  .  .  but a new hole was dug with our post-holer and it was popped back in position.

The 20 numbered posts are linked to the leaflet describing the self-guided trail round Filnore Woods.

Hazel catkins

Anticipating spring sunshine, hazel bushes are growing their catkins. 

These are the male flowers.  They will be twice as long in February and golden with pollen.  But for now they are hard and maggot-like.

Hip, hip hurray

The red fruits of wild roses are called hips and are a good source of vitamin C.  

During the Second World War, children were encouraged to pick the rosehips and deliver them to central collection points to be made into rosehip syrup, a substitute for orange juice, when oranges were no longer available

Here is an extract from The Times of 22nd September 1941:

SYRUP FROM ROSE HIPS.

ORGANIZED COLLECTION OF FRUITS.

A national week for the collection of rose hips to be converted into syrup will open next Sunday. The Ministry of Health and the Department of Health for Scotland state that these fruits, which in the past have been allowed to go to waste, are 20 times as rich in Vitamin C as oranges.

The collecting is being organized chiefly through schools, boy scouts, and girl guides, the women’s institutes, and the Scottish womens’ rural institutions. The hips, which must be ripe, can be gathered from wild or cultivated bushes, but they should be free from bits of stems and leaves. Haws, the red berries of May, are not wanted. The picking season extends until the end of October.

The collecting organizations will supply the hips in bulk to firms who have agreed to pay 2s. for 14 lb. (minimum 28 lb.), carriage forward. It is hoped that some 500 tons will be converted into syrup, which will be marketed at a reasonable price.

Landscape

Looking north from the viewpoint, the variety of tree species is clearer at this time of year than even in summer. 

The silver birch on the left, with its white bark and weeping twigs contrasts with the rounder, dumpier shape of the young oaks, still carrying their orange leaves.

The tall, green and yellow trees in the middle are aspens.  They grow tall and straight with pale bark, not quite as light as the birch.  On the right you can see the stems of those that have lost their leaves already.

Leaflet dispenser

A new leaflet dispenser has been installed near the entrance.

The leaflet has details about the site including our self-guided trail following the 20 numbered posts.  You can see post number one in the background of the above photo. 

The centrefold is a map of the site with the locations of the numbered posts marked.

Forest Schools

On Friday evening Becki Clark and colleagues led a Forest Schools evening for young people from the Baptist Church.  

 The activities culminated  with a campfire on a pre-arranged site.  They made and cooked 'twisters' - dough strips wound round a stick and held over the fire.  You can see this primitive bread making in the pictures below.

They had a great evening, learning safe ways to be outdoors

Photos: Becki Clark

Fallen leaves

You've already seen the oak leaves but you can tell which other trees are overhead or nearby at this time of year by looking on the ground.  

These nearly circular leaves with scalloped edges, in the photo below, fell from aspens.  Some are still green but gradually they turn through yellow to brown.  Can you spot a couple of oak leaves in there too?

And here we have hazel leaves mixed with the narrow leaves of white willow.  Find the aspen leaf in the middle.

Oaks in winter

Although mature oaks shed their leaves in winter, the youngsters hold on to theirs. 

Here's a way to recognise oaks without leaves:  The bud at the end of each shoot doesn't have just one or two buds, it has several.  

Photo:  Jean Murray

The oak tree may grow straight but there is a good chance that one of the buds pointing sideways will carry the shoot off at an angle.This is what makes oak branches so sinuous.  

Frosty art

Early on Thursday morning the grass was edged with white  .  .  .  

.  .  .  and so were fallen oak leaves.  

By lunchtime the frost had melted and things were just .  .  .  wet!

Raking the hill-top meadow

On Sunday 11th, six of us completed raking the cut grass off

 the hilltop meadow at Filnore Woods.

The cuttings were dragged in dumpy bags over to the woodland edge, where they will rot down.

This means that the whole of the hilltop meadow has now been cut and the cut material removed.  We look forward to a floral extravaganza in summer.

The stakes in the background were put in to show the mowing machine operators which trees we wanted to retain.

King Alfred let the cakes burn

One more common fungus.

This fungus Daldinia concentrica, also known as King Alfred's Cakes or Cramp Balls (a more uncomfortable name), grows on dead ash wood.  With the possible increase in ash die-back there may be a lot of it about in the coming years.  

Underneath the 'cake' you can see the concentric rings, like the rings in trees, which give it its Latin name concentrica.

There is also a mysterious channel of white dust in my example specimen.  I'm guessing that this is the fras left by some kind of insect larva.

Apparently there is a beetle, the Cramp Ball Weevil (Platyrhinus resinosus) which feeds on these fungi.  Maybe it's him.  

Photo: Naturespot

The Blushing Bracket

Another fungus in fruiting mode.

The Blushing Bracket, Daedaleopsis confragosa, often grows on dead willow wood.  I found this little group on a fallen willow branch near number 16 in the old tree nursery.  If the underside is bruised it turns red - hence the name Blushing Bracket.

It is also known as the False Maze Gill because it has a pattern of pores on the underside similar  to the Maze Gill Daedalea quercina.

You may remember Daedalus from Greek mythology.  To escape from the Labyrinth created for King Minos of Crete he built wings for his son Icarus.  Unfortunately Icarus got over-excited and flew too high so that the sun melted the wax holding the feathers on his wings, and he plunged to his death.  So you can see the link to the fungus names of Daedalea and Daedaleopsis with their labyrinth pattern on the underside.

The Brown Roll Rim

Autumn is a good time for spotting fungi - or at least the fruiting bodies, which means toadstools or brackets in many cases.  The principal part of any fungus though is the bit you can't see, the white threads called mycorrhizae, that spread out of sight underground, in the leaf litter, inside trees or in dead wood.

Several of these toadstools have appeared in the welcome area.  Identified as Brown Roll Rim (Paxillus involutus).

The gills underneath extend partway down the stem, which can help identify them.  Also Simon, our fungus expert, says they are often near birch trees.

They are dangerously poisonous but there is no need to kick them to bits, as someone has done in the photo below !

Just examine with caution and don't try frying them up.  

Rowan and Guelder Rose

Around the woodland edge you can find the smaller berry-bearing shrubs like rowan with its bright orange berries.  

You have to be quick to see them because the thrushes and blackbirds love them.

The bright red berries on Guelder Rose bushes are not quite so popular with birds .  .  .

.  .  .  so they last a bit longer.

Pollinator Highway flowers

The last flowers of summer are lingering on on the pollinator Highway along Morton Way.  

Red Clover

Ragwort

Smooth Hawksbeard

Not dramatic but reassuring.

Dogwood

Dogwood still in flower at Filnore Woods.

A recognition feature is the veins on the leaves.  

Instead of reaching out towards the edge of the leaf they curve in towards the tip.

Prickly Sow Thistle

Currently flowering at Filnore Woods - the Prickly Sow Thistle (Sonchus asper)

Sow thistle, so called because the white juice or latex in the stem 

was thought to increase the milk yield of sows;

and 'prickly' for obvious reasons.  

There is also a smooth sow thistle.

Current Clearance

Some people have been asking why so much vegetation has been cleared.

The electricity distribution company has sent in utility arborists to clear vegetation below the overhead cables at Filnore Woods.

This has resulted in a sudden change in the look of the place from the paddock through the old tree nursery and all up the side of the hedge between Filnore Woods and the neighbouring field.

It looks a bit drastic but nature recovers quickly.

Poles and logs

Still some firewood for sale from last winter's coppicing.  

We're just about to start coppicing again.

And the thinner poles we hadn't used had been built into dens.

But last week our regular contingent from the Sheiling School dismantled the shelters so that another Forest Schools group can use them next month - to build shelters!

All very educational - in the broadest sense.