Horny Woods?

I would like to dispel the myth that Filnore Woods is a 'horny community woodland'.  The notice has been carefully defaced.

We shall endeavout to re-instate it as 'Thornbury Community Woodland'

Ash die-back

Sorry to report that we may have 
the ash die-back disease at Filnore Woods. 

The diamond-shaped lesion on the bark of this young and leafless ash sapling 
is a typical symptom.

If so there is little we can do to stop it spreading through the site.  

And wherever it came from, - probably nearby, - this fungal disease 
is likely to have taken hold already.  

Prepare to see the death of a lot of ash trees at Filnore and in the surrounding countryside, which will have a massive impact on the local landscape.

Try to avoid exporting any dead leaves on your shoes, to slow down the spread.  
The disease resides in the leaf stalks.

Some ash trees may turn out to be resistant so there is hope for the future.

Traveller's Joy

The flowers of this Wild Clematis, also known as Traveller's Joy  .  .  .  .

 .  .  .  .  develop into these spidery structures, 

which pop open to produce the fluffy seed heads 

of Old Man's Beard, -  another name for the plant.

Agrimony

Not so many flowers to be found at Filnore Woods at the moment but we still have some yellow spikes of Agrimony.

I got some of the flowers more or less in focus but not the spike of fruits which are like litlle burrs waiting to stick on to your socks and shoe laces - not a bad way for the plant to spread its seeds. 

I'm never quite sure how to pronounce it.  Do you stress the GRIM or the AGG ?  you can avoid the problem by using the alternative name of Aaron's Rod.

Is it a little policeman?

Photo by Alan Watts

Still on the wing now in Filnore Woods is the Small Copper butterfly.  This species enjoys warm dry conditions so there have been quite a lot about this year.

They are fidgety little creatures and the males are very territorial, attacking any other insects that come near.

The caterpillars feed on sorrel and dock.

Stair repairs

Some of our volunteers repairing the steps up from the footbridge last Sunday.

Thick poles are held in place by wooden pegs which are drilled and nailed into the poles to keep them in place.  Then woodchip fills the gaps.  

Some of the steps had completely gone, some needed reinforcement with a new pole pegged into place and some just needed replacement pegs.  It's an on-going process but the only expense is the nails and a certain amount of human energy.

Redleg

Down near the footbridge I found this jolly little clump of REDLEG

Smiling wasp

One of our volunteers, Eric, discovered some wasps the other day.  He was vigorously scything away the undergrowth near post 10 at Filnore Woods when he must have sliced the entrance to their nest, concealed in a hole in the ground.  

The first the rest of the volunteer group knew of it was when Eric came rapidly up the path waving his arms and slapping himself to stop them stinging.  He got about seven stings but said it wasn't that bad.

The thing about wasps is that they are really not very aggressive, 

not nearly as bad as honey bees.  But of course they will react if their nest is attacked.

Today Alan went back to the nest and took these photos right up close. 

The wasps buzzed around him but didn't attack.

In fact the little character on the right in the picture below seems even to be smiling.

This is a good picture for identification because it shows the black anchor shape on the face between her two eyes.  This shows she is a common wasp  (Vespula vulgaris) not one of the five or more other social wasp species in Britain.

Volunteer work

Clearing paths with scythes, rakes and pitchforks.

It's a never-ending job, but at least we now have the assistance of ROBOCUT on the grassy paths.  more about this later.