THE WAY THROUGH THE WOODS

Beneath the arching trees a carpet of leaves

TRAVELLER'S JOY

Wild clematis still in flower but aging rapidly to fluffy old man's beard.

The vines of this plant cling to trees and hedges and are a forester's nightmare because the weight of them deforms young trees.

But this wintery plumage is a true traveller's joy.

 

GREEN AND GOLD

Sycamore and beech leaves on the turn.

Even the common bramble has her autumn clothing on. 

Green and gold with sepia splashes

Bracken before it turns brown

'Hold out the feather you found last night

in the bracken. All it can offer is already

there in your hand.'

                                                                               From 'Bracken' by Kai Carlson-Wee

  

 

FEATHERS

These are probably pigeon feathers but they illustrate the basic differences of the two commonest of the seven types of feather: flight feathers and downy feathers.

The flight feathers are on a bird's wings.  They form a light but firm vane which can push air and propel the bird.  One side is wider than the other and there is a little bit of down near the base.

Underneath the smoothest feathers on the bird's body are fluffier feathers - down.  Birds have to keep all their feathers in good condition, especially the flight feathers and tail feathers, by preening.  They comb them with their bills.  

Eventually the feathers need to be discarded and replaced. If you find a feather on its own, it has probably been moulted.

If you find a whole lot of feathers in one place it usually indicates an attack by a predator.

 

FUNGI

They poke

their heads through dirt,

explorers from another age, and find

a world glassy with rain, a forest

thick with leaf mulch.

from a poem by Tamar Yoseloff

Autumn is the time for fungal fruiting bodies

Toadstools and mushrooms

In troops and solitary

Brackety brackets

Neither plants nor animals

Feeding on dead wood and living trees

Essential to life on earth

 

HIGH STREET BIRDS

Wildlife is not confined to the countryside.  Wild flowers grow in cracks in our pavements and along stone walls. And birds enjoy the green spaces of gardens, which are frequently more wildlife friendly than intensively farmed agricultural land.

Here are two bird species which enliven a walk down the High Street at this time of year.

We have our resident Jackdaws, acrobats of the air.  When you hear their cheerful 'CHACK' calls, look up to see the family groups chatting and squabbling on the chimney pots.  

Unfortunately if your chimney is not protected, they may well drop sticks down until one lodges and forms the foundation for a nest.  This can be a problem if the chimney is still in use as (a) you may get a lot of smoke in the house and (b) you may get a whole nest including birds in your fireplace.

Much as I like jackdaws, if your chimney is still in use, protect it as in the pictures below.  

  

Photo: Walden Chimney Sweeps

The other High Street bird that you may hear and see at this time of year is the pied wagtail.  They chirrup from the rooftops and forage on the pavements for insects, running after them and suddenly stopping, with their tails pumping up and down with excitement.

Photo: Mike Read

We have pied wagtails all the year round but probably not the same ones.  Those that breed in Britain fly down to the Mediterranean while our winter visitors come from Scandinavia or Eastern Europe.

I have occasionally seen whole flocks of them twittering in streetside trees at dusk before they roost for the night.

SEEDS GERMINATING

On 29th September some volunteers sowed mixed wild flower seeds in patches of exposed soil in the top meadow.

I'm hoping these new seed leaves are something new and interesting and not just more hogweed and cow parsley plants, whose flat brown seeds you can see lying on the soil in the picture.

 

ASH LEAF-FALL

Another easily identified leaf is the ash leaf.  When growing, each leaf has up to 11 leaflets, in opposite pairs along the stalk or rachis, with one terminal leaflet on the end.

Gradually the leaflets come loose, leaving just the rachis which lasts on the ground, through to the following year.

Unfortunately theses rachises are where the ash die-back fungus persists, if it is present, and produces the tiny spore-bearing toadstools in June, which spread the disease further.

 

COMMON MAPLES

These helicopter-like seeds look like sycamore fruits . . . . 

  

but actually the accompanying leaf shows that they are from a Norway Maple (Acer platanoides).  The leaves have tapered whiskery points on each of the lobes . . . 

. . . . whereas Sycamores (Acer pseudoplatanus) also have the 5-pointed palmate leaf but without that long whisker on the end of each lobe.  The edges are also slightly toothed.

All maples have these distinctive helicopter fruits (samaras). 

 Our native Field Maple (Acer campestre) has another easily identified leaf with rounded ends to each lobe.  The leaves resemble slightly larger hawthorn leaves and in autumn they turn a rich butter yellow.

 

HONEY, I ATE THE WOOD

There are at least five species of Honey Fungus common in Britain. Some are more aggressive at attacking woody plants than others but they all look fairly similar.

Autumn is a good time to identify honey fungus toadstools which are honey-coloured at first, gradually turning brown from the centre of the cap and eventually dissolving into a black mess.

This crop has occurred on the dead stump of a plum tree in my garden.  

A good indicator to confirm identification is the pale ring around the stalk of each toadstool, just below the cap.

  

 Honey fungus can spread through the soil to other live specimens of susceptible trees and shrubs but control is difficult.  The most effective control is a rich population of other fungi in the soil which can out-compete the honey fungus.  It is at its worst in sterile gardens where all the dead and dying material has been tidied away.

I hope my garden will resist the spread of the fungus - not too tidy, I'm proud to say.

In mixed woodlands honey fungus can recycle dead wood and do a good job.

It's at its worst in the monoculture of spruce plantations, where it can spread extensively from tree to tree, decaying the stem and killing the roots.

IT'S JUST NUTS !

Beechnuts seemed to be very plentiful this year - so was it a mast year?

Every 5-10 years trees like oak and beech have a so-called mast year when they produce many more fruits or seeds than usual.  

No-one knows exactly why this happens but it is probably linked to good weather in spring, when the trees are in flower, and to a warm summer but not too dry, so the seeds can swell and ripen.

The advantage for the tree is that there are so many acorns or beech nuts that the squirrels, mice, badgers and the rest cannot possibly eat them all.  So some at least will germinate and grow into seedling trees.  

And for the next few years the trees will not need to put so much energy into seed production and can concentrate on growing.