Blog Archives: WildWivenhoe

#WildEssex: Dawn Chorus along the Wivenhoe Trail

Our annual Dawn Chorus walk today, and the weather could hardly have been better. Well, it could have been a touch warmer, but the clear sky and windless conditions made for easy listening.

As we stepped out of the flat, first birds in the near-pitch-black were Oystercatchers peeping as they flew downriver, followed shortly by a hooting Tawny Owl and a couple of Nightingales from across the river Colne in Fingringhoe.

Our small group assembled under the lights of the station, where Robins had probably been singing all night, but at 0430 their voices were swelling and mixing with the mellifluity of the Blackbirds, perhaps four of each audible close to the car park.

Progressing along the trail towards Colchester, a Cuckoo (actually our first of the year) joined the choir from Ferry Marsh, the first of at least three male Cuckoos in the two-hour walk.

By now Wivenhoe Wood was coming alive with Wrens, Great and Blue Tits and, significantly, three or more Song Thrushes taking centre-stage with the background ululation of Woodpigeons. Five years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to hear one Song Thrush – just goes to show how nature can recover if the human pressures (slug pellets in this case) are removed. These rays of hope are essential at a time when it would be all to easy to sink in the mire of ecoanxiety… Then it was time for the summer visitors to get out of bed, with Chiffchaffs and eventually Blackcaps entering the arena.

Light levels increased, and the mist rolled in, an inversion layer so solid  you could almost touch it. A Greenshank called along muddy margins, and as we approached the turning point of the walk, Skylarks from both sides of the river sprinkled the air with their stardust. Sedge Warblers too, if a little less euphoniously, along with Common and Lesser Whitethroats for comparison, and we knew we could do no better when a Nightingale in full Robin-like pose at the top of a tree serenaded us in an apparent duet with Cetti’s Warbler.

The sun rose. The songs continued, but it was time to head back. From Ferry Marsh sea wall, Rowhedge sparkled as if washed clean by the mist,  Reed and Sedge Warblers sang side-by-side for comparison, and at least five more Cetti’s Warblers angrily complaining about the state of the world.

And so the walk drew to a close, a lovely bird-filled couple of hours. But not just birds: Muntjac barking and Foxes scenting the air, the saltmarshes starting to bloom with English Scurvy-grass, trees gleaming orange coated in Trentepohlia, and spiders’ webs glistening with their captured droplets of mist…

Finally, best bird for me, and one of the first we heard: twenty past four, still dark, and the air shrilled to the sound of Swifts moving north low over the town. Rarely have I heard them screaming in the dark before. First Swifts of the year always thrill as the start of Summer, and to hear them arriving under cover of the night, pure magic!

#WildEssexWalks – Wivenhoe Wood: Bluebells and much more…

Two walks, same place, two days, very different weather conditions resulted in a diverse range of wildlife discovered on our WildEssex walks this month, and this little write-up contains some of  the ‘best bits’ of both.

Wivenhoe Wood is always a joy to spend time in – and Bluebell time is especially wonderful. That amazing blue, with an occasional heady whiff of intoxicating scent – a feast for the senses! And accompanied by a banquet for the ears with birdsong from a myriad of our feathered friends  – on the sunnier day these included Firecrest and Treecreeper, whilst on the following duller, rainy day a Song Thrush sang its heart out to us. On both days the woodland chorus of Blackbirds, Chiffchaffs, Great Tits, Robins, Wrens and Blue Tits followed us on our wanderings.

The weather conditions meant virtually no sightings of insects, apart from the occasional queen bumblebee, but as the weather warms we hope on future outings to focus more on these incredibly interesting and important creatures. Although whatever the weather, there are always the signs of insects to find in the form of leaf-mines, here the mines of the Holly Leaf-miner fly and the Bramble Leaf-miner moth.

So plants were the main focus, and Chris excitedly discovered two plants which he had not previously found in our woodland – Wild Redcurrant and Heath Woodrush. As expected we saw lots of our old favourites, including  Greater Stitchwort, Dog Violet,  Lords & Ladies, Ground Ivy and Butcher’s-broom.

In places the white swathes of Wood Anemones rivalled the Bluebell show, and one particular patch had especially beautiful pink-tinged undersides to its flowers.

In grassy clearings and the open meadows of Lower Lodge, pink flowers were especially noticeable; Red Dead-nettle, Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill, Common Stork’s-bill, with Cuckooflower in the damper spots, all  crucial sources of nectar and pollen for early insects.

At this time the trees are springing into life. Sycamore and Oak buds were bursting, while the showy flowers of Wild Cherry were at their peak….

… while other trees with more subtle flowers, each a vision of understated beauty, included Ash, Field Maple and Norway Maple.

Otherwise, an occasional Grey Squirrel could be seen scurrying through the branches, and on the second day we were treated to a pair of Muntjac deer trotting along only a few metres away, the female flirting shamelessly with the clearly very interested male. And on just a few tree trunks the orange terrestrial alga Trentepohlia provided a remarkable splash of colour.

Finishing as we began, just a mention about Bluebells. A real threat to our native species is its hybridization with the Spanish Bluebell, with both the Spanish (left) and hybrid (right) we found in a couple of places. Does this matter?  Well we think so: here is a link from the Wildlife Trusts which explains all …Spanish or native bluebell | The Wildlife Trusts.

Cockaynes Reserve : Spring nudges in…

The birdsong! My first Nightingales, Whitethroats and Reed Warblers competing for earspace with Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Cetti’s Warblers provided a lovely, constant backdrop to a sunny morning round Cockaynes Reserve.

But the wind still chilled, a north-easterly flow keeping temperatures down and holding back the Spring yet further in what is already a tardy season. Nevertheless, the trees and shrubs are bursting into flower and leaf:

… but my favourite Crab Apple, ever the indicator, still in tight bud. Compare that with the same tree, the same date, a year ago…

Out in the open and round the pits, there was insect activity in the more sheltered spots (thank goodness for Gorse!), with splashes of coral pink Common Stork’s-bill marking the numerous Rabbit latrines.

… while deep in Villa Wood, flowers of white, yellow and green created a muted palette, pinpricked with the last Scarlet Elf-cups, and awaiting the budburst of  Bluebells. It may be slow but the gears of the season are slowly turning!

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: Euphorbia euphoria…

Spurges (Euphorbia) are one of the staples of gardens such as Beth Chattos that pride themselves at being water-wise. With their often acid-green inflorescences, they form many a backdrop, but too rarely take centre-stage. But they do have much of interest, not least because they are all so easily recognisable as close relatives with a wholly unique flower structure, called a ‘cyathium’ (one for the pub quizzers and crossword buffs). Here in the garden we have half a dozen or more forms flowering right now, with a whole range of others to come throughout the summer season.

Within the bowl of the cyathium lie not only the naughty bits but also the nectar glands, often distinctively coloured and/or shaped, and which are important features for the identification to species.

And along with the pollen-bearing stamens, the nectar glands are the source of sustenance for insects. Given their open inflorescences, with no way of restricting access to potential pollinators, spurges help support a vast range of insects, as shown today with hoverflies, other flies, pollen beetles, ladybirds and mini-miner bees all basking in the largesse.

The temperature was still on the chilly side, so there were in fact rather few insects around although lungwort was drawing in those species with long-enough tongues to get deep into the flowers and find the nectar. Queen bumblebees and Dark-edged Bee-flies were prospecting,  but most numerous were the Hairy-footed Flower-bees, with jerky flight and relatively high-pitched buzz, the larger, almost black females often being shadowed by a smaller, gingery male… Spring in the air!

Otherwise, the (mostly) blue grape-hyacinths and squills and yellow mahonias seemed to be the preferred forage sources for Honeybees…

 

But as can be seen from the photos below, there are many more nectar and pollen sources waiting in the wings for the burst of insect activity which should be on its way very soon. For insects, it is a case of ‘Right Plant, Right Place, Right Time’; given the endlessly variable interplay between the floral availability, insect emergence and weather conditions, this is where gardens like Beth Chatto’s (and indeed any garden that is not poisoned with pesticides, manicured to death or choked under plastic grass) come into their own.

 

#WildEssex Walks – signs of Spring in Cockaynes Reserve

A rather murky February morning saw us and our enthusiastic group gather for our annual foray to Cockayne’s Nature Reserve. Well-managed by the Cockaynes Wood Trust, this is one of Wivenhoe’s best kept secrets – a tranquil place comprising two sections of wood, with open areas of heathland and ponds in between and which supports a vast variety of wildlife.

Prior to 1986 it had been one continuous stretch of wood but, due to its importance as a sand and gravel resource, was at that time earmarked for destruction and extraction.  Fortunately, the sand and gravel company asked for Chris’ professional advice as to how retain some features to be ‘best for wildlife’.  The presence of two rare species – the Scarlet Elf-cup fungus (that area being the only known north-east Essex record at that time, and probably still to this date) and Heather (very scarce in Essex) – shaped the final plans and areas containing these were spared the chainsaw. Happenstance is not a great conservation policy, but sometimes as here it works, sowing the seeds of the reserve we see today.

Not only that, the resulting pits from which the gravel was dug were saved from landfill, and allowed to remain open, naturally fill with water and vegetation and have become important habitats for birds, both local and migrating.  Birds using the lakes on our visit included the relatively rare Water Rail with its ‘squealing pig’ call – these nestle in reedy beds and are rarely seen. Plants including our two types of Reedmace sit happily side-by-side in the lakes, both providing abundant seeds for birds.

Around the reserve, open heathland is developing well, rewilding itself after the traumas of gravel extraction. It really repays getting down low to see the grey, bristle-branched cushions of Reindeer Lichen, and unique to this time of year the gloriously orange mini-forests of Juniper Hair-cap moss sporophytes.

Whilst sunshine would have been lovely, the still, damp air made the woods most atmospheric, and we were accompanied by the thrice-repeated call of the Song Thrush (a bird which has suffered horrendously through use of slug pellets which poison its food, and therefore it), and two types of Woodpecker, Green and Great Spotted. Bright green mosses carpeted fallen branches and trunks, along with Turkey-tail fungi, and provided swathes of colour, while the little grey-green spikes of Bluebell leaves were spearing through the leaf-mould, and the spring-greens of Cow Parsley – a joyous tapestry of greens all lighting up the banks of Sixpenny Brook.

We were on the look-out for Signs of Spring and were rewarded with the male catkins and female flowers of Hazel, wonderful golden curtains en masse, Gorse flowers and the just-flowering buds of  Pussy Willow.

A few flowers on the woodland floor were beginning to raise their heads, including Lesser Celandines, just about poking through their marvellously marbled leaves.

Otherwise, plants included Red Dead-nettles (one of the species that welcomes the first-emerging bees of the year) and as we walked up Ballast Quay Lane, flowering shrubs like Winter Jasmine, proving just how important wildlife-sensitive planting can help our gardens to ‘improve on Nature’ at this low-point time of year for the British landscape.

Given the time of year and temperature, we  were not expecting to find much in the way of invertebrate life, but we did find a spider curled up on a rush flowerhead,  Larinoides cornutus. 

As always we are grateful for local charities including Essex Wildlife Trust (recipients of our donation today) and the Cockaynes Trust for looking after increasingly important sites such as these, for us and future generations to enjoy.

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: rest and recovery…

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that green space and nature are good for health, heart, soul and mind. Never more needed than after our first bout of Covid: as soon as we felt able, it was out to feel the recuperative effects of Spring, even if lingering post-viral fatigue made it feel like wading through treacle…

Bulbs of course are at their best in the gardens now and for the next month:

But other perennials are starting to add their form and colours to Nature’s palette:

So too the early-flowering shrubs, each wafting its own unique scent into into the air.  ‘Well-scented’ is the order of the season: given the expected temperatures, they do have to throw whatever they can into their attraction to pollinators.

And of course, in doing so giving us the chance to explore the effects of Covid. The good news is that any olfactory damping seems to be over, with only the spicy aroma of Witch-hazel proving difficult. But I find that a bit evanescent and elusive at the best of times…

Despite still-freezing overnight temperatures a few insects were out, from ladybirds nestling in the Euphorbia heads to Honeybees raiding the open nectar-vats of Winter Aconites. And, true to its name, a male Spring Usher moth…

Otherwise, it was time to appreciate the less flouncy and blowsy garden features. Lichens are never better to see than when there are no leaves on the trees…

… and the various natural adornments we love to see, from fascinating leaf-distortions on Bergenia, to the signs of vital natural senescence on Red Oak …

—and returning to the Bergenia, the slug munch-holes that we (as a garden that sells itself as ‘ecological and sustainable’) should wear as a badge of pride!

#WildEssex Walks: Trees in winter – buds, bark and more…

A beautiful January day saw an interested group of tree fans on King George V field in Wivenhoe, looking at How to ID Trees in Winter from Bark and Buds. This area is now a well-used and loved playing field/recreation area and wild flower meadow, but was originally the grounds of the former Wivenhoe Hall. This explains the rather formal planting and ‘exotic’ trees in amongst the natives. The clear blue sky was a perfect back drop to clearly see the silhouettes of trees, the shapes of branches and outlines of buds. Together with these pointers, bark patterns and fallen leaves and fruits are useful diagnostic tools when deciding identification of trees at a time of year when leaves and fruits are not visible on the tree itself.

This blog uses photos from last year’s walk, together with some taken today.

ASH – in addition to its unmistakeable black buds, mostly in opposite pairs, with flattened twig tips, Ash also has smooth, pale bark, often covered in lichens, and usually (though not in the specimen we examined) some of the bunches of keys from last summer perched in its boughs.

OAK – the plump, chestnut-coloured buds are clustered at the tips of the twigs that arise from the branches that come from the trunk, which is covered in deeply ridged bark, the fissures more or less continuous, running down the trunk. Sometimes, in older specimens, the trunk is divided, by coppicing or pollarding, especially on old ownership boundaries where distinctive trees were used to define those boundaries legally, by way of a ‘perambulation’; some older specimens are characterized by ‘epicormic growth’ sprouting out of the bark (below, right).

BEECH (below, left) and HORNBEAM (below, middle and right) – the elongate, pointed shape of the buds of these two species is similar, but those of Beech are set at an angle to the twig, while those of Hornbeam are curved into (appressed to) the twig.  Beech often has dead leaves still attached in midwinter (Marcescence – Wikipedia), and smooth, silvery bark, with raised lines, rounded in profile, running down it. Hornbeam bark is similarly smooth, but the trunk is usually fluted, like a rippling muscle (indeed it is known as Musclewood in the USA).

And then to three fast-growing, often small species, good at colonising suitable habitats:

WILD CHERRY has clusters of buds borne on short, woody pedestals, and peeling, copper-coloured bark formed into distinct hoops around the trunk…

… while SILVER BIRCH has lovely white bark, delicately drooping branch tips, and often has remnants of last year’s seeding catkins at the same time as the coming summer’s catkins are starting to emerge…

 

… and ELDER has deeply ridged grey bark, often covered with mosses. It is also the first of our trees to burst into leaf, a true harbinger of Spring.

ELM is often distinguished as much by its dead stems, the victims of Dutch Elm Disease, as by its living features. But on a living trunk, the herringbone branching pattern of the twigs is usually apparent, as often are the main branches clothed in corky wings of bark.

Another tree bedevilled by disease is HORSE CHESTNUT, especially worrying in view of its rarity in its native Caucasus. The big, swollen buds with sticky scales are well known, but the horseshoe-shaped leaf-scars and smooth bark breaking into a patchwork of plates are equally distinctive.

Similar in name, but very different (and completely unrelated), the SWEET CHESTNUT is often noticeable by its halo of dead leaves lying on the ground, as they take several months to decay away. Its plump buds sit on ‘shelves’ on the ridged twigs, and the bark of a small tree is smooth and silvery, in marked contrast to an older tree  where the bark is strongly fissured, twisting around the trunk.

One of most distinctive winter trees is SYCAMORE with its smooth, grey bark, large, turgid buds, almost fit to burst, and beautiful bud-scales,  edged in maroon and fringed in white

Finally, mention must be made of the evergreens, historic adornments to the grounds of the former Wivenhoe Hall. The red-boughed SCOTS’ PINE (below, left) is one of only three native conifers in Britain, CEDAR-OF-LEBANON (below, right) is another species threatened in its native Middle Eastern home, and HOLM OAK (bottom), native to the Mediterranean basin. The latter is especially noticeable this winter from the crunching underfoot of its acorns, the result of one of its periodic ‘mast years’, perhaps likely to become more frequent in the era of climate collapse.

 

But the presence of leaves or needles doesn’t necessarily make identification easier: it is always worth getting to know their distinctive fruits, tree shapes and bark. No rest for the botanist, even in midwinter, but help will soon be at hand with the forthcoming ‘British & Irish Wild Flowers and Plants Pocket Guide, hopefully to be published late Spring/Summer.

And what of wildlife other than the trees? Insects were not the focus today (precious few about in the cold wind!), but were couldn’t help notice rather impressive clutches of shiny black eggs on a twig…we think these are probably eggs of the Black Bean Aphid.

Otherwise, the Mistletoe on a Buckeye tree looked magnificent against its blue backdrop, and the now-ripened berries of Ivy were a reassuring sight for our birds, should this winter still have a sting in its tail…!

The Wild Side of Essex: a frosty day by the Colne Estuary

The day dawned crisp and bright, and so it remained all day – at least the frozen ground meant it was not too muddy! Well wrapped up, our intrepid group headed first across the King George V field, where frost-crisped grass gave way to the crunch underfoot of the Holm Oaks, after last summer’s mast, a sign of the climate times.

Into Wivenhoe Wood, where we were soon immersed in the roving mixed tit bands, along with raucous Jays and frisky Great Spotted Woodpeckers, and enjoying the hidden floral delights of Butcher’s-broom.

Round Ferry Marsh the reedbeds were quiet save for a distant Cetti’s Warbler, but the silky seedy reedscape, glistening in the low sun, made up for the lack of birds, as did the confiding Teals on the tidal river.

It was high tide as we walked along Wivenhoe Waterfront, with just the local gulls to be seen, together with our only other noteworthy flowering plant of the day, our local speciality White Ramping Fumitory.

Out into the open estuary, and following the tide down, at first the limited mid fringes meant few birds, but those we did see were extremely close, habituated to pedestrians on the sea walls and unwilling to fly and waste precious energy. And what a selection: Black-tailed Godwits, Avocets, Grey Plovers, Curlews, Redshanks, Lapwings and even a single Greenshank, most unexpected at this time of year on this estuary.

Looking inland across the grazing marsh strewn with frost-highlighted ant-hills, we could see a Little Egret, a few Meadow Pipits, flighting flocks of Lapwings and a territorial pair of Buzzards soaring over the Essex Alps…

Continuing down, wader numbers grew as more mud was exposed, Dunlins entered the picture, as so did wildfowl, especially Wigeons.

Whitehouse Beach, flanked by the skeletons of dead Elms, for lunch as the waterfowl flocks grew, although a rising brisk breeze that lowered the temperature a good few degrees meant we didn’t linger long. Long enough though to marvel at the Brent Geese as they moved off the fields onto the channel.

For the next hour the Brents were everywhere, on the water, in the fields, and always overhead in burbling constellations, the epitome of the Essex Coast in winter. And in the region of 1% of the total world population!

Ascending the Essex Alps up Ford Lane, we picked up a male Marsh Harrier quartering the gravel workings, and a few minutes later a female Peregrine swept over and down to the estuary. One or other may way well have disturbed the geese, their glorious cacophony impressive even at a distance.  Along the edge of Grange Wood, attention turned to the trees, a wonderful array of maiden, pollard and coppiced Oak veterans, with green-sprouting Bluebells spearing through the leaf mulch – yes, light and life are returning to the world!

With the sun starting to set and temperature plummeting, it was time for home, through the birchlight into the twilight at the end of a great day out.

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: the first hints of Spring…

A month has passed since my last visit to the gardens, and on the face of it nothing has changed – today the scene was again sprinkled with the fairy-dust of frost…

It is not that many years ago that we could have reasonably expected to experience a whole month of freezing temperatures, but this winter the intervening weeks have been unseasonably warm, although it is interesting to note this hasn’t been enough to offset the mid-December deep freeze. Here is a Witch Hazel today, with (on the right) the very same individual three years and five days ago…

Of course this is NOT evidence, as some would like to claim, that ‘global warming’ is a lie, just that weather and climate are two very different things.

Midwinter is monochrome, or at least it presents a subdued colour palette. But with searching, beacons of winter colour can be found to lift the spirits…

… and the first few flowers are starting to appear, even if looking a little floppy from the heavy frost of the past two nights.

It was still cold, so no insect activity to report, but birds were active: a Kingfisher on the Reservoir pond, Redwings, Fieldfares and Siskins in the treetops, and Robins and tits all in song. A Great Tit repeatedly investigating a dead Globe-artichoke head, that which all too many gardeners get rid of because convention sees it as untidiness. Whether for seeds or spiders hiding therein, it illustrated one of our hopes for this year, that we as a species can start to overcome our obsession with tidiness … it most certainly is not a virtue, especially during the planet’s sixth Great Extinction.

Now is the time to let light into your life and embrace the coming Spring. And Beth Chatto’s  is as good a place as any to do that. Fortunately it reopens from its winter recess tomorrow!

Cockaynes Reserve: Spring awakenings

Winter – a time of rest, recycling and renewal in Nature. And so it was on this lovely sunny January day in Cockaynes Reserve.

From Turkey-tails to King Alfred’s Cakes and  all manner of microfungi, before the canopy closes and plants take over, fungi are out there doing their work, breaking down wood and leaves into nutrients that are recycled into new growth. And it is working! Always first from the starting blocks, Honeysuckle and Elder shoots are bursting…

… the new leaves of Wild Arum and Bluebell are spearing up from the leaf-mould….

… Hazel and Alder catkins are elongating, and the male flowers of Hazel at least are fully open.

Out on the heath, Reindeer Lichens and Juniper Haircap mosses are now showing at their best, their domain free from the distractions of flowers at least for the next month:

And as ever, Gorse is blooming. The dense, spiky foliage is always a good place to search for insects, and in the sunshine, they were beginning to show – here 7-spot Ladybirds and a Cinnamon Bug.

Yes, Spring really is just around the corner…!

#WildEssex New Year Plant Hunt 2023

Each year, the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland organises a New Year plant hunt, encouraging botanists and other interested folk out of their midwinter slumber to see what plants are flowering. As has become tradition, we contributed to the national database by arranging a walk around Wivenhoe Waterfront on that day. And we would like to thank the keen, sharp-eyed group who helped us spot things! All data collected in this citizen science project have been fed into the national record of what is flowering on 1st January: for more information see New Year Plant Hunt 2023 – Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (bsbi.org). It is good to be part of a bigger project to aid learning about how British and Irish wildflowers are responding to climate change. 

On our recce a few days ago it soon became apparent that numbers would not match the 35 species recorded last year. The main reason for this, we assume, is the severe frost we experienced for a number of nights in mid-December – this will no doubt have killed off many flowering specimens. However, in the hour on the day with 20 pairs of eyes searching the same route as last year we managed to find 23 species in flower – see here for the full list: NYPH2023

Most of the ‘missing’ species were stragglers from the sea walls and salt-marshes of summer (such as Sea Aster, Cord-grass, Bristly Ox-tongue and Ox-eye Daisy), a few flowers of which had persisted through the frost-free early winter of last year. But interestingly, to counter some of these omissions, a few different flowering plants were noted this year: these included the highlight of the day, White Ramping Fumitory (above), a local speciality and a so-called ‘weed’ spreading its charms in several pots and planters.

Another species not found last year, indeed one we have rarely seen in Wivenhoe before, is Water Bent: this grass is an increasing colonist of the UK, and joins a number of other new arrivals to the Wivenhoe waterfront. That lover of block-paving, Jersey Cudweed, was found in profusion, and indeed in parts of our area where it has not been seen before, though only one had a surviving flower, the rest shrivelled from frost-bite. And Early Meadow-grass was just starting to produce its diminutive flowers: all the above were unknown here up to a few years ago.

Other new flowers for this survey probably relate to their near-invisibility unless you search hard under the leaves. The tiny greenish flowers of both Pellitory-of-the-wall (above)and Annual Nettle fall into this category.

Aside from these, the ‘usual suspects’ included Gorse, Hazel, Red Dead-nettle, Groundsel, Annual Mercury, Shepherd’s-purse and Common Chickweed, but for all, the flowers were much less profuse than last year. This was especially the case with the Mexican Fleabane (below) that has colonized the riverside brickwork: last year like pink and white confetti, this year just a few daisy-like stars to brighten a dull day.

What can we read into the results of our survey? Well probably not much – the real value will come when all the results from all the walks around our islands are completed, collated and analysed. But last winter was exceptionally mild (indeed 1st Jan 2022 was the warmest New Year’s Day on record), whilst this year the pre-Christmas deep freeze cut short many plants’ productivity. It highlights the oft-forgotten (by the all-too-numerous denialists) difference between weather and climate. ‘Average weather’ is indeed warming/weirding but actual weather this winter for us bucked that trend. All interesting stuff though!

Naturally, although a botanical trip, we didn’t overlook other wildlife. Birdsong from the estuary (Curlews), and treetops (Robins) was a feast for the ears, and we were pleased to find a 7-spot Ladybird plus a number of Rosemary Beetles, those mobile jewels, on a Rosemary bush, mostly paired and in the process of making more beetles. All a very hopeful sign for a wildlife-filled 2023!

 

#WildEssexWalks: autumn in Wivenhoe Park

When the day dawned for our annual Fungi walk at the Uni, we were slightly less than optimistic….the rain was beating down on our velux windows, and we knew from a recce a couple of days previously that the fungi were not going to be at their best this year, no doubt due to the long, hot, dry summer and subsequent lack of rain.

However, we need not have worried!  Our fantastic group of friends old and new cared not about the weather (no such thing as wrong weather, only wrong clothes) and still enjoyed a couple of hours in Wivenhoe Park, happy to learn about the trees/galls/leaves and history of the park as well as searching for fungi.

The trees never fail to delight at this wonderful place – specimen trees from all continents of the world, selected for the parkland when Wivenhoe House was first built in the 1750s and added to ever since then – plus many natives including Pedunculate Oaks, Beech and Silver Birch, including a few specimen oaks which probably predate the Park and Hall by half a millennium.

The vast quantity of acorns on the ground was noticeable, this year having been a ‘mast’ year, when the trees put lots of energy into producing fruit, a mechanism to ensure survival of the species by periodically swamping all the seed eaters such as Jays. (Rather overkill as it only takes one acorn to replace a tree!). However, it is an interesting phenomenon, and one that is happening more frequently (three times in the past four years when just a short few years ago, once a decade was more expected), due to the climate chaos encircling us all: the venerable trees are crying out for help, sensing perhaps a premature end as droughts and other stresses make them vulnerable to disease.

A Tree Trail has been put together to take in some of the best examples in the Park, well worth a look…University of Essex Tree Trail – Walking Route in Colchester, Colchester – Visit Colchester. Here are just a couple of the trees – Cork Oaks brought back from the Peninsular Wars by the Park’s owner Major General Rebow, and a couple of Swamp Cypresses growing in the lake, and using snorkel roots to breathe.

But once again, weather conspired against us: the lack of any frost in October means that the sometimes vibrant autumn colours have simply not developed. Compare these two pictures of the leaves of North American Red Oaks in Wivenhoe Park – first in 2019, and then this year, on almost the same date: from autumnal fire to subdued embers…

As expected the fungi were not great (no Fly Agarics this year for example), but other favourites were discovered including Parasols, Beefsteak, Chicken of the Woods and Birch Bracket, as well as lots of ‘LBJs’  (Little Brown Jobs!). Here are a few photos of what we did find:

Galls are a particular interest of ours, and we were pleased to have discovered a couple of days ago Neuroterus saliens,  a rarely seen gall on Turkey Oak. Discovered in UK only in 2006 it has spread in the south east, although we think our record is the first for this part of Essex (probably just that nobody has looked for it, as all Turkey Oaks we saw were covered in it).

Oak trees are particularly blessed/cursed with galls, over 50 different types can be found on these species, though galls, caused by a variety of minute wasps/mites/flies etc do not generally damage their hosts. But again it was noticeable just how few spangle-galls there were: these are normally very obvious at this time of year – once again the suspicion has to be that the freakish weather of 2022 is to blame. Weather that may be responsible for other anomalous sites on a dreary day at the very end of October, Chicory in flower and a welcome beacon of colour.

For those interested in finding out more about which fungi are edible (some are, and delicious, whilst others are deadly poisonous), we would recommend a book coming out early in the New Year Edible Fungi of Britain and Northern Europe | Princeton University Press.  We have had a minor role copy-editing it, and so we know just how beautiful – and useful – it is. We are also hosting a free zoom session ‘The Magic of Mushrooms’ on Sunday 6th November at 7pm.  If you would like the link contact jmgibson1959@btinternet.com.

Thanks to all who braved the weather today, and hope you all enjoyed as much as we did.