Into Autumn

The long hot and dry spell has provided a wonderful extra summer for us all but has left the wood very parched with leaves turning yellow and dropping early. We had a visit from a mycologist friend this week to help us identify different fungii species but our hunt was short-lived. Fungii need moist conditions to flourish best and so inevitably we found very few. Ten years ago a similar survey produced around 25 species but this time we barely mustered 10 (some photos to follow)  Hopefully as we have now had a good amount of rainfall these last few days, the fungi will have their day after all.

                                                         
The wonderfully named Spectacular Rustgill growing on a tree stump

A False Death Cap just pushing through the soil, as its name suggests its not one to eat but it's not quite as lethal as its cousin the Death Cap

The classic toadstool - Fly Agaric - a bit tatty after the slugs have got to it. The poison does not affect them it seems.

It's not yet a good year for fungi but it does look like a good "mast" year. The Oaks are full of acorns and the Sweet Chestnut trees are also weighed down with developing fruit. If we kept pigs in the wood they would be having a grand time. In former times pigs would be released into woodland to feast on the fallen acorns; a practice called pannage, an ancient commoners' right that is still practiced in the New Forest. It is too early to say if the chestnut harvest will be a good one, it may be that the dry season will not encourage the nuts to swell enough. We will just have to wait.  It is also a good year for Oak galls and some of the younger trees have leaves that are covered with them. These are produced by the Spangle Gall Wasp, each contains a small egg which will hatch in the spring. There are around 70 species of gall wasps in the UK, they are pretty small insects and equally hard to tell apart except by the gall that the tree produces. Thankfully the galls do no harm to the tree.