As long ago as 1772, it was discovered by the chemist Joseph Priestley that breathing Nitrous Oxide (N2O) could cause interesting effects on the brain - creating a sense of euphoria as well as anaesthesia, analgesia and even amnesia.  More recently the gas has been bottled in canisters and is then transferred to balloons to be inhaled.  Breathing in this gas creates "legal highs" - legal in the sense that inhalation is not illegal although selling "noz" or "whippets" for human consumption to under 18s is illegal.  But they are so popular that one person told me that any party worth attending will have a "Noz Bar" where you can buy canisters to induce their dream-like effects. Indeed these "laughing gas" cylinders became even more popular during the covid lock-downs and became the high of choice, despite the fact that it can be dangerous to take it especially if combined with alcohol or where there is a risk of falling.  Equally disturbingly, the canisters are often discarded and you will often see piles of them outside nightclubs but they are also frequently left on verges and outside woodlands and in public spaces.  To give an idea of the scale of use of nitrous oxide or "noz", it is officially the second most popular drug for 16-24 year-olds after cannabis and according to the ONS 9% of this age group have tried nitrous oxide. It would be hard to completely outlaw the use of these canisters because they are legitimately used in commercial kitchens for making whipped cream - hence the nickname "whippets" - and similar shaped canisters are also used by cyclists for filling repaired tyres.  With the low cost of mass production and large scale imports from China, the wholesale cost of these can be as low as 25p each and they are supplied in large cartons so vast numbers are deposited in the countryside.  It would also be hard to tax these as a technique for reducing consumption but the government seem at least to have considered making illegal their consumption as a recreational drug, but perhaps the biggest driver of consumption is the high profit margins made from reselling these.  A dealer will make a mark-up of 1,000% (ie 10x) and they are low volume so a lot of canisters can be carried by an individual.  Festivals and outdoor events are therefore an attractive place to sell these - so they get into the environment more readily than most containers. These 'silver bullets' of nitrous oxide are designed to be very tough as they contain concentrated gas but the effect of this is that they are almost indestructible and threaten to create a serious nuisance, littering the countryside.  It's possible that these canisters create useful homes for some insects and spiders - a bit like discarded drinks cans and bottles can do, but the effect is surely detrimental to conservation efforts.  Being heavy they are likely to sink into the ground and are hard to collect and they will be a nuisance for gardeners, metal detectorists and foresters.   So, with the rapid build-up of these discarded gas containers into the environment, the question is what on earth can be done about it?         Nitrous oxide has been linked to damage to the nervous system and paralysis.  A recent article details the risks.  

Very recently a young fox died in my back garden, so I waited until midnight to remove it.  I was prepared with a garden fork to move it to a derelict piece of land nearby where it could rot away harmlessly, but I got a shock.  The body had disappeared.  I was sure that the fox had been unquestionably dead (no breathing, flies etc) and no human would have disturbed the body.  So what happened?  We know that humans bury or cremate their dead very systematically and with much ceremony, but do foxes bury their dead family members? There are many reports of foxes carrying away other dead foxes, especially young ones but there are quite a few possible explanations.  Maybe they are taken away and eaten - foxes can be cannibalistic - and there are reports of foxes feeding on the corpses of other foxes.  Or potentially the body could have been taken away for burial in order to create a store of food for difficult times.  It seems possible too that older foxes may have taken the body away for a more ritual burial, perhaps partly to prevent the spread of disease.   In Roman times, Pliny wrote that he believed the only animals to bury their dead, apart from humans, were ants.  Ants seem to be genetically programmed to remove all dead and diseased animals from their nests and recent research has shown that honeybees can exhibit hygienic behaviour; this refers to uncapping and removing dead and diseased larvae and pupae from the hive.   Other animals, too, are sometimes reported to bury their dead.  Badgers, who do not make stores of food, have been reported to move their dead from the scene of the death.  Here views differ - some people say that the badgers move these corpses to bury them whilst others say they are just moving the bodies to a more secluded spot in order to feed on them.  Other reports, though rare, suggest that a group of badgers act together in burying a family member. - so-called badger funerals. Foxes are well known for feeding on carrion including the bodies of other foxes.  Indeed it seems that parent foxes occasionally bury young foxes from other groups in order to train their own cubs to dig them up.  They will also raid the food caches of other foxes so they clearly recognise the value of the protein from the body of a fellow dead fox.  So the dilemma remains - was my fox taken by other foxes for food or for a ritual burial?

And whoosh, just like that, the whole country changed… After the hottest, driest, summer on record, last Friday the rains finally broke over my parched little corner of the garden of England, transforming the woodlands into a veritable fungal jungle. Much of the joy in going out on regular photographic forays for mushrooms and toadstools for me comes from monitoring the changes in what can be found in specific sites across the seasons. You can head out several times a week and still find things that have popped up since your last visit, while previous finds can disappear without a trace as quickly as they appeared. There’s a definite fear of missing out on some exciting development or potential discovery when I don’t visit my local woods for a while. [caption id="attachment_38908" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Hairy Nuts Disco[/caption] My typical pattern is that I will head out and if I find something new that I’ve not seen yet that season, I will take a photograph of it, recording where and when I first noted its appearance for that year. I generally find around half a dozen or so different species on each trip, but rarely do I return having found nothing, no matter what the time of year, no matter how hot, cold, wet or dry it is. In this sense, I personally find fungi more interesting than plants, in that the number of species in a given wooded environment is far larger but it is very difficult to gauge much of what is there. Whereas the likes of ferns, brambles, bluebells, anemones etc, first emerge and grow relatively slowly, lingering for several months before dying back, most fungi just pop up and disappear within a matter of days. For much of the year they remain invisible as mycelium within their given substrate, with their fruiting bodies popping up in the form of mushrooms and toadstools so quickly that you have to be sure you’re around to catch the moment. Even something as massive and substantial as a Dryad’s Saddle (Cerioporus squamosus), a large bracket reaching up to a meter across with pores beneath and a characteristic hen pheasant pattern on its topside, can come and be gone within a matter of weeks. [caption id="attachment_38909" align="aligncenter" width="675"] The Dryad’s Saddle (Cerioporus squamosus) can come and be gone within a matter of weeks.[/caption] The early autumn period, which marks the beginning of the peak season for mushroom hunters, then, comes as something of a mixed blessing. While it’s hugely exciting seeing fungi that have been hidden underground or within dead wood manifesting their true colours for the first time, it’s almost overwhelming how much new stuff there is to take stock of. My woodland wander last Saturday, 10th September, reacquainted me with a plethora of perennial favourites I’d not seen for many, many months: Green Elfcups, Deer Shields, Oysterlings, Collared Parachutes, and numerous members of the Mycena genus. The most dramatic find, however, was a species that I’d not encountered before UK Fungus Day, on 2nd October of last year, during one of my first explorations of the woods nearby to the new home I’d just moved to, where I spied a tiny cluster of tiny brown cups nestling amongst the spines of a damp chestnut husk lying on the ground. [caption id="attachment_38910" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Hairy Nuts Disco[/caption] This specific host made identification a relatively straightforward matter. I’d found my first ever Lanzia echinophila, blessed with one of the most colourful monickers ever granted by those entrusted with coming up with the English common names listed by the British Mycological Society: the Hairy Nuts Disco. I must have come fairly late to the game last Autumn, however, if the amount I found after last week’s torrential downpours were anything to go by. Vast numbers of these tiny cups sprouted from every single one of the prickly decaying husks covering the ground (the “echinophila” part of its name means “spine-loving”).  [caption id="attachment_38911" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Hairy Nuts Disco[/caption] I’m not sure how common this species might be, as they are don’t seem to be listed in the otherwise exhaustive Fungi of Temperate Europe, but Peter Thompson’s Ascomycetes in Colour describes them as restricted to the rotting cupules of sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), a tree which dominates the local woodlands of East Kent where it has been traditionally coppiced for use as gate poles and the like. Many of my local woodlands follow the model described in this previous Woodlands post on chestnut coppicing, with oak dotted amongst them, as well as a good number of hazel trees, also once coppiced extensively for use as hop-poles in the hop-growing heartlands of Kent. Many of the mixed deciduous woodlands in the area with chestnut, hazel and oak predominating are now in private hands, and no longer worked commercially, though some still are. [caption id="attachment_38914" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Hairy Nuts Disco[/caption] I would be curious to learn just how common a find Hairy Nuts Discos are across the United Kingdom. I found just one record on the The Fungal Records Database of Britain and Ireland (FRDBI), from September 2017 in Surrey, near Leatherhead, but there are a few more on iRecord, mostly from Sussex and Kent. These kind of things are probably not likely to be registered unless one is actively looking at chestnut husks, something which mushroom foragers in search of edibles are not likely to be doing.  In any case, the cups are relatively small, around 2-3mm in diameter, although can grow considerably larger to around a 1cm across, and the combination of the reddish brown colouration of the fertile hymenium inside the cup and the slightly lighter margins and stalk does make them rather blend in amongst the spikes. There are other small discomycetes fungi (i.e. disc-shaped ascomycetes) that can be found growing on fallen chestnut husks – I mentioned in passing the yellowish Hymenoscyphus serotinus in a post from June on the various lookalikes for fungus responsible for Ash Dieback, Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, as an example of the kind of thing the eagle eyed might spot rummaging around the forest litter.  [caption id="attachment_38913" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Hairy Nuts Disco[/caption] I’m still not entirely sure whether the name, memorable as it may be, describes this species particularly well, as these tiny fruit bodies aren’t particularly hairy, although there is a slightly fibrous texture to the outsides. That said, Hairy Nuts Discos are unlikely to be mistaken for anything else once you know what it is, so if you notice them while scavenging for chestnuts this autumn, please do post a comment here so we might get a better idea of how prevalent they are across the country. [caption id="attachment_38912" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Hairy Nuts Disco[/caption]

Ragwort is a common wild flower.  Its common names include, common ragwort, stinking willie and tansy ragwort (though its resemblance to true tansy is rather superficial).  It is not particularly a woodland plant, it is found in dry, open places - on waste land, waysides and (grazing) pastures.  It is not a plant favoured by land owners because it has toxic effects on cattle and horses.  It is generally considered to be a biennial, but can persist for some years. The stems are erect, straight, basically hairless.  The actual plant may grow to a height of two metres.  The leaves are lobed in a ‘pinnate’ fashion and have a distinctive smell that has lead to some of its common names - such as stinking willie.   The ragwort is a member of the daisy family (Compositae, now the Asteraceae), and its flowers are massed together into dense, flat topped clusters.  Each ‘flower’ is made up of many small, individual florets.  In the centre are the disc florets whilst around the edge are the ray florets.  The latter have a large lip or flap, which serves to increase the visibility of the plant to pollinators.  During the flowering season, a plant may produce many thousands of seeds.  The seeds have hairs attached to them, which help in dispersal. Ragwort is a plant that is much loved by pollinators - bees, flies, moths and butterflies.  It is generous in its nectar production, and has been placed in the top ten of nectar producers by one survey.   The plant also provides home and / or a food source for many invertebrate species, some of which feed on ragwort exclusively*, including some species on the IUCN RED LIST.  One species that is reliant of this plant is the cinnabar moth, whose status is described as ‘common and widespread, but rapidly declining”.  Interestingly, the cinnabar moth feeds on the plant absorbing the alkaloids and these make it distasteful to its predators . However, important as the plant is in ecological terms, it is toxic as it contains a number of alkaloids.  These are poisonous to various animals, such as horses and cattle.  The bitter taste is a ‘disincentive’ to much of the plant being eaten.  However, because of the alkaloids, it is one of the five plants (in the UK) named as ‘an injurious weed’ [as defined by the Weeds Act of 1959].  Some people may suffer an allergic reaction after handling the plant, experiencing a form of dermatitis. [caption id="attachment_38929" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Cinnabar moth, image courtesy of mcbeaner on Pixabay.[/caption] Further information on the Ragwortis available on WoodlandsTV, see below [embed]https://youtu.be/esfLW0nIvNo?si=DQ2Uokq7U1pAJYMZ[/embed] [caption id="attachment_38599" align="alignleft" width="300"] Cinnabar caterpillar[/caption] [caption id="attachment_38566" align="alignright" width="300"] Leaves of Ragwort[/caption]  

If you have planted new trees and there's been a spell of extremely dry weather, as happened in the summer of 2022, you might be very worried for their survival, but there are several things you can do to increase their chances.  This isn't just a problem for the first season because saplings can be at risk for the first three years after planting; it's also not a binary, live or die thing for your planting - usually some trees will survive and some will perish but the challenge is to maximise the percentage that make it through a drought.  Let's first consider how dry conditions affect trees.  The saplings' first response is often to increase root development to take up more water.  Your young plants will also seek to reduce water loss so the leaves will wilt or can even be shed even though it's only July or August, and this can lead to the saplings not having the ability to photosynthesise adequately.  So you need to do what you can to avoid water loss and, if practical, to apply water. So, to increase the chance of your saplings surviving you can, if practical, actually spread water around them but that may have to be done fairly regularly during the period of drought.  Ideally irrigation should happen overnight when evaporation is lower and that will also limit pest problems and "leaf burn" that may be associated with irrigation in full sun. An additional strategy is to weed the young trees thoroughly to reduce the competition for water.  This can be combined with firming up the soil around the base of your saplings to avoid the soil drying out through fissures.  To reduce evaporation and stop the weeds returning you can use a mulch around the base of your young trees - ideally a mulch mat or by spreading some woodchips or bark. A few weeks after the drought has passed but while the leaves are still on the saplings you can assess your losses and order new trees to replace those that have succumbed to the dry weather.  This process is described by foresters as "beating up" but when it comes to the actual planting this needs to be done carefully - only replace trees that you are sure have died rather than those which just lost their leaves early. For urban trees you can be prepared for a period of dry weather by installing watering tubes or bags which reduce surface run-off and make sure that the water reaches the tree roots.   It is unclear how many millions of trees have been lost to the 2022 drought but it certainly includes many mature trees as well as many newly-planted saplings and hedgerow shrubs.  It seems that droughts like this are part of a process of climate change and more such events are probable - so our woodlands will be under increasing stress over the next few years.  For those who are establishing new woodlands a sensible approach would be to plant only a proportion of the area each year and to select a wide variety of tree species.  It also suggests that for new woodlands you should, where possible, include the adopting of areas of natural regeneration - where trees have come up of their own accord - these self-set trees are likely to be very resistant / resilient to periods of extremely dry weather. [caption id="attachment_38870" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Drought - green shoots of recovery?[/caption]  

Every now and then when sweeping up leaves or tidying in the garden, I am surprised by the sudden hoping of a toad.  The common toad  (Bufo bufo) has warty, olive-brown skin, and short back legs. The toad tends to walk rather than hop (which it does if surprised). Toads are found almost everywhere across the U.K, except for islands like those around Scotland, the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.  They are terrestrial amphibians, returning to water to breed. Sadly, cities and towns pose a threat to toads.   Busy roads often block their migration paths, making it difficult for them to reach breeding ponds. Many toads are killed on our roads each year.  Toads are adaptable and may be found in deciduous and coniferous forests, meadows, parks, scrubland and gardens. They prefer damp areas with plenty of foliage. https://youtu.be/OBFllSNZIdM However, a recent survey into hazel dormice and bats revealed that a number of toads could be found in trees.  Whilst it was known that toads favour woodlands as foraging and entering habitat, it was not known that they could be found in tree cavities (used by bats), or in hazel dormouse nest boxes (some 1.5 metres above ground). One toad was found three metres up a tree. The toads were not found in holes or boxes with other species but it was clear from the study that they would make use of old nests made by dormice or even birds, or natural holes.  The conclusion of the survey was that toads can and do make use of trees, particularly those near ponds or lakes.  Why they climb and make use of trees is not clear.  It could be that  they are searching for food,  trying to avoid predators (hedgehogs, rats, grass snakes, and birds (such as herons and crows), or even  avoiding parasites (such as the toad fly, the larvae of which feed on the flesh of a toad).) Toads generally lie ‘hidden’ during the day., becoming active at dusk. Nightime is spent hunting for the woodlice, slugs, beetles, caterpillars, flies, and earthworms on which they voraciously feed.  It might be that ancient / veteran trees that are known to support a wide variety of animals, may harbour a toad or two.  If you want to report sightings of any amphibians you can use the “Dragon Finder App”.  This enables you to Identify adult reptiles and amphibians as well as their eggs, and larvae.  You can submit your observations and use your smart phone’s GPS function to determine your location or pick from a map.    

In recent years, there have been a number of initiatives to plant millions of trees, both here in the UK and in many other countries.  For example, http://www.stumpupfortrees.org/bryn-arw-common-pilot-plant/ https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/press-release/national-trusts-plans-for-20-million-right-trees-in-right-places-take-root https://queensgreencanopy.org https://onelifeonetree.com https://earthwatch.org.uk/get-involved/tiny-forest?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiqyVxOvA9w https://earthwatch.org.uk/get-involved/tiny-forest The trees are not being planted to increase timber production. They are to help offset global warming as trees take up carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, so they remove this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere thus helping to offset global warming. However, planting just ‘any old tree’ is not going to solve anything, so scientists from Kew Gardens (RBG Kew) and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) have set out ten ‘golden rules’ for reforestation. The "Kew" guidelines have been summarised as below : Protect existing forests first Put local people at the heart of tree-planting projects Maximise biodiversity recovery to meet multiple goals Select the right area for reforestation Use natural forest regrowth wherever possible Select the right tree species that can maximise biodiversity Make sure the trees are resilient to adapt to a changing climate Plan ahead Learn by doing Make it pay However, fast as trees are being planted in many places, there have been substantial losses of forests and woodlands in recent times.  The blog has reported on the extensive fires in Sweden, and the Mediterranean.  The recent fires in boreal regions have been extensive and worrying - they have affected Canada, Russia and Alaska.  In the last year, Russia lost some 6.5 million hectares of tree cover.  Boreal forests are often portrayed as vast tracts of ancient, untouched wilderness. Whilst it is true that the boreal region is in itself ancient, the boreal forests are generally composed of relatively young trees trees (as compared to the oaks etc. found in temperate forests and woodlands). Historically speaking, boreal forests have renewed themselves through natural regeneration, after fires.  But now with climate change and rising temperatures, conditions are drier and the fires are more frequent and more intense.  There is also a problem of  damage by insects. The loss of forests in tropical and sub-tropical regions has been a cause for concern for many years, not only because of their importance in generating oxygen and removing carbon dioxide but also as they represent areas of great biodiversity.  Sadly, the loss of such forested areas continues, despite the commitments made at COP26  (where some 141 countries committed to "halt and reverse forest loss by 2030.").   [caption id="attachment_38123" align="aligncenter" width="700"] clear felling in progress[/caption] Forest / tree clearance occurs as a result of clearance for activities such as cattle ranching or the production of palm oil.  However, as a result of the events in Ukraine / Russia the availability / prices of certain oils is now high.  This is also true for palm oil so the ‘temptation’ to convert forested areas into palm oil plantations is significant.   Whilst there is clear evidence that various countries and governments are involved in the creation of woodlands & forests through tree planting initiatives, and working to reduce the loss of primary forests to agriculture or timber extraction, there is concern that nature itself is beginning to work against us. Changing weather patterns, increasing temperatures and extreme climate events are already affecting many forested ecosystems.  

Super fast poplar trees ? In theory, increasing the number of trees across the globe could help reduce the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide that are so intimately associated with climate change.   As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the air turning into wood.  This effectively locks away the carbon for a period of time.  However, the growth of trees can be slow so if trees could be ‘persuaded’ to grow faster then more carbon could be ‘locked up’ A San Francisco based company called “Living Carbon” has genetically modified hybrid poplar trees to speed up photosynthesis so that they grow faster.  They picked on the poplar trees as their genome had already been sequenced. The work of Living Carbon is at early stage and further work is needed to see if the enhanced photosynthetic rates and growth are maintained over the life time of the modified trees.  Another possible benefit of these modified trees is that they might help restore damaged land as their roots also grow faster, helping to address soil erosion.  Further details are available on their website : https://www.livingcarbon.com/ A discussion about the value / usefulness of such trees in affecting climate change / carbon sequestration was featured in the BBC program Positive Thinking this week. Effects of climate change. Climate change is associated with extreme weather events, such as flooding, heat waves and prolonged periods of drought.  American scientists at Ohio State University have been looking at the effects of higher temperatures and lower water availability on fungal infection in Austrian pines. They found that within three days of infection (by certain fungi - Diplodia species),  the warmer and drier conditions resulted in  Reduced photosynthesis by the tree Enhanced removal of carbon resources of the tree to the fungus. This means that there are fewer sugars and other metabolites available to the tree for growth (and defence against infection).   It would seem that a warming climate will render many trees more susceptible to invasion by various pathogens.   Full details of this research here.    Stressed out plants. Thale cress or Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering plant, that is native to many parts of Europe and Asia.  It is generally viewed as a weed, found by roadsides and on disturbed land. It is an annual that has a short life cycle. Its genome was one of the first to be sequenced. It has become a popular plant in the researching of the biology of flowering, light sensing and understanding the molecular biology of many plant traits, including flower development and light sensing.   Recently it has been used to investigate the stress response to heat, intense sun and drought.  Such stresses result in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS).  High levels of ROS are lethal but low level of ROS are a signal to the plant to protect itself.  This is done through the photosynetic machinery which generates an ‘alarm molecule’ (MEcPP).  As this molecules accumulates in the plant, it in turn triggers the production of salicylic acid (essentially a form of aspirin).  This helps protect the chloroplast from damage.  Salicyclic acid is involved in many plant systems, notably defence against infection but also germination and stomatal physiology.