It seems that the UK is losing the battle to eradicate the giant hogweed.  It is an invasive species which has been described as the country’s most dangerous plant. Many efforts have been made to eradicate this plant.  Local authorities can make use the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to enforce control of the weed.  Sadly though Plant Tracker has recorded hundreds of sightings across the four nations of the U.K. Its scientific name is Heracleum mantegazzianum and it belongs to the same family as the wild parsnip, the Apiaceae. It is sometimes referred to as the giant cow parsnip, the giant cow parsley or the cartwheel flower. Read more...

It is worth mentioning that while the majority of the hard pyrenomycetous fungi that are the subject of this two-part post are decomposers of dead wood, and therefore invaluable to any woodland ecosystem, there are types that are less benign. For example, one might question why anyone would need to be able to identify the 90 species of Rosellinia, none of which have a common English name and are nearly identical in all aspects aside from their dimensions, until one realises that a number are serious pathogens. Rosellinia desmazieri, for example, can attack living willow trees. There’s a tropical species called Rosellinia bunodes that causes black root rot on a wide range of cash crops like coffee and bananas, while closer to home we have Rosellinia necatrix, another root rotter. Read more...

Overlooked and understudied. We can say that about many aspects of the natural world, not just fungi. However, for those hard, black, carbonaceous types falling within the wider category of pyrenomycetes, this is especially true and, alas, appears to have ever been thus.  The Rolfe’s showed no love for them in their 1925 book The Romance of the Fungus World, writing that “in this order are a great number of fungi which are of little interest to folk other than those engaged in their actual study. Most of them are small, and even the larger ones are far from attractive.”  Read more...

In terms of a ‘head count’ of tree species, Europe does not do well when compared to Asia or North America.  There are approximately five hundred tree species scattered across Europe, whereas Asia and North America are home to some thousand species each.  There is fossil evidence that tree species such as Liquadambar (Sweet Gums) and Liriodendron (Tulip tree) once lived here. So one might ask why did they disappear? The answer may be due a combination of glaciation and topography.  During the late Pliocene period, the  global climate cooled and massive glaciers began to extend across the Earth’s surface. Glacial and interglacial periods  followed in the Pleistocene or Quaternary Period; sometimes referred to as the Ice Age. As the glaciers moved relentlessly south, so plants (and animals) had to move Read more...

The hoverfly is so named because it does hover, its flight path is  somewhat hesitant, moving along in a sort of zig-zag at times; it is sometimes mistaken for a bee or a wasp due to its colour and 'stripes'. There are roughly some 6,000 species of hoverflies.  Hoverflies are to be found on every continent  with exception of Antarctica (plus some small, remote islands); and in many different biomes . Like bees and bumblebees, hoverflies are pollinators but bees and bumblebees have had a ‘better press’ - known as being important for the pollination of many fruit and crop species. Now Dr. Wotton and his team [at Exeter University] suggest that hoverflies are sometimes more effective pollinators than bumblebees / bees and that their role in fertilising crops might have been underestimated.   It is thought that hoverflies could prove to be useful pollinators where bees do not ‘perform’ well; i.e. outside of mediterranean or temperate habitats / climates, where temperatures are lower.  The flies carry pollen over considerable distances and may visit isolated plants. Read more...

Nearly every report that one comes across says that many plant and animal species are under threat.   The causes are many but may be broadly summarised as  Fragmentation, loss or destruction of natural habitats (as a result of intensive and extending agriculture, roadways, railways etc) Pesticides and pollution (e.g. neonicotinoids, eutrophication as a result of fertiliser use) Impacts of climate change Some of the changes are more obvious in every day terms than others, for example, the drop in insect numbers is revealed by the car windscreen ‘test’ : the splatometer.   A survey of insects hitting car windscreens in rural parts of Denmark [using data collected between 1997 to 2017] found a decline of some  80%. There was a similar decline in the number of swallows and martins, (they depend on insects for their food). Read more...

Following seemingly weeks of awful weather and awful news the 16th March was an amazing spring day, clear blue skies and gentle warm sunshine - a good day to see what was new at the wood.  As it turned out there was plenty. We heard our first Chiffchaff of the year, and saw Great Tits beginning to explore nest boxes. When we arrived the pair of Buzzards were active, and we also noticed a male Wren busy building a nest in a large insect box we were given at Christmas, and fixed close to the ground by our coffee spot. They are confident birds, but difficult to photograph because of their cryptic colouring and speed, and their penchant for the dapple of undergrowth and nooks and crannies. However this bird was out and about, and back and forth to the box collecting moss from the base of near by trees.  Read more...

Figs can grow as rather straggly bushes or tall trees; they are native to the Middle East and parts of Asia. Evidence of fig ‘cultivation’ has been found in a neolithic settlement in the Jordan Valley - many thousands of years ago. In Ancient Greece, Aristotle described in some detail the biology and cultivation of the fig. Figs were said to be responsible for the death of Augustus (first emperor of Rome), as his wife Livia smeared the figs in his garden with poison - allegedly. Figs were cultivated in Pakistan through to the Mediterranean and Portugal; they were later introduced to the “New World” and have been grown extensively in areas like California since the late 1800’s, forming a valuable part of the local economy. Figs belong to the same family as the Mulberries (Morus alba & nigra) and the breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) - the Moraceae.   The fig can grow to a height of some 10 metres and it is deciduous.  Its large, deeply lobed leaves are shed in autumn - leaving noticeable leaf scars on the stems. The surface of the leaves has a ‘rough’ texture.  The bark is a dark grey, slate or brown colour. If the young shoots / leaves or developing figs are cut, they may exude a milky sap (latex) - which can cause skin irritation. Read more...