December Nature Notes

January Nature Notes
 

February Nature Notes

March Nature Notes

April Nature Notes

May Nature Notes

Things that Are Worth Looking Out For This Month

In the plant world, the bluebells will be going over, but it is worth looking into the Wild Arum (details below). Rarer and also quaint is the Townhall Clock (also more below). Overhead look out for the developing fruits of the Elms, which are rare now but still to be found even though the trees are still suffering from Dutch Elm disease. Where the management of the vegetation has taken place near the interpretation board by Knott wood cowslips have appeared in 2010. Hopefully this is a consequence of our strategies, but look out for them in subsequent years.

Orange tip butterflies are abundant along the Nickey Line this month, attracted by the large amounts of garlic mustard (Jack by the hedge), one of their larval foodplants, which edge the pathway. Garlic mustard is an erect growing plant of about two feet in height, which flowers this month, with a head of small white flowers and heart shaped leaves. Look for evidence of the leaves being nibbled and see if you can find the orange tip caterpillars. The female orange tip butterfly is white, so likely to be confused with other species, but both male and female orange tips have very attractive underwings, which are mottled with greenish-yellow (only likely to be seen if the butterfly has settled).

       hedgegarlic and orangetip male

Other butterfly species seen this month include peacock, brimstone, small white, holly blue, green-veined white and speckled wood, although others can be expected, e.g. painted lady and small tortoiseshell.

Birds

All of our summer migrants will have arrived by the end of the month, and a number of species will be using the habitat provided by the Nickey Line for breeding. The cuckoo is familiar to us all, and may be heard from the line, but there are also many different warbler species to be found, best identified by their songs which are sung only by the male birds. Knowledge of bird song greatly increases the chances of appreciating the presence of birds, and is a prerequisite of successful bird surveying.

The blackcap and garden warbler have very similar songs but are easy to differentiate if seen. The garden warbler has a breathless impression to its song, and has been described as the ‘garbled’ warbler, whereas the blackcap has shorter snatches of song, with a richness equalled by few other birds. The whitethroat has a short scratchy song, and is widely distributed along the pathway, whereas the chiffchaff is only likely to be found in woodland habitats, such as Yew Wood and behind Ambrose Lane near the main line. The willow warbler, which is very difficult to distinguish from the chiffchaff by sight likes young woodland habitat and hedgerows, and is less likely to be seen. It has a beautiful evocative descending song.

Plants of the Month

In the areas under the trees you won’t need to walk far before you find the heart shaped leaves of the arum lily (Arum maculatum). This plant, which is sometimes known as Lords and Ladies, Cuckoo Pint or Parson in the Pulpit, is a strange plant and has a smell that is unattractive leading one to suspect it might be poisonous. In fact it is, in all parts, even though edible starch can be extracted from the roots, provided it is carefully prepared. In Elizabethan times, the starch was used for starching ruffs, but it often led to the workers having blistered hands. Although infrequent handling is unlikely to produce any such effect, be careful not to expose your skin too much, certainly don’t taste any.

The flowers of the Arum inside the floral chamber

The ‘lily’ appears to be the flower, poking out among the leaves, but is in fact a whole mass of flowers (an inflorescence) modified into a bizarre trap. In this plant the inflorescence axis terminates in a purple spadix (yellow in A. italicum) which heats up and emits the odour which attracts small flies, known as owl-midges. The temperature inside the floral chamber can be 10 degrees centigrade higher than outside, making it an attractive refuge for the insects. The midges crawl down the spadix to enter the floral chamber, passing a ring of stiff bristles (modified flowers) which prevent them from escaping. If they are carrying pollen they will pollinate the female flowers, but gradually while they are in captivity the stamens will ripen, dusting the midges with pollen. Only then does the ring of bristles wilt and allow the insects to escape, to start the whole cycle once again.

There will be little difficulty in finding the arum along the hedgerows but if you want more of a challenge, try to spot the low growing leaves and tiny flowers of the Townhall Clock (Adoxa moschatellina), which sometimes grows on the rich soil formed by rotting leaves under trees along the edge of the line. The flowers are (unusually) green and give the plant its name because they occur as clusters of 5, four facing outwards like a clock tower and one on top facing upwards. The top flower has 4 petals emphasising the cubic shape of their arrangement whereas side ones have 5; a very unusual arrangement.

May Nature Notes

June Nature Notes

August Nature Notes

Wildlife Interpretation Board
Progress on our new Wildlife Interpretation Board

Fungal Foray Wednesday 22 October 2008