Non-inverted Stuff

My last round up of varied bits from Charnwood Lodge last Saturday (see how long I managed to string out one field trip!). However this is a break from my normal inverted outlook.

Whilst knocking about the site, I noted some strange stuff that didn't ring any bells - something I've not seen before - this weird looking stuff that I found under the bark of a well rotted log. I had no idea if it was fungal or some sort of egg mass, but a quick enquiry on the PSL Facebook group threw up the ID, and it is a slime mould ...

Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa - which is pretty cool looking I reckon

Literally on the other side of the bark to this slime mould was a familiar looking liverwort.

Bifid Crestwort

Earlier, I'd seen what appeared to be a trio of small cauliflowers bulging out of the inside face of a hollowed dead tree. There was another more solid looking lump and what appeared to be an exploded puff ball on the same patch of wood. Didn't take long to work out that this is another slime mould, and that I'd seen the various stages of its development.

Reticularia lycoperdon

aka False Puffball Slime Mould aka Cauliflower Slime Mould

After walking around the small reservoir, I found a board-walk that I'd never seen before running alongside a damp-looking dry stone wall.

This wall must be a Bryologist's dream. I pointed the camera at something that looked a bit quirky ...

A quick browse through NatureSpot suggested that this is Aulacomnium androgynum - Bud-headed Groove-moss. Perhaps one of the best vernacular names! Even better, a quick squint at the mapping showed a yellow square pretty much exactly in the same spot.

In the same area was a fair bit of this lichen - which I won't bother trying to name.

Cladonia sp.

And rounding up the non-invert ramble, this orange staining on the wall and trees in one spot - all on the same side. Quite probably the algae Trentepohlia abietina.

Ulverscroft

Took a bit of time out from work today, and managed to get out for an afternoon pottering about at Ulverscroft NR with Adrian Russell. No particular plan or agenda, other than get some fresh air and poke about looking for anything interesting. We were also going to get in a bit of early spring mothing after a pint and bar-meal interlude.

I had hoped for some nice warm sunshine, but the sun was a bit late burning through. But we had a good long walk around the reserve, stopping periodically to check over, in or under fallen trees and deadwood. Surprisingly little found on the beetles front, though there are a couple of carabids to key out. One beetle I did find (but will have to wait to try and get a decent photo of) is Tetratoma fungorum which I know has been recorded from Ulverscroft before. It's a beetle of wood-decay fungi, especially Birch Polypore.

We found a few Ichneumon sp. in wood rot, something which has been noted recently on the PSL Facebook page. I'm assuming that they are hibernating there rather than actively seeking something to parasitise. No idea what species are involved as yet, but I have three potted up for future reference (and quite possibly three different species). The following two photos are of different individuals that look similar but are actually quite different in size.

Away from inverts, I found a new for me fungus ....

Common Grey Disco (Mollisia cinerea)

Also lots of this about ...

Hoof Fungus (Fomes fomentarius)

And I also managed to find a small liverwort ...

Bifid Crestwort (Lophocolea bidentata)

We stopped for a nice couple of pints and a bar meal at the Copt Oak, before heading to Charnwood Lodge to run traps. Unfortunately though the temperature plummeted even before the sun had fully set, and so we only gave it an hour and a half or so before packing up and calling it a day. There were a few moths in the traps, including Yellow Horned and Satellite, but the most numerous moth was Engrailed which we kept finding on tree trunks whilst mooching about between traps.