Michaelmas at Great Knelle

Posted on September 30, 2014 by mike i

Last weekend was a bit damp but glorious nonetheless.

On Friday we went to the annual Wood Fair at Bentley. Lots of it was as previous years but that just means refreshing the brain and meeting friends of old. What was new was a display of raptors : great for brushing up on what rare birds really look like, whether they be owls, falcons, kites or harriers.

We bought a good looking book on the identification of fungi at the fair – now all we have to do is learn how to do it [see below]!

On Saturday we lunched in Titania’s Bower …

… barbecued pork loin chops with fried onion and asparagus. Only the French Stick [and the beer] is not visible. Lots of large mosquitos but the smoke seemed to keep them away.

Wandering around the woods afterwards we found evidence of the wild boar on the eastern edge of Open Pond, a real wallow :

Complete with the evidence :

That is a British penny [a bit bigger than a US cent] next to the trotter imprint.

This time we took a picture of a burrow which has been excavated under a woodpile in Bellhurst Wood. It is not clear whether it is badger or fox but we are betting on badger :

The fungi are generally late in sending up their sporing bodies this year because September has been so dry but we did find one totally unknown [to us] specimen :

and a couple of brackets of interest. This one is living in a fallen cherry, judging by the bark :

It is smoother and paler than the one in the last blog. However, this one or perhaps two is the more interesting :

the tree bowl below the dark brackets is laden with rust-brown spores, turning the moss from green to brown. However there are also small white brackets lower down. Are these a different species or this year’s sporing bodies which will turn dark brown with age?

Late Summer

Posted on September 22, 2014 by mike i

We [or rather Richard, our friendly contractor] have started coppicing the west end of Titania’s Bower. The aim is to deal with about one acre this season :

Autumn is relatively early this year and the fungi are already prolific although we are not the best at identification. What is this, spotted along Main Ride, for instance :

This one, possible one of the Honey Fungus family, was erupting from the base of a very dead but still standing oak in Bellhurst Wood :

It could be Armillaria mellea in which case it is highly prized as an edible but one is advised not to take alcohol for the 12 hours before eating nor the 24 hours after so perhaps ‘highly prized’ is not quite the best way to describe it.

These of course are bracket fungi [growing a fallen branch in Titania’s Bower] but which one? :

The prize for looks must surely go to the small puffballs which have sprung up all over Titania’s Bower. They are typically 25 mm [1 inch] in diameter :

They are probably the Common Puffball of the UK, Lycoperdon perlatum.

By the way, if you ever wonder what eats all those fungi in the woods, we have found at least one culprit in the act :

July 2014

Posted on August 1, 2014 by mike i

A mystery package arrived at the house for ‘Titania’. It looks rather good at the entrance to the bower :

We found evidence of a mole in Andy and Nicky’s part of the wood somewhat north of Open Pond :

but the real joy at the end of the month was not the wood at all but the wheat field to the south of the Bellhurst Wood. These two pictures were taken on July 27 :

Badgers

Posted on June 10, 2014 by mike i

At the end of May we received our tripod from Tim Lloyd and of course it had to be taken for a test run …

You can see how prolific the bluebells were in the glade this year even though the flowers faded long ago.

There was much evidence of building in a new badger colony to the north of the existing one, again still along the west bank of Eastern Stream :

and nearby was a dung pit [midden or dung pit] :

Easter 2014

Posted on April 22, 2014 by mike i

Easter Sunday was a wash-out so our Easter Lamb was cooked and eaten at #48 and we didn’t even get back to Titania’s Bower to hunt for the ‘Easter Eggs’ [aka bottles of wine and beer].

Monday [April 21] was glorious though so we went up to the woods to retrieve the bottles as best we could and knock up sausage and onions in french bread for lunch. Not all the bottles made it back full.

The bluebells were at their best :

and the Early Purple Orchids, Orchis mascula [I cannot see how one can have Orchis femina!], down by Eastern Stream were putting on a lovely show. The race that we have starts quite dark when in bud :

and lightens up as it matures :

Late March

Posted on April 1, 2014 by mike i

Spring is now well on the way :

… with a veritable carpet of anemones, this to the north of Titania’s Bower close to the stream :

Even the dog violets were out although we couldn’t find the early flowering orchid that Pat and Mary told us about :

We wandered up through Knelle Wood South and came across a magnificent display of bracket fungus :

Everyone was feeling the freshness of spring and the deer had not long passed by :

Early March

Posted on March 9, 2014 by mike i

By early March the first anemones were showing their flowers :

and it was warm enough for a ladybird to venture forth :

Year End 2013

Posted on January 6, 2014 by mike i

We visited the woods on December 30 : quite a glorious day as it happens and not at all cold.

There were signs of wind damage :

The above was down in the little valley of Eastern Stream. The stream itself was flowing well.

In the root ball of another fallen tree nearby were the first signs of spring, bluebell shoots :

The above was close to the ponds in Titania’s Bower

And this one was close to the entrance to Knelle Wood South

What surprised us was the amount of fungal sporing bodies in evidence. We definitely need to brush up on our fungus ID capabilities!

Is this Honey Fungus?

We believe this is Ramaria botrytis

The first of three examples of a black fungus – or is it the result of frost damage?

Possibly Craterellus cornucopioides?

This is heavily disguised but is it Craterellus cornucopioides?

A pale trumpet fungus

We decided that this must be Coriolus versicolor

First cuckoo of spring?

Posted on May 26, 2012 by win.i

We may be latecomers and have not heard what others may have, but it was a delight to hear the wooden tones of a cuckoo calling from high up towards the Bonham’s patch. An especial treat as we have not heard a cuckoo within the M25, in Orpington where we live, for at least 8 years.

Badgers at last – and a fox!

Posted on May 14, 2012 by mike i

Just back from a trip and Win collected the wild life camera yesterday. It is a small miracle : the badgers have not only condescended to make an appearance but have made it an entertaining show too :

The video is on the animals page [select Great Knelle Wood Home in the header above then fauna and flora on the left pane then select animals unless you are already on the right page]. You will also find a shorter video of a fox there. He clearly doesn’t like the camera. In another video he flees from view in less than one second :

Great Knelle Wood

– an Ancient Woodland in the High Weald

Category Archives: Fauna and Flora