Six weeks into the new year, and things have finally calmed down enough to go for a wander around our new local area. Having moved to Malvern on the 10th January, the time since the Christmas break has been a whirlwind of packing, unpacking, and flat-pack furniture construction. Now, though, the boxes have (almost) gone, the birds are singing in the front garden, and we've been adopted by a neighbourhood cat with a Hitler moustache.
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| Kitler |
More or less the first thing we did once we'd unpacked was join the local Wildlife Trust, so with the Malvern Hills themselves blanketed in fog, we had a flick through the membership pack and found that there was a 'flagship reserve' just round the corner -
Knapp and Papermill Nature Reserve.
The reserve is set in a valley, bordering the Leigh Brook, a small river bolstered by yesterday's inch of rain. The information boards promised kingfishers (
Alcedo atthis) and occasional otters (
Lutra lutra), but neither was in evidence today, and invertebrates were in short supply too - just a few woodlice (
Oniscus asellus &
Trichoniscus pusillus agg.) and centipedes (
Lithobius forficatus & a smaller
Lithobius sp.) in the log piles.
It was clear that spring has nearly sprung, however - hazel (
Corylus avellana) and snowdrops (
Galanthus nivalis) were in full flower throughout the reserve, and in the hedges and on the banks daffodils, ramsons (
Allium ursinum) and cuckoo-pint (
Arum maculatum) were showing strongly, bright green patches against the dead-leaf background. Winter was still hanging on, primarily in the form of fungi - Kate found a good crop of candlesnuff (
Xylaria hypoxylon) on a tree stump, black witches-butter (
Exidia glandulosa) was smeared across a few trees by the riverside, and hairy bracket (
Stereum hirsutum) was on pretty much every dead log we looked at.
Probably the most interesting fungus of the day, however, were the neon-pink blobs I found on a lichen-encrusted twig. These were
Illosporiopsis christiansenii - a tiny fungus which parasitises the lichens
Physcia tenella and
Xanthoria parietina. Certainly the brightest thing we found all afternoon!
Definitely somewhere worth revisiting...
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| Candlesnuff fungus (this and all photos below by Kate Ashbrook) |
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| Illosporiopsis christiansenii parasitising a Physcia lichen. Much brighter in real life! |
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| Hairy bracket |
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| Not sure what this is yet |
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| Young jews-ear fungus from below |
