January 2019 -- Jews-ear fungi and lichen

Jews-ear fungi

On bright autumn days clear and carrying bird calls have been ringing out on Waterworks Road. and further up towards the reservoirs — the sound of the Nuthatch. A loud chatter is followed by a pure bubbling song that is particularly appealing. Small and highly active, Nuthatches are supremely agile and sturdy. Blue-grey above and warm yellow below they have powerful gripping feet enabling them to scurry down tree trunks as well as climb upwards. On garden feeders they retain command of the peanuts by bossily shouldering away other birds. After listening for a while I was able to see one as it busily tore into some lichen growing on an old sycamore, presumably searching out insects. Lichens are intriguing in themselves being complex organisms, and being found growing in abundance at Strinesdale indicate that the air is very clean. One delicate species resembles small grey-green wigs hanging on lower tree branches.

     Later that same day … a glorious sunny afternoon. As I was passing the treatment works, I glanced into the culvert now choked with weeds and adorned with plastic bottles. There must still be enough small fish in the water to support life because a Kingfisher shot away at full throttle. In these circumstances the back of the bird appears
as a diamond-shaped turquoise panel, the wings like dark fans. The great thing on this occasion was the sound of those wings, a powerful whirring resonance perhaps amplified by the stonework. 

     Autumn woodland demonstrates very effectively how everything in nature is constantly recycled by a largely unseen set of processes. The leaves fall to be acted upon by countless bacteria, fungi, and insects. Birds root for worms in the leaf litter and all is broken down to feed growing plants. Dead wood is reduced by fungi growing on and within the timber. One fungus easy to find in our area is the Jews-ear. This jelly-like being has been taken up by foragers, who say that it can be eaten when well-cooked. The name derives from an ancient legend which asserts that Judas hanged himself on an elder tree, Jews ear being often found growing on elder. 

     A fern thrives on a dead branch. Strinesdale.