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Wednesday 23rd to Saturday 26th January 2019

Wednesday 23rd January:
A dull, cold, blustery day provided little of note on today's visit to the Common.  The only real highlight was seeing a flock of 57 Redwing perch up briefly in the trees along the NE boundary of the site near the Wilden Top car park.

The only other addition to my site year list was Oak Moss lichen which is quite abundant in places on the branches of some of the Oaks in the SE woodland.

Oak Moss (Evernia prunastri) lichen

















Friday 25th January:
Today I undertook an amble around the Lower Heath area of the Common.  At one area of the walk I  I could smell the unmistakable pungent odour of a Fox's marked territory.  I will monitor for activity in this area over the coming months.

Also of note were 3 Cormorant that flew over heading NNW towards the River Severn.

Saturday 26th January:
Today I undertook a walk along Hillditch Coppice.  A couple of the many Lesser Celandine their were in bloom and I've got to say it was nice to see a splash of colour.

Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna)
















Also of interest during the walk were a couple of additions to my 2019 site fungi list that came in the shape of  Coral Spot and Willow Bracket.

Coral Spot (Nectria cinnabarina)
















Willow Bracket (Phellinus igniarius)
















During my amble I also noticed a number of leaf mines on the Bramble leaves.  These mines are caused by the larvae of a micro moth called Stigmella aurella feeding within the leaves.

Stigmella aurella leaf mine

2 comments:

  1. Interesting finds on your walks Jason! Good to see the pretty Lesser Celandine starting to bloom, Spring is around the corner...hopefully!

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  2. Thanks Pam. Lesser Celandine is a funny one. I used to think of it as one of the heralds of spring but more and more over recent years I'm finding the odd ones in flower during the winter months

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