Friday 11th & Saturday 12th January 2019

Friday 11th January - Upper Terrace:  
Today, I parked up at the Wilden Top car park and undertook an amble around the Upper Terrace of the Common.  Large numbers of birds were feeding in the paddocks between the common and Stourport Riding Centre including 71 Redwings, 1 Mistle Thrush, 11 Greenfinch and 19 Goldfinch. 

Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)  & Redwing (Turdus iliacus)

The terrace itself was pretty much devoid of bird life which is not surprising as not only is it the winter months and many species are not present this time of year and secondly this area of the Common just gets so busy with dog walkers so is perhaps not quiet enough for many species aside from the more confident ones such as Robins and Magpies.

The walk did however yield a new fungi species for the year list is Velvet Shank.

Velvet Shank (Flammulina velutipes)

I was also saddened to find a dead Fox underneath one of the hedgerows along the eastern edge of the common.  There was no sign of external trauma to this individual so perhaps it had died naturally or maybe it had ingested something toxic, who knows, this is all just conjecture.  The only positive that can be drawn from finding this Fox is that it is unlikely to be a lone individual and, sad that it is, it serves as a record that this species of mammal is still present on the Common.

Fox (Vulpes vulpes) deceased

Saturday 12th January - Lower Poolands:
For this afternoon's visit I focused my attentions on the Oak wood and heath on the SE side of the Common.  Starting in the woodland I added a new year tick to my site bird list as a ♂ Bullfinch was present skulking in the bushes (see poor record shot below).  Bullfinch is a species that I have only recorded on a couple of  occasions and both previous times were in Hillditch Coppice.

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)

I then spent a while mooching for fungi through the decaying logs/stumps along the pylon ride. Here I added Sulphur Tuft to the year list and discovered another fungi, Split Gill, which I hadn't previously recorded at the site before.

Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare)

Split Gill (Schizophyllum commune)

I also found a nice group of the wonderfully named Cow Pat Gem fungus growing on the remains of (yes you've guessed it) a cow pat.  These tiny disc fungi are bright orange with a granular outside edge and can form quite large swarms over dung.

Cow Pat Gem (Cheilymenia granulata)

On the ground amongst the heather I was able to identify another of the moorland/heath land lichen in Cladonia portentosa.  This branching lichen is a bit reminiscent of ball of wire wool in shape.

Cladonia portentosa lichen