Category: Cliff Ridge Wood
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Fly Agaric
A damp stroll this morning. Most toadstools I come across are usually past their sell-by date. Dirty, forlorn, and partially eaten by insects. This one seems pristine and the classic toadstool as drawn in children’s books; the Fly Agaric or Amanita muscaria, poisonous twice over. One poison is muscarine, causing nausea and vomiting eventually leading…
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Bramble leaves
Battered by Storm Callum. Ninety minutes running with eyes down glimpsing the occasional red leaf amongst the browns and yellows. The red of the bramble must be my favourite autumnal colour. Anthocyanins are chemicals found in the blackberries and synthesise in some of its leaves when sugar levels increase in the Autumn, giving them their…
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Coal Tit
An early stroll in the sunshine with the dog. This little tit caught my eye, performing acrobatics on the downy seed heads of a thistle. It didn’t stay long before dashing off only to return a moment later; repeated this several times in the brief period I watched. Constantly on the go. I’m pretty sure…
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Wakey, wakey, campers
Out and about in Cliff Rigg Wood early on a lovely fresh morning, the start of the weekend, but then I smelt smoke, and then a red mist covered my eyes. But maybe the tents won’t be torched, easier than packing, the brown stuff on the baby wipes on the path is only just chocolate,…
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Robin’s pincushion
Every so often nature springs a surprise. This dog rose in Cliff Ridge Wood appears to have grown some pretty little red “flowers”. These are in fact galls, a reaction in the plant tissue to the laying of eggs in the leaf buds by a gall wasp, Diplolepis rosae. The wasp lays up to 60…
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Common spotted orchid
Out litter picking after a hot weekend and came across this orchid. The name suggests it may be common but finding it growing in abundance in an abandoned quarry well used as a playground by BMX bikers is heartening. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Husband and wife trees
Thirteen years ago in February, we had snow and I was fascinated by a pair of intertwined beech saplings. Over the years one tree has dominated and has perhaps doubled in circumference whereas the subservient tree, if that is the right term, as hardly grown at all. The two trees have grafted together. The layers…
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Ruin in Cliff Ridge Wood
Hidden in the dense undergrowth of Cliff Ridge Woods, this small ruin, with a footprint no bigger than a domestic garage, is inaccessible at the height of the summer. It has two internal “cupboards” and what could be a netty outside. Now it is tempting to assume the ruin is a relic of the whinstone…
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The Grey Squirrel
A cute little furry thing but scorned by wildlife managers and conservationists. Native to North America the grey squirrel was introduced into Britain by Victorian landowners to enhance their gardens and estates and is now common and widespread. It is considered an invasive non-native species, causes damage to our woodland and wildlife and has pushed…
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Catkins
A welcome winter sight, considered by most peoples as a herald of Spring, with each having their own affectionate name. Many of these names are of a feline nature. Catkins itself originates from the Old Dutch word for kittens: katteken, now katjes in modern Dutch; in Italy they say gattini for little cats, and in…