Chris Knowles, RSPB Nature Counts Trainee Ecologist, has been out and about at our Baron's Haugh nature reserve near Motherwell...
A hidden gem
A ‘hidden gem’, an ‘overlooked treasure’, perhaps even a ‘best kept secret’, these metaphors might be clichés, but they all go someway to describe the Baron's Haugh RSPB reserve near Motherwell. After spending the last few weeks around some of Scotland’s finest Lochs, I didn’t know what to expect from somewhere so ‘urban’. Once there though, I wasn’t just impressed but over the course of the day I found the largest number of fungi on a survey so far (and the biggest).
Figure 1. The Dryads Saddle fungus (Polyporus squamosus) can grow up to 60cm across.
The reserve has a wonderful range of habitats, yet as is often the case, I was immediately drawn into the woodlands near the entrance. It was here, under mature broadleaf trees that I came across the Green Elfcup (Chlorociboria aeruginascens) for the first time... well, sort of... the Elfcups were nowhere to be seen, but they had left conspicuous evidence. These fungi cause a blue-green stain to appear in the wood where they grow.
Figure 2. Historically this coloured wood was known as 'Tunbridge Ware', and was used in decorative furniture veneers.
The areas of woodland here vary in the tree species they boast and their age, so I was keen to survey them all. To reach the woods at either end of the reserve I followed a bankside path that allowed wonderful views over the Clyde to one side, and glimpses of the wetlands bordering the main pool on the other.
Figure 3. A green and leafy stretch of the river Clyde
It was very tempting to pause here with my binoculars as both areas were busy with birds, however my attention was captured by some plant rusts. These micro-fungi have a bad reputation for damaging cereal crops, but on this occasion they were only bothering the nettles. I was really attracted to their colour because although many flowering plants were showing themselves to be glad of summer arriving, these rusts were the only orange blooms I saw all day (even though they were less than 1mm in size – ‘small is beautiful’ could be my final cliché from Baron's Haugh).
Figure 4. Spot the odd-one-out...