We’ve got an exciting new fungus to add to the list this week – pleated inkcap fungus, which was spotted in both village bay field and the play area outside the visitor centre. This delicate little grey fungus is widespread in the UK, and occurs on short grass. It is also sometimes known as the ‘little Japanese umbrella’!
Pleated Inkcap
You can’t go far on the reserve without seeing shiny black clusters of elder berries, which are poisonous if eaten raw. In folklore, the elder tree was once regarded as the most magically powerful of all trees, and it was thought that if you planted an elder by your house it would keep the devil at bay!
Elder berries
As far as bird sightings go, it’s been a bit sparse over the past few days with the murky weather keeping visitors at bay, however, we’ve had a few sightings of note.
Firstly, a grey wagtail has been seen at Pickup hide today – these lovely little yellow-rumped wagtails are a charming sight around waterbodies and rivers.
Visitors were charmed yesterday by a very obliging juvenile female kingfisher at the kingfisher screen, which stayed in view for over an hour as she practiced her fishing skills.
The great white egret is still hanging about, with our latest recorded sighting of it being Wednesday. Speaking of hanging about, a lone swallow was also spotted yesterday – what with the chillier weather setting in, it’s about time the last of the swallows headed south!
Come down to the reserve for a stroll in the lovely autumn sunshine – the view over big hole on my walk home last night was stunning! Don’t forget to tell us what you’ve seen!
Sunset over big hole