Wednesday 7th.October 2009

In between this morning's constant drizzle and the heavier rain after lunch , I managed to get out for a short while up to Keston Ponds . Two things struck me on my arrival , the first , the almost total absence of water birds . I looked straight away for the Mandarins , but none were seen , just three Moorhen down on the bottom pond . Nothing at all on the middle pond and just one female Mallard and two Moorhen on the top pond . The only explanation that I could see , was that a large Oak tree , that leaned over the footpath below the bottom pond , had had severe surgery applied to it . All that was left of it was a trunk , about 4 mtrs. high , so the remainder being brought down and processed , probably frightened everthing away . I just hope they return , especially the Mandarins . The only other bird seen , was a Grey Wagtail , that would not let me get within a decent lens distance , before flying off to the other end of the pond . In fact , in the second shot , one foot is already in the air ready to go . The second thing , was a floating plant , in full flower , when everything else is dying off . I have fried to identify this in previous years , and failed , and have come to the conclusion that it is some alien species that has invaded the top pond . With very little else found , I headed off looking for fungi , under ever more threatening skies . The rain and cooler temperatures are bringing more fungi out , but it seems to be a very slow process . It didn't need rain to make the cap shiny of the first species found , Suillus luteus , that shine giving it's common name Slippery Jack , a member of the Boletus family , all of which have pores , not gills , on the underside of the cap , from which the spores are released . Having found one on my last visit , I found 8/10 of the next species , Amanita muscaria-Fly agaric . All today's specimens were like this one , just having emerged . The white pyramidal warts covering the red cap can be washed off by the rain , leaving the cap smooth . This is one of the poisonous Amanitas . Deeper in the woodland , around a large Oak tree , were several specimens of Blackish-purple Russula-Russula atropurpurea . The Russula family is large and some are very common , but even those common members are few and far between so far this year . The last species found was Root Fomes-Heterobasidionb annosum , one of the bracket form of fungi . This particular fungi causes serious economical losses in conifer plantations .