Thursday 7th.October 2010

Today was the first day of this year's attempt to regain the Common . Hayes Common was once an area of Heather and Gorse , that was common grazing for all . As the grazing reduced , secondary woodland started to encroach , and with very little management over the last 50/100 years , that secondary woodland has become a woodland . The volunteers that will gather on Thursdays , from now until Spring , know that we cannot return the whole Common to it's original state , but we can regain small areas , and manage them to stay as Common and not woodland . Each year , we nibble away and maintain what we have snatched back .
Much of the morning was spent catching up with the other volunteers , some unseen since March , but the job in hand soon got under way with the first , of many , fire of the season .
Fungi was the only interest found today :
Looking exactly as it says on the box , Slippery Jack-Suillus luteus , a member of the Bolete family .
A small violet bracket Silver-leaf Fungus-Chondosterum purpureum , a fungi dreaded by fruit growers , as it causes Silver Leaf disease , and the probable death of the tree .
A saddle shaped fungi with a hollow , furrowed stem , White Helvella-Helvella crispa .

And finally , what I thought from a distance was King Alfred's Cakes , but on closer inspection , turned out to be the best display of Black Bulgar/Rubber Buttons-Bulgaria inquinans , that I have seen for ages . The Oak stem was about 3 metres long and 25 cms around , and covered in the fungi . A close up shows how it gets the Rubber Buttons common name .

Just remembered , in the sun today , 1 Peacock and 2 Brimstones , together with several male Vapourer moths .