Beaver fever

Tuesday 2nd December

Every time I have had the privilege to tour the beaver enclosure at National Trust Wallington, I have been well and truly blown away by just how much work they get through in such a short space of time. Whether it’s the amount of dam and lodge work they put in or the quantity of tree bark they feast on for personal sustenance and teeth filing, it is so impressive.

They are such a huge success story for Northumberland and it is now confirmed that the reintroduced family have welcomed four new kits this year. They are true ecosystem engineers and are transforming their landscape by creating vital wetland variation, deadwood habitat, slow moving pools and reshaping rivers. And with this comes flood prevention for nearby towns. A keystone species, the knock on effect of the European beaver just being in the environment is boundless, with innumerable species from fish to bats being benefitted by their natural presence.

Long may their good fortune continue, and I hope that one day we see them back on every freshwater body in Britain.

Yellow trembler

Thursday 20th November

A fresh flurry of snow through the night has made working in the woods with my forestry hatchet very satisfying today. Birch-thinning and invasive species clearance is all the more fun on a day like this with a decent frosting all around.

It also makes anything sightly outside of the norm much more apparent. On some old gorse I came across a good dose of a jelly fungus of many names - yellow brain, witches butter, golden jelly or yellow trembler. It is parasitic, feeding on other fungi species and will usually grow on gorse or oaks within broadleaf woodland.

In European folklore, if it sprouted up on a wooden gate, it was said that a witch had cast a spell on the family living there.

Always an enchanting find and the winter months are a great time to see it.

Care for a twiglet?

Tuesday 18th November

The thing with fungi is, even the common ones have great names. Take the scurfy twiglet for example! Found on woody debris and twigs, this hazel-brown toadstool gets its common name from the flakiness on its convex cap. The remaining patch of white mycelium at the base of each stem is a key give away in the identification of this species.

It may be common and widespread in Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe and even North America, but you must admit it is still one worthy of such a noteworthy name.

Autumnal ambience

Tuesday 4th November

A silver birch was doomed to be felled today as it was riddled with Fomitopsis betulina and located right on a main path. Pity, as it was a good looking tree littered with some spectacular examples of ‘witches’ broom’ growths caused by a different fungi. As well as condemning trees to death, Fomitopsis is also known as razor strop fungus as it was often used by barber shops to clean razors, thanks to its antiseptic properties!

The wood was cut for a mix of charcoal, kindling, fire wood, hedge stakes as well as a big chunk left in situ to nature. All taking place with a particularly autumnal backdrop, warm tones and a very seasonal colour palette.

Boletes of the forest floor

Wednesday 15th October

Working in the woods today fashioning some stakes from cut birch regen and a hand axe, I was fortunate to find a scarletina bolete. Not one I see too often, and from above can resemble a deceiving or lurid bolete, but the striking red pores on the underside and red dotting on the stipe proved otherwise today. As is often the case, this one was found underneath a host of beech trees. One of around 80 bolete species in the UK, one way of observing a key identifying feature of the scarletina is to cut the bright yellow flesh which will then turn bright blue in seconds due to rapid oxidisation. The magic of mushrooms.

Porcelain parachutes

Friday 10th October

Porcelain fungi are one of my favourites to see in the autumn. With its translucent and shiny caps, broadly spaced gills and slender stems they really do resemble little porcelain parachutes descending from the trees. Only to be found specifically on beech, they are a frequent presence at this time of year on decaying trunks and often dead branches higher up in the crown. They are a very important food source for invertebrates and with their slimy, shimmering caps they can always be relied upon for a decent photograph or two.

Folkloric fungi

Thursday 9th October

A saunter along the River Wharfe at Hebden in the Yorkshire Dales today peaked my interest by the way of some fine fungal specimens. On the trunk of an old, monolithed horse chestnut, were some very imposing bracket fungi on display - the dryad's saddle. A mushroom with pores instead of gills gives it the scientific name of Cerioporus squamosus and this is a common sight throughout the year. A quick rub of the underside pores reveals a pungent cucumber like aroma and that along with the radial, scaly patterns on the upper side resembling the feathers of female pheasant, ensures that you can't really go wrong with identification here. In European folklore they are used as a perch by the tree nymphs or dryads of the forest. If picked while still small, they are particularly tasty too and are packed full of antioxidants. This was one of the finest examples that I have come across this year.

A feast of fungi

Wednesday 17th September

It's that time of the year again when summer is officially winding down and there is now a distinct condition change in the air with a damp and humid atmosphere beginning to taking shape. This brings a feast of fungi along with it and what better way to kick off the transition to autumn than with a red cracking bolete or two emerging in the garden today.

There are around 80 species of bolete in the UK - many of them edible, some that will change colour from cream to blue when cut and some that grow a gaudy crimson red or even to the size of a dinner plate. The red cracking bolete (Xerocomellus chrysenteron) gets its common name from the colour change in the cap as it breaks or is nibbled on by molluscs, revealing a thin layer of bright pink to red flesh. They are known for their mycorrhizal connections with beech trees so I am betting that the individuals forming in my garden are the result of a more than successful relationship with my hedgerow. It's a magical time of year and I've recently stumbled upon penny buns, pleated inkcaps, late crops of chicken of the woods, oysters on old maple trees and some perfectly formed fly agaric specimens. 

I'm now waiting in full anticipation for my first waxcap sighting of 2025!

Don't fear the reaper

Monday 25th August

Each year I let the garden lawn go wild, only mowing it once a year and when I say mow, I mean scythe to be precise. The grasses grow tall from spring to the end of summer before I give it a thorough cut and rake, removing all the nutrients from leeching back into the soil to give wildflowers a real chance.

At first I’ll be honest, it was tough going. A thick, never ending sward full of rank grasses like perennial rye and cock’s foot. Four years on it is a different story. The grasses have thinned out dramatically with yellow rattle, common knapweed, yarrow, wild carrot and bird’s-foot trefoil being opportunistic and spreading all over the lawn and the general biodiversity has massively increased. It is now such a quick, easy and fun job to scythe the lawn I am left to wonder why more people aren’t considering the same and ditching the mower.

Low maintenance, incredible for flora diversity, safe for wildlife, no machinery, no fuel and just generally brilliant for the environment. What’s not to love?

Plums and custard

Friday 8th August

For the first time in years I have stumbled upon a small crop of a beautiful looking mushroom decorating the woodland floor today. It is the start of the fruiting season up north for ‘plums and custard’ fungi!

Tricholomopsis rutilans gets its common name from the distinctive purple and egg yolk yellow colours that it unashamedly boasts. I found them sprouting from decaying conifer timber in a mixed woodland block at work. Definitely one I will be keeping an eye out for over the next couple of months. They are certainly eye-catching and make a lovely photo.

Shame they taste nothing like their namesake and are in fact so bitter that they are deemed inedible by many.