Coppicing and Pollarding
Wednesday, November 27th 2024
Yesterday volunteers were hard at work in the willow carr pollarding and coppicing. The area being coppiced this winter is quite large, but a lot of progress was made.
Both coppicing and pollarding allow for regeneration of trees through young shoots, and can increase the lifespan of the tree. Coppicing involves cutting the at the base to create a stool, whereas pollarded trees are cut at a height. A benefit of pollarding over coppicing is that the new shoots can't be eaten by rabbits or deer.
At Foxglove Covert, coppicing and pollarding is done in different areas on a rotation. This means the reserve has trees of varying ages, ranging from young to mature, and allowing a variety of plants to flourish across the reserve. In recently coppiced areas light is able to reach the ground better, encouraging an understory and grasses and flowering plants to develop.
When coppicing, it is important to cut the tree trunks as close to the base of the tree as possible. This can be quite difficult to do, especially with the willow trees at Foxglove Covert, as there are often lots of trunks growing close together and at odd angles. Therefore it is sometimes necessary to neaten up the stumps once the whole tree has been coppiced.
A beautiful rainbow was a lovely end to the day. Many thanks for everyone's hard work!
Wrinkled Club and Candlesnuff
Sunday, November 17th 2024
Two fungi species that are out in abundance at Foxglove Covert at the moment are Wrinkled Club (Clavulina rugosa) and Candlesnuff (Xylaria hypoxylon). If you are walking around the reserve and see them at a glance, it might be difficult to tell the two apart; both have short, white, slightly spiky looking sticks of fruiting bodies.
However, if you take a longer and closer look, you can easily notice differences between them. There are some distinctive features that will help you tell the two species apart.
Wrinkled Club has, as the name suggests, a wrinkled surface. The fruiting body can be white, cream or a light grey colour. In contrast, the white tip of Candlesnuff might be what catches your eye, but the base of the fungi is actually black!
The differences between these fungi extend beyond the visual aspects. Candlesnuff can be seen throughout the year whereas Wrinkled Club is seen between August and December.
Candlesnuff feeds from, and therefore can be found on, dead tree stumps and fallen branches, usually of broad-leafed trees but sometimes pine trees. Wrinkled Club, on the other hand, is a mycorrhizal fungi. It forms a symbiotic relationship between living deciduous or coniferous tree roots, so the fruiting bodies can be seen all over the woodland floor.
Keep an eye out for these two species of fungi the next time you visit Foxglove Covert!
Wetland Work
Saturday, November 9th 2024
The recent mild weather has helped to extend our season for wetland work at Foxglove Covert. Ideally work in ponds needs to be finished before the weather gets colder and amphibians begin to hibernate. As you can see, stands of reedmace around our wetland have become very dense over the years - so we've attempted to create a reasonable amount of open water, using our most veratile of tools - the scythe. (In the photo Alison, our dragonfly specialist is keeping a very close eye on proceedings!)
Faced with the usual habitat management issue of trying to do as little damage to wildlife as possible, while still achieving the objective, we wanted to avoid heavy or powered machinery. Inspiration came through a tool which is still used in parts of Norfolk - the maig - https://scytheassociation.org/maig-the-sub-aqua-scythe/. While we don't have a maig, we have plenty of scythes and some chest waders too!
After a couple of hours of work, a large amount of reedmace had been cut and cromed (raked) out of the pond, resulting in around a fifth of the vegetation being removed.
Cutting right at the base of the plant helps to prevent rapid regrowth, effectively drowning the reedmace and encouraging the root to rot. Cut material is floated to the edge of the pond and then drawn just up onto the bank, allowing any water invertebrates the chance to make their way back into the waterbody. It's best to leave any cut material in place at least 48 hours before removing it.
Henry did a sterling job of raking out a huge amount of heavy, waterlogged reedmace - while making some new friends along the way!
Does it Feel Like First Week of Autumn?
Thursday, September 12th 2024
As autumnal temperatures and wet weather set in this week, early emerging fungi have been popping up all across the reserve.
The Deceiver (Laccaria laccata) is a common woodland fungi which gets its name from how its colour can change in weather and as it ages. When there is wet weather, young Deceivers are a reddish-brown colour.
Another colour changing fungi is the Blushing Bracket (Daedaleopsis confragosa) which tends to have shades of pink on its top surface, and its white underside bruises pink when touched!
The nibbled fungi pictured below is a Crab Brittlegill (Russula xerampelina), which smells like crab! The scent gets stronger as the fungi ages.
Meanwhile this week, work on the wildflower meadow continues, with staff and volunteers diligently scything away.
On the ground, among the thick thatch of the long grass, a couple of small mammal nests (likely made by Field Voles) were discovered while scything.
The reserve remains closed to the general public, with access limited to organised events. Check out the events page to find out what's coming up this autumn: https://foxglovecovert.org.uk/events.
Caught on Camera
Monday, August 12th 2024
Some interesting wildlife has been caught on camera around the reserve this August.
A curious and bold leveret (young hare) has been seen exploring the wildflower meadow. Young hares are called leverets up until they are a year old. Hares generally live in fields which have a mix of open and sheltered areas. They nest above ground rather than in burrows like rabbits. Leverets can be spotted alone in fields, and although might seem to be abandoned, the mother will usually be hidden from sight but not far away. It is possible that this year hares have nested in the same field this leveret was spotted, however there are also suitable nesting areas in some of the the land surrounding Foxglove Covert.
Five Silver-washed Fritillary butterflies were flying together around the orchard. Silver-washed Fritillaries were first recorded at Foxglove Covert two years ago, and it is great that sightings have continued to occur since.
The trail camera, placed near a badger set at the end of July, has already captured lots of images of the badgers and their cubs. This image shows a mother and three of this year's cubs.
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