Walking down through Warren Wood yesterday I could see something bright orange in the distance and my obvious first thought was that it must be an item of litter or lost clothing but as I got closer I saw that it was actually a large bracket fungus on a log at the side of the  path. Not having a book on fungi, I used the power of Google and am pretty sure that it is one called Chicken of the Woods. This fungus is said to be edible and some say that it does taste of chicken, hence it’s name, yet others liken it’s taste to crab or lobster. However, be aware that depending on the type of wood on which it is growing it may contain toxins that will make you sick. My advice would therefore be to leave it where it grows and just admire it’s mere gaudiness and leave it there for others to do the same. Fungi are a very specialised subject and many species cannot be identified without microscopic examination by an expert.

On Monday also in Warren Glen I finally saw a Ringlet butterfly, a species which despite being quite common and which I have seen plenty of in other places had up ’till then eluded me at the Country Park.

Now is a very good time to see butterflies at the Country Park. A large range of species are currently on the wing including Marbled White which I have previously not recorded at the Country Park. Others recently spotted include, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Peacock, Painted Lady, Essex Skipper, Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Gatekeeper, Comma and Meadow Brown. You may also see 5 and 6 Spot Burnet and Cinnabar moths which fly during the day.

If you are unfamiliar with any of these I hope the photos below may be of assistance. I have yet to photograph a Marbled White, the one below is courtesy of Taughtus, thanks.

Marbled White

Red Admiral

Small Tortoiseshell

Speckled Wood

Peacock

Painted Lady

Essex Skipper

Small Skipper

Large Skipper

Gatekeeper

Comma

Meadow Brown

Six Spot Burnet

Five Spot Burnet

Cinnabar

Taking the rather overgrown path from bollard 23 towards the Quarry today, I saw a very busy dragonfly flitting about here and there which given it’s size I assumed to be a Hawker and watched for some time hoping that it might land in range of my camera and as luck would have it, it did. Too busy trying to get a useable photo, I did not realise that I had not seen this one before ’till I looked at the photo. it is in fact a female Golden-ringed Dragonfly, a first for me and quite possibly a new record for the Country Park as I can find nothing on the National Biodiversity Network Atlas or the Biodiversity Records Centre’s recording site iRecord within the boundaries of the Country Park. This is a very striking Dragonfly with a jet black body and yellow markings.

There were in excess of 10 Goldfinches feeding on Spear Thistle today in the Quarry. The thistles have established themselves since we cut back a sprawling willow and removed a lot of bramble back in 2015. This year the thistles are making a really nice show and the goldfinch presence demonstrates how worthwhile the work in the Quarry was. It looked very bare for a start but it is now all covered with many different plants giving a far greater diversity than before. Shame we were not allowed to continue. A small survey of the plants that are now growing in the areas that we cleared is being carried out this year and the results will be published here soon.