Lunt Meadows is an entirely new 77 ha wetland nature reserve, located along the River Alt floodplain, owned by the Environment Agency, in North Merseyside. It is sited adjacent to an area of raised bank suspected to be the first point of overtopping in a flood event. In July 2010 the River Alt bank did...
The year kicked off with the New Year Survey of flowering plants of the Liverpool Loop Line, which didn’t yield much, but what was quite inspiring on a cold, wet, afternoon, to this relative fern novice, was the abundance of Soft Shield Fern shuttlecocks (Polystichum setiferum), in the Broad Green “dell”. I posted a...
The Andrena clarkella mining bees at Court Hey Park are indeed now active! At the moment there appear to only be a few burrows open and i only saw males so i suspect they have only recently started to emerge, perhaps stalled by the drop in temperature again.
Schizophyllum amplum Some unusual fungi to look out for following a wet and windy day! Poplar Bells (Schizophyllum amplum) This uncommon but fairly distinctive saprobic fungus is a typical decomposer of Poplar species and has been associated with Black Poplar (Populus nigra) as well as Willow (Salix fragilis). Tony Carter, our go-to mycologist, reports the...