Mythical plants and odd bods

I've been having a whistle stop tour of some the Kent Wildlife Trust's Weald reserves.  They are mostly woodland with the odd meadow and heathland.  I haven't been able to take too many photos but there were a couple of interesting finds.

Firstly this creeping woodland plant, Enchanter's nightshade:

Enchanter's nightshade Circaea lutetiana

It is not part of the nightshade family, but belongs instead to the evening primrose family.  It is supposedly named after the Greek goddess of magic, Circe.  Circe was the daughter of the sun and she is known to turn her enemies into animals, especially pigs.

The Ghyll hosts an unusual variation of Elder, Sambucu nigra laciniata, or cut-leaved Elder.  It is very similar to regular Elder but with jagged leaves...

Cut-leaved Elder

Token butterfly picture:

Small Copper

Here is a shrubby tree that we haven't managed to identify.  The closest I have come is Portugal Laurel but I am doubtful.  The leaves have toothed margins.  Any clues welcome...

Maidstone meadow

Had a brief snoop round the meadows and pond at Tyland Barn today (Kent Wildlife Trust).  Spotted a little Dock Leaf Bug which is quite a common species of shield bug.  They can be differentiated by their dark tipped antennae and two little pointers between the antennae.  They apparently spread stinking poison around when threatened which can stain your skin brown for a while.  Luckily my camera didnt scare it otherwise I would have found this out the hard way.  Here he is:

This male Common Darter dragonfly was just chilling out on the bench by the pond.  The females are more yellow/brown coloured.

Common Darter

Field Bindweed

Magic Mushrooms

I recently discovered a little gem of wood between Frant and Mark Cross called Nap Wood.  It's semi natural with beautiful oak, birch and beech trees.  It has sunken lanes (apparently used by drovers for pannage) and should be covered in bluebells come springtime.  It is a great example of Wealden woodland dating back some years with plenty of deadwood and a nice patch of chestnut coppice.

It was also full of an array of different fungi.  I have been trying to identify them but not quite figured them all out.  Some are much more distinguishable than others.

Amethyst deceiver

Beechwood sickener

Birch polypore

Bolete (?)

Earthballs

Stinkhorn (covered in flies) Yuk!

Shrek's ear?

Rye Harbour

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, my summer holiday seems to have fallen into a black hole (one that involved some chainsawing though!).  Had my first visit to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve this morning - what a great place for bird watching.  Despite the grey weather we saw golden plover, ringed and little ringed plover, dunlin, yellow wagtail, little egret, lapwing, grey heron, cormorant, wheatear, linnet, goldfinch, little grebe, kestrel, and redshank (or maybe ruff).  There were a couple of other birds of prey but we had trouble identifying them - possibly harriers.

There were also some great plants at the reserve due to the interesting habitats (saltmarsh and shingle).  Here are a few:

Yellow Horned-poppy

Bristly Oxtongue

Viper's-bugloss

Bittersweet

Red valerian

Scarlet pimpernel

Here today, gone tomorrow!

Oh dear, what can I say.  Yesterday I spent a lovely 10 minutes photographing the wild flowers around the car park at Mark Cross.  Back again this morning, and gasp, what did I behold! Absolutely bloomin' nuffin!  The chumps from the local authority had just mowed the whole lot - all those lovely flowers, covered in invertabrate life, gone.  Boo hiss...

Diamonds in the rough

Had a bit of time this morning waiting in Mark Cross car park for a pickup to chainsawing.  And what better way to kill 10 minutes than to take pictures of what most people would call weeds by the road.

Knapweed & Hover-fly

Yellow-vetch (?)

Cow Parsley

Tufted Vetch

Common Knapweed

Never leave your camera at home!

The Rough with the Smooth

So I started my chainsaw course this week.  Not sure I ever thought I would be doing that but apparently its good on the ol' CV in this biz.  So far, all limbs still intact, though next week is the big daddy part of the course, 4 days of felling, yikes.  I did manage to create something from all the destruction this week:

Poplar stool a la Cally

This is definitely its best side! The other angles take "rustic looking" to the absolute extreme.

Whilst breaking for lunch, I spotted this little moth on the hedge.  I am pretty sure it is a Carpet moth and I think it may be Wood Carpet Epirrhoe tristata but I would not put money on it...

Carpet Moth?

There were also a couple of white butterflies around.  The differences between the whites are subtle but identifiable by spots and wing tips.

Small White

Green-veined White