Lichens and Nest Boxes
Wednesday, January 11th 2017
The bitter windy day began with the checking of the moth trap. The trap itself did not yield any moths, but the white sheet which reflected the light of the bright mercury vapour bulb had just one Early Moth sitting on it.
Our knowledge of Lichens is very limited, so we were more than happy to join a group who attended the reserve with the sole purpose of identifying these much by-passed mini wonders. With lens in hand I was introduced to a beautiful micro world with words like Thallus, Crustose, Foliose and Fruticose that had my head spinning. We examined stones, this one with a beautiful Baeomyces rufus
The lens showed us its mushroom like fruiting bodies. Some lichens are only found on certain rock types, and you could identify a rock by the identification of the lichen.
We made our way around the reserve from bridge handrails showing Physcia aipolia...
...to rotting wood with a variety of Dog Lichen; a sample has been taken away for a detailed examination.
And examining branches with Physcia adscendens
As well as bark crevices hosting a multitude of lichens
Thank you to Lez and Sue who are also Lichen recorders for the Catterick Training Area Conservation Group, as well as Chris Meek who set up and led this walk.
In the afternoon we ventured out into chilly blustery conditions to clean out some owl boxes ready for potential inhabitants later in the spring.
With some of the boxes occupied by Jackdaws last year there was a fair bit of twigs and debris to remove.
Replacing some boxes we discovered Larch Ladybirds, and other delights, as yet I am unable to identify the orange beetle in the middle of the pic below
This bat box had a wasp nest filling the entire box, thankfully it held no wasps with only queen wasps over-wintering elsewhere.
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Undergrowth Newsletter
Undergrowth Newsletter Winter 2020/21 Issue 54

Find out what has been going on at the reserve during the lockdown!
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Recent Blog Posts
- Plenty To See
- No Snow, No Hail
- Tawny Owls and Grey Herons
- More Flowers
- Nature
- Moving Slowly Through Spring
- Nesting Time
- Winter Spring
- Warm Days
- Biscoff Cheesecake, Brownies and Bakewell Tarts!
- A Busy Day for Some
- Volunteers at Work
- Around the Reserve
- A Ringing Day
- Flowers at Last!
- More Spring Photos
- Moths!
- A Special Visit
- Spring Has Sprung!
- Reducing, Reusing and Recycling!
- Almost Spring
- Thank you!
- Ringing Resumes!
- Arrival of Spring
- Strong Support
- Back To Work!
- We Are Open!
- Update
- Temporary Closure
- Large, Little and In Between
- The Weather
- A Wild Worky Day!
- Malik and Corrie
- Forest School Fun
- Winter Work
- Preventing The Spread of Bird Flu
- Thank You and Congratulations!
- Job Jobbed!
- Hazel, a Hedge and more High Vis!
- Moths
- Many Happy Returns!
- Winter Scenes at Foxglove
- Sheer Dedication!
- Back to Work
- Happy New Year!
- All Kinds of Weather
- Last Volunteer Day 2021
- Pillwort
- Volunteers at Work
- Winter Work Continues
- Edward the Elf Returns!
- Sunshine and Blue Skies
- More Clearing Up
- December Winter Worky Day
- Dangerous Trees
- Tidying Up After Storm Arwen
- Storm Damage
- Willow Weaving
- Considerate Contributions
- Storm Arwen
- Look Both Ways
- Never Work With Wildlife
- Traditional Woodland Skills
- Technicolour Nature!
- November Worky Day
- Woodland Work
- All About Fungi
- Look North
- Autumn Views at Foxglove
- Happy Halloween
- Bat Monitoring
- Forest Fun
- Hazel Coppice
- Wildlife Activity Day
- Winter Visitors
- Fungi Walk
- Happy Holidays!
- Bakewells, Banana Cake and Brushcutting!
- A Busy ‘Typical’ Day?
- Wet and Wild!
- Autumn Bird Ringing
- Changing Seasons
- Moths
- Extra Help
- Redwing
- Lively Livestock!
- Meadow Management
- Half Term Plans
- Autumn Worky Day
- QAVS Award on Display
- The Beginnings of Autumn
- Weekly Round Up
- Busy Bees
- Views Around the Reserve
- Colours
- Army Welfare Service
- Ringing at the Crater
- Hints of Autumn
- Sightings Various
- Moths Butterflies and a ‘Dragon’
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