Tag: bracket

#365daysofbiking Common ground:

November 18th – I visited the really very good craft fair at the community centre and then went for a trundle over the commons and around the cycle trails of Brownhills – including the new part of the former railway between the Swan Pub and Miner Island. It was a lovely, golden, sunny afternoon and although chilly, not excessively so. 

The fungus on the common was still showing well, but the star of the walk was the old railway, which the volunteers of Back the Track have been making a wonderful job of. The tunnel effect of the trees that line the old railway cutting is really rather remarkable, especially in the hazy sunlight.

It’s good to be reminded of just how beautiful even central Brownhills can be.

#365daysofbiking Little gems:

October 21st – One of the best things about Cannock Chase in autumn is the fungi, and today there was a huge selection.

I never found the one thing I wanted to see – orange peel fungus – but I saw lots of great other types from polypores to boleta.

It’s always worth stopping and looking at that unusual flash of colour in Autumn.

May 16th – Everybody go home, I’ve found the king of the polypores.

This is wonderful. A felled tree by the roadside near Cat Holme, and upon it a whole host of bracket fungi. The main clump must be 30 inches wide, and 12 inches thick. It’s the largest and healthiest looking polypore bracket colony I’ve ever seen – fresh and perfect.

I was unaware they even grew at this time of year. You learn something new every day.

January 17th – I went up onto the Chase. It wasn’t an inspiring afternoon – there was a good sky, but the light was poor and it seemed to be mostly on the point of raining. The forest was stunningly bleak and beautiful as it ever is in it’s winter jacket, but the going was made tough by the sodden ground. The trails and tracks were all muddy soup, and I was covered in it. 

All I want is a week or two without rain, with some bright days. I don’t care if it’s warm or cold – but snow would be nice. Just an end to this ceaseless damp. 

September 23rd – The fungi is really starting to show now. No fly agaric yet, which is my favourite of all, but I did spot this beautiful golden bracket in Victoria Park, Darlaston today. Growing on an old tree stump, it was bleeding some kind of resin and very very vivid. It appears to be some variety of polypore, but I have no idea what, and the internet and my books haven’t been helpful. The other ones are common puffballs, growing on the canal bank at Pleck. When ripe, they’ll burst and release powdery spores that drift on the wind. 

In all the flora and fauna, the mycology is the most alien and beautiful to me.

September 1st – A dull, unremarkable autumn day, with a steady, draining wind. I headed out to Middleton and back along the canal through Tamworth to Hopwas. At Camp Road, I spotted a massive bracket polypore fungus growing at the foot of a huge oak tree. This fungi was the biggest I’ve ever seen. It must have been 20 inches wide, and seemed to be supporting a variety of bug life all of it’s own.

Near Bassetts Pole, hops growing wild in the hedgerow.

The view of Middleton over the fields is still gorgeous, and the cat at the lock cottage in Bodymoor Heath was an affectionate, sociable chap.

The day finished with the most remarkable sunset I’ve ever seen. But more of that later…