November 2008

Back to Winterslow for the start of November and I went into the Plantation to see what fungi was still growing. I found an old Flammulina velutipes, some Crepidotus variablis, Hebeloma crustuliniforme, Lycoperdon pyriforme and a few others. The next day we walked through Hound Wood and I found Clitocybe nebularis and Mycena epipterygia and sharp-leaved fluellen in the arable fields. On the 4th I went to Blackmoor Copse and found various bracket fungi such as Bjerkandera adusta and Daedalea quercina as well as Mycena archangeliana.
On the 15th we went down to the south coast to Keyhaven Marshes, a wonderful expanse of water pools and reed beds on the edge of the sea.
We had barely passed through the gate when a man with a scope called us over. He pointed out a wonderful Red-breasted Goose that was feeding in among a big flock of Canada geese. Apparently it has been a regular visitor both this year and last year. Out on the marshes there were various ducks including lots of shoveler and wigeon whose whistling calls rang out every now and then. We also spotted a few pintail and teal. The only waders there were huge numbers of black-tailed godwits and lapwing. We got to the sea where we watched turnstone and red-breasted mergansers. I then found old sea-purslane, rock-samphire, woolly thistles and a few patches of old golden samphire! I just wish the flowers had been out. Anyway, we then past another lagoon where we saw redshank and little grebes and went on to a little ditch/stream. Here we heard and saw a cetti's warbler (first of the year), goldcrests and a wonderful kingfisher that landed on a reed above the water. On the journey there I had spotted some winter heliotrope by the roadside so we stopped on the way back for my photo