Cromwell Bottom

Cromwell Bottom

NEWS - MEETINGS - EVENTS

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WILDLIFE SITING /IDENTIFICATION Send Details or Pictures of finds for identification click to email RECORDS. Please Note ALL lists and Biological Records are Copyright Protected (C) Colin Duke 1998 - 2018 on behalf of the Freshwater Environment Ecology Trust . they should NOT be used or reproduced without permission

Saturday, 6 February 2016

Rainy Day at The Reserve

A wet but relatively warm day 10 o and high Humidity 99% . Flow on the River was High  on the weir side of the reserve .Midges where seen flying near the Bailey Briidges which will be good for the many insectivorous birds as they change their diet from seed to insect. Willow Warbler will soon return in Spring and they too will be dependent on the many hoverflies hatching from the brackish water. Heron was seen at its usual location but seemed distressed by another large skip fire close to its site



Seed was depositted on the Bird Feeding area which rapidly attracted Male and Female Bullfinch who very soon will be nibbling on the tender tree buds of spring, Great Tit Blue Tit Robin and Blackbird quickly moved in for tucker

Numerous Gulls where seen flying on tight circuits on the River below the large Pylon opposite side of River near Lagoon One, They where also seen loing for food on the Waterski lake circa 70 - 80 Birds likely blown inland with the windy weather

The River section shows the scars of recent erosive effect from the power of water which will no doubt create an admirable bank habitat for natures creatures later in the season . The small pock marks toward the water line are likely small gravel rock or stones dropping out of the weaker sand layers. There is still much strewn plasttic along areas of the River which will need clearing at some point



 The Sandy deposits already show the young cotyledons (leaf pairs) of Balsam


as expected this is a good time to observe Lichens, (  such as Cladonias , Dog Lichen  )Mosses  and other Bryophytes . Brittle Mosses Ulota sp are looking green and will darken and become brittle as the name suggests later in the season, The warm humid weather is also good for slime moulds (Myxomycetes) and other similar fungi 





Friday, 5 February 2016

Focus on Monbretia

Post by Gordon, FEET Member -

Montbretia, Crocosmia pottsii x aurea = C. x crocosmiiflora.


27th Novmember 2015

About a week ago, (I've been busy since)I took a stroll round Cromwell Bottom. We started out looking for Bryophytes, but got waylaid and had a very nice walk anyway. The Bryophytes are still on the agenda.

At the gas flume station, I stopped to look at the Montbretia plants. These have been planted at sometime, (rather than naturally occurring there). They are just in front of the flume on the slope facing the bridge. I mentioned that this year was the first time Anne had not cut the flower stems off once they finished flowering. As a result, we have seen the seed pods for the very first time. I The pods start out pale green, change to yellow, then orange, they are quite attractive. Each seed pod holds three seeds.

I took a few photos of pods and seeds, then Colin pointed out that you don't see any information about plants in general from seed to flower and the stages in between. We agreed is would make a good blog post, this post is a result of that discussion.

Before we get to the images, I'll talk about the plant for a short while.

Crocosmia originated in South Africa but they have been cultivated all around the world. Crocosmia used to be known as Montbretia, but this is no longer considered to be its correct name. It's properly called Crocosmia aurea

The name ‘Crocosmia’ comes from the Latin ‘croceus’, which means ‘saffron-coloured’. The dried leaves smell of saffron when put in hot water and rubbed. The Greek word, krokos is for saffron and osme for smell.

The Montbretia which is the subject of this post is a hybrid of two plants. It was bred in France in 1879 by Victor Lemoine of  Nancy and first flowered in 1880. It is a mix of a crocosmia the grows by streams and a woodland species. Crocosmia have around 13 different species, as well as 3 other hybrids, including the crocosmoides and crocosmiiflora. The plant Montbretia was named after Antoine Fran's Ernest Conquebert de Monbret, a botanist who accompanied Napoleon on his Egypt campaign in 1798.

Crocosmia aurea blossoms throughout the summer. It is seen at its best in July and August, but it can survive right through the winter. They don’t always require a lot of good, rich soil to grow properly – they're known to grow in rocky patches in wild areas of Africa. However, grown in pots with plenty of organic mater and feed, they produce much bigger flowers and are quite showy. They grow from 1 to 3 feet high. The bright colours of Crocosmia also attract aphid eating hoverflies to the garden.

Oh, yes, I almost forgot to tell you, the seeds are fertile, the plant spreads by seed and corms.

So, before you become bored, here are the photos:

Crocosmia aurea flowers,
Commons licence, Wiki images.

Photo taken by the gas flume
showing pods ripening

Leaf, stem and seed pods

Corm, and stem
(I replanted this in the garden afterwards.)

Corm and tap roots

Pods on the stem, some waiting to open

Two seed pods

Seeds in various stages of ripeness

Two unripe seeds in the pod

One malformed seed and a ripening 
one in the same compartment.
The two lower compartments are barren,
 possibly due to the mutation in the pod.

One unripe seed (left) and one ripe one

Empty pod, showing the 3 compartments

The final stage: The stems and pods dry out
becoming brown and woody.

So there we have it. As as far as I'm aware, this is possibly the only post showing the plant in all it's stages. A little bit of history in the making, before your very eyes!

Try to keep out of this dreadful rain and ignore the depressing grey skies.
Gordon.

Tuesday, 2 February 2016

Life Amongst The Lichens

Further to GW's  Post Below

The Lichen Shown below is one of the Dog Lichens Peltigera sp Peltigera is a genus of approximately 91 species of foliose lichens It is possibly  Peltigera praetextata or Peltigera membranacea .The leaf area showed no visible isidia which would be more deinitive for membranacea  however there are a number of similars which would require a more detailed analysis such  as microscopic spore work .The Large large red-brown apothecia like varnished nails are reproductive structures .The shots below show some of the features of this "Dull Green Leaf Like Lichen" All species of Peltigera associate with the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria Nostoc which can make them somewhat toxic but an important component of ecological cycles Fixing nitrogen into the soil. This sample was found on compacted acid shale with small clumps of poorly established heather as might be expected of this habitat


Rhizines




in situ

Apotheca




Monday, 1 February 2016

Lichens Cladonia etc

From GW -  FEET Member

sorry folks  but just had to upload a few images , after spending a bit of time out down by Cromwell bottom , needed more practice with macro lens