Wildlife wanderings is
a simple project to encourage Cambridge residents to get to know their green
spaces that little bit better. Once a
month we meet at a different nature reserve, wildlife site or green space and
take a wander together to see what plants and animals are living there.
We were granted the most beautiful autumn day on Saturday,
and 14 of us gathered together, along with two children, to walk along Hobson’s
Conduit and into Clare Wood. These, along with Bentley Road Paddocks and Empty Common allotments and
community garden, make up a wildlife corridor to connect the south
Cambridgeshire countryside with the urban ecosystem of the city. This corridor is being carefully managed and
monitored by the council the local wildlife trust and a couple of local
businesses to improve it for our wild city neighbours.
Whilst management of the area hopes to encourage water voles
to set up residence and improve the hunting habitat for bats which are known
to roost in the area, there are already tawny owls, kingfishers, common toads
and grass snakes around the site.
With this being an autumn wandering we were keeping our eye
out for fungi, and managed to find a few.
We decided this was turkey tail Trametes versicolor a common woodland fungi found on rotting stumps and fallen trunks.
We also discovered that it is relatively tricky to match a fungi in the
field with fungi in a guide, but we had a good try.
We found this clustered in a
group around a decaying tree stump, and we believe it to be the glistening
inkcap, Coprinus micaceus, which is
described as having egg shaped caps that appear to be pleated, the under side
of the gills turning inky black with age and the brittle stem pale in contrast
to the cap.
Maybe one of the most surprising things we found in the
field connecting our walk to Long Road, was three, yes three, four-leaved
clovers. I couldn’t quite believe it, I
had never seen one, never mind three all sat together, and they were big leaves
as well.
Here’s the evidence, three
four-leaved clovers. You have to see it
to believe it.
As we got closer to Long Road, we divided, with some of our
party venturing beyond Long Road with the thought of a good pint over in
Grantchester on their minds, whilst the rest of us turned back towards the
city, and enjoyed late afternoon sunlight, yellowy orange, beaming through the
trees.
A wonderful walk, with wonderful company and some fab fungi.
If you fancy coming along to one of our Wildlife Wanderings
our next venture will be at 2.30pm on Saturday 22nd November –
location to be confirmed (it will be announced on the Transition Cambridge web-site).
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