Sue White led a walk at Silchester Common and Pamber Forest on Wednesday 21st January. It was a cool, damp, grey morning following several days of hard frost. The walk started from the car park of the Calleva Arms. First stop was a garden wall whose top surface was dotted with the neat round cushions of the grey-green moss Grimmia pulvinata. Closer inspection revealed a different bright green moss on the mortar plus clumps of another moss, Tortula muralis. The route led out onto Silchester Common, where the gorse was in flower. A Jay flew up from beside the path. A fallen gorse branch had golden yellow clusters of the Yellow Brain Fungus Tremella mesenterica. The path crossed a number of small streams and mire areas. A large area had recently been cleared at the top of the Common and there were big still-warm bonfires. A Great Spotted Woodpecker called from the top of a tree by the edge of the woods. A fallen twig had a tuft of the foliose lichen Evernia prunasti or Oakmoss, which was grey-green above and white below. Sue said that, after drying and pulverising, it had once been used for powdering wigs.
The walk continued into Pamber Forest. Common Tamarisk-moss was growing at the base of trees beside the path. Hard Fern and Common Polypody were identified, the latter on the bank of a stream with a gravelly bed. Bilberry was abundant in places. A small Holly bush was covered in bright red berries. Red-tipped Cladonia lichens were found on a tree stump. The route led on through the Forest and then back out onto the Common. A puddle near the top of the hill had intriguing ice formations, with irregular sections marked out and strap-like lengths of ice curled round the edges. It appeared to have started to freeze when the puddle was full to the brim, then refrozen on subsequent nights when some of the water had drained away. Towards the end of the walk, a Green Woodpecker flew up from the open heathland into the trees at the edge of the Common. Lunch was then enjoyed at the Calleva Arms.
Pictures by Laurie Haseler