{"id":4599,"date":"2019-11-19T10:17:16","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T10:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=4599"},"modified":"2019-11-19T10:17:17","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T10:17:17","slug":"maidenhead-thicket-6-november-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/maidenhead-thicket-6-november-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Maidenhead Thicket – 6 November 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

 Sue White led a walk round Maidenhead Thicket\non Wednesday 6 November. Members gathered at the National Trust car park on the\neast side of the A404M, before crossing the footbridge over the motorway and\nheading westwards along a wide grassy ride. Sue pointed out the widely-spaced\ndisease-resistant elms which had been planted by Butterfly Conservation\nvolunteers to help the local population of White-letter Hairstreak butterflies.\nShe also described the local geology, with a thin layer of more acid alluvial\ndeposits lying on chalk, which explained the apparent anomaly of lime-loving\nTraveller\u2019s-joy growing next to lime-avoiding Bracken. The route led across an\nopen area where Larches had been clear-felled and young broad-leaved trees had\nbeen planted. Fungi seen here included Buttercap, Deceiver, False Chanterelle, Blusher,\nYellow Stagshorn and the memorably-named Scurfy Twiglet. A whitish spiky coral-like\nfungus on the ground was identified as Thelephora<\/em>\npenicillata<\/em>, the bright pink dots of\nCoral Spot outlined the form of a fallen Sycamore twig and a clump of Orange\nPeel Fungus was found. The walk continued south-eastwards through woodland. It\nseemed to be a good year for the Lilac Bonnet Mycena pura<\/em>. An enormous ring of Clouded Funnel fungi had an estimated\ndiameter of about 15 metres. Lines of Trooping Funnel were also seen here and\nboth Common and Stump Puffball were found. Large numbers of the needle-like Slender\nClub Macrotyphula<\/em> juncea<\/em> poked up through the leaf litter.\nAsh seedlings covered in the moss Kindbergia<\/em>\npraelonga<\/em> looked like a forest of\nminiature Christmas trees. The route then followed a major ride which ran\nnorthwards through some of the bigger and older trees on the common. A path on\nthe right led to a cleared area where there was a lot of Honey Fungus. Rusty\nBracket was growing on a tree, Dryad\u2019s Saddle was found on a stump and Snowy\nWaxcaps were seen in a grassy area. A Fox crossed the path ahead of the group. The\nwalk continued to Robin Hood\u2019s Arbour, the site of an Iron Age homestead with\nan enclosing ditch. Tiny orange blobs on top of a stump which looked like\ninsect eggs were identified as the slime mould Trichia decipiens<\/em>. Growing out of the base of another stump was the\nUpright Coral Ramaria stricta<\/em>. The\nfinal part of the walk was along an avenue of tall Lime trees, most of which\nhad big clumps of Mistletoe near their tops. Growing out of the end of a cut\nlog was a fine specimen of the Wrinkled Peach fungus. The walk was followed by\nlunch at the Dew Drop Inn near Burchett\u2019s Green. The occupants of the front car\nhad a close encounter with three Fallow Deer as they approached the pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n