{"id":7468,"date":"2025-09-17T15:51:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T14:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=7468"},"modified":"2026-04-29T09:39:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:39:55","slug":"newtown-common-17th-september-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/newtown-common-17th-september-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Newtown Common – 17th September 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rob Stallard led six members on a walk at Newtown Common, to the south of Newbury, on the morning of Wednesday 17 September. There were heavy dark clouds, but the threatened rain never materialised. Meeting place was the well-hidden Village Hall car park. The track from the road to the car park was lined on each side by an avenue of Lawyer\u2019s Wig (or Shaggy Inkcap) fungi. False Chanterelles were found at the base of a pine tree in the car park. The walk started out along a path through woodland which was dominated by oak, birch and Scots Pine. Bilberry plants covered the ground in places, but only a single berry was found. The path crossed a patch of heathland where Dwarf Gorse was in flower. Common and Bell Heather were still flowering. A large pale fungus was identified as Spotted Toughshank Collybia maculata<\/em>. The path dipped down towards a stream, with a big patch of the invasive Skunk Cabbage on both sides. After crossing the stream, the path climbed up the other side of the valley. A yellow polypore on a log was thought to be a Bay or Black-foot Polypore. The next path led out onto a steep grassy field. Oak trees lined the edge of the field, and Silk-button Gall and Pea Gall Cynips divisa were found on their leaves. Three Parasol Mushrooms were found under a Yew at the top of the hill. The path emerged at School Cottage, which was where the old school had been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The walk continued along the cleared heathy area beneath a power line where Sheep\u2019s Sorrel was plentiful. The route crossed from Newtown Common to Burghclere Common and then to Herbert Plantation. Black Nightshade and poisonous Thorn-apple were growing in freshly dug soil which appeared to have been dumped next to the path. Continuing into woodland, Common Puffball and Common Earthball were seen. Herbert Plantation is a Local Nature Reserve which is managed by the Hampshire Countryside Service. Old boundary banks indicate that it has been woodland for a long time. Brown Rollrim and Blusher were found here. Turning left, Guelder Rose was growing next to the path, as were Wood Spurge and Solomon\u2019s-seal. Further on, a large group of Fly Agaric, with its associated birch trees, was found a little way back from the path. As the path descended, it passed through a normally boggy area which was almost dry in places, following the long summer drought. Yellow Pimpernel was found in flower here. The path crossed a bridge over a dried-up stream, then joined a track which led uphill. A white fungus was identified as The Miller Clitopilus prunulus<\/em>. The next path led out onto a large open area of heathland. Yellow Stagshorn fungus and Bay Bolete Boletus badius were growing on the path. The final stretch of the walk was through more woodland, before returning to the Newtown Village Hall car park. Most of the walkers then headed to The Swan at Newtown for lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Newtown Common<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shaggy Inkcap (Coprinus comatus<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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False chanterelle<\/strong>\u00a0(Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Artichoke Gall (Andricus foecundatrix<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rob Stallard led six members on a walk at Newtown Common, to the south of Newbury, on the morning of Wednesday 17 September. There were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_customify_content_layout":"","_customify_sidebar":"","_customify_page_header_display":"default","_customify_disable_header":"","_customify_disable_header_top":"","_customify_disable_header_main":"","_customify_disable_header_bottom":"","_customify_disable_page_title":"","_customify_disable_content_vertical_padding":"","_customify_disable_footer_top":"","_customify_disable_footer_main":"","_customify_disable_footer_bottom":"","_customify_breadcrumb_display":"","_customify_header_transparent_display":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[51,49],"class_list":["post-7468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wednesday-walks","tag-newtown-common","tag-wildlife-walk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7468"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7535,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468\/revisions\/7535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}