Dry weather continues

I postponed my proposed trip to Ards since the dry weather continued and there wasn't much sign of fungal activity. But the 'lure of the west' called me and since I had also agreed to make a radio piece about foraying, the trip eventually went ahead.

As I have mentioned before, Ards peninsula is a rocky outcrop jutting into the Atlantic, so it is a unique environment with ancient forest inland, surrounded by sea, dunes and grassland at its boundaries. This wide range of habitats in such close proximity leads to a biodiversity which never ceases to produce something new on every trip.

As expected, the overall number of fungal bodies was very low, but there was still the usual great variety of species.

We decided to start the trip with a walk around part of the coastal boundary to see what grassland species we could find, and found Hygrocybe pratensis - the field waxcap - in the usual places, but little else of a fungal nature.

Several specimens of this snail were found:

Helicella itala

Keying it out was fairly straightforward: Low spire>large umbilicus>no keel>no lip. It is described as a dune species, so that seems fine.

New to my Species List.

We also found many specimens of the very handsome caterpillar of the Fox Moth:

Larva of Fox Moth - Macrothylacia rubi

Fox Moth larvae are being found in huge numbers all over Ireland this year, and I rather suspect that the very warm summer we had last year is at least partly the reason.

One further grassland fungus was found. This is Clavulinopsis fusiformis, identified by the acute tips to the fruitbodies: 

Clavulinopsis fusiformis

Surprisingly, new to my Species List.

We passed the location where I found Thyme Broomrape a few years ago, but none was seen. Not to be outdone, however, as we reached the boundary of the forest, I saw this specimen in the undergrowth:

Ivy Broomrape

It was surrounded by many plant species, so it was quite impossible to determine its host, and it is beyond recognition from the flowers. Based purely on the surrounding vegetation I will make a stab at Common Broomrape and will have to visit it again next summer when the flowers will be fresh. No Thyme was found nearby (and the habitat was wrong).

Update: our local botany recorder has just informed me that this is a known location for Ivy Broomrape.

Back inside the forest, we found the Blackening Waxcap, Hygrocybe nigricans, doing what it does best: going black.

The Blackening Waxcap, Hygrocybe nigricans

A grass verge had quite a few species, including Helvella crispa and the closely-related Helvella lacunosa:

Helvella lacunosa

We found a few fresh specimens of the Tawny Funnel Cap, Lepista inversa:

Tawny Funnel Cap, Lepista inversa

Other species found: Destroying Angel (again), Birch Polypore, Beechwood Sickener, Chanterelle, and two specimens of what I'm sure was the Miller (which is edible and delicious), but couldn't trust myself to take home due to its similarity to Clitocybe dealbata (which is deadly poisonous).

Ards Grassland

Ards has extensive areas of grassland and dunes leading down to the estuary. As we approached the area, the sun began to filter through the clouds and insects popped up from their hiding places.

The Peacock butterfly is emerging in large numbers at the moment, no doubt helped by the warm weather in July, when the larvae were feeding on nettles:

Peacock butterfly

The Silver-washed Fritillary is a large, fast-flying species, usually seen near high woodlands. A couple were nectaring, but were very fast and flighty (as usual):

Male Silver-washed Fritillary

This specimen is a male: you can see the four long, dark open scent glands on the forewings.

New to my species list, although I had seen high-flying specimens at this location before.

I found a single Fox Moth larva crawling through grass, although they feed on Heather, Bilberry and Willow in this kind of environment.

Larva of Fox Moth

New to my species list.

Hoverflies of the Sphaerophoria family are usually quite difficult to identify in the field, but the semicircular markings on the short abdomen make this Sphaerophoria interrupta:

Sphaerophoria interrupta, male

New to my species list.

I also spotted this bee, but I haven't identified it yet:

Bee on Ragwort

It has the look of a male about it, and it might well be an Andrena male, in which case that is the id closed.

One thing I noticed about the Ragwort was the small size of the petals. In my own locality, the flowers are perhaps 30mm across, whereas these were less than 20mm, although the central portion was the same size as usual. The habitat was very sandy, so perhaps these small flowers are all that the impoverished nutrition can support. It certainly didn't affect the attractiveness of the plants in any way: there were many hoverflies nectaring on them.