Drumboe Wood

Whilst Ards is a rare, ancient, coastal forest, Drumboe is perhaps even more unusual: it's an old woodland in a central urban setting. Shops, main road, schools, church, hotels and a GAA football ground are no further than 100 m. distant and thousands of people pass it every day with no idea of the rich biodiversity just a stones-throw away.

This shot show shows the River Finn with Drumboe to the left:

River Finn: Drumboe to the left and Ballybofey to the right

The woodland is maintained by Coillte, and the management plan shows a strategy of at least partial replacement of Spruce with native broadleaf trees when the conifers are harvested.

I only had time for a quick visit, but I managed to find a few interesting specimens:

Scleroderma citrinum is a common earthball with a surface criss-crossed with sharp grooves which will eventually act as fault lines for the skin to split along when the fungus is ready to disperse its spores. This specimen is about the size of a golf ball:

The earthball Scleroderma citrinum

Phycopeltis arundinacea is an algal infection that looks very much like a fungal rust:

Phycopeltis arundinacea on Ivy

I find it mostly on Ivy, but I have also found it on other plants with shiny leaves, most often Rhododendron.

Lycoperdon pyriforme is one of the more common puffballs in this area. They can often be seen to form long rows, seemingly growing on the ground, but they are actually following the line made by buried dead wood:

Lycoperdon pyriforme

Leafy liverworts are very often mistaken for mosses, but their habit and form are very different. I spotted this specimen (sample shown about 8 cm across) and suspected it was something I hadn't seen before:

Liverwort growing with moss in damp bank

I took a sample back to the microscope and saw that it has two tiers of leaves (large ones on top and small ones below). The presence of underleaves is unique to liverworts, although not all species have them. This microscope shot of a single frond (12 mm long) shows the view from underneath:

Calypogeia neesiana

It keys out in a couple of keys to Calypogeia neesiana, which is new to my Species list.

This shot shows two mines of the micromoth Stigmella aurella on Bramble:

Two mines of the micromoth Stigmella aurella on Bramble

These mines usually grow quite long, so they are usually found at a maximum of one per leaf; perhaps the second egg was laid by a different female. Each mine progresses quite normally from its starting point, but they eventually meet just left of centre. The mines then become very confused, with much to-ing and fro-ing in the left part of the leaf before they separate and at least one has matured safely (top left). I'm not sure what happened to the second, though.

Bumblebees have historically been summer-nesting species, with the queen making her nest from March onwards. But in recent years, southern queens of Bombus terrestris - the Buff-tailed Bumblebee - have been observed gathering pollen in autumn and they have successfully created winter nests. Presumably we have reached a critical temperature due to warming, since winter nests are common on the continent.

Yesterday I spotted a queen gathering pollen from the Lavatera in my garden:

Queen Bombus terrestris gathering pollen 29/10/2012

This is quite a surprise. I knew of southern specimens trying to establish a nest at this time, but it's not something I would have expected to see this far north. Granted, we did have a few days of sun, but I tend to think that she isn't confused and has decided that it's worth a try this year. So here is a rash prediction, based on a single queen bumblebee: "Mild winter ahead".

Drumboe opportunity

After an utterly miserable summer and an extremely short autumn, we appear to be in winter, having already had lying snow.

I managed a trip to Drumboe Wood during a brief period of sunshine. 15 minutes after these shots were taken I was soaked to the skin.

Drumboe is an ancient urban woodland. The main thoroughfare through the town is no more than 150m from this point. The River Finn can just be seen in the distance.

This little slug was wandering across a fallen beech leaf. I'm not sure if the orange colouring on the slug is caused by reflected or transmitted light.

The Honey Fungus, Armillaria mellea:

The strange pearlescent cap to this Tricholoma makes me think it's Tricholoma columbetta:

The minute (5 micron) spores check ok:

Drumboe continued

Lesser Celandines have been enjoying the recent sunshine.

The other day I showed ditch liverworts. This is a very common liverwort on trees: Frullania dilatata. I find this everywhere, even in the wildlife deserts to be found inside Spruce plantations. Individual leaves on this species are sub-millimetre in size. Patch about 6 cm. across.
There are, of course plenty of lichens in the shot, including Pertusaria sp. (pale green, top centre and top right) and a Graphis sp. (bottom centre).


As I was looking at the Hazel catkins, I noticed that the river was very much smoother than usual. The Finn can be quite ferocious at times.

Notice the astonishing depth of field (100m?) for a macro lens! I only managed that because I'm experimenting with ISO 1600, which is as fast as the camera goes. Not too noisy, I think. The image stats say 160th at f22.

And this astonishing shot is very rare to find locally. This is the con-trail of a jet reflected in the water surface.

I don't expect to find a blue sky, never mind a glass-like river surface.