Myco magic: more mushrooms

Autumn is the time to see fungi. Although these organisms (fungi are not plants!) are present year round they become more noticeable as they produce reproductive structures especially in late summer and autumn. These reproductive structures we know as mushrooms, toadstools and bracket polypores.

Many mushrooms [op up in grassland. These are of the hooded variety that burst from the ground as a rounded ball (left). Other fungi grow on wood. On the right the white buds thus burst from the bark to produce a delicate gilled fans where the spores develop (middle).

As the reproductive organs of a fungus some mushrooms seem to emphasise this by their shape as the first egg or ball burst from the ground the stalk starts to grow to raise the hood. At sufficient height the hood expands and opens up revealing the gills underneath so that the spores can be released into the air. These ageric mushrooms are widespread in parks, especially around oak trees.

Some mushrooms work with plants, others serve as the clean-up crew. These saprophytes live on dead or decaying organic matter. As wood is difficult to digest mushrooms have specialised with species growing on a specific species of tree. The sulphur hooded mushrooms are omnipresent in parks, gardens and woodland. I was also taken by the cluster of ink black mushrooms at the foot of a tree.

Urban animal: fast and furry

Most of the mammals that have found a place to live in our cities lead a rather secluded life being active late in the evening or early in the morning, or even at night (like bats). The one species that you are likely to encounter during the day in large parks, in urban woodland and even in housing estates planted with oaks, is the Squirrel. In Britain this urban squirrel is almost exclusively the Grey Squirrel that originated in America. In Europe -except for some enclaves in Italy and France- the resident rodent is the Red Squirrel. Squirrels are distant cousins of mice, rats, Guinea pigs, voles and beavers.

Squirrels come in several natural shades; they are best-known as being (orange) red (shown right), hence the name Red Squirrel. The underside is always white or cream, the rest of the coat can vary from black via deep brown to red and a sandy yellow. The subspecies fuscoater from South Germany and Austria is dark brown in colour (left). These arboreal omnivorous rodents are important for the spread of some trees as they stash large quantities of seeds like acorns as winter food. In autumn (middle) they can be seen carrying winter food to a cache.  

Urban animal: parks and gardens

Cities are often seen as ecological wastelands; this couldn’t be further from the truth. That is to say that the urban landscape provides different habitats than some rural or natural areas. Also parks and gardens –the more natural elements of the urban landscape- provide important habitats for both plants and animals.

The use of pesticides has all but wiped out wild bee populations in many rural areas. For some species the urban garden is the last refuge. All those paved gardens are certainly no help, but as long as there is food the animals will come. Some species are very picky, but others will happily feed on cultivated Lavender. Some wild plant –here Marjoram- are so beautiful that they deserve a place in the garden, thus attracting insects like this butterfly. In parks and on road verges the trend is to create more natural vegetation thus attracting wild bees, like this bumblebee on a thistle.

It is not just insects that are attracted to gardens and parks. Friends in Germany have these lizards living in their garden wall. This appropriately named Wall lizard favours man-made structures over natural rock formations. In some places parks and gardens are the last refuge for the Hedgehog. A messy corner in the garden makes them very happy indeed. Especially if there are lots of snails and slugs. The Black slug –which can also be brown- is common everywhere where there is vegetation.