“Oh, to be in England now that April’s here“. This was the optimistic hope as members of the Study Group met to look for signs of spring along the forest rides. Despite our optimism, the grey wintry clouds continued to win the battle for the sky throughout the day, dowsing the group with light rain showers from time to time, as if to prove the point.

As usual, we were focused to look for specific species and items during the day. The list included slugs and snails, a special woodlouse and, somewhat unusually, a request to collect deer droppings for an enigmatic species of dung beetle! Despite the damp weather, the day proved to be a resounding success, as evidenced by a healthy count of slugs and several collections of fresh deer droppings.

Billberries, overlooked by grazing animals

3 April 2019

Possible Black Witches Butter – Exidia plana

3 April 2019

Silky Forklet-moss  – (Dicranella heteromalla) with capsules

3 April 2019

Laceweb Spider (possibly Coelotes spp) awaiting the promised warmth of spring.

3 April 2019

Rust spots on Bramble – species to be identified

3 April 2019