Tis the season to see Fungi, fa la la la la....

[Fungus]

Spotted this today any ideas ??

 

John,

This is the transitional phase from plasmodium to aethalia of a myxomycete or slime mould, because of the purplish colour of the remaining bits of plasmodium, it might be/become an Arcyria species.

[johnanderton]

Thanks , up close you could see it developing ,weird stuff

[Fungus]

up close you could see it developing, weird stuff ...

 

... they are, see my post on myxomycetes.

[Tom Joye]

are the images from a community access woodland or a wilder section of a more urban park Tom?

 

.

 

Its' a 110 ha 'park' in the vicinity of Antwerp, but not really urban. The larger part is actually woodland with a very baroque star shaped avenue pattern, another part is more like an English landscape park, with groups of solitary trees. The whole park is accessible for the public.

 

I think Gerrit knows this park: Vordenstein.

[Fungus]

Its' a 110 ha 'park' in the vicinity of Antwerp, but not really urban. Gerrit knows this park: Vordenstein.

 

Yes, I do . I've often "used" Vordenstein (Brasschaat) for workshops on mycology and trees for Dutch and Belgian arborists or tree officers.

[David Humphries]

Its' a 110 ha 'park' in the vicinity of Antwerp, but not really urban. The larger part is actually woodland with a very baroque star shaped avenue pattern, another part is more like an English landscape park, with groups of solitary trees. The whole park is accessible for the public.

 

I think Gerrit knows this park: Vordenstein.

 

 

 

Didn't really visit alot of the north or eastern part of the country when my father worked there for a couple of years in the 80's (Mons)

 

 

Is this the avenue of Trees, Tom ?

 

 

.

[Tom Joye]

Didn't really visit alot of the north or eastern part of the country when my father worked there for a couple of years in the 80's (Mons)

 

 

Is this the avenue of Trees, Tom ?

 

 

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Yes it is! I'm suprised you managed to find it with my vague description.

 

After having been neglected for over 50 years, during recent years, a lot of the avenues (11 km in total) have been replanted and I think up untill now +/- 36 ha of rhododendron ponticum have been removed. Hence the 'open' appearance of some areas.

 

This map shows the whole 'park' (the dark green area to the west is a private enclave, still owned by the previous owners of the whole park), the forest to the north (but separated by the highway) is also state owned. There are some plans to make an ecoduct over the highway, but it might take decades before that happens.

[David Humphries]

Judging by your photos and the aerial shots it looks like a facinating treescape Tom.

 

how is it managed in terms of risk to the public.

 

obviously not all the trees can be inspected, so is there a zonal approach in place ?

 

 

 

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[RobRainford]

I'll be adding to here at the weekend. Taking myself and a friend down to croft castle again Watch this space!

[Tom Joye]

Judging by your photos and the aerial shots it looks like a facinating treescape Tom.

 

how is it managed in terms of risk to the public.

 

obviously not all the trees can be inspected, so is there a zonal approach in place ?

 

 

 

.

 

David,

 

there's no systematic approach to VTA in this park (as in many other parks and cities in Belgium). It's more of an 'ad hoc' approach: if one of the workers detects a dangerous tree, it's felled or monolithed. Deadwooding is rare, especially in the forest areas. The park is closed every evening and it does not open in the morning if strong winds are predicted.

 

Because of the very strict star shaped design (all trees in the 11 km of avenues are planted exactly 10m apart), there is, however, a systematic approach to the replacement of the avenues:

* every avenue from crossing to crossing has been given a code

* every tree has been given a number + L/R for left or right, also the dead or absent trees

* every individual tree gets a score between 0 (dead or absent) and 5 (perfect state)

* if the average score for an avenue drops below a treshold (to be set by the manager), the whole avenue is felled an replanted.

* if I'm right, the objective is to replace every avenue tree in a 120 year cycle