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Paul in the woods

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Everything posted by Paul in the woods

  1. Paul in the woods
    You can zoom in on the photo but I can't find many good pictures of OPM caterpillar to compare them to. I would assume they are OPM until you can prove otherwise. To me they look more like buff tip caterpillars, Phalera bucephala, and if you can look at their heads they should be black with an upside down yellow Y. Following link has a pic of the face. Buff-tip BUTTERFLY-CONSERVATION.ORG When at rest, the wings are held almost vertically against the body with two buff areas at the front of the thorax and at the...
  2. Paul in the woods
    I think they are similar to wasps and bees in that they can be fairly variable in their markings. As yours has several yellow segments on it's abdomen and it's thorax and top band is a dark browny orange rather than black I'm sure it's a native.
  3. Paul in the woods
    That's a common Eurpoean hornet, i.e. a native and nothing to worry about. They are larger than the Asian Hornet's us beekeepers are worried about and have more orange and yellow in them. The Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina, has a mostly black body. This might be helpful: https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/nonnativespecies/downloadDocument.cfm?id=646 I currently have a hornet nest in the garden so see them on a daily basis.
  4. Paul in the woods
    Now, Aliens vs Paddington is a film I'd watch. Might be a tad short though.
  5. Paul in the woods
    I can see the family resemblance, do you normally have a marmalade sandwich under your helmet Mick? (And, yes, it was a good film and not normally something I like).
  6. Paul in the woods
    Hummingbird hawk moth visiting our hardy gingers today. It was surprisingly noisy whilst a hovrin.
  7. Paul in the woods
    Those leaves do match with white poplar so Stubby has it.
  8. Paul in the woods
    You're probably confusing slugs with fungi then. If they're too crunchy you're eating snails. If they taste of prawns then you're forgotten to brush the woodlice off. I know what you mean though, although chanterelles are very good and I do miss eating hedgehogs. (Hydnum repandum)
  9. Paul in the woods
    Laetiporus sulphureus is worth eating if you have a positive id, it's a young specimen and even then you need to be aware some people can have an adverse reaction to it. I quite like it. However, your pic doesn't look like one to me, your fungi have old scales on top so I'd suggest they are something else such as an old dryads saddle. Did you take any pics of their underside?
  10. Paul in the woods
    I would guess some form of poplar, possibly a hybrid of some sort. It's not a common beech.
  11. Paul in the woods
    They do look very similar to chanterelles from the top. Thankfully, as someone who does forage for chanterelles, the Jack o'Lantern seems to be very rare in the UK. Are you going to go back at night to see if they glow?
  12. Paul in the woods
    If you look up 'willow carr' you might find similar examples to your land. They often split after a bit of wind and we've had a fair bit recently.
  13. Paul in the woods
    Looking at the photo the tree looks more like grey/goat willow or similar. That flourishes on wet land and is very prone to splitting like that. I gather it's one way they spread.
  14. Paul in the woods
    Possibly an older caterpillar of the white ermine moth. White Ermine BUTTERFLY-CONSERVATION.ORG A white moth with small black spots on the forewing, however, the number of black spots varies greatly from largely white...
  15. Paul in the woods
    I removed a bigger ash stump. It involved clearing the roots with a mattock to start with then cutting them with a cheap Lidl hand saw. Then I had to undermine the stump and I used one of the cheap hand picks you can pick up (Roughneck Micro Mattock). Typically there was a very big root right under the stump. At least I left 10' of trunk on the beast and I eventually winched it over. Now I know why someone invented stump grinders.
  16. Paul in the woods
    I was thinking the same, but I've got a few acres to spare so plenty of room. (And a load of wild deer that would hoover up the windfalls.)
  17. Paul in the woods
    Not wishing to sound (too) smug but it's been much cooler here on the west coast of Devon. Each night for the last week or so the fog has descended in the evening making it nice and cool. Even have to put a thin jumper on. Nice temperate rainforest weather.
  18. Paul in the woods
    What's wrong with storage heaters? We had old ones in our previous '90s bungalow and with 12" of loft insulation we didn't spend much on electricity. I'm put off by the cost of installing a whole new gas system (tank, boiler, pipework, rads etc) and then the running costs after that. Same with oil and then there's the smell. I'm going woodburner and electric here. Suits us as we work from home.
  19. Paul in the woods
    Looks like some type of conifer, leylandii perhaps? It might be a bit tricky to collect looking at the slope in the pic.
  20. Paul in the woods
    I didn't recognise him with his clothes on. (Actually, I don't think it is him is it? At least I know now there's a new series on so thanks for the post!).
  21. Paul in the woods
    My OH has a spinning wheel made mostly from alder. I would assume from that it's a stable wood once seasoned. One of these: Spinning wheels & tools | Kromski Spinning & Weawing KROMSKI.COM Traditional & modern spinning wheels and accessories for you!
  22. Paul in the woods
    If it's a balsam popular it should produce a pleasant smell. When I looked up Melampsora I also noted other hosts are dog’s mercury and wild onions and along with larch seems a strange mix.
  23. Paul in the woods
    To my untrained eye that looks more like a poplar of some sort. (I don't see many so don't take my word for it.) The yellowing of the leaf could be a rust fungus. I would try and clear away all the fallen leaves, from the neighbouring garden as well, and dispose of them. Mulch/water if at all possible during dry spring/summer. The tree looks like it's had a bit of a hard life and the drier summers probably don't help.
  24. Paul in the woods
    I not seen any recommendation to burn leaf litter from infected trees, who is telling us to do that now? I gather if the ash trees are felled before too much die back then they should still be fine for firewood. Secondary infection with something like honey fungus can ruin any wood. From my own woodland I'm starting to notice dark patches in the trunks of infected trees I'm felling and some of the tops of badly infected trees are rotting off. As it's for my own firewood supply it still seems useful. There's a bit at the end here that suggests you brush off any leaf and shoot material from logs before moving: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/pest-and-disease-resources/ash-dieback-hymenoscyphus-fraxineus/chalara-manual-2-managing-ash-trees-and-woodland-including-logs-and-firewood/
  25. Paul in the woods
    A better, clearer, more detailed picture would certainly help. Ideally two, one of the top and one underneath showing the gills/pores and stem if any.

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