Flowers & Fungi	In this section: Wildflower meadow Bee orchids Fungi foray
Wildflower meadow The aim of creating a wildflower meadow on the site is progressing - slowly. Pesticides and herbicides have not been used for many years, and this will help establish a diverse flora. On the other hand, years of neglect have allowed a rank vegetation to develop, mainly of nettles, broad-leaved dock and other arable weeds, which will inhibit the growth and spread of wildflowers. Our regime of cutting and raking off the rank weeds twice a year is now beginning to pay off. The aim is to weaken the dominant weeds and at the same time reduce the level of nutrients in the soil which was too high to support flower-rich grassland. As the weedy area retreats, we have noted the spread of more wildlflowers, for example common centaury, which has now colonised most of the site. So far our policy has been to wait and see what comes up - to create the right conditions for the dormant seeds in the seedbank to germinate and spread. Now we have reached the stage where we plan to introduce a seed mixture of native grassland plants on an experimental basis. Click here for a list of wildflowers noted on the site! Top of Page
Bee orchids Several years ago there was great excitement when we discovered the first bee orchids on the site. Orchids can come and go in a mysterious way, so their reappearance was awaited with some anxiety! Since then they haven't disappointed and have come up every year - an event greeted with much jubilation amongst the volunteers. They have suffered from rabbit damage, so now we try to protect certain areas of the site with wire netting, so they can set seed and spread. We look forward to the day when the site is covered with a carpet of orchids..... Top of Page
Fungi foray Here’s a question to ponder: what do fungi (slimy, squidgy things growing on rotting vegetation) have to do with marquetry (beautiful inlaid wood work) and jewellery (items of personal adornment often placed next to the skin)? Not a lot, you might think. But you’d be wrong, as we discovered during our annual fungi survey. Our local expert not only identified the species we found, but also supplied us with all sorts of fascinating facts about things fungoid. For instance, Green Wood-cup, a pretty blue-green fungus which grows on wood, stains its host with a beautiful verdigris dye, prized by wood workers to the extent that they deliberately introduced the fungus into suitable wood in order to produce "green oak", used in the manufacture of inlay work known as Tunbridge Ware. A bracket fungus, the Versicolor Polypore, has rings of green, brown and cream and was once dried and made into jewellery. We found both these species at Kiln Meadow. One of the wonderful things about fungi is their huge range of colours, shapes and sizes. We found them growing amongst the leaf litter under trees, on living trees, on rotting wood and on grassland. Some appeared to be growing on the ground, but their presence indicated a fallen tree or log, long since covered over. Some are edible, while others are highly toxic. Of the edible varieties we found a Giant Puffball, unfortunately rendered inedible by a misplaced boot, and lots of Shaggy Ink-caps, which we could have eaten if only someone had remembered the frying pan and the garlic. Even the names of fungi are fascinating. We found a splendid specimen of Jew’s Ear, which grows on elder. The name is a corruption of "Judas’s Ear", referring to Judas Iscariot who is said to have hanged himself from an elder tree (and presumably left his ear behind). It does look remarkably like an ear, but reminded some of us uncomfortably of those pictures of the human ear growing on a mouse. Perhaps the best named, though, is an orangey-pink toadstool called the Deceiver. It’s very variable in appearance, depending on age and conditions, hence the name. But they’re all a bit like that, aren’t they? Click here for results of our survey! Top of Page