Terry's photos
Another new venue this week – we are being spoilt! We were working with Gift to Nature who have
taken over the management of this site at the request of the People’s Trust for
Endangered Species (PTES) who own this woodland (along with others nearby). Little Lynn Common is the wooded area at the
junction of Combley Road and Briddlesford Road and from the outside appears to
be solid woodland. However, once off the
road and into the site there are wide grassy rides with mature Scots and
Corsican Pine trees mixed with silver birch, gorse, bracken and, of course,
brambles. There are no public rights of
way but there are permissive footpaths.
https://www.gifttonature.org.uk/discover/out-in-the-country/little-lynn-common/
The management plan is to encourage heathland plants. Overgrown gorse was cut back to encourage it
to regenerate, and a small copse of silver birch was cut down to open up the
area and let light onto the ground. Cut
material was piled onto a hibernaculum and the lighter brash was burnt. The G2N Rangers had their remote-controlled grass/brush
cutter with them, and this was used to clear bracken and bramble. The resulting mowings were then piled on top
of the wood in the hibernaculum.
Little Lynn Common is home to red squirrels and great spotted woodpeckers (heard but not seen today). Greater broom rape, a native parasitic plant, also grows here. It needs gorse (or broom) to parasitise and is an interesting, rare plant without any chlorophyll – see link.
https://plantiary.com/plant/orobanche-rapum-genistae_11939.html
Autumn, of course, is the perfect time to
find funghi. We found a variety of
funghi including Fly Agaric and Spectacular Rustgill – see links.
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/fungi-and-lichens/fly-agaric/
https://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/spectacular-rustgill/
