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Sunday 26 August 2018

A Walk in the Crags


"The Crags" is our local shorthand for Hardcastle Crags, a National Trust nature reserve, not to be confused with Cragg Vale, which is a valley near Mytholmroyd. (note the spelling of "the Crags" and Cragg Vale.)


Tawny Grisette
Apparently edible and good, but best not eaten, as confusion with other deadly Amanitas is possible


 As above


The Crags are the only place we see these mounded nests of Northern Hairy Wood Ant. They use only dead conifer needles to build the nests on the ground, and a close look reveals a seething mass of busy ants keeping it in good order, with ventilation holes here and there. Green Woodpeckers often dig in to the mounds to get their favourite food of ants; this perfect one perhaps indicates a low population of woodpeckers at the moment. 


There were a couple of trees, both larches, with a crowd of these - up to 50-odd round each tree. I wasn't sure of the identity, but a Rumanian gentleman we met whose wife was photographing flowers thought it was False Chanterelle, which I could confirm with the book at home. I should really take the book to the fungus, not the fungus to the book!


As above, it has the typical mushroom gills, where a true Chanterelle has simple ridges nearly to the bottom of the stem.

Chanterelle also has a fruity smell, and this one doesn't.

Edible but not worthwhile the book says. 



Boletus luridus, I believe, from the netted pattern on the stem, and the blue staining. Sorry - I can't find a common name for this. We found it already knocked over or I wouldn't have picked it. Pores instead of gills.


the cap of the above



Alder Tongue, found at Sowerby beside the Calder. Also seen at Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve. It's a fungus that inhabits the tree's tissues, and fruits out of the tree's own fruits. So it's a gall- forming fungus.  Also below.





Robin's Pincushion, a gall found only on wild rose. This was at the other end of Calderdale, in the Anchor Pit Lock area beside the canal


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