Reading Colin Jacob’s letter (White Admiral 57) about his findings of the fungus Stropharia aeruginosa, I feel I should point out that care should be taken not to confuse it with S. caerulea, as the two are almost identical in the field. Both species grow on wood chips and both occur with equal frequency. A microscopic examination is helpful.
An unmistakeable species of Stropharia is S. aurantiaca, which also grows on wood chips (see photo). This fungus, formerly rare, turns up more and more with the increased use of wood chips for laying on paths. The sample shown occurred on a heap of sawdust in ShrublandsPark estate in October 2003.
I have also included what I think is a ‘nice shot’ of Velvet Shank, Flammulina velutipes, taken at Newbourn Springs reserve last winter. It was a lucky photo as it was getting dark. I placed the camera at ground level, unable to see the display on the monitor screen, as it was upside-down to avoid the built-in flash creating shadows. I guessed the angle, but was so delighted by the ‘playback’ that I didn’t need to take another shot.
Neil
Mahler
Thorpeness
On Thursday 15 April I found a large female grass snake dead, in somewhat unusual circumstances, which seems worth recording. The freshly dead body was found lying in the bottom of a hedge adjacent to Chediston Churchyard, and the lower half of the body was firmly wedged among closely-knit vegetation. I finally extricated it and saw that the snake was clearly emaciated, but•heavily distended in the lower region where it had been stuck. Later that day the herpetologist Tom Langton and myself opened up the snake and found her to contain 12 eggs, which were all relatively hard, and must have been from last year’s breeding season. Clearly she had been egg bound, and while forcing her way through the bottom of the hedge, had ended up neither able to go forwards or back. Fortunately I have recorded at least five other grass snakes this year so far, in the immediate vicinity, of varying sizes, so the population appears to be healthy.
John Burton
On 2nd June 2004 a friend arrived with what my wife and I were able to identify as two adult privet hawk moths. However, what was odd was that one appeared to have two bodies and the other none. Our friend had been clipping his extensive privet hedges over a period of time and had put the bits in an open trailer which he took to the ‘tip’ once it was full. He found the moths joined together as he was unloading, so they could have been there for days!
Having consulted specialists, we came to the conclusion that the pair had been mating and the abdomen of one had been broken off while they were locked together, but not by the hedge clippers otherwise there would have been significant damage rather than a clean break. As we were advised the ‘extra’ body released itself after a few hours and the individual that was in good condition was returned to its original privet hedge in Reydon. The grotesque looking moth with only head, thorax and wings was still alive many hours later, so was put in our garden for some fortunate bird’s evening meal.
Peter and Ann Lawson, 12 Park Lane, Southwold
© 2004 Suffolk Naturalists' Society
used by kind permision.