A Walk in the Forest

 On 14 January I went for a walk in the Forest of Preuilly with Ingrid and Huub. It was 3.5 km, 14°C and took an hour and a half. Huub was vastly amused to be accompanying two women who spent half their time with their arses in the air, photographing small fungi at ground level. Here is a small selection of what we saw. There were a lot of bracket fungi.

 

 A waymarker (Fr. borne) for the Chemin de Saint Martin (the Way of Saint Martin, an important pilgrim route).

Ochre Bracket Trametes ochracea (Fr. Tramète zoné) is not uncommon, but not abundant either. It is usually found on Aspen.

Sporodophoron cretaceum, a lichen that grows on the bark of mature oak trees.

Common Green Shield lichen Flavoparmelia caperata (Fr. Parmélie froncée) is widespread and abundant. The leaf like lobes don't adhere to the substrate they are growing on, and can be lifted up like flaps. The underside is black.

Cherry Gall (Fr. Galle-cerise) made by the wasp Cynips quercusfolii on the underside of an oak leaf.

Golden Ear fungus Naematelia aurantia (Fr. Trémelle orangée) is an irregular jelly like blob of yellow that parasitises Hairy Curtain Crust fungus.

Possibly Fence-rail Cladonia lichen Cladonia parasitica, which seems to be rather rare overall in Indre et  Loire and virtually impossible to tell from C. caespiticia without doing a chemical reaction test.

Luminescent Panellus Panellus stipticus (Fr. Panelle astringente), an abundant beige mushroom growing in layered groups on dead wood of deciduous trees.

Gilled Polypore Trametes betulina (Fr. Lenzite du bouleau) is a slightly downy dirty white bracket fungus. They can appear more coloured, but that is algae growing on the surface. They are mostly found on birch, oak, beech, alder and hazel.

Rusty Swan-neck moss Campylopus flexuosus (Fr. ) is an attractive moss that is relatively common all over France and observable all year round. Underneath the bright green cushion is usually rusty red, and the leaves have a very distinctive wide central vein.

Stinking Hellebore Helleborus foetidus (Fr. Pied-de-griffon), a toxic wild flower of oak woodland understorey. Touching it releases an unpleasant smell. The flowers produce a lot of nectar, no doubt very welcome for early emerging bumble bees, who love hellebores.