Bath Nats meeting at Avoncliff, Thursday
22nd January 2015
Fourteen of us
gathered on a cold, atmospheric morning teetering between mist and hazy
sunshine. Unfortunately, as we arrived we discovered that Avoncliff car park
was already almost full, which rather cramped our style to begin with.
Eventually, after some toing and froing in, out, and up and down hill – and
aided by the impromptu taxi service provided by Terry Doman – we gathered
around the noticeboard next to the aqueduct as I outlined my plans for the
morning.
First we walked west
along the wooded path out into the open riverside meadow where we paused to
admire the scenery – and a colourful outburst of Velvet Shank or Winter
Mushroom (Flammulina velutipes) on a
decaying willow trunk, before returning the way we’d come. Along the path I
pointed out a variety of bryophytes and fungi. The latter included some fine,
velvety specimens of Jelly Ear (Auricularia
auricula-judae) and the uncommon bracket fungus, Cerrena unicolor, which was difficult to spot at first, due to its
worn down black pileus, but revealed its beautiful labyrinthine to toothed
spore-producing surface when turned upside-down. Meanwhile, Terry Doman pointed
out a micro-moth larva guzzling its way through one of the brown, stripe-like
sori on the underside of a blade of Hart’s-tongue fern (Phyllitis scolopendrium).
Next we walked east,
along the canal, after pausing by the weir, where a heron was standing sentry. We
crossed the footbridge opposite the sewage farm, then climbed gently uphill
through field and mossy, rock-strewn woodland to the steep road back down into
Avoncliff, where we ended our walk almost on schedule.
Alan Rayner