Autumn colours at the Pasture
By Linda Dolata. As published on The Archer. October 2010
It has been an eventful summer at Long Lane Pasture, with several successful organised events, such as Wildflower Day and Butterfly Day. There have also been a couple of school visits; it's a great way for children to connect with their environment, in a restful and lovely place.
Meanwhile, each weekend brings a trickle of visitors, making good use of the meadow, a small haven of ancient hay meadow on our doorstep, with several ponds and a good range of habitats. Especially popular have been the blackberries, descendants of wartime allotment cultivars
Glowing colours
Recent wildlife sightings have included slow-worms, voles, toads and frogs, and of course the exciting wasp spiders, so aptly named with their bright warning colouration. There will soon be other colours to enjoy in the leaves. Delicate golden birch hues, the toffee brown and ripening acorns of deciduous oak, lovely russets and crimsons all herald the new season.
Look out for the 'Guelder rose', not a rose at all, but a species of Viburnum, and for the sparse but beautiful Spindle fruits, an impossible combination of candyfloss pink and orange, which somehow looks lovely
Fascinating fungi
Also not to be missed are the huge fruiting bodies of some of the fungi that spend most of the year under the soil as microscopic mycelia of hyphae (masses of tiny white threads). This year there are some splendid large examples as well as a whole range of smaller species.
I would urge anybody who has not seen the Pastures to come along one Saturday or Sunday, and have a look. If you pop in between 10am and 12noon on a Saturday, when the volunteers are around, we can show you where to look for the wasp spiders, for example.
Anybody can come along and help. There is also an unusual job for somebody special: going out in a canoe to clear the large pond of the ubiquitous pondweed, which threatens to choke it.