Sunday, November 24, 2019

We never talk about Pipe Club...

What a grim weekend! Rain all day yesterday and today it was misty with mizzle and it barely got light all day.

I met John (on his birthday) and had a wander around Branton Pits near Powburn.

Everywhere was soaking wet underfoot but it was mild and calm so we did a lap of the pits. A few birds were of interest, a pair of Pochard, rare for me these days and what a shame, they used to be commonplace when I was a kid, 11 'sinensis' candidate Cormorants sitting in alder trees looking like wind blown umbrellas, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Kingfisher, 7 probable Waxwings flew over at first light and there were good numbers of commoner wildfowl too. A big flock of Siskins followed us around with over 200 birds, but unusually only a couple of Lesser Redpolls with them.

A particularly interesting fungi caught our eye along the western edge of the pits near the west hedgerow. It took more experienced people than me to name it as Macrotyphula fistulosa var contorta or Contorted Pipe Club to us. This fungi has a restricted split distribution  -



But it doesnt seem to have any records near Northumberland so its worth recording.


Above - Contorted Pipe Club Macrotyphula fistulosa var contorta
Here is the location - NU4321650

I've been enjoying the fungi over recent weeks, so I'll try and post some more soon.

Remember, the first rule of Pipe Club.... 

2 comments:

Gibster said...

I was going to tell you how, after reading this post, I've been seeing this all over Skye. But as we know, the first rule of Pipe Club.....

Stewart said...

Lol, cheers Seth :) Sorry for the delay in posting your comment, I keep forgetting to look for outstanding comments!