15
Our blackbird was enjoying the remains of the apples.
Things had quickly returned to normal.
I had detected no change in the temperature, but the next
day the thaw started.
Now it is February and the weather has turned a lot milder,
and with the lengthening days our old bird is fighting off
the other cock birds, who have more in mind than the
pleasure of eating a few bits of apple. A pair of dunnocks
are prospecting a privet bush quite close to the house, and
starlings visit much more than they did in the cold weather,
probing the lawn with their sharp bills. The lame thrush
has not been seen for several weeks now.
I wonder if the fieldfare has joined up with some of his
own kind, or perhaps, a flock of redwings, beginning to
make their way back to the breeding grounds. It will soon
be time for them to make this hazardous journey.
I hope he makes it. He was a terror in our small urban
garden, but a joy to watch, his beautiful colouring
intensified against the white snow.
Nancy Bath
DALDINIA CONCENTRICA "CRAMP BALLS"
If you find a roughly spherical, smooth, dull black growth,
an inch or two in diameter, growing on a beech (Fagus
sylvatica), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) or birch
(Betula "pendula) it will probably be the curious fungus
Daldinia concentrica. You can confirm that it is this
common species by breaking it in half and seeing the
concentric light and dark rings inside it which give it
the specific name concentrica (1).
In the autumn when the black powdery spores are being
shed, and in the winter, the fungus is hard and dry and