October 2024 Newsletter

Fungi season in full swing

As can be seen by the increase in posts on the Wild New Forest Facebook Page we are now very much in peak fungi season, and many are passionate about the diverse mix of species that can be found across the New Forest.

Despite the wet, mild summer the season has been fairly slow to start but there is always plenty to see when you start looking. Fungi season is one of my favourite times of year, there is so much diversity out there and always something to learn. No two years are the same: like many things in nature the peaks and flows of fungi are not only cyclical but also dictated by the conditions ensuring huge variety from one year to another. This year has proven to be fairly slow for some of the larger more glamorous species such as the boletes and amanitas but has been good for webcaps and seems to have been all about the small things. Or maybe more likely we have got our eyes tuned in to the smaller stuff. Once you start grubbing around in the leaf litter on the Forest floor it is amazing what you can find. It makes me wonder how much gets overlooked.

While talking about the small things, it seems to have been a great year for Slime Mould, or should I say, the more visible fruiting bodies of Slime Mould. Slime Mould is an amazing order, a kingdom in its own right, once thought to be closely related to fungi. It is said to act as the vacuum cleaner of the Forest, consuming all the small pieces of organic matter that might otherwise accumulate on the Forest floor. These amazing single celled organisms move across the forest floor, gathering once food resources run low to form a fruiting body. Depending on their genetic signature the singles cells then either form the structure of the fruiting body or the spores which are then released to produce the next generation.

Slime Mould thrives in the damper areas and can appear quite spectacular when seen on mass. With common names such as Moon Poo, Dog’s Vomit, Raspberry, Wolf’s Milk and Honeycomb Coral there is a huge variety. Much is still being learnt about Slime Mould including the many challenges of identification, which in many cases just isn’t possible without microscopic examination. But that shouldn’t stop us from marvelling at the beauty of the fruiting bodies and the almost incomprehensible lifestyle, which is like something out of a sci-fi film.

Images from top: Holly Parachute, Honeycomb Coral Slime mould and Trichia Decipens © Wild New Forest GT, Sep 2024

Another seasonal event which deserves mention is the deer rut. From September through to early November Red, Fallow and Sika Deer are in rut across the New Forest. This is a very sensitive time when tensions are running high; although quite a spectacle it is important that we give them the space and freedom to behave as naturally as possible. For this reason, we do not run or promote any activity with deer at this time of year and request that no images are posted on our social media platforms.

So now that those long summer days are all but a distant memory, there is still plenty happening across the New Forest You just can’t beat those lovely sunny autumn mornings where the gorse and heather is covered in the dew-soaked webs and the air is crisp and fresh.

Wildlife Explorers Club    

It has been a fun month at the Wildlife Explorers Club and the highlight of the month for many was the ringing session held at Keyhaven Marsh. We were fortunate to be able to show the group a nice mix of birds in the hand including a couple of Nightjar, Kingfisher and a nice mix of migrant Warblers, Pipits and Finches.

This month we have three free-to-join events, the first focussing on fungi (always a popular one). We also have a session looking at deer in the New Forest, and in addition we are exited to be working with the New Forest Litter Pickers. We are meeting at Bolton’s Bench on 20th October to discuss the problems caused by littering in the New Forest followed by a litter picking session.

The club is open to all youngsters aged 10-16 and is free to join thanks to sponsorship from The New Forest Trust and NFDC. We have exciting news regarding sponsorship for 2025 coming soon! Application can be found on our website via the following link.

The latest Wildlife Explorers Club newsletter can be found here, details, and application form for the club can be found on our website here.

Applications for the October wildlife camp have now closed, we are delighted to have so much interest and look forward to reporting on an action-packed weekend next month.

The Young Explorers Club is made possible thanks to funding and support from the following organisations:

September walk highlights

September was a largely settled month with some nice, prolonged periods of early autumn sun. Overall, we ran 12 walks, four boat trips, two young explorers events and one bespoke walk.

The highlight for me was the first of our Fungi Explorer Walks of the season producing a nice mix of specimens. As usual on the walks we saw a nice selection of other wildlife, it is amazing what you find when scrabbling around on the Forest floor. September also saw the last Newtown Harbour trip of the season producing the usual mix of Seals and interesting bird life including a good number of migrant waders.

Images: Blushing Rosette, Pale Tussock, Devils-bit Scabious and Sandwich Tern , September 2024 ©Wild New Forest Guided Tours

September fieldwork

September fieldwork is largely focussed on bird ringing at the coast. We ran a number of sessions at Keyhaven which provided the usual mix of busy sessions with memorable encounters, and quiet mornings when the forecasters got it wrong which we would rather forget!

Overall, it has been a slower year so far for passage migrants though we still have a lot of data to sift through. So far the winners seem to be Chiffchaff, Lesser Whitethroat and Cetti’s Warbler while numbers of common breeding birds are well down on previous years, especially common Tits and Finches.

We continue to get a good run of re-sightings of Sandwich Tern chicks that were ringed at the colony at Lymington in June with individuals from the colony recorded in Lincs, Norfolk, Sussex, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Isles of Scilly, Carmarthenshire, Powys, Normandy and Brittany. In addition we have a great record of a chick ringed in the colony last year, observed off of the coast of Gambia!

Hawfinch roost monitoring has started in earnest. Numbers are always relatively low at this time of year but it is nice getting back into the rhythm of monitoring roosts. Along with the Hawfinch we have been recording good numbers of Crossbill, Siskin and even the first Brambling of the year.

Pine Marten fieldwork is drawing to a close with the last few cameras being brought in through September and October, as we start to focus on analysis the data. We will still have cameras placed monitoring potential crossing points of the south-west mainline as it passes through woodland to the east of Brockenhurst.

Other fieldwork this month includes the ongoing monitoring the Little Egret roost and WeBS count at the coast mostly carried out by Jamie Ward.

Image: Movements of Sandwich Tern ringed as chicks in the colony off of Lymington in June 2024 © WNF GT

Looking ahead

We will soon be launching our walks and events for 2025. Along with some old favourites we will be adding some new events to the calendar including a Birdwatching Course and a new monthly series of 12 walks exploring some of the quieter parts of the Forest. We are also working towards running a residential weekend of fungi-based activities in October 2025, more to follow in due course.

We are still working on fieldwork plans for 2025 but we are looking at potential new projects with Turnstone at the coast and Tree Pipit in the Forest, while we have some exciting plans for additional nocturnal bird surveys this winter.

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed the new logo at the top of the newsletter; this is a precursor for a long overdue overhaul of our website which we plan to launch early in 2025.

Our current schedule of events and access to our booking platform can be reached via our website at https://www.wildnewforest.co.uk/event-calendar

Wild New Forest Facebook highlights

The Facebook page continues to grow with fascinating posts on a daily basis; thanks to all contributors that continue to make it such a fascinating resource. Please continue to add context to your photographs, it is always interesting to hear the background to the images and where possible please label photos.

As already mentioned, this is a sensitive period so please refrain from posting images of deer at the rut (we do accept images of Red Deer at any time of year).

This month’s most popular post was the great image by Vincent Blood of a Cranefly at roost covered in early morning dew.

 Wild New Forest Vouchers

Wild New Forest Vouchers are available for Walks and Boat Trips and make a perfect Christmas or Birthday gift for that person who is difficult to buy for! Each Voucher can be personalised and can be redeemed at any time with no expiry date. Just drop us an email at info@wildnewforest.co.uk for further info.

Reviews

Many thanks to everyone who takes the time to leave a review on TripAdvisor. We are proud to receive the Travellers Choice award for 2024; all our reviews can be found here 

Fungi Explorer Walk Oct 2024

This is the second of these walks I’ve been on. Marcus and Emily are so engaging. The information is fascinating and the variety of fungi found is immense.

Thank you WNF I had a great couple of hours 🍄‍🟫😊