Hardwick Later Fungi Photography

 The sun had enough warmth on Friday to melt the ice by midday and gave some lovely side lighting as in the Jelly Ear. Some images are Focus stacks and all images are taken with Fuji 100XV using a  250X Raynox Macro adaptor for the smaller species. Last image is an in-camera composite of one in and one out of focus image 

Frozen Mosses and Toadstools Hardwick Wood

A very cold night left ice on all the Mosses and Toadstools in Hardwick Wood which quickly melted as the morning sunshine reached them.

Hardwick Wood Butterflies

Great to see several Silver-washed Fritillaries in my local wood feeding on the Bramble along with Large Whites, Green-veined White, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Comma and Brimstone. I hoped to also see the Purple Hairstreaks but the sky clouded over just as I reached the area and they magically disappear into the oak trees when the sun disappears.

Hardwick Wood

 A very enjoyable walk right round Hardwick Wood this afternoon with Ann and Mike. Quite a lot of Bird song including Cuckoo, ChiffChaff, Nuthatch, Gt Spotted Woodpecker etc and all the expected spring flowers - here a selection of shots (Bluebell,Wood Anemone, Primrose, Oxlip, Celandine). The area that was coppiced this year and then fenced off has wonderful large Oxlips while many in the open wood have been nibbled off, presumably by Muntjac Deer. Quite a few large White and Speckled Wood butterflies on the wing. 

Hardwick Wood Coppicing etc

 Any Saturday through the winter months that I am free, I join a conservation party in Hardwick Wood to do a bit of coppicing (contact for details of Saturday and Sunday work parties in Cambridge area info@ccv.org.uk). I first started coppicing in 1962 at Hayley Wood so have had a bit of practise over the years. I walk up and back from the wood - about a 3 mile round trip so plenty of exercise. Coppicing is a traditional woodland management technique that dates back to the Stone Age involving cutting branches at their base to create a ‘stool’ where new shoots will grow - best suited to hazel, but can be applied to sweet chestnut, ash and lime. The original use of coppicing is still maintained in Hardwick  producing firewood and long straight poles for fencing, building and in the garden as bean poles. Coppicing is also thought to improve the biodiversity of a woodland area by opening it up to the sunlight and allowing a wider range of plants to grow. 

Here some images on my walk (including a distant Addenbrookes site!!), of the coppicing area at the start of the process and of the ancient woodland areas (with hundreds of Ash seedlings (reaction to Ash die-back?).  The tall single hazel shoots in the image will be laid into adjacent bare areas to sprout and fill the gaps in the hazel regrowth).