autumn

A splash of Colour on A Dreich Day

five flowerheads of ivy in bloom and another central cluster yet to bloom
| jaclyn

Flowering Ivy is a splash of color on a dreich day.

Its smooth dark shiny green leaves have three to five lobes except where there are flowers. Flowers will only appear on mature growth. Look closely, and you will notice the leaves are a different shape. They are more of a diamond shape.

In late autumn, being one of the last plants to flower, Ivy produces clusters of greenish-yellow flowers that develop into black berries in winter.

Taking advantage of the spaces created by people, it grows well in gardens, at the edges of woodland, and through hedgerows.

Yet this woody climber that clambers its way over trees, walls, and across the ground is much maligned.
The reason for this is too many, Ivy is a killer of trees, but unlike mistletoe, it has no parasitic tendencies.

Although Ivy plants have stem rootlets, they are purely for support to allow them to climb trees. They do not need to take water and nutrients from their host, having their own independent root system. On the other hand, mistletoe has no roots requiring it to take in water and nutrients from its host plant. To be accurate, because this plant is evergreen, it can make sugar all year round and is more accurately hemiparasitic.

Only when a host tree can no longer support the weight of Ivy can it be considered a problem. In these circumstances, trees are indeed at risk of toppling over. Usually, this only occurs when trees are already old or damaged. If kept in check, then Ivy need not be a problem.

Rather than malign this plant, I would argue that Ivy is a plant that should be valued. It not only provides color in the dull month of November but throughout the year, it has enormous value for wildlife.

The flowers are an essential source of pollen and nectar for many insects, including honey bees, social wasps, and even butterflies like the red admiral.

Later in the year, the berries provide a welcome food source for thrushes such as blackbirds.

As well as being a food source, it offers places for insects to overwinter and shelter and nesting places for many small birds.

Therefore let’s celebrate Ivy.

Fairy Rings

An image showing a partial ring of mushrooms around a tree and a close-up of one of the mushrooms within the fairy ring.
| jaclyn

This year has been a good year for finding fungi.

I have been intrigued by the number of times I have discovered almost complete circles of fungi around trees, often called Fairy Rings.

Unfortunately, I do not know their names.

Having taken photographs of these, I do intend to try and identify them.

The mushrooms seen at this time of year are the fruiting bodies.

These contain spores that help the mushrooms reproduce and disperse.

The mushroom or fruiting body is only part of the fungi.

Hidden from view are individual strands called hyphae, which come together to form a network called mycelium.

These threads have a similar function to the roots of a tree, extending out and absorbing minerals.

The one drawback for fungi is that they cannot make sugar. For that, they rely on forming mutualistic relationships with plants. The fungi benefit from the plants that give them carbon-rich nutrients. In return, they offer the plants mineral nutrients from the soil.

For this exchange to happen, fungal threads have to bore into the roots of the trees, creating what is known as a mycorrhizal network.

These mycorrhizal networks are complex, and it is only in recent times ecologist Suzzane Simard demonstrated this complexity. She established that trees not only benefit from the exchange of nutrients but can also communicate their needs.

At the time of her work, the world wide web allowing people to communicate through the internet was establishing itself. So to describe the communication network between trees, the Wood Wide Web was coined.

If you get the chance, read the book by Suzzane Simard, Finding the Mother Tree. It is a fabulous read.

Looking for a Winter Retreat

An collage showing three images. the first is n orange ladybird hiding in the scales of a cone. The second is three orange ladybirds overwintering in a tree. the third shows a kidney-spot ladybird.
| jaclyn

I found a little orange ladybird, possibly looking for a cozy crevice to spend the winter. It is illustrated below on a type of fir cone. These ladybirds are not often seen. 

Last year I spotted the group illustrated in the middle image huddled on a tree. I am sure they are Orange Ladybirds (Halyzia sedecimguttata). If this is correct, these ladybirds spend most of their time in the leaf canopy, eating mildew and small aphids. That probably explains why I don’t encounter them that often.

This diet of aphids and small insects becomes harder to find during the winter.

So before the weather gets too cold, ladybirds must find a suitable place to spend the winter when they enter a dormant phase. Different species will have their preferred site. Some prefer the crevices found in the bark of a tree, while others find refuge deep in the leaf litter.

I remember visiting a house with a large cluster of ladybirds behind a wooden panel. They had crept in through a crack and, on mass, had decided it was the ideal spot to spend the winter. 

Because of the large number, it did look a bit scary. 

Inside houses are not the ideal place for hibernation. With central heating clicking on, the warmth can wake them up prematurely. Vital energy supplies then get used up in a fruitless search for food. 

 A frost-free garage or shed is a better place for hibernation as the temperature is likely to be constant, and they are less likely to be disturbed. 

I remember it taking a bit of persuasion to reassure the resident that they were not harmful and would disperse in the spring. 

As well as spotting this unusual orange ladybird with cream spots, I have also seen black ladybirds with red splodges on each wing. 

These were at Cathkin Marsh on the Southside of Glasgow. 

There were large numbers of these ladybirds on sallow trees, and had it not been for a more regular visitor pointing them out to me, I would have passed by and not seen them. He explained to me that these were Kidney-Spot Ladybirds (Chilocorus renipustulatus). They get their name from the shape of the splodge on the wing cases.

They are tiny, about 5mm in size, and the other thing to notice is they have a flattened edge that looks a bit like a rim around their wing cases. These ladybirds prefer to overwinter at the base of trees.

Seeing these two ladybirds that are different from the more common red ladybirds with black spots has inspired me to buy a copy of the Field Guide to the Ladybirds of Great Britain and Ireland by Helen Roy and Peter Brown. Next year I am looking forward to finding more Kidney-Spot Ladybirds at Cathkin Marsh and through the autumn will keep an eye out for more hibernating orange ladybirds.