We met at nine and went up to the cave first. Walking through the quarries, we were puzzled by patches of a crusty white substance that was distributed randomly over various parts of the quarry.
We wondered what this was, but came to no firm conclusion until we came to the cave; parts of the entrance to which was plastered in it. Here it was more recognisable as paper pulp. Paper pulp is a waste product of paper production, involving recycled paper and paper manufacturers offer it to farmers for free or even pay farmers to allow it to be sprayed over their land, to be ploughed in. It is terrible stuff and because of the chemicals it contains, it takes years of weathering before bacteria and fungi can survive in it and start breaking it down. Normally it is pale blue in colour, but this was white.
Later, while driving home, it dawned on me why it was white and so randomly and patchily distributed. It was artificial snow. A TV production company must have filmed a winter scene up there in the quarries.
In the cave, we had the best haul of moths and butterflies it has ever produced, with 6 Herald Moths, 8 Twenty Plumed Moths, 1 Peacock and 14 Small Tortiseshell.
The tunnel took a couple of hours to do, as usual, but there the count was 57 Herald Moths. At the Pant end of the tunnel, we had the slightly bizarre experience of standing inside the tunnel, watching a Dipper and a Grey Wagtail, while Mike was talking to Phil on the mobile.
Just after we left the tunnel, to walk back to the cars, I spotted a willow branch on the ground, which had a mass of Hair Ice festooning the underside of it.
Back at the cars, I was showing Mike Hazel Woodwart (Hypoxylon fusca) when I noticed a small patch of Cobalt Crust (Terana caerulea) on a dead Hazel stem and was wondering how I was going to get close enough for a photo, when I noticed another small patch on the broken end of a stem right alongside us.
A good day had and in good company. Thanks Mike.
Great work lads and it must been cold in the tunnel and last week I was out with the dog in the night and I remembered about a patch of colt crust and I put the torch on it and it,s smart in daylight and by lighting it up it was amazing sight .
ReplyDeleteI always used to search for it with a torch, even in the daytime. I used to get some very strange looks from passers by - stranger than usual, that is!
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