Author Archives: Sabena Blackbird

Spring has arrived in Dibbinsdale with the woods filled with birdsong, proclaiming territory and attracting mates for the breeding season ahead. I watched one Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming away on a dead tree and heard a further three drumming elsewhere … Continue reading →

A rather cold and sodden start to the 2016 MNA Coach programme. A small group of Starlings and a lone Oyk were on the grass as we parked beside Holyhead maritime museum. Turnstone on the shore and Red-breasted Merganser in … Continue reading →

Catrin Watkin of the School Of Environmental Sciences, Liverpool University has been awarded the Eric Hardy Memorial Prize 2016 for her MRes thesis ‘Fine-scale habitat associations of bats: implications for conservation’. Catrin (middle) is pictured along with Prof George Wolff … Continue reading →

Honey Fungus A damp, cool Autumnal feel to the air for my morning wander around Dibbinsdale. A nice start with a cluster of Honey Fungus Armillaria mellea on the fallen Beech Tree Fagus sylvatica beside the path sloping down from … Continue reading →

Last MNA Coach Trip of the year. We dropped off ten members who were to have a guided walk around Rothsherne Mere before walking across to Tatton Park. The remaining seven of us stayed on the coach the short distance … Continue reading →

Clustered Bonnet Despite the weather being dry for the past week I was hopeful to find some Fungi during my morning wander around Dibbinsdale. A mixture of common species to begin with Candlesnuff Fungus Xylaria hypoxylon, Porcelain Fungus Oudemansiella mucida, … Continue reading →

After visiting Belize and Guatemala last year to indulge in a bit of Mayan culture now it was the turn of the Incas with a couple of weeks in Peru. We experienced a variety of sites including the inevitable Machu Picchu, the … Continue reading →

Morning wander around Dibbinsdale, a nice early find was a sticky Beefsteak Fungus Fistulina hepatica. I headed to the area where I found the erupting Common Stinkhorn Phallus impudicus last weekend – no emerged specimen or characteristic smell about though. … Continue reading →

I had a morning wander around Dibbinsdale – my new local patch. Birdlife included Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, some vociferous Jays, Buzzard, Bullfinch, a party of Long-tailed Tits and Song Thrush. Oak Artichoke Gall The Oaks were infected with a … Continue reading →

  Smardale Gill National Nature Reserve is about 100 acres in size and occupies a 3.3 mile stretch of the disused Tebay to Darlington railway line. It is maintained by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust and has been designated as a … Continue reading →