SWT Lackford Lakes- I was contacted last week to say that the trees my bracket fungi were on had been ear-marked for pollarding any time soon and so I would need to remove them. I managed to convince them that they could be moved onto other trees not too far from their current position, so I went on tuesday to move them. The photo above left shows them in their new position. I was pleased to see that they are beginning to weather and degrade, which was after all intrinsic to the project. The insect and fungal life on them was a joy to see too, there were numerous woodlice, spiders and beetles living in and around them and green and black moulds appearing on them as you can see below.
As for the puffballs they look remarkably untouched, the colours have drained from them slightly but little else has changed. I'm not sure if that is good or bad?!
The reeds, I had been told, had been destroyed in the high winds but when I collected them I found they had not, in fact, broken but had fallen over and laid over the fence obscuring the path. For this reason they had removed them!! I am in talks with them to try and find an alternative site for them (within the reserve) where they can continue their degradation without interference?! We'll see what happens.
Thornham Walks- The weaving is holding out quite nicely although I did notice it had snapped on one side but someone had tied it back together. There are a few gaps along it now, I hope this is where birds have plucked yarn out to use for lining their nests but unless the wardens find the nests later we'll never know for sure.
The moss carpet has become even more organic in appearance as debris like leaves and twigs have gathered on its surface and begun to decay. The most exciting thing of all is that real moss has started to grow on it too! I count that as a success, nature is colluding by adding moss to my moss.
The leaf litter has become so entwined with the environment that it was quite difficult to see but as you can see they are again beginning to degrade and show signs of mould.
The tree veins have started to blow out of the trunk but to be quite honest I was surprised to see anything left at all and as for the mushrooms, they look to be in exactly the same condition as when they were installed, but their position has changed. From speaking to the warden, it appears, someone had pulled them off the trunk and then later someone else picked them up and hung them over a branch. Its rather nice to think that some of the public care enough about the work to try and repair it and put it out of reach to prevent more damage. I am trying to decide whether or not to put them back on the trunk but just higher up out of easy reach?
