Saltburn-by-the-Sea Fossils

This view of Huntcliff Nab shows some of the visible stratigraphy of these imposing cliffs, 365 ft in height (picture from wikimedia). The rocks are upper Jurassic in age and mostly belong to the Cleveland Ironstone formation of the Lower Lias. It was a misty January afternoon when we visited for a brief beach walk. The tide was coming in so we walked the beach towards Redcar.

In the distance on the coast is the former Warrenby blast furnace. The Tata Steelworks plant at Redcar closed finally in 2015 ending a century of steel production. The steel produced at Dorman Long was used to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Tyne Bridge and Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Also just visible is the Teesside Wind Farm. A 27 turbine 62 MW capacity run by EDF Energy Renewables and completed in 2013.

This rather alarming picture of the beach shows the rapidly eroding and slumped glacial till deposits.

This glacial erratic of Carboniferous age formed a large 6ft block stranded on the shore. The flattened angular limestone boulder was speckled, displaying many crinoidal fossil pieces in the rock.

On the sand, pieces of grey fossiliferous mud and silt stone of Jurassic age lay scattered probably from the Redcar Formation, containing bivalves of some kind. An example in the picture below shows one of the 2 cm fossil constituents.

The partial fossil below looks like a ‘Devils Toe Nail’ or Gryphaea sp. a commonly found fossil.

Looking like a modern beach shell this crinkled shell is some kind of fossil Brachiopod eroded from an Oyster bed pebble. The underside in the bottom photograph shows some interesting trace patterns.

Although not a fossil this stone was covered in Keel Worm casts.

Not a fossil either, this razor Shell is a modern bivalve of sandy shores.

Pieces of red stone also littered the beach. Beach stone can be difficult to identify but the red colour could be due to the presence of iron. It is probably a piece of ferruginous ooidic sandstone from the ironstone outcrop at Huntcliff.

Reference:

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?pub=CDI http://www.tvrigs.org.uk/jurassic-lower.html#sthash.QWS0W0v8.dpbs

Fossils of the Whitby Coast- Dean R. Lomax

Holystone – Lichen

On the 20th January 2019 another visit to Holystone woods brought blue skies and this view of the Simonside hills. Lichen stands out in the winter, even this Bryoria fuscescens, camouflaged half way up an Oak tree in the ancient planted woodland, stood out.

There were two Peltigera lichen growing by a farm entrance, Peltigera rufescens below has red/brown discs.

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Peltigera membranacea has a bullate (wrinkled) upper surface with many white rhizomes visible underneath.

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Fallen rotting tree trunks provide favourable places for Cladonia lichen. Those below look like C pyxidata (pixie cups).

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Slender ashen grey podetia are a hallmark of C glauca on the same tree.

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The lichen with the thick yellow green podetia is C sulphurina.

In contrast to the Cladonia above this acid green squamulose one is C squamosa.

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The cladonia below has red/ brown fruits and could be C ramulosa.

By St Ninian’s Well or Lady’s Well there were various Pertusaria (bored through) type lichens such as P pertusa below on a beech tree.

P multipuncta below looks like tiny pepperpots,

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whereas P amara tastes bitter. It has been used a treatment for malaria.

Thelotrema lepadinum is an indicator of ancient woodland and good air quality. It is surrounded by other lichens: Parmelia sulcata and Ramalina farinacea.

The statue of St Ninian has acquired some lichen and a covering of orange algal Trentepohlia. It is actually a green alga and often associates with fungi as lichen.

New Year Flower Hunt

As part of the BSBI (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland) hunt for flowering plants I looked out for plants in flower while on a walk to Holywell Pond on 30th December 2018.

In Seaton Sluice this Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense) had a good head of flowers. Creeping thistle is easily recognised by its sweet smell.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)  a member of the Asteraceae family has a long flowering flowering season.

Our walk took us  uphill over arable fields where, on a wide head-rig, many once common arable plants were growing. Scented Mayweed (Matricaria chamomilla) is famed for its fresh apple scent, down curved petals and herbal properties.

Wild Pansy (Viola arvense) is usually white with one yellow  coloured petal acting as an insect guide. It also has medicinal uses but is generally poisonous.

This Field Speedwell (Veronica persica) also had a mix of colours; white lower petals and violet blue upper ones.

Common fumitory (Fumaria officinalis) is another medical plant hence the name  officinalis.

Like the Fumitory above, this Groundsel below looks the worse for the colder weather. It looked like Sticky Groundsel (Senecia viscosus).

Two very striking dark lipped banded snails (Cepaea nemoralis) crossed our path.

A field nearby often has Grey Partridge and pheasants grazing. They seem tame and probably bred for shooting.

The surprise flower on the way back was Doves-foot Cranesbill (Geranium molle).  Usually in flower between April to September, it’s late flower reflects ongoing changes in seasonality (phenology).

Although the birdlife was scarce on the pond, we caught the Pink-footed geese flying  back to the pond after foraging somewhere.

 

 

 

Big Waters – Lichen, Fungi etc.

This Hawthorn bush was still covered in fruit. According to The Woodland Trust:

Common hawthorn can support more than 300 insects. It is the foodplant for caterpillars of many moths, including the hawthorn, orchard ermine, pear leaf blister, rhomboid tortrix, light emerald, lackey, vapourer, fruitlet mining tortrix, small eggar and lappet moths. It provides nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinating insects. The haws are rich in antioxidants and are eaten by many migrating birds such as redwings, fieldfares and thrushes, as well as small mammals. The dense thorny foliage makes a good nesting shelter for many species of bird.

An example of Ramalina fraxinea growing on an Ash tree. I was surprised to find it here at Big Waters among  abundant Xanthoria polycarpa.

On the same trees Ramalina fastigiata was flourishing and R farinacea was present but less spectacular. All of these like well lit nutrient enriched bark.

Lichen often forms mosaics on tree trunks. Lecidella elaeochroma is lined by a black prothallus separating it from Lecanora chlarotera with the buff apothecia.

The green Lichen with the large black apothecia is Physcia aipolia.

Another common physcia pictured below looks like P caesia.

The bryophyte on the picture above and below is Orthotrichum diaphanum. It had silvery leaf tips.

In the nature reserve Jelly Ear fungus (Auricularia auricula-judae) sprouting from Elder.

The fungi below, festooning the fallen log is Stereum hirsutum.

Not all fungi are easy to identify. It is late in the year. so it is possible that this violet stiped gilled mushroom is a Wood Blewit (Lepista nuda). It will fruit until December.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

The Woodland Trust

Big Waters – Birdlife

Big Waters is the largest mining subsistence pond in SE Northumberland and it attracts a wide variety of wildlife to its many habitats. The Northumberland Wildlife Trust maintains a reserve around the lake. The Greylag geese wheeling in the photo above were numerous, rivalled in size only by a flock of Canada geese. In a similar way to the geese, three winter visiting Whooper Swans, alternated feeding sites between fields and lake.

Lapwing had claimed the island with black-headed and Common Gull. The Cormorants spread and dried their wings on the island and other platforms.

A pair of Gadwall can be seen swimming in front of the geese, recognised by their black rumps and black/white speculum patches. There were Mute Swans, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted duck, Mallard in reasonable numbers, but I saw just one pair of Teal, one Wigeon and two Goldeneye. Another birdwatcher spotted a Buzzard on a tree.

Tree Sparrows are a speciality here and enjoy the well-defended feeders as did the Great tits, Bluetits, Chaffinches, Reed Bunting and robin. Brambling were on the list in the hide but not sure whether I could distinguish them from the Chaffinches.

I thought the bird shown below was a Yellowhammer.

On my way back to Dinnington I came across a flock of Fieldfare feeding on Hawthorn trees and sometimes in the fields nearby, looking handsome through binoculars.

 

 

Blyth South Beach to St Mary’s in December

This picture of South Beach shows the blue sky and white topped waves driving onto the sands invigorating dog walkers, sailors and surfers. The dunes are well covered in Marram and Lyme grass.

The wind turbines on the horizon are two of the five that comprise Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Wind Farm.  Newly installed, they have gravity based foundations that ‘float and submerge’ in the 40 meter depth of water. They provide electricity for 34,000 homes and were built locally in Wallsend.

The driving seas had whipped up foam and rainbow bubbles on the shore. According to the wiki: Sea foam, ocean foam, beach foam, or spume is a type of foam created by the agitation of seawater, particularly when it contains higher concentrations of dissolved organic matter (including proteins, lignin, and lipids) derived from sources such as the offshore breakdown of algal blooms.

A raft of Eider Duck had no trouble negotiating the swells. They are true sea ducks feeding on molluscs especially mussels. A few of the males were still in their colourful breeding plumage. Eider are a feature of the Northumberland coast and are Amber listed.

Oyster catchers were quick to feed on the rocks at Seaton Sluice as the tide receded. Like the Eider, they also eat cockles and mussels when at the coast.

While walking along I took notice of the plants in flower such as the Prickly Sow thistle (Sonchus asper) shown below. The plants still in bloom were mostly ruderals like Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), Daisy (Bellis perennis), Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris), Dandelion (Taraxacum agg.), Chickweed (Stellaria media), Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Annual meadow grass (Poa annua), White Dead Nettle (Lamium album). Among the many sea-side plants, Thrift (Armeria maritima), though not in flower, had dried flower heads on show.

As the tide ebbed many birds flew in to feed, like this Curlew. Redshank were fairly numerous but there were some Dunlin, Lapwing, Turnstone and two pairs of Ringed plover. Gulls of various kinds and crows had also taken to the rocks.

The lake on the bird reserve held a pair of Canada Geese, Mallard, Heron, Moorhen and a flock of Teal. On the scrub by the wetland I had caught a glimpse of a small bird with a white belly. Although I wondered what it could be, a bird watcher later told me to watch out for a pair of Snow Bunting. It seems likely the birds I had seen were Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis). Regularly wintering along the coast they are Arctic specialists, though a few nest in the Cairngorms. On Whitley Beach, avoiding the walkers and dogs, a flock of Sanderling, another Arctic breeder also here for the winter, was in constant movement along the water’s edge by the tide wrack.

At Seaton Sluice, on a stone wall, this Acarospora fuscata lichen looked like dried mud.  Crab’s Eye Lichen (Ochrolechia parella) was covering the wall tops in large white patches.

This Lichen looked like Lecanora campestris with its dark red apothecia.

On the same wall, always worth a visit, a brightly coloured Caloplaca glowed, perhaps C verruculifera?

Lichen often grow on top of one another. The whitish base lichen is (Apsicilia caesiocinerea) but there is a Lecanora possibly L dispersa growing on top.

 

References:

Wind Farm

Sea foam

Holystone Woods – Lichen

Holystone wood is noted for its lichen flora. The SSSI mentions a luxuriant community of epiphytic lichen including Bryoria and Usnea subfloridana.  Many species are present which are associated with ancient woodland: Mycoblastus sanguineus, Thelotrema lepadinum and Pertusaria spp. The large oak shown above was a haven for Bryoria lichen. The tree in top left is covered in Usnea, Bryoria and Ramalina sp.

A close up the fruiticose Bryoria fuscescens on the large oak reveals its dark smoky-brown colours, and pendant, hair like filaments. It grows on acid barked trees.

Chrysothrix candelaris a leprose lichen formed a bright yellow/green splash on an oak tree.

Thelotrema lepadinum is another lichen with a Western and Northern distribution.  The name  lepadinum refers its limpet like appearance though it is also commonly known as the barnacle lichen.

This crustose lichen growing near the Thelotrema is Pertusaria pertusa. The same Beech tree also hosted P amara (a bitter tasting lichen) and P hymenea. Pertusaria corallina was abundant on rocks and walls.

Arthonia radiata has crowded black starry apothecia. Itis often found on smooth barked trees like Ash.

Mycoblastus sanguineus is a crustose lichen found on hard sandstone rocks. Could this be a specimen?

This crustose lichen, thickly covered in apothecia, looks like Lecanora gangaloides although I did not scratch it to reveal the orange colour underneath. Its lookalike Tephromela atra flourished further along the same wall.

Many species of crustose rock lichen such as Lecidea lithophila pictured above were abundant on the stones.  Frequently red coloured from the deposition of iron oxides,  L lithophila is common in the upland North and West.

It was surprising that so many of the lichen were fruiting, like this Lecanora rupicola above.

The apothecia shown above on this fruiting Parmelia saxatilis have orange-brown discs and isidiate margins.

Cladonia (cup lichen) also featured on this wall. The example above is the two pronged, Cladonia furcata.

Cladonia polydactyla seems to be ubiquitous in upland Northumberland. It has scarlet red fruits on its many fingers. The lichen with the thicker stalks is C sulphurina.

Reference:

Lichens – Frank Dobson, BLS, 2018.

http://www.lichens.lastdragon.org/indexP.html

Holystone Woods – Trees, Fungi, Mosses

The photo above shows a view Simonside from Holystone plantation. The forestry Commission have cleared some of the conifer plantation and amixture of tree species are being planted.

Juniper (Juniperus communis) maintains a foothold in this area. It is an evergreen conifer native to the UK, Europe and much of the northern hemisphere. Mature trees, can reach a height of 10m and live for up to 200 years. Its bark is grey-brown peeling with age, and its twigs are reddish brown. Juniper populations in the UK are shrinking, and the species is a priority under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

Being dioecious, male and female flowers grow on separate trees. Male flowers are small, yellow and globular, and grow in leaf axils near the tips of twigs. Once pollinated by wind, the green female flowers develop into fleshy, purple, aromatic, berry-like cones used to flavour gin. These are eaten and distributed by birds.

We visited the churchyard where some of us tried to estimate the age of the large sycamore tree on the right hand edge of the picture.  One easy method is to measure the circumference with a tape measure in cm and then divide by 2.5 cm. For example if the girth measured 275 cm then the age would be approximately 110 years old.

Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) is a non-native tree, introduced in the 16th Century. Unless pollarded, they have a lifespan of 200 – 400 years or so. The Tolpuddle martyr’s Sycamore has been dated to 1680.

The stream that runs from the Lady’s Well still had Monkey flower (Mimulua guttatus) in bloom. It is another non-native but has the distinction of being the county flower of Tyne and Wear. Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) was also thriving in the burn. In the picture above Soft Rush (Juncus effusus) and Hard Fern (Blechnum spicant) are visible.

By the Lady’s well fungi was springing up, benefiting from the recent wet weather. This white one is Crested Coral (Clavulina coralloides) but Beechwood sickener (Russula nobilis) was emerging under the beeches.

This attractively marked fungus growing on a  stump on the path up to the North Wood is Turkeytail (Trametes versicolor).

Along the same path Orange Peel Fungus (Aleuria aurantia) favoured the red whin chippings on the path. Calluna vulgaris, Autumn Hawkbit, Heath Grounsel,  Deschampsia flexuosa, Bracken had sprung up in the clearings.

In the wetter areas Sphagnum mosses (Sphagnum fallax) and Juniper Haircap moss (Polytrichum juniperinum) pictured above were conspicuous.

Holystone North Wood is an upland oakwood, of both sessile (Quercus petraea) and  English Oak (Quercus robur), is as an ancient semi-natural woodland site. There is evidence of some coppicing and parts of the wood were last worked about 60 years ago. This type of woodland, more typical of the Lake District, is found here under much drier climatic conditions and examples in the eastern part of Northumberland are particularly scarce. It has an SSSI citation.

The wood is noted for Lichen and Bryophyte species. The large mossy hummock above is White Moss (leucobryum glaucum). Waved silk moss (Plagiothecium undulatum) was present.

References:

SSSI citation

Sycamore

Cave Spider

I was fortunate to be involved in a survey of this  handsome spider (Meta menardi) in Jesmond Dene. They are one of the largest spiders, at 5cm leg span, found in the UK.

After mating, female produce a round egg sac or cocoon shown below. Cocoons are tear shaped white pendants usually hanging from the roof of the habitat by a silk thread approximately 20 mm long. The cocoon (2–3 cm in radius) contains an average of 200/300 eggs and is laid near the cave entrance at the end of the summer. After hatching, the young spiders remain in the cocoon until the first moult, feeding on the yolk. They leave the cocoon in spring, move towards the cave entrance and disperse via ballooning silk threads outside the cave.

The adults are photophobic so disturbance was kept to a minimum. They emerge around dusk to hunt, often using a single silk lasso line and swinging down upon their prey. Herald moths which also like to overwinter in caves often fall victim to the spider as revealed below. Caddis flies also form an important part of their diet.

West Dipton Burn Ancient Woodland

Dipton Burn Woods run on either side of a steep, once glaciated, gorge. Thick carboniferous sandstone cliffs were visible at White Crag and the picture below of ‘Devil’s Elbow’ reveals the terrain and a thick shale layer in the sequence.

The woodland is of different ages, ranging from, fairly recent but mature birch stands to ancient plantation woodland.  Ancient and ancient semi-natural woodland formed the greater part of the vegetation types.

Our aim was to look at soil cores investigating any differences that might be indicative of  types of woodland these areas.

Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)  was identifiable in the plantation of downy birch (Betula pubescens) we encountered near the entrance. It is an ectomycorrhizal partner of birch and pine. Unsurprisingly, it has been used as an insecticide hence the common name.

The soil core from this plantation consisted of a largely unconsolidated leafy layer mostly Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea) over a brown earth, grading into a lighter coloured sandier horizon at about half a meter depth.

Oak predominated in the ancient woodland although still probably planted since the sizes were uniform. The Sessile Oak has straighter branches then the English Oak as evident in the photo below. Sycamore, Beech, Ash, Hazel, Larch, Pine and Spruce had been planted and were of different ages. Under the conifers, wood ants nests were a welcome sight, some reaching a metre in height.

We passed a grassed field at the bottom of a slope in a less steep area of the gorge. Thickly grassed, it showing evidence of meadow species such as Knapweed (Centaurea nigra), Meadowsweet (Ulmaria filipendula) and Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). Cores were dug here revealing a thick turf over a deep soil of brown earth inhabited by worms. Eventually a sandy gravel layer emerged at the bottom.

Our next sample core was under oak but in the Ancient plantation woodland. There was a darker layer, B horizon, under the humus top .

Brown Forest Soils, such as those in our samples tend to develop on acidic, fluvioglacial deposits. The following is adapted from from The James Hutton institute information.

Brown soils, often referred to as Brown Forest Soils or brown earths, are well drained with brownish subsoils where iron oxides created through weathering processes are bonded to silicate clays.

Other properties such as texture and level of fertility depend on the nature of the parent material and the degree of alteration it has undergone. Under natural conditions the soils would form under broadleaf forest which promotes rapid decomposition of plant residue and consequent recycling of plant nutrients.

Profile Characteristics

Ah	Surface horizon, usually relatively thin with organic material (mull humus) incorporated throughout mineral matrix.
Bw	Brighter coloured mineral subsoil, with good structural development, generally merges into:
C	Relatively unaltered parent material, usually brightly coloured or colour inherited directly from parent rock.

h = humus and w= weakly developed. The colour profile was checked on a Munsell Chart. It ranged from 10yr (yellow/red) 3/2 at the top through 10yr 4/4 to 10yr 5/4  at the bottom. In colour terms from brownish- black through brown to yellowish-brown,

We thought the sandstone rocks in Horizon C may have tumbled from the gorge sides suggesting relief  and slope processes had played a role.

The ancient woodland  had an abundance of fern and bryophyte species in particular this attractive Hard Shield Fern (Polystichum aculeatum), a fern that often grows in calcareous flushes.

Certain plant species act as indicators of ancient woods including Hard Shield Fern. Other indicators were present: Opposite-leaved golden- saxifrage, Scaly male fern, Honeysuckle, Great wood-rush, Wood Sorrel, Barren strawberry, Lesser celandine, Common tamarisk moss.

One of the cores revealed this fungi at some depth, It proved to be an (Elaphomyces granulatus) or False Truffle. Inedible unlike the true truffle, it is ectomycorrhizal, often found  under spruce trees but occasionally with other conifers. Normally these fungi would rely on Wild Boar or Squirrels digging them up, eating them and excreting the spores elsewhere.

The walls surrounding Ancient woodlands often display a range of Lichens and Bryophytes. The lichen below with many fingers projecting from its stalks is Cladonia polydactyla) another inhabitant associated with ‘old growth’ woodland. Growing beside is a common woodland moss  (Polytrichum sp.)

 

 

Reference:

Forestry Commission

James Hutton Institute