Five members met on a mild sunny morning at Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve sited to the west of Brighouse and between the Calder and Hebble Navigation and the River Calder. Originally a quarry, a tip for ash from Elland power station and a landfill site, it is now a large, attractive reserve with woodland, wetlands and grassland habitats.
Led by Sally we headed to the bird feeding area. Birds were few but wren, robin, chaffinch and three species of tit were seen. We next skirted grassland surrounded by trees and shrubs. Alder, with its cones of varying years, and Oak were predominant along the edge while much Silver Birch, some Sycamore, the occasional Horse Chestnut and the odd Apple and Yew were within the woodland.
The remaining fruits on the Blackthorn, Hawthorn and Brambles looked dull in contrast to the bright displays of rose hips. In the grassland a few flowers of meadow buttercup shone in the sunshine but were far outnumbered by the red clover. As expected most herbaceous plants were in fruit including figworts and fine stems of broad-leaved helleborine spotted under trees lining the path. Although autumn colours had yet to develop fully there were beautiful reflections as we walked along the towpath. Here, mallard and mute swan, a family with four cygnets, were added to our list. So far we had seen only three fungi: candle snuff, glistening inkcaps and common bonnet.
Lunch was taken at outdoor tables at the cabin. Soon afterwards on venturing into another area we found a large collection of shaggy inkcaps in all stages from eruption to deliquescence. These were pronounced the best find of the day. This path led to the ponds with water mint in flower together with bulrush, flowering rush and water plantain in fruit. Sadly, the ponds were becoming overgrown but compensation came in the sighting of a kingfisher by Robert! Further birds spotted during the day had been magpie, cormorant, moorhen and black headed gulls.
Along the return woodland path we noticed many Alders with skeletonised leaves which we thought likely to be due to infestation by the Alder leaf beetle. Our final fungi were a cluster of extra large Brown Birch Bolete and one which, after particularly difficult homework, John identified as Yellowing Knight. To my delight as we left I spotted Common Toadflax, a favourite of mine, was still in flower!
Recorded numbers may have been low but we were surrounded by a wealth of natural beauty all day. As Marje repeatedly said, “It was so good to be out in the reserve on such a beautiful day”.
Thank you, Sally!
Alice