Exploring Worcester Woods

Nick Cripps

Winter Quarters

NOVEMBER THROUGH TO FEBRUARY

At first glance Winter can be a sombre time, with all colour and life drained from the woods. Yet on crisp, cold mornings the frost can weave a magic of its own. Trails of ice-white gossamer, chain-stitch hazel branches. Spiders’ webs hang like crystal jewellery. Crackling underfoot, frozen washed-brown leaves fragment like broken earthenware.

TREES & SHRUBS

To stop themselves dehydrating, deciduous trees shed their leaves during the winter. As temperatures fall the leaves absorb waste products from the tree and change colour often through a series of deep, vivid hues.

The Pedunculate Oak dominates the woods and is well known for its curly edged leaf and stalked acorns. There are a few Sessile Oaks and Turkey Oaks growing, so look out on the pathways for the fallen 'hairy' acorn cups of the turkey oak.

Hazel is the shrub that grows abundantly beneath the oaks to form the understorey. Its many slim branches are straight as horse whips. In spring, the new hazel leaves are downy, and have a soft velvety texture.

Silver Birch regularly colonizes scrubland and, together with the aspen, annually invades the heath land centre of Perry. The birch with its small, diamond leaves and unmistakable silver-tinted bark, is a relatively short-lived tree, living an average 50 years. Notice the green algal growth which discolours its silver bark.

Two trees regarded as indicators of Ancient Woodland are Small-leaved Lime and Wild Service. Both trees have seeds that no-longer germinate in Britain’s cooler, frosty climate. They can now only regenerate by throwing up suckers from the base of their trunks, and so take many years to colonize new ground.

The small-leaved lime grows mostly on the western flank of Perry Wood, overlooking Worcester. The wild service tree, with its unusual five-lobed leaf, grows alongside and in Nunnery Wood. The wild service possesses the most stunning coloured autumn leaves which blaze crimson, russet and gold.

The bark of the mature wild service is broken and checkered - hence its historic nickname ‘chequers’. The tree’s dull-red berries were once used in the fermentation of beer, and so ‘chequers’ became a popular pub name. The name service is thought to come from ‘Cerevisiall’ - meaning a fermented drink.

The Hornbeam has a deeply fluted trunk and dark-grey bark. It is a relative of the beech tree and grows a similar, but doubly serrated-edged leaf. Hornbeam timber is particularly hard and is utilised for piano key strikers. Little can grow under the shade of the hornbeam, neither bramble, grasses nor flowers.

The Sycamore is not native to Britain being introduced during the 16th century. Invasive by nature, it thrives in broadleaved woodland driving out our native birches, aspens and oaks. It is popular with squirrels who love its sweet sap.

A close British relation to the sycamore is the Field Maple, which grows in all four of the woods. Like the sycamore it has the distinctive lobed leaf, which is often infested with red-spotted mite galls.

The native Yew tree, popular in church yards has outstanding qualities of strength and elasticity. Its timber provided longbows for archers in Medieval times. The yews’ dark needled evergreen foliage is unmistakable.

Holly, our festive winter evergreen, survives well in the larger woods. Like the hardy Laurel it occurs infrequently in both Nunnery and Perry. Both have thick, waxy, water-resistant leaves that do not dry out during winter.

The Gorse Bush, plentiful in Perry Wood's heath land centre, is still a colourful sight. Its yellow flowers stay with us for much of the year.

BIRDS

Expect to see many familiar garden birds at the wood edge. Also, less common birds such as the Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, the brightly-coloured Nuthatch and Great-Spotted Woodpecker. Watch too, for the occasional overwintering Blackcap and the Sparrowhawk which may swoop down to seize and kill an unwary bird!

Inside the wood you may not see a bird at all - or maybe just a Robin, Magpie or Wren. Luckier bird-watchers may witness a noisy, fidgety group of small birds up in the trees. These will almost certainly be gangs of tits, and any of the seven species of British tits - apart from the crested tit - may be amongst them. Often associated with these gangs are Goldcrests and Treecreepers.

FUNGI

Candle-snuff Fungus, also called Stag's-horn Fungus, is common on dead wood. At 3cm high this antler-like growth has the appearance of a burnt match - half black, half white. Dozens of these small ‘matches’ often grow together amongst the moss on dead tree stumps.

Orange peel Fungus looks like the freshly discarded skin of a satsuma orange! It can be difficult to spot amongst the leaf litter. King Alfred’s Cakes, also called Cramp Balls, are the size and shape of horse chestnuts. Coloured black they grow on the base of tree trunks and fallen branches - they often associate with Ash trees. Other fungi on the woodland floor are the Tawny Funnel Cap, The Deceiver, Bonnet Mycena - a tiny, delicate mushroom hardly 3cm high, and Coral-Spot Fungus which garnishes fallen wood with peach and pink coloured blemishes.

LICHENS

are the first plants to grow in hostile places. They colonise everything from gravestones and walls, to tree trunks. Like fungi, mosses and ferns they do not seed, but instead reproduce from spores. In Britain there are more than 1000 species of lichen, which just shows how much they are generally overlooked.

Lichen is nature's pollution barometer: it is very susceptible to airborne impurities. Sulphur dioxide emissions from vehicles and power stations will stunt lichen growth and eventually kill them. The degree of susceptibility differs with each species. Some are tolerant to high levels of pollution, while others can survive only in the purest air of Dorset, Cornwall, the Lake District and Scotland.

Many oak trees play host to a luxuriance of coral and antler-shaped lichens. It is worth inspecting fallen branches for the many varieties that grow side-by-side. Lichens are poor competitors being easily displaced by mosses and climbing ivy. They grow slowly, between 1-5 mm per year, depending on the species.

The Egg-Cup Lichen, also called Cladonia, thrives on dead tree stumps. The tree stump appears dusty-grey where the tiny arm-like lichen grows. Parmelia is a leafy-shaped species of lichen, with a dull-grey metallic look. It is found on fallen oak branches alongside Evernia, a more antler-shaped species.

Xanthoria is bright-yellow and appears as a palm-sized, barnacle-like rosette. It grows mostly on dry-stone walls, churches, and large tree boles.

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