We have had some slightly damper conditions lately and this is encouraging fungi and fruit. I believe that this one is a type of Boletus parasitic boletus. There were several growing in F2. If it is this one then it could be a rare type but it is more likely to be an example of a common bolete variety.

 Surprisingly, in spite of all the dry conditions there is a damp area by the bridge in E6. it is possible that this was the site of an old pond or maybe somewhere where there is a general Drainage Direction. Whatever the reason there is a lot of earthworm worm cast activity which is very unusual bearing in mind that the rest of the soil on the park is bone dry.

 October 2025 Update.

Following on from the driest spring on record and a dry summer the park is looking dry but not parched due to recent dews and lower temperatures.

Some small shrubs are showing extreme drought stress as are patches of Bramble in full sunlight.

Cowslip Survey April 2025.

 In April 2025 the Cowslip population was surveyed on the Park. The results are shown on the map using ACFOR where A= Abundant, C= Common, O= Occasional, R= Rare.

It has been a rather mixed year for Cowslip's because March was the driest on record and this has been largely reflected in the growth of the plant's and especially the height of the flowering heads. In some cases in the driest areas the plants are really quite stunted and the flower stalks really short. In just a very few cases there are the properly formed tall flowerheads as expected.

Fully formed flowering plant as usual.

Stunted plants and short flowerheads.

Interestingly, some of the groups of plants are on the same location as they were recorded in the very first survey of this plant in 1980 so presumably they are essentially the same plants or their offspring and this has been repeated in several other places in the survey. Square F8 is an example.

It is open to speculation how these groups of plants continue from year to year and it is open to question if new plants arise from seeds shed by the parent plants or they originate from offsets once again from the parent plants?

There is no obvious way in which Cowslip seed is dispersed other than passively so the occasional appearance of an isolated clump on a site not recorded before is also unexplained.

In many ways this survey replicates what was found in 1980 and if anything the population has expanded slightly in spite of increased footfall impact.