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Trees woods and wildlife
Meadow foxtail
Upright and bushy-tailed, meadow foxtail is a charming addition to any meadow. It provides food and habitats for a variety of invertebrates, including the caterpillars of the Essex skipper butterfly.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Pendulous sedge
Attractive, strong, damp-lover. Spot pendulous sedge swooning in damp woodland and river banks. It’s useful in a pinch, with edible seeds and strong leaves that can be made into rope and matting.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Timothy grass
A gentle and swaying irritant. Though this grass is a favourite with insects and farmers, it may well be to blame for your hay fever! It is a very common allergen, but is now being used in a cure to your seasonal sneezes.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Barnacle lichen
Looking like little barnacles growing on tree trunks, get to know barnacle lichen which you'll find on the bark of living trees in ancient wood.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Beechwood sickener
Toxic, brittle, red-capped. Beechwood sickener is only found in beech woodland and help beech trees take up nutrients from the soil.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Chicken of the woods
Bright, bold and soft to the touch, chicken of the woods is easy to spot.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Fly agaric
Famous, enchanting and highly toxic. Fly agaric is the home of fairies and magical creatures and a lover of birch woodland.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Scarlet elf cup
Mystical and cheery, the scarlet elf cup grows on decaying sticks and branches in damp spots and beneath leaf litter on the woodland floor. Their bright pops of colour brighten up even the darkest winter day.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Yellow brain
A frilly sign of a witch’s curse, yellow brain is a parasitic jelly fungus that looks a little like a brain and feeds on fungi that feed on dead wood.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Oriental chestnut gall wasp
This newly introduced pest is the only organism to produce galls on sweet chestnuts. If numbers grow, it could have a serious impact on our historic trees.