Page 52 - br-nov-2020

November 2020 November 2020

BERE REGIS WILDLIFE AND
ENVIRONMENT GROUP

It is said that autumn is the season you can smell – that
has been so true of this Autumn. With heavy rains and
damp conditions vegetation has been beaten down
and now decaying, fungi have thrived, whilst the
brighter days have provided us with a dazzling display
of varied tree leaf and fruit colours and have you
noticed how plentiful acorns have been. If you can, do get out and enjoy the last
of Autumn’s wonderful natural show.

Stonewort in the nature reserve
pond
We were interested to find a somewhat
unusual submerged plant in the nature
reserve pond. It was very dominant in the
pond during the latter period of the dry
weather. This is
Stonewort also
k n o w n a s
Chara vulgaris It was somewhat unusual being
polymorphic which means it is a botanical stage
between algae and full plant form. We normally know
algae as the green or red colour on stones or trees.
This is aquatic with fine strands rather than storks and
small red fruiting bodies. The pictures show it
magnified at x20. Interestingly after the rains came
and the pond filled up it disappeared. It probably
arrived there on bird’s feet.

THE STORY OF CHILDHOOD IN BERE REGIS Souls Moor Ponies
IN THE YEARS AROUND THE TIME OF THE By the time you read this the ponies will have probably left Souls Moor for their

FIRST WORLD WAR - PART 7 warmer and drier winter quarters. The ponies will hopefully return late spring next
year. As previously mentioned the ponies are there to help with wildlife
conservation and restoration. They have spent the summer munching through the
long rank grasses that have built up during the period Souls Moor was ungrazed.
Thank you again to Tony Bates for sending in these extracts from Bill Lucas’s book The long rank grasses tend to dominate and out-compete a range of more
about his boyhood in Bere Regis. interesting and valuable wildflowers. Thanks to their work we have already seen
more wildflowers appearing. With continued summer grazing by the ponies the

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