Male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)

Some of the evergreen or semi-evergreen ferns are much more obvious at this time of year.  This is a male fern, a species common throughout Brede High Woods.

An extract from the rhizomes of male fern was regarded as "one of the most potent remedies for tapeworm ever recorded in the annals of medicine."  The active ingredient was thought to be piperazine, but properly conducted experiments with this showed that, while it did expel tapeworms it did not expel all of them and was therefore nowhere near as good as other antihelminthics.

Another use for male fern was in Father Künzle's Oil.  This was used as a rubbing oil for muscular pain.  Five fronds were dried, the leaflets stripped off and macerated for a month in 200ml of olive oil.

Father Johann Künzle (1857-1945), a Swiss, was one of the pioneering modern herbalists famed for his book Herbs and Weeds (Chrut und Uchrut).  Some consider his work to be of great value, others that he was a charlatan - so often the way with alternative medicine.

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Midwinter mud

My first walk in Brede High Woods after a bad cold which has kept me indoors.

The woods were cold, wet and muddy, but there was much to see.  Pools full of bright green water starwort and floating sweet-grass, wonderful displays of fern; mosses, lichens and even some unusual toadstools.  And on the bank by the main car park a nearly opened flower bud on a barren strawberry plant.

It is a commonplace to long for spring at this time of the year, but there is much to enjoy in the woods that could easily be overlooked in the warmer months.  The cold and the quiet is also a good antidote to the Christmas queues and other seasonal pressures.

Over the next few days I will talk about some of the things I discovered on this walk.

Surveying for dormice

A concerted effort is being made to get a better understanding of any dormouse populations that may occur in Brede High Woods.  As a start nest boxes have been put up in what seems to be a favourable area, but these will not, of course, be used until the animals come out of hibernation next year.

The picture shows the dormouse group about to set off to put up the boxes.

The Sussex Mammal Group is also undertaking a major survey into dormouse populations across East and West Sussex with the Sussex Dormouse Nut Survey.  In addition to putting up nest boxes or tubes, the presence of dormice can be established by searching for hazel nuts that have been opened in a characteristic way.  For anyone who would like to get involved, details of how to do this and much more on dormice in Sussex can be found here.

Beech woodwart (Hypoxylon fragiforme)

These hard, round fungi occur quite frequently on dead branches of beech.  These were in Greenden Wood on the western side of Brede High Woods.  They are almost certainly H. fragiforme, but there are one or two rarer lookalikes that can only be told apart by microscopic examination.

A chemical compound has been isolated from H. fragiforme that is said to be effective in inhibiting the development of HIV and AIDS.  The fungus also contains compounds with antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Candle-snuff fungi (Xylaria hypoxylon)

These very common saproxylic fungi that grow on dead and often buried wood are having, like many other fungi, a good year.

The name 'candle-snuff' has been explained by likening the (unforked) fruiting bodies with their white tops and black bases to extinguished candle wicks.  But some authors say it is because a smoke-like cloud of spores sometimes arises if the fungi are tapped.

Despite its attractive and distinctive appearance, this fungus seems to have found little use in folk medicine.  Recently however a chemical (19,20-epoxycytochalasin D) has been isolated from the fungus.  This compound is, apparently, a strong cytotoxin and may have some value in dealing with tumours.  It underscores the point that many compounds with useful properties must only be found in particular species, compounds that will be lost in nature if these species become extinct.

Winter midges

During these cold spells, as soon as the sun has gathered strength and started to melt the frost, small clouds of tiny midges can often be seen dancing in the cold woodland air.  They are often a non-biting midge, or chironomid, called Gymnometriocnemus brumalis.

The male and female shown above illustrate the marked sexual dimorphism of this species.  The male is black with candyfloss antennae, while the female is yellow with brown stripes on the thorax.

Often this species, which always occurs as an adult in the colder months, will settle on pale surfaces such as cut stumps or, in the case above, the lid of a new dormouse box.  I have also seen them hitch a ride on the back of one of our dogs (now long dead).

This tiny insect occurs in millions in England's winter woods and is found across Europe and in North America as well as in Brede High Woods.  It seems to me to be just as common as it used to be, whereas many other members of its family (Chironomidae) have declined alarmingly.  The larvae and pupae of the species have never, so far as I am aware, been described but probably occur among wet dead leaves.  All stages must represent an important food resource for insectivorous birds and animals in the winter.

I suspect the reason for its continuing success is that the fallen leaves in our woods are less affected than other habitats by the polluting chemicals that are now so prevalent.  Many other Chironomidae breed in rivers, streams and ponds and these have, of course, been severely damaged by chemicals over the past fifty years or more.

Although it sounds more like summer than winter, this species must be one of the few Chironomids that has featured in a poem by, in this instance, the anonymous writer of the Reading is Dangerous blog:

At the lake,

when I wasn’t swimming

or playing petanque

or rescuing gymnometriocnemus flies stuck in my body hair

or picking up plastic bottles from the beach or playing chess

or playing mafia at night with 12 kids

or drinking Kilikia beer (great taste because of great Armenian water)

or pondering on the problem of what's Right and what's Wrong

or just sleeping late,

I was meditating by the waters and studying wave patterns.

Brede High Woods buildings 3

One of the less impressive structures from the recent past left behind at the Wood Yard are a couple of corrugated iron portable toilets now beginning to rust into oblivion.  Sadly this one isn't an ageing Dalek or a second hand Tardis.

I include the picture of one here to ensure as complete a record as I can.  Not exactly the Taj Mahal, but not as often photographed I suspect.