u/Scientasker

I’m sure you’ve all seen pictures of the UK at the moment; what was a luscious green countryside 2 months ago is now a yellow dusty desert. This is particularly extreme in the south of England where I live, following multiple heat waves and literally 0mm of rain.

This has obviously led people to have serious serious concerns for our environment in general and rightfully so.

But I was wondering, how much do you ecologists think the ‘optics’ of dried/dead grass play a part in how people perceive the current status of our wildlife in general?

I’ll explain what I mean a bit more….

When I look at the pictures I’ve added. The image where the grass is green I see a huge expanse of closely mown grass, typical of an English park. This park is probably made up of Perennial ryegrass + fescues + meadow-grasses, with scattered white clover, daisies and dandelions.

Then in the 2nd image, all dried up and gone. However, in the foreground you see what people would consider ‘weeds’ wonderfully green, hardy species carrying on like nothing has happened.

So, yes of course our wildlife is suffering from drought. But is it just a case of bad optics? Are mono-dominant grass species which aren’t tolerant to drought conditions our parks and urban areas, making it seem much worse?

In the future, would the answer be to make our parks much more rich and diverse with plenty of drought tolerant species, so they remain green throughout?

Hope that makes sense!

I was making a den in the woods with my son when I saw a slight bluish tinge in the outside of a fallen Hornbeam branch. I knew this branch would contain Green Elfcup hyphae, but I didn’t know that after I snapped it open, it would be this rich in colour.

Absolutely stunning.

(Photos of fruiting bodies are from others I’ve found in this woodland).

Found a huge patch of Oregano! Would have loved to bag some up and take it home but the land it was growing on was contaminated significantly. This is on the site of a historical landfill that goes back to pre 1960s, in Hitchin.

I’m quite strict about contaminants when it comes to foraged foods, probably overly cautious. So much food grows by motorways; plums, apples; pears etc. I won’t touch any of it unfortunately.

Does anyone else share the same feeling?