Snelsmore Common is a little oasis of nature between Newbury and the M4. It has fascinating wildlife and geology - and its silver birch seem to have turned orange. I wondered if it was some sort of lichen, but it's too fine for that. Tristam Belstaff, from Reading (around 20 miles from Snelsmore)
suggests on his blog that it is an alga called
Trentepohlia sp. I'm happy to go with that, even if he was talking about a tree in Reading.
