RSPB Sandy 12th August

 A curtailed but enjoyable RPSNature outing to Sandy on Wednesday - those booked to come on the outing who lived a long distance away took the advice to postpone to a cooler time so just Chris and I braved the temperatures spending most of our time where we could stand in the shade photographing insects on sunlit plants. We concentrated on the Butterflies and Hummingbird Hawkmoths in the morning. In the afternoon, I hoped to get a range of Bee species on the heather to start to learn IDs for this group of insects but there were very few active in the intense heat so we decided it was wise to also abandon the open spaces and head for home!!

Early Fungi at RSPB Sandy

 The fungi season has started but with limited species (presumably due to dry conditions) - Amanita species, Cracked Boletus, Sulphur tufts and Parasols predominate and looked great in yesterdays warm autumn sunshine. Good to bump into several friends also on the lookout for attractive clumps!

Pine Woods in Full-spectrum Photography

My images using the Full-Spectrum camera  in the pine woods at Sandy on Wednesday confirmed that I was not alone! First this very laid back tree and then all those faces in the dead tree bark - reminded me of a William Blake etching such as the Vision of the Last Judgement. The last image is a bit of colour fun with Foxglove rosettes.

Lichens at RPSB Sandy

As often happens when I am out with my camera, I got fixated on the variety of lichens growing on the sandy soils in the reserve. Not great quality images as they are all very small and these in-camera stacks don't give enough depth of field in most cases as it is restricted to 8 shots. I will return and try again taking 20+ stacks to process in the computer. There were lots of ladybirds and very very small spiders (Mangora acalypha)

Toadstools from Sandy Bedfordshire

With all the recent rain and relatively mild temperatures, the fungi are abundant everywhere including RSPB Sandy. We had a very enjoyable day there yesterday with only one shower when we needed to shelter. Here some of the Toadstools; smaller fungi and lichens to follow!