Miscellany of Fungi from Brandon and Santon Downham

 On Saturday at Brandon, I used a UV light on a variety of toadstools and must research what causes the consistent different colours that are emitted under this light source. At Santon Downham was well as finding a wide range of new species, we tried using a smoke machine and a crystal ball with some of the toadstools growing on the abundant branches and in the pine cones. I photographed what I thought was a small beetle and it turned out to be a sheep tick while the white '?gall' from Saturday is a Sputnick Spider's egg sac. 

Autumn at Santon Downham 2

In the afternoon,  it gradually cloudy over giving different lighting to work with. I used an older camera, which will composit only two images together as an average  and a very contrasty 50mm lens. The first image is an example of an old technique - the Orton effect where the first image is out of focus and the second image in exactly the same position is in focus. The second image is a panorama of the confier forest.  The type of picture I had in my mind are images 3-6 where the camera has combines an underexposed ICM image of the forest tree trunks with a bright autumn branch from a beech sapling.

Santon Downham 2 - Playing with Light and Focus Stacking

As well as photographing the different types of fungi in Thetford Forest on Sunday, I also spent time doing different light set ups with a continuous LED light source sometimes with a magenta filter. The first image is of the Pine Cone Ttoadstool - around 3mm maximum cap size growing out of cones with the light behind to illuminate the cap. I tried to get backlit spore release from the Puff Balls but this definitely needs more experimentation. The last two images are focus stacks of the Sulphur Tuft toadstool. The first is a stack of 51 images and shows too much depth of field. I suspected this at the time by looking at the last image in the series so took a second stack of 31 images which brings most of the clump into focus but still separates from background (Fuji bracket handheld, Zerene stacker). 

Fungi Foray at Santon Downham 1

A party of 10 CCC and RPS Members enjoyed a day in Thetford Forest scrabbling among the leaf litter and fallen branches for fungi. It is a superb year for them with the wet and warm conditions. Here some 'straight' shots of a few types that we found including a stand of Fly Agarics which took some finding - we were sure they must be moving as each set of directions we received from walkers were different!

Young Mycologists at Work in Thetford Forest

There are still lots of toadstools in Thetford forest to keep budding Mycologists happy. And before Mum and Dad get worried, Russula atropurpurea that M is holding is an edible species. The Russlua claroflava below is also edible but they were not allowed to touch the fly Agarics. Also identified Egg stage of the Phallus impudicus, Mycena rosea, Macrolepiota mastoidea and Sulphur Tuft. Not sure of last species

Colourful World of Spiders

On Sunday, as well as a good selection of fungi, we spent time photographing two very small spiders - Tetragnatha extensa (brown on the left) and Diaea dorsata (the Green Crab Spider) hiding in the leaves of an oak tree. It was quite dull light by then and they are very small so a big challenge not totally met for sharpness but I do like the colours and, particularly, the way the eyes are shown. I confirmed ID of the brown one by its eye pattern but I liked the goggle eyes of the crab spider best.