Life in the Compost Bin

The wet and warm weather recently has encouraged a mass of slime moulds in my compost bin. I brought in a Ground Ivy plant and a few Silver Birch leaves that are coated in fruiting bodies. I think the two species evident in the third shot are Lamproderma scintillans and Didymium squamulosum which are Barry Webb says are often found in the same habitat at the same time (to be checked).

My Village in Infrared

Some infrared images of my village, Toft in Cambridgeshire, on a changeable day this week. Managed the entire walk without getting wet which was an achievement - as you see from the very large puddles everywhere, we have had a lot of rain. 

Snowdrops and Other Spring Flowers in Toft

These images were taken with a small Sony camera that was given to me as it wasn't working well. I gave it a good clean and then tested it at Toft churchyard which is turning white with snowdrops at the moment. Only saves in jpeg but will be a useful camera to carry with me as it has an impressive 20 times Zoom and can also do a reasonable macro shot.

Toft Churchyard Lichens

Today's post definitely a preliminary look at what is growing on the walls and gravestones in our village church. They were very difficult to photograph handheld in not very good light. I will try again with some type of lighting to get sharper images for ID, The summary image at the end shows the IDs that various apps suggested - further shoots and comparisons of images should confirm or not these first attempts and then to check with other sources.

A Winter's Day

Yesterday was clear skies from sunrise to moonrise. I walked up to Hardwick Wood to help with the annual coppicing (something I have taken part in for more than 60 years in West Cambridgeshire! The ground was still very frosted but out of the wind pleasant in the sunshine. Lots of tiny leaf fungi around but no larger ones. The Spurge Laurel, a local wildflower special, is coming into flower. The walk back into the wind was not so good! 

It was a supermoon last night - known as the Cold Moon, a good description so it was a brief walk round the village to view it.