Extending Paxton Lichen/Fungi List

An enjoyable walk round Heronry trail at Paxton yesterday in the sunshine spending some time in the scrubland near the Quarry photographing a few more lichens and fungi. The most interesting find for me was this bright pink lichenocolous fungus - Illosporiopsis christiansenii parasitic on Physcia tenella and sometimes also on Xanthoria parietina. It grows in and on the host lichen, feeding from it, degrading it, and eventually killing it. You can see in the second image bottom right the areas or sick or dead lichen of both species. I will add the ID sheet when completed.

RSPB Sandy Walk with Paxton Volunteers

A very enjoyable walk round RSPB Sandy today - the rain that was expected in the morning didn't arrive though the afternoon proved wetter than forecast. We were mainly hunting for interesting fungi, slime moulds and lichens but with the warmer temperatures some of the creatures were on the move. I have never recorded the Spotted Snake Millipede before so that was a good find. There were lots of brackets and crusts on the trunks, a few 'toadstools and we found a few slime moulds though not as many as I hoped. Tentative IDs in the sheets.

 

Madingley Wood - Elf Cups and other Fungi among the Snowdrops

A visit to Madingley Hall this morning in bright sunshine revealed a single Scarlet Elf Cup along with a couple of Slime Moulds with number of different fungi and slime moulds among the newly emerging Snowdrops, Aconites and Spurge Laurel. More fungi etc to follow.

Close-up Photography Hardwick Wood

I was a bit late to capture the beautiful frost this morning which rapidly melted in the sunshine but the latter allowed some detailed and colourful close-ups of mosses, lichens and fungi in Hardwick Woods. The birds obviously thought spring might be on the way with Mistle Thrush, Woodpeckers, Nuthatch, and Tits all singing and even a Tawny Owl decided to add to the woodland sound track.