Toft Garden October

The decaying leaves and stems in my compost heap are covered in these slime moulds - Didymium sp, (?nigripes) - hoping to find more species so keep looking!! Otherwise invertebrate numbers are now very low apart from the wonderful Long-nosed Weevils on the Hollyhocks, the numerous Hairy Shieldbugs, several spider species including Pisaura mirabilis, a couple of hoverfly species and other flies.

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).

Slime Moulds and Fungi

A selection of Slime Moulds and Fungi found in a small wood in Cambridgeshire on fallen trees including Beech. There is one very small toadstool that I can't even guess what it might be. I suspect there may be some corrections to several others!

Bourn Walk

 As I needed to go to the Surgery in Bourn this morning and it wasn't raining, I walked over via the edge of the golf course where there is a well-established Hawthorn hedge which yielded quite a few clumps of Fungi, a couple of Slime moulds and several vibrant lichen species. There was a lot of water in the Bourn Brook but fortunately no flooding on the walk. 

Cambridge Botanic Gardens 2

 A few more images from our visit to the Gardens on Saturday including my first Bees of the year busy collecting from Winter Honeysuckle which is in full bloom. In the wooded areas some very impressive thorns and the plasmodium of a slime mould showing how wet it had been prior to our visit.