Mission Accomplished at Brandon

The only thing that I definitely offered for the RPS Workshop on fungi at Brandon  yesterday was over 30 years of visiting and hence a lot of knowledge of what species are found where and when. Brandon fulfilled this promise with lots of colourful and attractive species from the Porcelain fungi up on the beech branches to the colourful Mycena haematopus, Fly agarics and Amethyst Deceivers. We tried different lighting and experimental  techniques - some not yet quite mastered like the 'toadstool in the Bokeh'. We even found lots of Slime Mould -  though probably only one species.

Very Wet Morning at Brandon, Suffolk

Although the weather forecast predicted a dry morning from about 9 am when our RPS Nature Group  arrived at Brandon, it rained heavily for most of the morning. However, with thousands of toadstools sprouted up everywhere, we got down to the task of trying to produce interesting photographs while sheltering under Brollies etc We used natural lights topped up with LED panels where needed and several techniques including focus stacking. Here are some of my morning efforts including the last one lit with UV light giving quite a spooky feeling. 

Toft Garden - Life on the Edge

 Sitting under my small oak tree (now about 25 years old), I became aware of how many small life forms exist on the leaves and also on the logs piled up nearby. First, a very small leafhopper (Ribautiana debilis), then a small booklouse family insect (Ectopsocus petersi) and a Pea gall caused by a small parasitic wasp. The logs are alive with life including Collembolid species and lots of fungi and lichens 

Hardwick Wood Fungi

There are lots of small fungi in Hardwick Wood at the moment  but no large Parasols or Geotropes yet. Several species of Ink Caps  while the pore tubes on the Beef steak fungus are intriguing. Taken around midday so not the best lighting and no idea what the small insect is on the first image

The Painted Church Cambridge

As part of our Documenting Cambridge project ( Public Home Page), I spent a couple of hours at the 'Painted Church' in Cambridge yesterday morning lit by beautiful autumn sunlight. I only had a compact single focal length camera with me so these are planning shots for a later in depth visit. All Saints' was built by the architect George Frederick Bodley between 1863 and 1870 and is a notable example of English Gothic Revival style, both for its exceptional hand painted walls and for the spectacular stained glass.The wall and ceiling decorations were applied by F. R. Leach & Sons and form complex, bold stencilled patterns throughout the church. The east window was designed by Edward Burne-Jones.