Garden Snails

Making a start on identifying the snails in the garden with these species that were on the move yesterday morning after a damp night. 

Lots of Insects in Ivy plants

Lots of different Fly species, Box Bugs,and other Hemiptera, Spiders and Ivy Bees feasting on the late nectar in the Ivy Flowers

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