RSPB Sandy Heathland Fungi etc

A somewhat reduced party explored the heathland at Sandy in the afternoon and spent a couple of hours happily engaged with a large variety of species including this very impressive slime mould (many images are jpeg out-of-the-camera stacks as limited time to process at the moment). I also include a species sheet for the day

Morning Fungi Hunt at Sandy

A very enjoyable day showing a party of 16 from Paxton Volunteers, the Royal Photographic Nature Group and Cambridge Camera Club some of the fungal delights at Sandy. Here a few from the morning session including the slime mould Myxomycota, Parasols, Small Ink cap and Fly Agaric. Afternoon photos on the heathland to follow!

Where Are All the Berries

In our part of the country (Cambridgeshire) berries are in very short supply, with Hawthorn bushes mainly devoid of any haws. Fieldfares have arrived but are feeding on fall-down apples at the moment - worried for them and other species this winter if we do have cold spells. Various Fungi have appeared in Toft Wood and fields.

Life Among the Fungi

There were lots of creatures living on or near the fungi we were photographing on Sunday including this fly and Harvestman plus lots of slugs, centipedes, spiders and millipedes

Birds Nest Fungi etc RSPB Sandy

A very enjoyable day at RSPB Sandy hunting for fungi on a dull but dry day with RPS and CCC members. We were delighted to find Bird's Nest Fungus - these are very small but perfectly formed nests with 'eggs' - this one is one a bracken stalk for scale the group were on a piece of bark. While photographing a small Mycena species growing out of a fallen branch, I realised there were small objects in the frame - a group of slime moulds. My focus stack for this one was not optimal so there is a bit of shadowing but pleased with the detail. I think the following image is also a slime mould. Otherwise a mixture of small, medium and large species to challenge our photographic skills.