Flowering Late or Early - Climate Change?

With the lack of frosts and the generally moist and relatively warm conditions, there are lots of wild flowers open in my Cambridgeshire garden that would normally be dormant such as the Red Campion, Dandelion, Primrose, Knapweed, Chicory (a new self-seeded species this year) and Chickweed plus some naturalised species - Linaria, Alkanet and Corydalis. Various garden perennials are still flowering or are starting early like the Jasmine and Erysium (wallflower) while some annuals such as Cosmos and Marigolds are from this year's seeds.

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.