Sunday 7 September 2008

Sunday 7th.September 2008

Another great late Summer's day - not . At least it did stop raining this afternoon , so I headed off for a walk on Keston Common . The recent rain has certainly put the fungi into top gear , but also brought out lots of 'fungi browsers' as well , as many were mutilated or completely broken off at ground level .
I thought I would see how the Beefstake Fungus was doing first . On the way there , on the mown grass around the War Memorial were Hygrocybe ceracea , the Waxcap that I found at Down House recently . When I arrived at the Beefsteak Fungus , it had almost doubled in size ,
and was glistening with the recent rain still laying on it . Deeper into the woodland was one of the Honey Fungus family - Armillaria mellea , also known as Boot-lace Fungus , as it's rhizomormphs can be found under the bark looking just like stringy boot laces . The most common fungi at the moment is well named , Common Yellow Russula , they are everywhere , in all sizes and conditions . Another very common fungi , especially if there is Birch around , is Piptoporus betulinus - Birch Polypore . This shot shows the different stages that the fungi can be found in .
Last fungi is one of the bracket type , Coriolus versicolor - Many-zoned Polypore can be found easily , especially on stumps of trees .
I did not see any butterflies , but I rescued one moth from the middle of a path , and sticking my neck out , I'm saying Small Emerald , but will change the text if I am wrong . I saw one dragonfly , a male Southern Hawker . I stood and watched it hawking up and down the path I was on , hoping it would settle . After ten minutes , it shot over some Gorse bushes , never to be seen again .

Before posting the remainder of this post , I thought long and hard , because of the smear campaign that has been run against me , by a certain reader , inferring that I use stuffed animals in my pictures . I hasten to add that I vehemently refuted such allegations , and still stand by my statement .
That said , I was making my way back to the car , when I saw a movement on the left of the path . As I got closer , I realised that it was a Pigmy Shrew . As I got closer , it crossed the path in front of me , and when it reached the grass on the edge , stopped for food . This gave me the oportunity to snatch three shots of the animal before it disappeared into the thicker vegetation .



1 comment:

Warren Baker said...

Lots of fungi shots there Greenie, I see lots in the wet woods on my patch, but it's too dark to photo them! As for that Pygmy shrew.....well.... ive never seen one stay still long enough to get focused on, let alone take 3 pics of! It was probably feeling unwell, or had eaten too many earthworms and felt STUFFED!