Pages

Notes on Use of This Blog


1. I have a policy that I always reply to comments on my blog, even if it's just to say thank you.

2. Please don't submit comments that include your own web address. For obvious reasons, they will not be published.

3. I'm now on Twitter - @RichardPegler1

Saturday 12 November 2011

Fungus Fest - on 6th November, 2011

Last Sunday my main objective was to see Short-eared Owls and, in some respects, I was successful in this. However, I did stop off at three of my Little Owl sites on the way. 

Nothing was seen at LO Site No.02. At the second (my Site No.16) I didn't see any owls either, but could not resist taking an image of this Blue Tit in full sun.

Blue Tit - near Snarestone
At my LO Site No.03, one of the owls was sitting out on the nest tree. Unfortunately this still has its leaves, and the only way to get a relatively unobstructed view was to directly approach the bird - a sure-fire way of disturbing it if I got too close! I thought I'd gauged my approach distance well, but I was wrong, and the bird departed. You can see how well this bird blends into its environment here, particularly in the last image.



Little Owl - my Site No.03
Anyway - to the main subject of this post! Where the Short-eared Owls were on Sunday I was struck by the number and variety of fungi. Now I know practically nothing about fungi, so have only been able to positively identify one type - the Fly Agaric, shown below.


Fly Agaric


































This next one was in abundance on a large area of grass. It was growing in rings, and the young growths looked like the type of mushroom you might find in a supermarket. However, the mature ones looked very different, with flat heads and white with a hint of blue and purple in colour. Any suggestions?

Unidentified Fungus 'A'





























The next one looked a bit phallic, but I can't identify it from my fungus book. Again any help would be appreciated. I only found one stand of these! They were in stony ground beside the grass area.

Unidentified Fungus 'B'
The last fungus that I photographed (I saw plenty of others, however) was close to the previous one, and again I only saw one stand of these. I suspect that these are of the Hygrocybe (Waxcap) type, but the specifics I have no idea about.

Unidentified Fungus 'C'






























Any advice on these fungi - other than exhortations to try eating the first - would be much appreciated!

2 comments:

  1. Great Blue Tit shot Richard - so sharp and in nice light. Like you say, the owl is so well camouflaged (thank goodness for spell check), it's no wonder I've only ever seen a handful of Little Owls. Lovely shots of the owl too. Good luck with the shorties.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Christian. Yep - might not have spotted that LO if I didn't know where to look!!

    Not sure when I'm going to get out for SEOs as I've started another garden project - this time a lean-to shed from scratch! I'm a real sucker for taking on these things when I could be out looking for owls.

    ReplyDelete

Please Note: Blogger seems to be making it difficult for some (many?) people to leave comments on blogs, and also making it difficult for the recipient of comments to detect that a comment has been left. If you have any difficulties leaving a comment on the blog, please feel free to email me on richard@peglermail.co.uk. However, if you are solely trying to promote your own blog or business by leaving a link in your comment, it will be blocked. If anyone wants to find you as a result of a comment that you have left, they can do so by looking at your profile.

Please, Blogger, get this mess sorted out.