Fun Times with Fungi

 This is going to be another one of those times when I post a load of photos from one day's shooting because if I don't who knows when I will get round to it. 

When I was last at Martin Mere I noticed quite a few different fungi but I didn't have a tripod or macro lens with me so I didn't try to photograph any of them. However this is the perfect time of year to get out into your nearest woodland and look for  some of our fabulous fungi. So taking advantage of a few free hours and some dry weather I headed off to Thurstaston Common to see what I could see.

I hadn't gone very far before I spotted something and from then on I found loads of different species and I only stopped searching because I needed to go back home for some lunch. I should have known that I would get absorbed and taken some snacks along with me.

Anyway below is a selection of images from todays wanderings. I won't pretend to know what most of these fungi are called, I know there are a couple of shots of some small Jelly Ear Fungus and a couple of Fly Agaric, but not in the vibrant red you might expect. Many of the others were very small and hidden away. When I say small I mean the heads were   a lot smaller than my small fingernail and the stems no thicker than a blade of grass. Such small and fragile plants that do such an important job in our woodlands and heaths. Some of these may be edible, but as I told the various dog walkers who stopped to ask, I have no idea which ones so unless you know its safer to get your mushrooms from your preferred retailer.

Our natural world is full of wonder and beauty, so scroll down and take a look.

It was This Big

 It is just over 11 years since I started posting photos on this blog and although I don't post nearly as often as I used to it still generates a fair bit of traffic from all around the world, which is quite reassuring. For example even though I didn't post at all since mid August I had over 41,500 views last month and over 1,000  per day this month too. In the grand scheme of things I don't really know how that compares to others but it is nice to know that what I am posting gets seen somewhere.

Sometimes I can go out with my camera and take hundreds of photos in a very short time and then on days like today when the light was  rather flat and grey I will take much fewer. Today over three hours at Martin Mere WWT reserve in Lancashire I took just 32 photos, the best of which I will share below. Even though I wasn't snapping away I still enjoyed the time there, sitting in the hides enjoying the company of like minded people or walking along the quite pathways and I was really pleased that I had made the effort to get out.

So to the pictures... Rather than split them up over several days I am going to put them all here with a few comments.

Firstly a couple of shots of a Black Tailed Godwit. These are incredibly rare birds in the UK, a Red Listed species with less than 50 breeding pairs being recorded across the UK so to see two here at Martin Mere was a genuine treat.

Next we have this very snooty looking Greylag Goose, these are fairly common and often seem fairly tame. This one, stood on the side of the lake was definitely posturing.

When it comes to superiority this beautiful Whooper Swan really seemed to be bragging about something. These are winter visitors to the UK coming down from Iceland. It is an Amber Listed species and it is illegal to disturb these birds. It is great to watch them swanning around on the lake. Sometimes they are very serene and at other times they get in quite a flap. It was amusing watching them vying for the best spots on the lake and this one, in this series of pictures appears to be trying to convince us that it really was that big, no, Really, That Big!

It is said that when Robins appear loved ones are near and today that definitely felt like it was true, and as I thought about that saying I thought among others about my mother in law who would have been 89 tomorrow.

And finally, perhaps my favourite shots of the day, not birds at all but a series of pictures of a leaf. Yes, that's right, a leaf. Don't switch off yet I promise these are pictures worth your time.  As I was walking along a path beneath the trees on my way out I saw a random leaf apparently hovering in the air. Of course it was not hovering at all, it was suspended by a gossamer thread that from most angels was completely invisible. In the low light and with the backdrop of autumn colours I thought it was fun to capture these final few images. It wasn't until I enlarged the pictures at home that I was able to see the thread by which the leaf was hanging, but not in all the pictures. I love the lighting and the bokeh in these pictures and the way the leaf appears to be floating or in free fall and I thought it was a fun way to end this post. Enjoy...

That's all for today, come back soon, and please feel free to leave a comment or share this post.

Something Prehistoric

 

Ok so I know these birds are not prehistoric, they're very much in the here and now (or the there and then when these photos were shot), but I am sure you will agree they do have a prehistoric look.

These are California Brown Pelicans which as their name suggests live in and around California. These were spotted flying and fishing in Monterey bay and Santa Cruz. 

They are known for catching fish by plunge diving, unlike other species of Pelican, and I enjoyed watching them diving headfirst into the water and coming up with  fish. It was very difficult to predict where or when they would dive because they gave no clear indication of when they were going to do it. I managed to ge5t a few shots of the water splashing as they hit the water but none at the critical moment when their beak touched the surface.

I had seen White Pelicans up in Thunder Bay, Ontario one time, swimming along in a flotilla, which was quite impressive but I think watching these in California was quite something.

Both the white and brown variants have suffered somewhat in the past and the white pelican is considered a "threatened species" in Ontario. A major threat in the past was the use of the pesticide DDT that through run off into lakes and rivers entered the food chain. It caused the birds eggs to be very thing and fragile so Pelicans like many other species that fed on fish were badly affected. Happily since the ban on the use of DDT many bird species populations have increased and since 2009 the California Brown Pelican was removed from the federal endangered species list.

Rattled

 I sometimes struggle to get motivated to spend time sorting through the photos that I take, perhaps because I have so many, maybe its because I seem to have too little time that its just not a priority. Sometimes though, I will spend a long time sifting through a file, editing some images and then deciding that I don't actually want to share them or do anything more with them. But I have so many beautiful images that I want to share too so I need to sort my head out a little bit.

Recently I have been bothered about the messed up world we live in, particularly as I am busy with grandparenting and I wonder what a mess we are leaving for the future generations to sort out. Close to home I see conflict in the community about the "loss" of a beach as nature is allowed to fight back after years of raking and pesticide use. I have seen  protests against refugees when people should be protesting at the conflicts that cause so many people to flee their homelands and we should be more welcoming. Nationally and internationally I see policies being promoted that are divisive and leaders who feed the chaos with lies and misinformation. Famines created by conflict, more children murdered in mass shootings and when anyone says "enough, this has to stop" those who could do something about it look the other way. 

Honestly it is so depressing. I really didn't intend to go down this route when I started this post so I am sorry for the depressing tone but something does need to change. I have said it before we cant do much but we need to do the little things that can make our world a better place, for ourselves and for the future generations, if we don't set a better example how can we expect those who follow us to do any better. 

Maybe that is why I have chosen the pictures above, the title for this post is Rattled and I was referencing the grasses seed heads which look like tiny rattles, but there is an added meaning because I feel pretty rattled by all the things I have seen and referred to above. 

But these grasses are beautiful. I can recall seeing them on a hot and sunny day out with my family in a forest in California, with all the giant trees around me I took time to notice something so little and seemingly insignificant. But how beautiful it is and even something so small plays a part in the wider ecosystem. So, as I say I had no idea where this post would take me but I guess the point I have arrived at is that we, like these grasses may seem/feel insignificant but we have a place and a role to play, we may only be able to do little things but we should do the little things that make things better and more beautiful and not contribute to the mess.