Category: David

The wayside fruit of autumn.

If this is the blusher, it is a close relative of, and frequently confused with, panther caps.

This grouping was within yards of the others posted a couple of days ago which seemed more definitely to be panther caps.

Now grown beyond its earlier state here.

Related to the more brightly coloured fly agaric toadstool.

It is even more dangerous to ingest than that species, containing a higher concentration of the same hallucenogenic/poisonous ingredients.

Autumn is the season of fungi, berries, leaves changing colour, and spiders, many of which become more noticeable at this time of year.

The one above is a cross spider, a common spider in gardens. Below is one of a smaller species which I didn’t manage to identify.

The inkcaps are a family of mushrooms which spread their spores by deliquescing. Their caps are transformed into a black slime, which is indeed the pores.

Another name for this species is lawyers wig. At a certain stage in their decomposition the caps can look very like a barrister’s less than pristine headgear (below and especially above).

The specimens pictured here show the range of stages from newly emerged to almost completely deliquesced.

This one was outlined by dew on the remains of an umbellifer on an early morning at the start of September.

A spider’s web catching the sunlight.

Not a spider, but still an arachnid. This individual seems to have lost one of its legs.

Also known as Fuller’s Thistles, these spiny plants were once cultivated for use in processing wool.

From the shape, it is easy to see where this group of small insect species get their name.

This is the 404th post since this blog started exactly a year ago today. After one missed day in the first week, there has been at least one posting every day.

Now to see if I can keep up that momentum without too much repetition.

This close-up of thistle seeds ready to be blown away by the next wind looks like an abstract.