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David

Damselflies seen from a towpath

Male beautiful demoiselle, Castlecroft

Males of the beautiful demoiselle damselfly are mostly a striking electric blue colour.

Female beautiful demoiselle, Wightwick

The females are more subdued colours, which also vary more depending on the lighting conditions.

Male beautiful demoiselle, Castlecroft

The ones shown here had territories along the Staffs & Worcs Canal, which they watched while perching on vegetation in the hedge by the towpath.

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David

Yellow staining agaric

Yellow staining agaric

Yellow staining agarics look like field mushrooms, though they can smell of phenol.

Yellow staining agaric

When they are cut, the exposed flesh turns yellow. When eaten, they cause a series of unpleasant symptoms. Because they are so easily confused with field mushrooms, they are the commonest cause of mushroom poisoning.

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David

Blue butterfly on bramble leaf

Blue butterfly

Blue butterfly, possibly a holly blue, which settled on a bramble leaf by the canal towpath near Compton.

Blue butterfly

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David

Spongy bracket fungus

Spongy bracket fungus

Large, unidentified bracket fungus growing near the base of an old oak tree. Its edge looked like a sponge and seemed to be exuding a clear viscous liquid.

Spongy bracket fungus

I didn’t test to see if it had a sponge-like consistency.

Spongy bracket fungus

UPDATE – now identified as the weeping polypore, also known as the oak bracket or as the warted oak polypore (Inonotus dryadeus).

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David

Fish half out of water

Carp

Carp in the West Park boating lake, looking like it’s trying to get onto the bank.

Carp

The carp are an impressive size, but only rarely visible from the shore.

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David

Green and orange

Green and orange

Large goldfish in the West Park boating lake, uncooperatively heading directly away from me into deeper water.