Wolves Wild

A long dry summer means there have ben very few fungi this year. We noticed these few hare’s foot inkcap growing on a pile of wood chip mulch, a food source they favour.

The long dry summer must have led to southern fruits like grapes having more chances of ripening here in the midlands. These grapes were on vines along the wall of the garden at New Place, Stratford on Avon.

The Shakespeare properties in Stratford on Avon aren’t an obvious choice to go looking for wildlife. But the well-kept gardens at thye Birthplace and at New Place attract a range of insects.

Early last month there was a large gathering of hairy shield bugs in the garden at new Place.

Common agrimony growing, and flowering, by the pond in Compton Park.

A clump of onion earthballs – can you see the supposed resemblance to onions?

Chicken of the woods is a bracket fungus, which causes brown rot in the trees it grows on. It’s also a target for the fungi foragers – though not this particular growth, which comes back each year on a fallen willow on the edge of the island in the West Park lake.