GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY

It's that time of year when the days are getting shorter, the weather is getting worse!  the wild flowers are starting to fade, the butterflies have all but disappeared and the birds are flying away (we still have passage migrants to look out for, of course).  Now  is the time for us photographers to once again get our knees and elbows wet and muddy down amongst the leaf litter. Yes, it's FUNGI TIME.

Yesterday was my first fungi photo foray (that's a lot of f's) of the year. I went to a good fungi spotting location,  the large mixed woodland of the Ashridge Estate, which straddles the Herts/Bucks border.

I spent about four hours wandering the woods and found reasonable amounts of  'specimens'  to photograph. One area however was pretty much devoid of any decent photo opportunities and I soon realised why, two women busily picking every edible fungi in sight! after a nod of introduction we got chatting and they turned out to be an Italian mother and daughter "up from London" (about 20 miles away at its nearest) for the day  specifically to collect "mushrooms", which they do two or three times a year, and judging by their basket which was overflowing with Boletes and Puffballs they were having a very successful day!  

 With hindsight  I should have taken a photograph of their basket, doh!

Here  are a few(!) images from 'my basket'.

Lilac Bonnet  (mycena pura)

Yellow Swamp Brittlegill  (russula claroflava)

Bitter Beech Bolete  (boletus calopus)

Common Funnel  (clitocybe gibba)

Sepia Bolete  (boletus porosporus)

Bicoloured Deceiver  (laccaria bicolor)

Purple Jellydisc  (ascocoryne sarcoides)

Common Puffball  (lycoperdon perlatum)

Orange Milkcap  (lactarious aurantiacus)

Clustered toughshank  (collybia confluens)

Cep or Penny Bun  (boletus edulis)

 I've given some I D's but they're by no means 100% certain. please feel free to correct me where needed.