Thursday 8 September 2011

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.  




6 comments:

Roy said...

These are fabulous and very professional images Trevor.

ADRIAN said...

These are superb...........better than the pictures in my cheapo Collins book.
They are beautiful and one of my favourite subjects.
Great treatment and well worth the effort.

The Herald said...

Roy, Adrian, thank you for your comments.
For some strange reason I really enjoy crawling about in the leaf litter taking photographs of fungi.
I've got quite a few books on fungi but still find difficulty ID'ing them at times!....[;o)

holdingmoments said...

Superb selection Trevor, and I agree with Roy and Adrian; top rate pictures.
Maybe I ought to get down and dirty more often.............if only to meet up with some Italian women! lol

Bob Bushell said...

I used to be a mycologist, but, my illness stopped that. Now, I can remember a few. Lovely series are fantastic.

The Herald said...

Thanks Keith. The problem I have is once I'm down it's a struggle to get back up again!...[;o)


Thank you Bob, I'm glad you enjoyed them...[;o)