A lovely day, with early morning benefiting from a north-easterly breeze which produced an almost constant flight of small birds north along the cliff-top - see Bockhill's site for a list, in which goldfinches are prominent.
I sat on the cliff watching the goldfinches, wagtails, pipits and finches flying in from the sea, and hundreds of swallows and house martins feeding along the edge, twittering constantly.A painted lady butterfly was nearby, rather worn, but gamely it took off and flew towards the cliff-edge on its vast journey back to Morocco - proof at last, I thought that they do indeed make the journey back to the breeding grounds - and as it fluttered over the edge, over the sea...... it was snapped up by a passing swallow.
A party of six stonechats was along the path beside the golf course, accompanied by pipits and a couple of song thrushes.In the afternoon I went foraging (but taking only photos, leaving only footprints) in Malmains Wood, which has a good mixture of conifers and deciduous trees, and which I hoped would have a new crop of fungi after the rain.
And so it proved. As usual I shall not name names to avoid poisoning (and because I don't know them).
Except this one, which I know to be Chicken of the Woods (it tastes just like chicken, no doubt, but this was an old specimen, and did not look appetising).



There was a good crop of this fungus, so if a reader can identify it as being edible, I'd like to try it.
3 comments:
Damn! And I had £10 on the painted lady making it to Morocco in one piece.
Coincidentally my permaculture pal in Brittany has been blogging about fungi and the preparation thereof. http://bit.ly/a7NeO
An interesting variety of fungi. I guess with all of our rain, I should have gone looking. Poor Painted Lady....but it gave you a great title.
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