Happy hour is an attractive idea - but this evening provided a happier half-hour visiting the 'other end' of Lydden Down, with a surprising variety of wildlife despite the cool breeze.
There were
Chalkhill Blues in the shelter of a hedge..
..and a second emergence
Adonis Blue.
A pair of bizarre toadstools grew through a cowpat, accompanied by a frond of
Salad Burnet.
In the space of 10 seconds as I passed a stand of Scots Pine, I saw a Sparrowhawk fly, a
Little Owl perched on a branch, two
Great Spotted Woodpeckers and heard a yaffle from a Yaffle.
As for flora, despite the lateness of the season there remained a good selection of downland flowers, including a
Houndstongue with its strange seeds.
There were even some
Autumn Gentians. What a happy time.
Incidentally, this month's edition of the BBC Wildlife magazine has an article on the Lydden reserve, with a good photo if I do say so myself.
Happy hour is an attractive idea - but this evening provided a happier half-hour visiting the 'other end' of Lydden Down, with a surprising variety of wildlife despite the cool breeze.
There were Chalkhill Blues in the shelter of a hedge..
..and a second emergence Adonis Blue.
A pair of bizarre toadstools grew through a cowpat, accompanied by a frond of Salad Burnet.
In the space of 10 seconds as I passed a stand of Scots Pine, I saw a Sparrowhawk fly, a Little Owl perched on a branch, two Great Spotted Woodpeckers and heard a yaffle from a Yaffle.
As for flora, despite the lateness of the season there remained a good selection of downland flowers, including a Houndstongue with its strange seeds.
There were even some Autumn Gentians. What a happy time.
Incidentally, this month's edition of the BBC Wildlife magazine has an article on the Lydden reserve, with a good photo if I do say so myself.
6 comments:
Great stuff again Steve, the butterfly on the finger trick is paying dividends! It makes me want to get out more in my local area, but doubt I'd get such good quality pictures - do you use a particularly expensive camera?
You see so many different blue butterflies and I've never even seen one! Great owl shot and the toadstools are interesting looking! Looks like a grat place.
Steve ,
Not easy to ID your fungi from this distance , but best offer would be a member of the Inkcap family , Coprinus niveus .
There are several listed as found on dung , but this is the most probable .
Enjoyed the read as usual .
Graham,
Thanks for the comment - I use a Panasonic FZ7, which is a jack-of-all-trades camera. It cost £230 18 months ago, so - not particularly expensive.
Mary, I don't know if you have chalk where you are, but if you do I expect you'd find blues there.
Greenie, thanks for the ID.
Greenie beat me to it! I have Coprinus niveus on a previous posting. Excellent post with some quality southern specialities. By the way is that something called blue sky in one of those shots.
I do love your Little Owls. Neat fungi too. I want to try to "warm hand for the butterfly" trick too.
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