WWT Slimbridge

We had a ‘day’ out today – well by the time we got there it was really an afternoon out.

The weather was okay – sunny, cloudy, blustery – its autumn!

Leaves turning,

An arty shot, the 'teddy bear' trees leaves were fantastic colours and blowing in the wind - so a long exposure to get the blurring gave me this

the berries were red and the leaves all colours 

even the ducks looked good with sun on the water and reflections of the leaves

Fungi growing

 

These were growing in the rotting top of a fence post, you can see a Ash key to the right of the fungi so that gives you scale 

These were growing in join of a large branch in the bark of a large willow where moss had taken hold and grown- I loved the feather stuck in there, nope not a set up - thats how it was when I spotted it 

Dragons are still on the wing - not bad for mid October, this is a Red Veined Darter, Sympetrum fonscolombii

Birds washing, standing around, leaving and arriving, gulls being the opportunists they are for a free feed

 

  Says it all really, it was a nice day except poor Ella was not well with the trip and did not get the chance to do much before it was all too much for her.

Bits and Bobs - mostly fungi

Had a bit of a family panic last week, Yokes mum was not well and we had to go up to Lincoln, rather than sit in the hospital looking ‘spare’ I wandered off to the local nature reserve I have been to a few times Whisby - http://www.lincstrust.org.uk/whisby-nature-park

If you are ever in the area it’s a nice place to take a walk and has a nice café for a cuppa and a bite to eat as well.

Found loads of fungi this time around, some Fly Agaric, some Boletus some bracket fungi, etc. could not ID most of them positively as need to take a few more detail shots of stem, base of stem, gills etc. as a minimum and did not have time to do that but still was good to see them all.

Cep Penny Bun Boletus

Cep showing tubes

 Before anyone says anything - I found it this way, I guess there was someone before me who wanted the 'speciment shot'. I have identified them as Cep - but not 100% sure so no, I did not bring them home to eat !

 We know what these two are - Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria - pretty and poisonous - the classic toadstool 

 Not sure of this one so not putting a name to it rather than be wrong and look silly

No idea whatsoever on this one, there were a couple more very similar but cant find anything in my ref books like it

 I think to ID most of these properly I would need a spore print and a sample at home - not got either so - its a fungi !

This week at home Ella spotted this fella on the window, a cousin of one that Verity found a week or so ago in her flat in Falmouth, took a few tries to ID it but finally came up trumps – not native hence the difficulty with the ID – in the end – here is a bit of info on it http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Coreidae/Leptoglossus_occidentalis.pdf

Its a invader from North America, Western Conifer Seed Bug, first found in the UK in 2007 

Finally for a nice finish, had a go at a few arty shots of the last of the Japanese Anemones. Like this one the most so far

 

Birthday Present day

Had a day out today, we went to Hereford. It was Eleanors birthday last week and this was one of her presents, an afternoon of Lampwork tuition with Laney, http://laney-izzybeads.blogspot.com/

The day started with Yoke going to work to do the Flu Clinic then we collected her and drove to Hereford getting there around midday. 

A very warm welcome later and after introductions to Ben, Iz, Defi and Gordy, and it has to be said, a great mug of tea, thanks Ben, Yoke and I departed leaving Eleanor in the safe hands of Laney. Not sure if Laney was quite prepared for the experience, we are a strange bunch so it was very brave of her to agree to this invasion.

After last months visit to the Malvern Show and picking up a leaflet for the Hop Pocket shopping centre, we decided as we were that close we would spend a bit of time there, well okay, the café was nice with good food, locally resourced. The Glass Design studio was nice, very engaging and happy to chat, serious kilns, as he does door panels, cooker splash back type of things, wall hangings light fittings etc.. Ah to have the bank balanced to allow our taste in craft ware. I could have easily spent a fortune if I had it, his work was good. The farm shop was good, just munched on some really nice sourdough bread we bought and had for dinner, most enjoyable. But, otherwise nothing that stood out really, nice for a short visit if you are in the area but that was it.

I did spot a ‘shepherds hut’ out the back that begged to be photographed, clearly it had been used as a hen house but personally I think Granny Aching would have been well at home in it ( Terry Pratchett - The Wee Free Men ) so,  off I went with camera while Yoke took a look around the garden centre etc. 

As you can see I took a few, will take me a while to decide which I like the best. The light kept changing and the colour of the wood varied depending on the light and the angle, at one time there had been a blue 'paint' applied and flat on with shaded light it showed up, once the sun came out fully it was pretty much invisible and had clearly worn / weathered away across most of the hut

 

On the way back to the garden centre, the fence was casting a strong shadow – interesting play on light 

Then in the garden centre – well it is October so we are in Autumn so autumn leaves!

 The shots were okay, a bit different from my normal photographic subjects, always worth taking a sideways move to experiment and learn from.

As it was a sunny day for the most of it, the views around the area were really nice, a few times while driving I wanted to stop and get the camera out but at the areas I could stop it was ‘that’s really nice, but .... as soon as I hear myself say the ‘but’ I know it is not worth getting the camera out. I know I would not be happy with it and will be frustrated and simply delete any I took so I saved some time and simply did not take them!

Back to Laneys and another tea and fun chat later we made our farewells and headed home. In all a really nice day, lovely to meet Laney at last and Eleanor really enjoyed her play on a big girls torch. 

Thank you Laney, something we will have to repeat in the future. You have our address so any time you are down this way feel free to pop in, you will be most welcome.