Loads of fungi in the New Forest now ! All these found in one small area of Beech wood in the forest yesterday. I can’t name them all, but some great names among those I do know (see ALT text). #fungifriends @newforestnpa.bsky.social

Xylaria polymorpha - Dead Man's Fingers, on Beech wood. New Forest 23/9/25 #fungifriends

Amanita rubescens - The Blusher (note partial veil forming a striated ring) New Forest 23/9/25 #fungifriends

Favolaschia claudopus - Orange Porecap (or Ping-pong Bat) fungus. It’s smaller than I expected. Hampshire 23/9/25 #fungifriends

Ivy is such an important food source for insects. Look at all the bees, wasps, flies, hover flies and butterflies on this small patch in Dorset. A few predators making the most of it too. My favourite though, the Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) #insect #ivy

My favourite stile, earlier this evening. Litton Cheney, Dorset. 21/9/25

Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) trying not to get blown away. Dorset 18/9/25 #butterfly

Still plenty in flower on the windswept heights of Eggardon Hillfort in Dorset this morning. @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #Wildflowers

It’s (already) a Raven day 🖤

Some of this weekend’s wonderful nature colours 🌈 Details in ALT text.

Tubifera ferruginosa - Raspberry Slime Mould 🧡

Oh, and I need a favourite orchid for the #favouriteplant challenge. It’s one I’ve seen many times before, but I can never get enough of. My perennial favourite, the Monkey Orchid, I had a lovely encounter with a special population this year #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

The second of two from me, for the #favouriteplant challenge. My favourite ‘new to me’ plant of 2025 - the extraordinary Marsh Gentian #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

The first of two from me, for the #favouriteplant challenge. My favourite individual plant - this magnificent example of Rock Samphire, perfectly symmetrical in a wonderful setting on Chesil Beach #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

The beautiful Fox Moth (Macrothylacia rubi) larva. It’s well named ! #moth

Some nice bonus orchids while out fungi foraging today ! #orchid

More luck with grassland fungi at my favourite churchyard location today - Entoloma sp. (several very similar species). #fungifriends #fungi

It was lovely to get out for my first fungi forage of the autumn today - the woods were looking lovely. #fungi #NewForest #fungifriends

First fungi forage of the autumn 😁 New Forest today - mostly woodland species, but a few from grassland, and one slime mould ! #fungi #NewForest #fungifriends

Very pretty, very tiny, growing on rotting Beech, and I have no idea what it is 😁 #fungi #NewForest #FungiFriends

Porcelain fungus (Oudemansiella mucida) looking lovey in a New Forest Beech wood today #fungi #NewForest #fungifriends

It’s a Raven day 🖤

The complete transformation of a Dewberry from flower bud to ripe berry (on its way to my kitchen) in the hedgerow tonight. #berry #hedgerow

A very tiny (5mm across) but beautiful snail, that I think is the Discus Snail - Discus rotundatus. Very happy to be corrected. #snail

Some of the (few) fungi (and slime moulds) seen around Kingcombe Meadows NR today. It still seemed very dry despite the recent rain. #fungi #fungifriends @dorsetwildlife.bsky.social

A selection of my favourite type of #SeedHeads for #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Some ethereal beauty for #wildflowerhour #SeedHeads @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Beautiful geometry for #wildflowerhour #SeedHeads @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Rather worn but still lovely Small Copper in Dorset this week. #butterfly

Life on a cow pat … Two insects that like to mate and lay their eggs on cow dung, Mesembrina meridiana (sometimes known as the noon fly) and Scathophaga stercoraria (yellow dung fly), plus some Coprinellus sp fungi.

Today’s insect friend - Scathophaga stercoraria, the yellow dung fly. The adults mates and lays eggs on cow dung, enabling its larvae to feast on the faeces. Just imagine how deep in cow dung we’d be without them !! (Yes I was on my knees photographing cow pats earlier today).

Several Ravens in the valley this lunchtime 🖤

A very sparkly Speckled Wood dodging the showers #butterfly

One of my favourite colour combinations in nature. The first pink Spindle (Euonymus europaeus) #fruits splitting open to expose the orange seed within. #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

The weird cone-like fruits of the Alder (known as strobiles) #fruits #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

I’m surprised I managed to get any #fruits photos for this week’s challenge. Most of the local hedgerow fruit ended up, either in my kitchen, or my little helpers tummy ! #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social Amazing numbers of Hazelnuts this year.

A few #fruits from one local hedgerow - can you tell what they all are? Answer in the ALT text. #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Nice birding trip to Suffolk today. This incredibly confiding Black Stork at Boyton, as well as fleeting views of Zitting Cisticola at a very windy Walberswick.

Up on Colmer’s Hill Dorset for #TrigPointTuesday

The absolutely gorgeous Mellinus arvensis (field digger wasp) A solitary wasp found in sandy places, like this one on Colmer’s Hill, Dorset 26/8/25 #wasp #insect

A western conifer seed bug nymph (Leptoglossus occidentalis), native to North America but now established in Britain. #bug #insect Dorset 26/8/25

Today I’ve been exploring the holloways (hollow-ways, sunken roads) of west Dorset, including this amazingly ‘graffiti’ covered example.

Field Gentians, very small and few and far between, on a parched Dorset grassland this weekend. #WildflowerHour #GentianFamily @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

The colours of this plant are amazing! Delighted to find Marsh Gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe) for #WildflowerHour #GentianFamily Dorset 23/8/25 @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

I’m so excited finding Marsh Gentians (Gentiana pneumonanthe) in Dorset this weekend for #WildflowerHour #GentianFamily challenge. There might be a few pictures! Aren’t they fabulous! 23/8/25 @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

So excited to find this rare and incredibly beautiful plant for #WildflowerHour #GentianFamily challenge. Marsh Gentians (Gentiana pneumonanthe) in Dorset this weekend 23/8/25 @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

I can’t believe how dry it is at Wilverley Plain in the New Forest, it looks like a desert. Nothing alive there, except this incredibly tough orchid ! And it’s preparing for next year too. #autumnladystresses

I think this is Squinancywort (Cynanchica pyrenaica), what a magnificent name. It’s a new one on me, so happy to be corrected. On a Dorset hillfort 21/8/25

Let’s just take a moment for the botanical marvel that is this cultivated Passion Flower. I walk past the plant every morning, but only occasionally do I give it the time it deserves. 💜

There aren’t a lot of opportunities to observe nature at a music festival, but this Golden-ringed Dragonfly (Cordulegaster boltonii) took a liking to one of the tents. Found by my son in the background. #insect #dragonfly @beautifuldaysfest.bsky.social