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| Saffron Grisette - Amanita crocea |
Grisettes are lumped into the genus Amanita along with the death cap and the fly agaric, but can be distinguished from most other amanitas by the distinctly toothed margin of their caps.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Amanita crocea
Monday Mushroom #4
Grisettes are lumped into the genus Amanita along with the death cap and the fly agaric, but can be distinguished from most other amanitas by the distinctly toothed margin of their caps.
Grisettes are lumped into the genus Amanita along with the death cap and the fly agaric, but can be distinguished from most other amanitas by the distinctly toothed margin of their caps.
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Friday, 28 January 2011
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Claws
Wildlife Wednesday #3
I found this terrapin at dusk in mid January, hauled out by the side of a river that was swollen by a hydro-electric dam venting a short distance upstream. I had already seen another terrapin swimming off through the turbid waters as I investigated the river bank near El Chorro, Andalucia.
Having been caught unawares, this terrapin decided to stay perfectly still and wait for me to go away, rather than making a dash for the river. I suspect that the rapidly changing water level in the stream had left it higher up the bank than it would usually have chosen to be.
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| Iberian Terrapin - Mauremys leprosa |
Having been caught unawares, this terrapin decided to stay perfectly still and wait for me to go away, rather than making a dash for the river. I suspect that the rapidly changing water level in the stream had left it higher up the bank than it would usually have chosen to be.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Monday, 24 January 2011
A Fungus Problem
Monday Mushroom #3
This birch tree is having a really bad fungus day. Some strains of honey fungus are egregiously virulent - attacking and killing healthy trees.
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| Honey Fungus - Armillaria mellea |
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Friday, 21 January 2011
Green Dragon
Fencepost of the Week #2
In the dank, dark beneath the trees, this fencepost has outlasted it's barbed wire.
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
The Larch
Tree-fetish Tuesday #2
While larches can grow straight, they also have the potential to become really quite gnarly.
Most older larches in this part of Scotland are European Larches, while most newer plantings are Japanese Larches. The two are not that easy to distinguish, and cross breed to produce intermediate hybrids.
While larches can grow straight, they also have the potential to become really quite gnarly.
Most older larches in this part of Scotland are European Larches, while most newer plantings are Japanese Larches. The two are not that easy to distinguish, and cross breed to produce intermediate hybrids.
Monday, 17 January 2011
Trichaptum abietinum
Monday Mushroom #2
This fungus is common on dead conifer trunks hereabouts. It has delicate lilac tints when fresh, though soon bleaching white.
There are some interesting forms in this photograph caused by the tree-trunk falling while the fungus continues to grow: the older brackets have been rotated to the vertical, subsequently developing new horizontal 'buds' along their edges.
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| Trichaptum abietinum |
There are some interesting forms in this photograph caused by the tree-trunk falling while the fungus continues to grow: the older brackets have been rotated to the vertical, subsequently developing new horizontal 'buds' along their edges.
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Monster Hunters' Paradise
I wrote a novel for National Novel Writing Month, November 2010!
And many thanks to all at the Raggedy Hopefuls writers group without whose encouragement I probably wouldn't be writing at all.
It is set in the Monsteca universe - a strange place populated entirely by robots and monsters.
You can read it if you like. It's called "Monster Hunters' Paradise" and is available as a text file eBook here: Monster Hunters' Paradise
Or, if you are more interested in a prehistoric fantasy than monsters-and-robots sci-fi, by all means try my previous NaNoWriMo effort - "Eagle Claws and Old Bone" here: Eagle Claws and Old Bone
Do have a look at the nanowrimo website - it's an amazing concept.
And many thanks to all at the Raggedy Hopefuls writers group without whose encouragement I probably wouldn't be writing at all.
Friday, 14 January 2011
Hinge Storage
Fence Post Of The Week #1
Nothing too unusual for the first one - just a nicely weathered gate post, with the old hinge popped in the handy storage space rotted into the top. More lichenous posts to follow!
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| Hinge Storage |
Nothing too unusual for the first one - just a nicely weathered gate post, with the old hinge popped in the handy storage space rotted into the top. More lichenous posts to follow!
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Rain Toad
Wildlife Wednesday #1
Out in the open after a thundery rain shower.
Common Toad - Bufo bufo
Out in the open after a thundery rain shower.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Stony Beech
Tree-fetish Tuesday #1
A lot of my favourite trees are beeches, this one is at the bottom of a field, growing where all the stones that have been cleared from the soil were dumped. Glen Fyne, Cowal.
A lot of my favourite trees are beeches, this one is at the bottom of a field, growing where all the stones that have been cleared from the soil were dumped. Glen Fyne, Cowal.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Ivory Wax Cap
Monday Mushroom #1
Dewdrops adding a little extra sparkle to what is already a very pretty little mushroom. From a small patch growing on my front lawn in Kilmun. Photo date: 7th November 2010.
Ivory Wax Cap - Hygrocybe nivea
Dewdrops adding a little extra sparkle to what is already a very pretty little mushroom. From a small patch growing on my front lawn in Kilmun. Photo date: 7th November 2010.
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