Sycamore Roots

Tree-fetish Tuesday #24

Sycamore roots exposed by the eroision of an embankment.

Earth Star Emergence

Monday Mushroom #27

Geastrum triplex - Collared Earthstar

This is a photoshopped composite of separate photos of several eathstars. It illustrates how they pull themselves up, out of the ground. Eventually they distrubute clouds of spores from the hole in the top - very like puffballs.

Geastrum triplex - Collared Earthstar

Iron Bound

Fencepost of the Week #36

Okay, not stricly a fencepost. This is part of the frame of a marble cutting machine from the small marble quarry at the southern end of Iona. The quarry was never very successful and has not been worked since World War I

Suspicious

Wildlife Wednesday #26

This large, metallic blue damselfly regards the pursuing photographer with suspicion as he approaches through the bracken.

Agrion virgo

Agrion virgo

Gribun Rocks

Scenic Sundays #29

Mull is an enchanting island - some of the best wildlife spotting in the UK and replete with rugged scenic beauty.



Tackling the public road winding along the base of the Gribun Rocks feels like an edventure in itself - dark cliffs looming over the thoroughfare.

Half way along, the road turns inland, leaving the farther reaches of the peninsula devoid of human settlement - all the better for the otters and eagles.

Concrete

Fencepost of the Week #35

There are quite a lot of concrete fenceposts in the south east of England, I used to think of them as a wartime / post-war response to timber shortages, but I suppose the raw materials to make concrete posts have always been more readily available round these parts.

Certain lichens seem to do really well on them.

Puffins!

Wildife Wednesday #25

This is just too easy...

A lot of the challenge in photographing - even just seeing wildlife stems from how shy and elusive creatures tend to be around humans. So a visit to Lunga - an uninhabited island off the west coast of Mull is a real treat. Here all the nesting sea birds are pretty blasé about the troops of photographers coming round to visit.

Today is all about the puffins, but I took lovely photos of guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and more...