Barnacle Feet

Found this washed up on the beach - I think it is the cirri of a barnacle - the modified feet they use in filter feeding.

Like many other arthropods, adult barnacles continue to grow, sheding their skin periodically. So this is probably a bit of cast-off skin.

More Velvet Shanks

Flammulina velutipes - Velvet Shank

Flammulina velutipes - velvet shank

Sea Ivory

Sea ivory - Ramalina siliquosa - a common lichen along rocky west-coast shorelines in Britain.

Concentric Jelly Rot

Monday Mushroom #94

More jelly rot fungus photos, this time showing some interesting concentric bands as they try and organise themselves into tiers on a vertical log surface.

Phlebia tremellosa - Jelly rot fungus

Phlebia tremellosa - Jelly rot fungus

Phlebia tremellosa - Jelly rot fungus

older photos here

Forest Sunset

Friston Forest, Sussex, UK.

Greeneye

Fencepost of the Week #96

Mousepee Pinkgill

Monday Mushroom #93

Entoloma incanum - Mousepee Pinkgill

Physocephala rufipes

Physocephala rufipes

All Along the Fenceposts

Fencepost of the Week #95

A gloriously heathery walk from some other december, when I was in Argyll.

Alt view:

The Blob

Monday Mushroom #92

I found this big glob of translucent slime on a rotting log in december. At first I wasn't sure what it was but the presence of hairy stereum - Stereum hirsutum - fungus on the same log was a clue.

Tremella - a genus of jelly fungi - are all parasitic on various crust fungi. The most commonly seen is Tremella mesenterica the yellow brain fungus, but three related fungi Tremella aurantia and Tremella foliacea parasitise Stereum Spp.

I've photographed them before, so here they are:

Tremella foliacea

Tremella aurantia

Tremella steidleri

I'm guessing my blob was probably a very old, decomposing Tremella steidleri...

Lizard Resuscitation Paisley

I found this cute & informative lizard health and safety sign on the internet today. A little bit of googling showed that it already has a long and illustrious career of being posted on the internet for giggles. There's even a tattoo...

The drawings are really quite special and so I give you: lizard resuscitation paisley *_*

Here it is:

Here's a clean, repeating tile if you need it for anything:

And the individual line drawings, just in case:

 

Sunset Pines

Friston Forest, Sussex, UK.

Lots of Lichens

Fencepost of the Week #94

Dolomedes dondalei

Dolomedes dondalei

Dolomedes dondalei is a large spider adapted for hunting on water - mostly catching insects struggling at the surface. It sometimes catches small fish. They can move at speed over the surface - like pond-skaters - and dive at need. They usually hunt at night and this is the only one I saw out on the water. It is holding station on the surface of a mountain stream in full sun.

Lovely Mokoroa

The Mokoroa Stream runs through Goldie Bush in Auckland - a lovely place for a walk.

Look out for big, old eels in the stream, also some crayfish, though they are much smaller.

At the upper end of Goldie Bush are the Mokoroa Falls - great place for a picnic:

 The stream-side track is really rough: slippery when wet and with several river crossings that would be dangerous when the river is in spate. Fortunately, you can also admire the river and access the falls from the Goldie Bush Walkway which is a much safer and easier path.

Fresh Stinkhorn

Monday Mushroom #91

This stinkhorn is brand new. The stinky, grey spore-mass - the gleba - attracts flies which will devour it in short order, dispersing the spores as they do so.

Phallus impudicus - stinkhorn

On top of the world! Phallus impudicus - stinkhorn.

For comparison, here is a photo of a stinkhorn completely denuded of spores.

Phlebia radiata on Birch

Phlebia radiata - wrinkled crust fungus

Some small spots of Phlebia radiata just pushing through the cracks in some dead birch bark.

My Favourite Topping

Fencepost of the Week #93

Cup-lichen is a bit of a favourite of mine... ^_^

Larch Bolette

Monday Mushroom #90

This is Suillus grevillei - the larch bolette. It always grows near larches. In Argyll it is often brown, though the guide books mostly describe it as yellow. Either way, the little woodland rodents seem to quite like nibbling on it.

Suillus grevillei - Larch Bolette, brown form.

Suillus grevillei - Larch Bolette - yellow form.

Orca Pod

Digital painting from back in 2003.

Sunbeams

Sunbeams in the woods.

Post from Cajas

Fencepost of the Week #92

This luxuriant outgrowth of lichens is the only fencepost I saw fit to photograph during my peregrinations in South America. It is from Cajas National Park, up in the mountains of Ecuador near the beautiful city of Cuenca.

Golden Woods

Girdled Knight

Monday Mushroom #89

Tricholoma cingulatum - Girdled knight

This is Tricholoma cingulatum - the girdled knight. A mushroom of damp willow woods. 

Tricholoma cingulatum - Girdled knight

Tricholoma cingulatum - Girdled knight

Auckland Tree Weta

Hemideina thoracica - Auckland tree weta

More noctournal New Zealand crickets! These are auckland tree wetas, Hemideina thoracica. The one above is reversing out of a tree knothole where it has spent the day resting - you can quite often glimpse the rear end of a tree weta by looking in small holes in trees.

Hemideina thoracica - Auckland tree weta

The large holes on their forelegs are actually ears - most grasshoppers, crickets and katydids have similar hearing organs.

Hemideina thoracica - Auckland tree weta

The photo above is of a corpse - they wouldn't normally come out in the open during the day like this.

Match-head Lichen Patch

Fencepost of the Week #91