The Shadow

Wildlife Wednesday #30

Tarentola mauritanica - Moorish Gecko

Too dark to blend in with your chosen substrate? Align yourself with the shadows instead...

Clustered Bonnet Cap

Monday Mushroom #29

Mycena inclinata - Clustered Bonnet Cap

Egyptian Grasshopper

Wildlife Wednesday #29

Anacridium aegyptium - Egyptian Grasshopper

This is one of the largest european grasshoppers, here seen hanging around on a Mallorcan fencepost in early April.

Forest Frog

Wildife Wednesday #28

Forests are not generally fertile hunting grounds for reptiles and amphibians in Scotland. This far north, they tend to favour more open terrain - bogs and moors are usually good. However, here is an exceptionally dark frog being exceptional in an oak wood.

Rana temporaria - Common Frog

Rana temporaria - Common Frog (exceptional!)

Orange Birch Bolette

Monday Mushroom #28

This mushroom only grows next to birch trees. Quite a few mushrooms are very specific about which trees they associate with.

Leccinum versipelle - Orange Birch Bolette

  Many of these specialists form close symbiotic relationships with the tree in question - there is a mutually beneficial exchange of nutrients going on between the mycelium of the fungus and the roots of the tree.

Leccinum versipelle - Orange Birch Bolette

This one seems to have had some difficulty pushing through the surface. I came back a few days later to see if it would straighten out, but something had eaten it.

Deer Fence & Dark Pines

Fenceopost of the Week #37

Snakelocks Anemone

Wildlife Wednesday #27

Anemonia viridis - Snakelocks Anenome

A handsome sea anemone from the rockpools of the English Channel. The green colour is actually from symbiotic algae living inside the anemone's tentacles. Wikipedia tells me that they are eaten fried in batter in southern spain, though they are stingy when raw.