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Wurzel and David

Thanks for your comments. It was so great to see this mushroom species that I went back again today. The caps don't last very long. A couple I saw the other day had caps that had already melted away. It was strange to see just the stalks poking up and nothing on top! But a few others were coming up to take their place.

This one looked just like some kind of hat.
Butterfly pictures of the day

Just across the road beside the Kingsley Church Car Park every year a load of Asters grow. They attract butterflies. Today there were two Red Admirals and one Small Copper. This being the third week of October matches my record for the latest flying Small Copper around here. This one was fresh. The forecast for the next few days is fine so who knows - it may still be around in the fourth week!

That is a very natty hat Ernie and a very natty Small Copper

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Those fungi look quite different to the ones you posted earlier, ernie. I presume they have a fast metabolism!!

Love the Copper on the asters...a lovely colour contrast.

David - you are right - those Inkcaps come and go very quickly. Also I was lucky with the Copper on an Aster shot too. I have subsequently been back twice and it was nowhere to be found.

Wurzel - Its a great time of year. Still got the butterflies to a certain extent and also the fungi at the same time. Not long to go now though and it will be just the fungi.

20th October – Four Marks

A Red Admiral at close range in flight? What amazingly good luck.
No. I admit it. I cheated! This one was actually perched on the polythene roofing of the garden centre at the village of Four Marks.

21st October - Kingsley

Speckled Wood – note that wear is causing its forewing tip to go blue at certain angles.
None of the Magpie Inkcaps of recent days appear to remain. It seems they sprout, open and melt all within about 3 days or so. Quite a few other kinds of fungi though, all common species, but…

… this appears to be a pale and spotless version of the Fly Agaric.
Here is what it should look like and this one was only a couple of dozen metres away.
And a Blackening Brittlegill. Its cap was a bit shiny so it reflected the blue of the sky from this angle.
And on the asters beside the church car park were a host of bees. I think maybe Common Carder Bees but I am not sure.
21st October – Alice Holt

I love these little Bonnet mushrooms, there were literally hundreds of them in large clusters on the car park verges at Alice Holt woodland.
Plus a few Wood Blewit.
22nd October – Broxhead

I have never seen a Small Copper flying in the fourth week of October before. I know they can fly into early November in good years so I came here to Broxhead on the off-chance.

I found this dragonfly, what I think is a fading Common Darter, en-route to the lek.
A good start I thought.

I got to the lek trying desperately to keep my expectations in check but I didn’t have to wait long for them to be met. Yep, a Small Copper. This one had blue badges and a nick out of its right forewing.
But then – what was that I saw just flew past - another one? Yes. No wing nick. Fantastic. Mission well and truly accomplished.
A Red Admiral bowled in and a Small Copper had a go at chasing it off. First of all it appeared to succeed but the Red Admiral came back, wheeled around with a bit of bravado to let them know who was boss and then flew off.

I was just about to leave when I saw two Small Coppers chase and then land on the ground. I quickly snapped a picture when I realised it was a male pursuing a female.
Neither had blue badges so this was a third individual. So from never having seen one fly in the fourth week of October before I now ended up this year seeing three! But then to add icing to the cake, the female did a Turkey Trot.

Great stuff Ernie Seeing Small Coppers still must be great - things are a bit cooler already over this neck of the woods although a Wall was recorded yesterday further north in the county You've got the right ID for the bee A great selection of Fungi again - interesting to see the pale and spotless Fly Agaric - I'll be featuring a few Fungi over the coming weeks so hopefully you'll be able to ID them for me

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Nice Coppers Ernie, they're still out and about all over place it would seem. I've been reliably informed they are still on the wing up in Yorkshire!

I think your dragonfly is an aged Keeled Skimmer, it doesn't look right for a Darter to me

Wurzel - Thanks for confirming the Bee ID. Although my book says its common, it is in fact the first time I have ever noticed it. One for my lifer list!
Also, I will be sure to look out for your fungi pics. As I say, I am no expert and fungi are devilishly difficult to ID sometimes.

Bugboy - Thanks for suggesting my dragonfly is a Keeled Skimmer. If it is (and I have no reason to doubt it) this would be the first time I have seen one at Broxhead and according to my book, a clear month after the end of its normal flying season. It sure has been an odd year this year.

Surely the dragonfly is female Common/(?Ruddy) Darter - general shape, appearance and flight time are correct for that whilst female Keeled Skimmer ought to have clear antehumeral stripes and pale pterostigmata.

Matzukaze.

Ah, so I'm not going mad then. My original assumption was that it was a Common Darter, but it was an assumption at the time rather than really knowing. I have been fooled before you see. See a previous diary entry of mine re my confusion between Darter/Skimmer. On that occasion my "Darter" was a Keeled Skimmer. I looked closer at my pic this time and on enlargement I can see the four red dots on the top of the thorax. OK, so they are not red now being faded out quite a bit but still indicative.

I have never seen a Keeled Skimmer at Broxhead and I have never seen a Ruddy Darter there either.

I am not a Dragonfly expert so I take advice on ID wherever I find it. Thank you for your comments.

Broxhead 24th October 12.15 - 1.15 pm, full sun, warm at 16 degrees

I thought I might be really pushing my luck with Small Coppers at Broxhead today. I was here on the 22nd with the aim to get 4th brood fliers in the fourth week of October and achieved my aim – I saw three on that occasion if you remember.

Now any sane person who did not know any better (I think I’m sane and I certainly don’t know any better!) might have expected there might be fewer of them flying today. One might have hoped to see all three again but perhaps, if really unlucky, none at all.

Instead, at the top bank of the lek, I saw four all at once right in front of me and further down, one was busy nectaring. I also thought I saw another down there in flight as I watched the nectaring one. So that’s definitely five Small Coppers today and possibly six. In fact since I did not see the one that I saw on the 22nd that had a nick out of its forewing close-up today and I saw five up-close, I might assume that my presumed sixth was the one with the nick.

With some degree of confidence therefore I believe I can say there were actually six individuals in the lek today. So are the numbers increasing rather than decreasing?

Not only that, a lot was going on…

One basked in the sun while sitting on an acorn on the ground.
At least two females were creeping across the herbage looking for egg-laying sites.
One was taking salts from rabbit poo.
One male was pursuing a female who like yesterday was Turkey-Trotting in his face.

And I saw one on the ground with its wings up do a very definite, single wing-roll! It was as good a wing-roll as any Green Hairstreak or Silver-Studded Blue might perform, but it was a single roll. I got closer. It stayed still. I thought, just in case it does it again I would do a photo-burst. I did a photo-burst. Anything?

Not a sausage – it just sat there.

Then a Brimstone flew past and the Copper flew off too.

I saw that dragonfly again too and it was accompanied by a second - I think the same species.

In the later afternoon I ended up at a garden centre at the village of Lasham (not the one I was at the other day) and here I saw another Red Admiral.

I love your Coppers but your images of various fungi continue to fascinate, ernie. I’m especially intrigued by your ‘spotless’ agaric. I never knew such forms existed!

Thanks, David. Glad you like the fungi. You may well regret you said it though after my next few posts which concentrate on fungi rather than butterflies.

I went to Broxhead on the last day of October and found no Small Coppers – in fact no butterflies at all. Although the temperature got up to 11 degrees this was after a spell of cold, wet and windy days. It may well be the end of the butterfly season around here so since I have had some welcome support for my fungi entries, I thought I’d add a few I’ve seen over the past few days. As I have said before I am no expert and so I can sometimes not be sure of my ID. Where I am not sure I give an estimate as a percentage of how confident I am in my ID. I make no excuses for this as even experts can get some species wrong at times. Indeed they recognise that fact and warn people from taking a mushroom they think is edible if it has any chance at all of being mis-identified. Some species can look very like others that are poisonous and there are plenty of horror stories of people who have taken the risk and fallen foul, sometimes resulting in an upset tummy, sometimes being rushed to hospital for an emergency organ transplant and sometimes not making it at all. I am told that you can handle mushrooms of any kind and be OK, it is the eating of them that causes the danger but I am always more careful than that. Even the ones I think I know I will use a stick to clear away any surrounding leaf debris before I take a picture.

So what have been my recent fungi encounters?

I was going to post them in a single entry but then wondered how I would feel if I got close to the end and lost my internet connection before confirming the entry – so I am going to present them as I saw them each day instead. Starting with...

Chawton Park Woods - 25th Oct 2018

The Turkeytail is a very common species but it is always fascinating to look at because there are so many different colour combinations in the banding.
Now here is a fungus you probably don’t want in your garden, the Honey Fungus, although this one is the Dark Honey Fungus which I have found is usually far less invasive.
There are a number of species of Rollrim. I have already shown the Brown Rollrim in a previous post. This one I am pretty sure is the Oyster Rollrim which unlike its cousin, grows out of trees and often resembles a Bracket fungus because of that. This is a singleton but they more usually appear in tiers. 80% sure of ID.
Now Deceivers are just that. They are so variable they are often a devil to identify. This one is no exception. It took me ages to realise it was even one of the Deceiver species because of its pale colour. It is I believe the Bicoloured Deceiver. The book says it has a lilac base but just my luck this one’s base is covered with hairy white fibrils. Everything else about it is right though. Inrolled cap, slightly decurrent gills, striated stipe. I took a picture underneath the cap of a larger one right beside this bunch and its gills were faintly lilac. Of course it could equally be a completely washed-out Amethyst Deceiver, so only 50% sure of ID, surprisingly.
So even the Amethyst Deceiver is a bother sometimes. This one is certainly amethyst though.
The Small Stagshorn – like small flames bursting spontaneously from the wood.

Frensham Little Pond - 26th Oct 2018

Bay Bolete.
Chanterelles are one of the best edible mushrooms. However I am only about 90% sure of this ID. The remaining 10% is because these were perhaps the biggest examples I have ever seen.
Conical Brittlestems arranging themselves atop a tree stump. I am only about 80% sure of this ID though. The caps are rather dark but then this kind of thing happens as a fungus ages.
Conifer Tuft. This is like the Sulphur Tuft shown in a recent diary entry but this one grows on Conifer stumps. 90% sure of ID.
Liver Milkcap, very common around here in the open pinewoods.
Freckled Dapperling. Not so common but widespread in Southern England. This one has a cap that has a superficial resemblance to its cousin the Lepiota hystrix but that one is much rarer and has brownish gill edges. This one didn’t, they were white.
And nearby, the Stinking Dapperling.
The Beeswax Bracket I found was a very fine example indeed. I got a bit excited when I first saw it because I thought it might be the super-rare Red-belted Bracket. It resembles the mature form of that species but it’s very unlikely, so 80% sure its a Beeswax. It is still only the second time I have seen this species and the first time I have seen it actively in growth.
The Peeling Oysterling, but I have to say I am only about 60% sure of this ID. It had gills rather than pores so it cannot be any of the Brackets/Polypores.
Bicoloured Deceiver again but this one was aged. However it still showed the vertical striations on its stipe quite well. The cap was distorted somewhat. 80% sure of ID. It could be an aged standard Deceiver but the length of the stipe was at least 5 inches (too tall for a standard Deceiver), and the small cap relative to the stipe length was distinctive. Unlikely to be any of the other Deceiver species as this one was in the open.
Purplepore Bracket. There are a lot of brackets that form tiers but this was obviously the purple one.
Tubulifera arachnoidea Slime Mould. Almost every tree-stump I came across on the hill top had some of this.

Alice Holt Woods - 27th Oct 2018

Common Rustgill.
False Death Cap – Separated from the real Death Cap by its light citrus tinge (usually!).
Hairy Curtain Crust – A fine example spreading across the end of a log. The first pic is from above. I then rolled the log over for the second picture of the underside. Of course I rolled the log back as it was again afterward.
Kingsley Churchyard - 27th Oct 2018

Parrot Waxcap – The first waxcap species so far this year in this churchyard. I have posted a past pic of this species before but today they were growing in small groups.

The Brocas - 28th Oct 2018

Purple Swamp Brittlegill – I’m not sure why they are called “Swamp” Brittlegills as I have only ever seen these on dry acid or sandy soil in or on the edge of woods; but the “Purple” part is obvious.
The False Death cap again but this one is the “alba” variety I think, showing no signs of the citrus cap colour (90% sure).
There were four clumps of Wood Cauliflower each to its own tree, all within about 20 paces of each other.
A good example of the Charcoal Burner. A pair fighting for space!
The False Chanterelle was extremely prevalent in the pinewoods.
Then the Saffron Milkcap – always nice to see, it is one of my favourite Milkcaps. The stipe is the real indicator though (not shown). It always seems to have orange “blobs” on it.
The Funeral Bell as its name suggests, is very poisonous. Normally found in groups, this was on its own (for the moment). Noted for the regularity of the spores discolouring the ring as they have here. (90% sure of ID)
Then two Bolete species not far from each other. First the Bovine Bolete.
Then the Velvet Bolete. Again the stipe is the main ID feature. The top part just under the cap is often yellow (as it was in this case – not shown).

30th Oct 2018 - Bushey Leaze Wood

Larch Bolete.
Yellow Stagshorn.
The Common Cavalier. This one fooled me for a while. The stipe and gills were obviously correct for this species but the cap was grey. All the Common Cavaliers I have seen (they even grow in my garden occasionally) have a brown cap. My book showed it with a brown cap too, but looking it up in the internet indicated there are times when grey variants appear. This was my first.
This is what it usually looks like.
And also my first ever encounter with what I think must be the Hairy Earthtongue. They were on the mossy stumps of pine trees. Only 60% sure of the exact species ID but they were definitely Earthtongues of some kind. The stems were not smooth – thus the “Hairy” tag. The trouble was, they appeared to be “going over” and were far lumpier than they would be when freshly fruiting so don’t match precisely any of the Earthtongue pics I have seen. They could have been the Geoglossum fallax which also has a scaly stem but they are dark brown rather than black.

31st Oct 2018 – The Brocas

My first ever Jellybaby fungus. A few were growing out of the moss of an old tree-stump. They were aged but still definitely recognisable. The name is very descriptive, especially as they are only a cm high or so when fully grown.
The Sheathed Woodtuft was showing very well on a few trees.
I showed the Wood Blewit a few posts back but today I found a group of what I think to be its cousin the Flowery Blewit. 80% sure. Its called “Flowery” due to its flowery smell but that was not altogether evident to me today. But then my sense of smell is appalling!
Hairy Curtain Crust again (aka Stereum hirsutum) but this time in its resupinate form under a branch, going grey-brown as it ages. There is an outside chance it might be its cousin the Stereum rameale but since that is rarer and prefers small branches and twigs, I shall plump for the common species. 90% sure.
Birch Mazegill. There are a few Mazegill species but since this was growing on a Birch Tree, I am 90% sure of this one.
You can clearly see the maze-like gills on this underside shot.
The very common Birch Polypore, as fresh an example as they come. Lovely tones.
A Blushing Bracket I think. If I had bothered to look underneath I could be certain but because its on a Birch close to the Mazegills I pictured above, I have to be a little cautious, say 90% sure.

Kingsley Churchyard - 2nd Nov 2018

Continuing the fungi foray. Recently I found that the Parrot Waxcaps were out at Kingsley. They are still there but now three more waxcaps are in residence.

First the Snowy Waxcap. These were dotted around in fair numbers in two locations either side of the church in the short grass.
Second the Crimson Waxcap which was just erupting in one bunch near the war memorial. The caps of these were a brownish hue rather than the usual crimson but there are examples on the internet to confirm this is possible. I have seen them here before in previous years with their Crimson hats on.
And thirdly, the Blackening Waxcap. These start off with orangey-red caps and orangey-yellow stipes and finally go completely black. Although I was only here a couple of days ago and saw none, it appears they can sprout and then go through their colour change to black rapidly because all the ones I saw here today (and there were about a dozen in one patch) had all turned black already (although I looked at the gills of one and these still showed a hint of yellow amidst the blackening effect).