Flyladyphotography By Wendy Cooper

  Over the last few weeks, autumn has arrived in a burst of colour on the Local Patch  so I thought I'd share some of what I have been seeing on walks at the end of October - there were a few gloriously sunny afternoons, which were also quite mild, so I simply HAD to get out and about! The woodland canopy was still holding tight to the leaves, which had kept the 'floor' on the dry side.  I had been hoping for as colourful a selection of fungi as I saw last year, however, a lot of the old wood had gone and there has been very little about. Last year there were a lot of Purple Deceivers, assorted Russulas and even Orange peel fungi.  I did find a few, one tucked away in a tree bole and a fairly large crop about 8 foot up a tree trunk, there have also been a few bracket fungi starting to appear as well.   Hidden away!   Up a fallen tree, parts of which are still growing.  Something has been snacking on this and I also noticed the amount of insect life it was attracti

   Well back at the end of September, I went for a little wander on the Local Patch, to see what was about. It was a warm sunny afternoon and far too nice to be indoors. Most of the butterflies had disappeared, with just a few Small Whites and Commas appearing here and there, some were nectaring on a few remaining thistle heads or hawkbit.  I could hear a lot of the birds - Wrens, Long Tailed tits, Great and Blue as well, Dunnocks and even a couple of Chiff Chaffs, however, these were only giving brief glimpses and staying mainly tucked away inside the Blackthorn bushes whilst chattering away.  There were also quite a few Goldfinch flitting from tree to tree and feeding busily.  Robins had also started to sing again from previous perches, renewing their territories.   Comma Butterfly Small White Butterfly   I decided to have a stroll along the edge of the meadow, where there is a small brook, bordered by banks of brambles and very young oak trees.  The path is also bordered b

  Well Hello there! You may recall that in a previous blog   I mentioned that summer seemed to be off to a late start,  well on my local patch, during July and August,  things finally caught up.     Whilst all the birds are busy raising young and also, in most cases, going through a moult, during the summer months I tend to focus on the smaller creatures which appear.  Our non-feathered companions, such as spiders and beetles can give some folks ( including me) the heeby-jeebies, however since I have been taking a close up view, (ok, from about two metres away, with a big lens!) not only have I become less fearful, but I have also seen how beautiful our minibeasts are.    There are no spiders here though!  Instead I had a browse through my diary and was surprised at the number of different types of butterfly I have seen this year, which, whilst all are familiar  (and common) species also included a couple of new ones for me as well!   The 'local patch' habitat consists