Wood pecking

I watched a great spotted woodpecker making a hole in a rather old birch tree today. He came back several times to continue his activity. Is he starting a nest hole or looking for insects?

Fungus foray

We decided to look in the woods for fungi today. The surprise was that we found lots in our garden and the lane before we got to the woods.

First the garden:-


Next, the lane:-
And finally, the woods:-



The picture in the centre of the last row ls interesting. Fungus growing on fungus!

I think it will be difficult for me to identify all these fungi.

By clicking on a picture you should be able to see an enlarged view.

Bees revisited

Petra and I took a walk around our old Steyning patch today and revisited the wild bees' nest that I have pictured before. (See Honey bees (1)  (2)  (3)  (4) ) It's good to see they have survived another year and look set up with a good winter store again. The bees rewarded my interest with another sting on the head!

My new patch

 It is quite different from my old Steyning walks. I spend a lot of time in coniferous and mixed woodland, with patches of open heath, I don't see much agricultural land here. I am expecting to see quite a few interesting fungi amongst all the fallen and rotting logs. These are a few pictures to give a general idea.

October butterflies

Ivy is in flower and proving a big attraction to the late butterflies. There were about 30 on this bush. Several commas were feeding on the nectar. 

 

The most numerous butterfly was the red admiral, about 20 of them were feeding and I found one small copper among them.