A Redwing, five Goldfinches and a Blue tit feeding on Common Knapweed seed heads in an unmown wildflower lawn

The video below is photographs taken from inside the house zoomed onto a patch of Common Knapweed.  Leaving unmown areas of lawn brings great joy to me and the visiting, hungry birds.

Nature lovers may be interested in some of past nature walks at https://out.ac/IBoN9X

 

Fungal Foray around Cuckfield, West Sussex, UK

 

Our Haywards Heath u3a Nature walks group fungal foray had a wonderful, if chilly morning finding rare and delightful fungi this 13th October 2024 starting in the churchyard under a pine tree.  There were numerous tiny fungi here, which were difficult to identify.  There are over 15,000 fungus species in the UK.

 Many yellow waxcaps were found elsewhere in the churchyard.  See https://www.plantlife.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Waxcaps_GrasslandFungiGuideManagement.pdf

Click on any picture to enlarge it.

Artist easel bracket fungus.
Pressure e.g. a scratch changes the underside from white to black. 

Five arms lengths suggest a 500 year old oak

Using Google Lens to assist IDs

Ballerina or a Meadow waxcap: probably the latter.
Exquisitely beautiful nonetheless.

Laccaria amethystina, Amethyst deceiver was found to my great joy, having missed it on a "walk out" the previous day in the drizzle.

Dog's vomit slime mould

See https://youtu.be/R3o6DofDQO0?si=UqEM9LsTxb15yKmh

Hedgehog fungus

Birch Polypore bracket fungi

Galloway cattle

Some fungi in my Sussex garden, 4 October 2024

 

A Bolete

A waxcap

Waxcap

For info' on grassland fungi see https://www.plantlife.org.uk/get-to-know-waxcaps/