Searching for clues
For the past few weeks my photographic life has been dominated by fungi. I’ve spent so long staring at fungi that I see them in my dreams. There are other side effects too, such as an insatiable desire to eat fungi. I don’t eat wild fungi because they’re already under too much pressure from picking, and even worse, people who smash them on sight because they’re “poisonous”. But I do eat fungi, so on Friday night it’s off to Waitrose for a foraging trip followed by a weekend of fried mushrooms and garlic, mushroom pate, and mutton and mushroom pie.
Apart from a few easy ones, identifying fungi is real detective work, sniffing out clues such as that faint whiff of rhubarb from a Cortinarius umbrinolens. Thirty years ago I had a scare in a restaurant when “wild mushroom soup” turned my lips and tongue numb for several hours. That’s not the reason I don’t eat wild mushrooms now, but if you do, obviously you need to know what you’re doing. The difference between a tasty Agaricus and a toxic Cortinarius is vanishingly small. In this case, the yellow pores (rather than gills) on the underside of this big Bay Bolete were an important feature, but the blue bruising was useful confirmation.
Bay Bolete, Boletus badius. Sony DSC-HX20V f3.2 4.7mm 1/30 ISO 320
Amplification
It has been said that in the UK you’re never more than five inches away from a spider. Although this has only ever been said by me, and like most of these famous sayings, it’s not true. But if you’re out on a misty autumn morning when the drops amplify the spider’s webs, you do realize exactly how many spiders are out there.
Sony DSC-HX20V f3.2 4.5mm 1/30 ISO 100
Close to home
Orchids in the Spring, fungi in Autumn. These seasonal delights are the things that keep me going. This year has been rather good for fungi so far, but it’s slightly frustrating finding endless brittlegills that are essentially impossible to identify to species level. Waxcaps are my favourites, not only because it’s possible to identify them but also because as important environmental indicators they say a lot about the quality of the locations they are found in, and I tend to associate finding them with some of my favourite places.
Of all the waxcaps, the Parrot Waxcap has always been one of the species I’ve wanted to find – if only because they look cute in pictures! Ironic then that my first record of this species happens when a dozen of them turn up five yards from my back door. I’m not complaining. Tomorrow morning I fully expect to draw back the curtains and see a White Tailed Sea Eagle on my bird table.
Parrot Waxcap, Hygrocybe psittacina. Sony DSC-HX20V f3.5 6.1mm 1/250 ISO 100
Waiting for the fall
In a few weeks when the beeches have turned this view will be magnificent.
But not yet.
Not with the mist dripping down my neck.
Sony DSC-HX20V f3.2 4.5mm 1/30 ISO 100
Creation
Life has not been kind to my photography recently, so the rare occasions when I am able to be where I want to be when I want to be there are especially valuable. Autumn is my favourite season and this misty morning landscape says Autumn to me. But landscape photography involves more than a landscape and a camera. It’s about timing, about light, and about what happens after the image has been captured. Just turning up and pressing the button with the settings on Auto is not enough. Modern camera sensors have the advantage of a huge dynamic range, but that means nothing if you don’t use it. And so, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you “Creation”, brought to you by Autumn, mist, Leicestershire, and Adobe Camera Raw Graduated Filters.
Nikon D5200 Tamron 17-50mm f4 17mm 1/2000 ISO 100
Large Skipper
It wasn’t a vintage summer for butterflies, but I did quite well for skippers, recording all three species which occur in this part of the country.
Large Skipper, Ochlodes sylvanus. Nikon D5200 Tokina 100mm f16 1/90 ISO 200
Marmalade Hoverflies
The Marmalade Hoverfly is probably the most common hoverfly in the UK – it certainly was this year. The only real challenge then is getting them in focus … which I didn’t quite manage here.
Marmalade Hoverflies, Episyrphus balteatus. Nikon D5200 Tokina 100mm f16 1/30 ISO 200
Slowly, slowly
Slowly, slowly, I might be getting slightly better at this landscape malarkey.
Nikon D5200 Tamron 17-50mm f8 22mm 1/350 ISO 100
Scrape scrape
I hadn’t anticipated scraping the photographic barrel this early in the year, but a combination of Life and The Weather means I am. Consequently, expect to be subjected to my Greatest Hits album for a while, either until the weather improves or Life goes away and stops bothering me. These are shots from the summer that slipped through the net somehow and never got published.
Peacock, Aglais io. Nikon D5200 Tamron 150-600mm f8 300mm 1/125 ISO 200
AJC Photography 