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

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