Verdigris Agaric

Another mild, deeply grey autumn day. But it started well, with a stunningly patterned Merveille Du Jour moth (see extra) in the trap, only the second we've ever recorded, almost exactly two years to the day from our last capture. 

Later in the day we spotted a nuthatch visiting one of our feeders, the first we've had in the garden, though I know they breed just up the road at Thorpe Wood. Chris got a few record shots, but the light was awful and the nuthatch was very quick...

Pete, Chris and I went out for an afternoon walk round Southey Wood, sneaking it in before sunset, which now seems preposterously early. The beech and conifer woods were dark and mysterious, but occasionally there was a splash of autumn colour, particularly marked in the naturalised Japanese maples (see extra).

Southey Wood has always been good for fungi, and we found quite a few species, though the continuing dry weather seems to be inhibiting them. The most unusual was this blue-green species, growing out of a pine cone. Having examined it fairly carefully I believe it's a Verdigris Agaric Stropharia aeruginosa, which is a pretty local species occurring mainly in  alkaline areas of humus-rich beech woodland and parkland. I have seen it once before in Southey Wood, back in 2009, but I've never come across such a fresh and intensely coloured specimen.