Fun(gi) in the Sun

It was a lovely sunny morning, so G and I did the Bayfield Bird Walk with a cuppa at the Natural Surroundings cafe. The last bit of the walk was mega soggy, some fields had flood water and it looked like the cows had trampled the footpath to a real mess for about 30m. I took a few nice photos, but I had to blip the fungi as they're only around for a short while. Then this afternoon the rain came again, a good job I was doing the big pile of ironing!

Day 585 / Day 96 of Step 4 of Roadmap Easing (for my record only)
The R rate in England has risen to 1.0 - 1.2, with a daily infection rate of 1% to 3%. The ONS weekly infection survey of private households shows 1 in 55 with the virus in England (up and just short of the 2nd peak in Jan); 1 in 90 in Scotland (down); 1 in 45 in Wales (unchanged); and 1 in 130 in NI (down). Half of children aged 12-15 in Scotland have received their first jab, it's only 18.9% in England. Over 5m booster jabs have been given so far in the UK. There's growing Public annoyance at being blamed for not coming forward for the booster jab when they haven't been invited when due or have and the booking system says they're ineligible. The Health Service Journal is reporting that Emily Lawson will return to take charge of NHS England's vaccine programme, having left this Summer - very welcome news! I've now heard the PM, the Health Secretary and Jacob Rees-Mogg saying in effect that you don't need to wear a mask if you're with people you know / normally meet - this is clearly nonsense as the vast majority of people are infected by people they know (as confirmed by an Independent Sage member today) and I believe they should all be admonished by the Speaker for spreading Coronavirus misinformation. The Delta mutation has now been declared a variant under investigation as there's early evidence that it may have an increased growth rate. SAGE says there are uncertainties around people's behaviour changing and waning immunity. In a meeting on 14th Oct they recommend policy work is carried out on the potential reintroduction of measures ready for 'rapid deployment if required'.  Some British holidaymakers are stranded in Morocco after the country banned flights from the UK. An ONS survey says what we all know, that we're increasingly lax on masks and social distancing. A trial has shown that over half (57%) of blood cancer patients failed to develop the effective antibodies for an immune response to the virus after their 2nd jab and the report recommends that protective measures such as mandatory mask wearing and social distancing are in place, and these patients are given an additional jab.