Lone wolf on the heath

It was a balmy blissful day on Hampstead Heath.
People were out in force: walking, running, cycling, sun bathing, reading, picnicing, exercising dogs and children, pushing buggies, playing games, throwing frisbies, taking photographs, consulting smartphone maps (paper ones seem to have disappeared from use)...

Except for me. Alone, I seemed to be the only person poking around in the undergrowth, examining dead timber, looking up into the branches and down into the leaf mould. I spotted three brimstone butterflies, lots of parakeets, a coot collecting dead leaves to build her nest, celandines and coltsfoot, several different species of fungi and best of all, on a rotten log, some wolf's milk slime mould resembling little squishy blisters filled with apricot mousse. Lycogala epidendrum belongs a class of organisms that demonstrate characteristics associated with both animals and fungi. Despite being no more than 'a bag of amoebae encased in a thin slime sheath, yet they manage to have various behaviours that are equal to those of animals who possess muscles and nerves with ganglia--that is, simple brains".
(I blipped another species of slime mould found on the Heath 3 years ago.)

One woman stopped to ask me what I was peering at on my hands and knees in a thicket but apart from that no one seemed to be taking a interest in natural history. Or maybe serious naturalists just avoid such popular places on warm weekends, as did one friend I invited to join me. I don't mind, I simply think I'm fortunate to be able to find so much of interest that's ignored by or invisible to most people.

(This magnolia tree stands in front of Kenwood House, a stately home cum art gallery with a popular tea room which today had very long queues to get served. And no wolf's milk on the menu.)