Frosted orange

I had hoped to feature a fungus photo today after a recce at the reserve this afternoon, but there was hardly anything of interest despite a reasonable amount of rain this morning. This was the first decent period of rain for around 5 or 6 weeks, but I think it's come just too late for the fungus foray being held at the reserve tomorrow. I really don't think we will find much, but with a gathering of the keenest mycologists from Bucks, Beds and Herts I might be surprised.

Instead, I'm posting a tiny triumph from this morning. I've been looking at the reports of wonderful autumn moths being caught by colleagues from the Bucks Invertebrate Group over the past few weeks and wondering why I wasn't seeing them. Well, this morning the moth trap had a very small and largely uninteresting catch, but as I looked under the very last egg-box I discovered this perfect Frosted Orange, one of the species I'd been missing. I think moths will be really on the decline now the colder weather has arrived - I just hope the fungi will start to appear to replace them.