Bees in trees

Whilst walking in Consall Hall Gardens, I noticed a movement near a hole in a tree, about 10 metres up and a good 80 metres away.  It was impossible to see what was there at that distance, but I had a 300mm telephoto lens on my camera and just raised it to take some snap shots, with the intention of enhancing the images on my computer later, to see what could be there.

 

The cropped and enhanced image shows bees flying in and out of what is probably an old woodpeckers nest.  I am quite please with this image.

 Other shots were OK but less interesting.

Clearly this is a bee hive which is quite active, even at this time of year.

Tomatoes at last

A couple of weeks ago I collected the green tomatoes from my plants which were dying back.  They were placed in trays with bananas to ripen in the warmth of the house.  I am satisfied now that all but two of the tomatoes have ripened.
Now we can enjoy the taste of home grown fruits, albeit a bit later than in previous years.

The first challenge was to prepare tomatoes on toast for lunch.  I love this experience when the tomatoes are skinned and sliced, using different varieties, and cooked in a pan with a little olive oil and pepper.

Of course, this only works well if the tomatoes are placed on a thick slab of toast, using home made bread.  In this case the bread was made using wholegrain emmer flour and strong white flour, with a little honey and olive oil added to the dough mix. Yumm.......!  Just needs half a glass of fresh apple juice and half lemonade mixer to finish off the pleasure.

Birds in View

This year has been problematical for many plants.  Last weekend, Rosie and I went to Keddlestone to photograph autumnal things.  We walked over a mile in oak woods before we found an acorn.

As a result of the unusual shortage of acorns, we have seen a Jay in our garden for the first time that I can remember.  They are hungry and they are coming to garden bird feeders to find food.

Whilst walking at the RSPB site at Middleton Wetlands, we were overflown by a flight of swans.

We also saw many birds, including these cormorants on the top of a dead tree by the waterside.

This dragonfly was one of many that skimmed over the water, hunting for food.  I have captured its shadow on the water surface. Dragonflies seem to have done well this year.

Just as we were finishing our walk, I noticed a roach feeding in the mud at the riverside.  It was probably picking invertebrates out of the mud.

Autumnal Fungi

Whilst walking around the Long Walk at Keddleston Hall, I noticed an abundance of fungi in the woods.  These are the ones that caught my eye.

Ganoderma lucidens is a fine bracket fungus, often associated with dead or decaying trees.  It contains a powerful antibacterial compound that protects it and the surrounding timber from bacterial decay.

This bunch of fungi are Glistening Ink Caps, Coprius micaceus, which are edible and very good in omelets.  They must be cooked quickly to degrade the enzymes that cause digestion of the caps, producing the black and sticky ink residue.

Hypholoma fasciculare is the sulphur tuft.  This is another fungus that grows on old and decaying wood ind tree roots.  They glisten a dull sulphur yellow in the sun.

The candle snuff fungus, Xylaria hypoxylon, is an interesting fruiting body.  This fungus has been used to distill anti-cancer drugs, especially effective against liver tumours.

These little charmers are faries' bonnets, Coprinus disseminatus. It is a type of ink cap found throughout the Northern hemisphere and very common on rotting logs.

This final photograph is of a striped snail, Sepaea nemoralis, resting at the base of a dessicated hogweed florescence.  No doubt it will travel down the dry stem on the next rainy day.