November 2011 - Fungi - Morkery Wood
Autumn is probably my favourite time of year. The wonderful colours, the chill of winter approaching and lots of fungi to photograph. I am strangely drawn to photographing fungi (they don't fly off like birds do). I have one or two local woods on my doorstep that are good for photographing fungi. One of the most productive is Morkery Wood, less than 5 miles from my house.
I visited Morkery Wood on two occasions during this month. Both were quite challenging photographically. Firstly, the warm temperatures and dry weather mean that there is a lot of vegetation still around making some fungi quite difficult to spot (the weather has also delayed the fungi season in some places). On my first visit it was also quite breezy - not windy, but breezy enough to mean that long shutter speeds were only possible in the most sheltered of spots. The second visit was quite foggy - not as much of a problem when you are photographing something close up - but with the potential to reduce the quality of the final image.
I have combined photos from both visits and grouped them by fungi type.
(NB some fungi are edible, whilst some are poisonous, even fatal. I am not a mycologist - so please do not take any of my fungi identifcation as anything other than an educated guess).
Mycena Fungi
One of the most photogenic fungi are the Mycena. They are generally small, bell shaped fungi that often grow in very attractive clumps. When I find a nice group I like to get as many diiferent images as I can. All the following photos are from the same group, growing on a rotten log.
The following images are taken within a few yards of the first.
For more Mycena images please click here
For part 2 of my trips to Morkery Wood, please click here