Plant of the Day

Thursday 18 May 2023

My succulent houseplant Gasteria 'Little Warty' (ox tongue) has produced these long flower stems. The genus is named for the stomach-shaped flowers, ‘gaster’ being Latin for ‘stomach’. The clump-forming leaves have raised pale green stripes.

Ten of my favourite photos I took in October 2023 and month summary

The photos are of; fly agaric at Bolton's Bench in the New Forest, mushrooms at Pig Bush in the New Forest, dandelions out the front, Common Darter at Winnall Moors, Clouded Yellow out the front, Common Lizard at Bolderwood in the New Forest, New Forest Ponies at Leaden Hall, Mistle Thrush at Lakeside Country Park, a sky scene at Lakeside and autumn leaves in Winchester.

October seemed to fly by and it was a brilliant month of wildlife watching and taking photos again for me. It was a real surge into autumn with the vibrant, colourful and nourishing scenes as the coloured leaves put on their showstopping display, the flamboyant and fascinating mushrooms of fungi dominated and the rich golden angles of sunlight enchanted the month. Fungi was a key point of my October, as I was fortunate to see some of the key species of my year ones I always strive to see including fly agaric, amethyst deceiver, shaggy ink cap, common ink cap, pleated ink cap, yellow stagshorn, sulphur tuft, shaggy scalycap, parasol, poronia punctata (nail fungus) and turkey tail. Common puffball and the revelation of my autumn common earthball as well as a new one for me bleeding fairy helmet were other highlights of the many seen this month. For flowers the year naturally slowed down a bit, but species such as devil's bit scabious, daisy, oxeye daisy, Michaelmas daisy, dandelion, oxtongue one I loved delving into more this month, common toadflax, broad-leaved clover, white clover, white deadnettle, flowering gorse, bits of heather still in flower, hedgerow crane's-bill and tormentil brought beautiful colour to my walks still. As did rose hips, hawthorn and particularly holly berries this month as perhaps my best ever season for enjoying fruit continued. The colour of berry laden bushes and autumnal flair presented many fantastic opportunities to take in and photograph landscapes this month, with some gorgeous locations visited including lots in the New Forest which comes alive in autumn. From ever earlier sun setting and some sun rising scenes to the moon and rainbows in changeable weather it's been a top sky month for me too.

It was a fabulous insect month still with including in bits of unseasonably warm and sunny weather the Clouded Yellow being joined by one of the stars of the year Red Admiral with many seen again this month, Speckled Wood, Peacock, Brimstone and Small Copper with a pleasing amount of butterflies still about with a moth or two too which has been a key theme this month. Common Darter, Southern Hawker and Migrant Hawker continued to be very frequent sights for me this month having amazing experiences watching them, particularly at Winnall Moors and Lakeside. The Common Lizard alongside ladybirds and many spiders especially Long-bodied Cellar spiders with a fair few seen at home were highlights in other areas.