Frosty Virgins

Hygrocybe virginea, Snowy Waxcap.  Hayes Common, 19 November 2016.

"virginea" does mean virgin in Latin, but it also means unworked land, which is more appropriate for this small Snowy Waxcap mushroom.  This photo is from a walk in November just after a frosty night.

Hygrocybe virginea, Snowy Waxcap.  Hayes Common, 19 November 2016.

This is what's known as unimproved grassland, meaning no-one has put fertiliser on it.  So you get a range of wild flowers, and the grasses are not the coarse and vigorous types that like lots of nitrates.  Farmers might think that's an improvement .. ecologists, less so.

On the same walk I saw another, even more common fungus.

Woodland leaf litter and a dead stump.  Hayes Common, 22 November 2016.

This is a path through the woods.  You can see holly bushes, and the leaf litter tells you that this is an oak wood.  Holly is a common and vigorous undergrowth.  (I took this shot a couple of days later to set the scene)

Xylaria hypoxylon, Candlesnuff.  Hayes Common, 19 November 2016.

Candlesnuff is a small fungus that is very often found on moist stumps.  It gets its name from its appearance of a candle wick that has been snuffed out.

Xylaria hypoxylon, Candlesnuff.  Hayes Common, 19 November 2016.

The white areas are the spore-bearing part, and when they are ripe like this, you can see clouds of spores being dispersed if you tap them.

Also on this walk I saw this Oak Bush-cricket out very late in the season.

Oak Bush-cricket, Meconema thalassinum.  Female.  Hayes Common, 19 November 2016.

It does not look very healthy.  It's probably completely worn out and not happy with the cold weather - it won't survive much longer.  At its rear end is its long curved ovipositor, which it uses to dig under the bark of oak trees to lay its eggs.  That bark is tough stuff and it must be hard work to get in there.

Next I'll post some December fungi.