STRANGE FUNGI

Whilst walking on the wet area above my house to my surprise I flushed a few Snipe, they would be that close to me before they would take off they nearly flew up my trouser leg. The Snipe are so well camouflaged that you honestly cant see them unless you nearly stand on them where they take off nearly under your feet giving off a sharp call. I tried to photograph them but there was no chance they're either to fast or at my tender age now of half century I'm far to slow.
Here's a pic of a Snipe that I borrowed so you know what they look like.

snipe

Also while trudging along in the mud I came across this strange looking fungi there were only two of them near a small pond. So I took a couple of pics and asked a friend what he thought it was and was it rare.

my strange fungi

the fungi were at the edge of this small pond

He named it as a "Splendid Waxcap" and said I should get in touch with the Gwent Wildlife Trust saying that it could be quite a rare find.
So I emailed them and had a very nice reply off a Laura Dell who said they identified it as the Scarlet Hood and also put me on to this website where it gives you loads of information on mushrooms and fungi. http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/hygrocybe-coccinea.php
She also said that having waxcaps on grassland means it is of good quality and excellent for wildflowers. Fat chance of that as the farmer that owns the fields including the one with the Snipe and waxcaps on uses them to graze his sheep and cows.
Thought I'd also post about an incident that happened a couple of weeks ago where I was watching tele and heard something hit our patio window. I thought it was a leaf that had blown against the window as it wasn't that much of a noise just a small tap like sound. When I investigated to my surprise lead at the foot of the door was a Goldcrest. The poor thing was dead the impact of it hitting the window must have killed it outright. That's the first time anything has flown into any of our windows but makes me think perhaps I need to put some raptor stickers on them (sure the wife would love that) or close the curtains as the reflection of the outside world in the glass makes the birds think there's nothing there. Anyway it was a sad sight.

this is the poor goldcrest that sadly flew into the window

I leave this post now (it's been a long one) with some of my autumnal pictures I've recently taken enjoy!

there's a rainbow in there somewhere.