Late November in the woods...

November 28th and 29th 2014 both turned out to be very nice weather days and ideal for me to get out and about in Comfort's Wood to see what, if anything, was happening. There's always something new to discover actually and even late November had plenty to hold my interest...

There are still plenty of fungi around in the woods. These little fruiting bodies were on one of the entrance gates.

Click any photo for a larger view on black

I'm sure local folk who walk these woods will know what I mean if I say that these ones were in 'the dip'. For everyone else, they were at the bottom of the big trees at the top of the little climb, after crossing the bridge over the stream.

There are still a few late bugs to be seen if you look hard enough and I came across this Green Shieldbug  on some bramble stalks...

Under some fallen wood I spotted a ground beetle that had been attacked by fungi...

A different type of fungi again now-this one seems to be attacking this dried rose hip...

Whilst I was looking at trees for signs of life, I discovered this strange looking insect...

This is a flightless, female moth. Possibly a winter moth? The females have no wings and their sole purpose in life seems to be the ability to climb somewhere high enough to spread their pheromones to attract a mate, then lay eggs that will emerge the following spring.

Back to fungi again; at least, I think this must be fungi? It was present in quite large amounts (this one is about golf-ball size) and had affected several plants...

Then under a fallen leaf I found this moth caterpillar. Not too sure on the identity of this one but it could be a Straw Dot moth larvae.

One more fungi to end this update then and I think this might be ear fungus of some kind, but I am no expert on these, so don't bet your house on it...