About a month ago ... on the 15. November 2020 ...
... I went walking around the coastal camping grounds not far from the port of my hometown ...
... not expecting much ...
... and receiving a lot ... from the surrounding nature.
It was a mostly bright ...
... just slightly overcast day ...
... quiet ...
... colorful ...
... a day to remember.
This place looks very different in summer ...
... but that's not so much because of the seasonal changes that affect flora & fauna, because evergreen pines and lawns underneath them don't change that much in this pretty mild climate ...
... people on Holidays are the most impactful seasonal factor here.
This is the most visited summer place in my hometown ... the most attractive beaches are here ... plenty of sand and shallow water for children and shade under the pine trees when you get enough sun ...
... so, both tourists and locals, tend to concentrate here ... a bit like mushrooms on this photograph.
The grass disappears under the tends, towels, deck chairs and an incredible variety of colorful toys, clothes and gadgets ...
... but when the season is over ... all that stuff ...
... is replaced by flowers.
Mostly daisies and dandelion - like, Scorzoneroides autumnalis ...
... with the occasional Silene latifolia ...
... and a few other plants ... that I didn't photograph on that occasion ... because ...
... I was more concentrated on mushrooms.
I saw a nice variety ...
... and photographed quite a few species ...
... but ...
... these Suillus collinitus boletes ...
... were definitely the most numerous.
These mushrooms are edible ...
... although a bit too watery ...
... to be considered great.
They have a nice fruity aroma ...
... but that aroma isn't strong enough ... not for me, at least.
Still ... it's nice to have such an unexpectedly rich source of free food so close to home.
These minuscule fruit flies ...
... like them very much ... especially the shiny, slightly slimy surface of the cap.
I encountered this, slightly bigger fly, also here on one of the Suillus collinitus caps, among the more numerous Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies, you saw on the precedent three pictures. I don't know the name of this last species.
Small groups of these flat boletes ...
... were nicely mixed with yellow flowers ...
... in a multitude of similar, but lovely and always slightly different arrangements.
Some fruit flies ...
... were flying back and forth between mushrooms and the flowers ...
... while these, considerably larger ones ...
... were buzzing only around flowers.
This one was caught while standing in between two flowers. The fly was actually crawling from the daisy to the Scorzoneroides autumnalis flower.
I encounter these flies only in autumn, very often late in the autumn ... they were present in big numbers ...
... and I don't know the name of the species.
Down on the ground ... under the flowers ...
... I found this pair of minuscule mushrooms ... can't tell you what species is this ... I wasn't able to identify them.
Meanwhile ...
... the fruit fly continued regurgitating minuscule droplets, one after another.
About a hundred meters further ...
... while following this small moth ...
... I stumbled upon a group of large Amanita ovoidea mushrooms.
They have immediately caught my attention ...
... but ...
... I had to finish the job with the moth first ... so I took this shot with the long proboscis stretched and visible, like a third antenna ...
... and then ...
... I approached the mushrooms.
Some of them were partially covered with a lush growth of some mold fungus.
It looked a bit like some bizarre beard grown under the cap.
When I took a better, up close look through my macro lens ...
... I discovered an elegant structure that looked great on photograph.
A minuscule, orange colored insect landed on the mold and started feeding on it ... or, so it looked ... I'm not completely sure.
Later that evening, at home, I learned that this is some kind of Fungus gnat ... a small, elongated fly from the Mycetophilidae family, one of quite a few similar looking species that eat organic mulch, leaf mold, grass clippings, compost, root hairs, algae and fungi.
A much larger fly, the Suillia fuscicornis, was resting on one of those caps ... and while I was photographing it ...
... another Fungus gnat entered the frame. This Dark - wwinged fungus gnat from the Sciaridae family is considerably bigger than the orange one you see before on mold ... but still small when compared to the giant blurred in the background - the Suillia fuscicornis.
The mushroom on which they were photographed had an interesting distortion around the cap. It looked like the gills are getting detached from the rest ...
... and this looked pretty cool when seen from above.
These mushrooms had a nice suite of insects around them.
I found a minuscule rove beetle on one of them.
Dalotia coriaria is the name of the species. These beetles and their larvae are some kind of fungi protection, because they feed on the fungus gnats larvae.
I was lucky to catch the moment when the beetle spreads the wings folded under the short elytra.
I had a lot of fun around the Amanita ovoidea mushrooms.
This dark fruit fly, the Drosophila pseudoobscura, was also photographed there.
When I left the Amanitas ...
... I passed by some very large, dissolving mushroom ...
... and my focus shifted towards the flowers again.
There was a sea of these daisies, Bellis sylvestris is the name of the species, but only this particular flower had this strange green stuff sprouting from its center.
I don't know much about daisies ... so I can't tell you what this thing is ... but ...
... I can tell you that I never noticed it before.
On the edge of the neighboring flower, this small fly was cleaning her fore legs covered with pollen ... it looked a lot like the handwashing, performed by a person.
These small, brown ...
... pretty generic looking mushrooms ...
... were coming out of the ground not far from there. I don't know the name of this species.
If you enlarge this enlargeable photograph, you may notice a small green spot on the brown cap ...
... yes ... :D you guessed right ... I found a springtail on one of these mushrooms.
Sminthurus viridis is the name of this, mostly green colored species ... although the color can vary from green to yellow.
Meanwhile ... on the surrounding flowers ...
... the flies were actively buzzing ...
... and some minutes later ...
... I found a small snail on one of those daisies. This small species often feeds on pollen.
Then I returned to the mushrooms that you saw very recently, just a few pictures ago ...
... to take a few more shots, using only the natural light.
At this point I noticed some interesting mushrooms around the base of the pine tree.
With their mimetic color and shape, these clusters of mushrooms looked like an organic part of the tree.
Some of them were growing like this ...
... practically on the trunk of the tree ...
... but the majority of clusters ...
... were sprouting from the ground covered with needles ...
... scattered ...
... in a small radius around the trees.
These are the edible Lyophyllum littoralis mushrooms, a Mediterranean species that grows only near some species of pines.
The Suillus collinitus boletes also have a close relationship with pines ...
... especially the Aleppo pines in this park ...
... and this one has grown extremely close to the tree.
This one has some strange sockets on its cap ... I wonder how were they created ... maybe it has something to do with aliens, like crop circles ... or with some even crazier supernatural stuff.
I was constantly zooming back and forth between the mushrooms and the flowers.
Here you can see another lovely fly ... forming a droplet. I don't know the name of this species.
The shiny, metallic green Lucilia sericata also visits these flowers from time to time.
Lygus rugulipennis bugs were also active ...
... and I saw also some small wild bee ... of some species unknown to me.
About half an hour later ...
... I found these mushrooms ...
... the Infundibulicybe squamulosa.
They grow in groups ...
... and sometimes form rings.
This looks like just another Infundibulicybe squamulosa ... on another slightly unnecessary shot ...
... and in fact ... this is just another Infundibulicybe squamulosa ... but the look from above reveals a slightly different shape.
I passed by another group of Suillus collinitus ...
... and found more snails ...
... on decaying wood ...
... and living flowers.
These are the Russula ochroleuca mushrooms.
Here you can see another one of these mushrooms ...
... from a different angle.
A few steps further ...
... this Leucopaxillus gentianeus was growing.
Usually I see them in groups ...
... but this time ... I found only one.
If you enlarge this enlargeable photograph ... you may notice a little dark spot in the middle of the flower's yellow center.
I don't know much about daisies ... so I can't tell you what is this ... but it looked like something worth showing.
I saw many flowers that day ...
... but only one had this detail.
While walking around that area I saw more Lyophyllum littoralis mushrooms ... this cluster was well camouflaged, barely recognizable on the ground covered with needles - when seen from a certain distance and from above.
There was a small white patch nearby ... some kind of mold, I guess ... it looked like snowy terrain when seen through macro lens ...
A pair of Drosophila pseudoobscura flies was mating there.
Some clusters of Lyophyllum littoralis ...
... where growing by the surfacing root of the pine tree.
Mushrooms in this cluster had some mold on them.
This small solitary mushroom has grown on a rotting pine cone, half buried in the ground. I don't know the name of the species.
I saw this small nymph of some bug species currently unknown to me ...
... it looked pretty cool with this long antennae ... and then ... a bit further ...
... I found some edibles again.
The lovely Coprinus comatus mushrooms. This fruit bodies are fresh and very edible ... but these mushrooms don't last long ...
... this one is already dissolving ...
... there is not much left to eat here ... so, now ...
... with the last two shots ...
... of some species unknown to me ... is time to end this little walk among mushrooms and flowers ... as always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work - THE END.
