Insects on ragwort

While walking in the forestry near our home, we found this moth feeding on some ragwort flowers. It is an ear moth (Amphipoea sp.). There are 4 British species of ear moth, which are very hard to tell apart.

These flowers were also popular with other insects including a strongly patterned hover-fly (Helophilus sp.)

Shaggy Ink Cap

The Shaggy Ink Cap (Coprinus comatus) is also known as the Lawyer's Wig.

We found a whole lot of these beautiful toadstools while on a walk above Loch Lomond today.

After reaching maturity, the cap breaks down into a black liquid - a process known as auto-digestion. The picture below shows four stages in the process. At bottom right is a perfect specimen. The ones in the middle have just started to widen and turn to liquid at the margins. Those on the left are half way through the process, and those at top right have completely liquified.

Below is a photo of the view from where we found them.

Garden spider

Today Fred found this spider crawling on some rushes by a pond we were visiting.

It is the Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus) which is very common in Britain.