Hiding Under Toadstools

January 23, 2017June 14, 2017 | Rebecca Gibson

It had been way too long since Zahrah and I last went on an adventure, so on a grey, cloudy Friday morning we headed out to Kingmoor South and North nature reserves for a wander. The aim was to train our senses and become expert animal trackers. We had our hopes on finding owl pellets and maybe even the fabled “Beast of Cumbria” – I share George Monbiot’s rather pessimistic opinion on a black panther stalking sheep in the Lakes but that’s a whole other blog post.

**Common Puffball** *(Lycoperdon perlatum)*

**Frothy Porecrust** *(Oxyporus latemarginatus)*

**Yellow Brain** *(Tremella mesenterica)*

Sadly our adventure was pellet-less, but what we did find was a lot of fungi. I’ve been really interested in macro photography recently, and have subsequently been spending a lot more time crawling on the floor finding tiny things to photograph. I never realised quite how extraordinary fungi could be – so many shapes, sizes and colours. Like every naturalist I’d love to be a wild forager and have a nibble on the safe varieties, but after trying to name the ones I’d found I discovered it was dangerous territory. Take Morel (Morchella esculenta) for example, an egg-shaped cup fungus that apparently tastes wonderful. Then take its almost-twin, False Morel (Gyromitra esculenta), which can be fatal and even after careful preparation is believed to cause cancer. Nature is a cruel mistress indeed!

So we decided against finding a snack and stuck to taking photos of the fungi we found. Zahrah graciously held a branch up while I crawled underneath to photograph a group of Jelly Ears. I was mid shot when I heard “aw look at this little spider” over my head and regretted every decision I’d made getting to the Jelly Ears. The little critter was a harvestman (Opilione), and luckily he was only small so I was even brave enough to take a shot of him before he scuttled away.

**Jelly Ear** *(Auricularia auricula-judae)*

We ate our lunch on a bench nestled amongst the vast oak trees, the forest floor covered in a crunchy bed of orange and brown. It was eerily quiet, even for a forest landscape. I can’t wait for the spring when the air will be alive with birdsong again. Winter has its own magic, but it can’t be denied that spring is when nature truly shines.

**Brown Mottlegill** *(Panaeolina foenisecii)*

**Candlesnuff Fungus** *(Xylaria hypoxylon)*

Spring Is Springing!

April 6, 2016June 16, 2016 | Rebecca Gibson

I got to enjoy a walk in the woods today, and after a break over Easter I was thrilled to see signs of spring beginning to emerge. The forest is regaining its colours!

Media Skills Weekend

October 24, 2015November 25, 2015 | Rebecca Gibson

Last weekend was brutal, but strangely rewarding.

As part of our course, Wildlife and Adventure Media students attended a weekend trip to Ratlingate Scout Activity Centre to improve in all things media.

On the evening of our arrival, we were set our first brief at 9pm: capture images of the night sky. This was immediately a daunting concept for me; when it comes to photography there is no doubt that I am a daytime specialist, and struggle to even get a clear picture by night. However, I was here to try new things, so I grasped my monopod and set out into the wilderness.

It ended up being a fairly cloudy night, so there were few stars to see let alone photograph. I managed to capture a few scenes in focus, and now feel a lot more confident approaching this style of photography.

The following morning we were up at 5am, filming the sunrise! We had to create a time lapse in groups; here are some still shots I took when the sky finally started to light up.

For one of the photography tasks we had to shoot water, both still and moving. Here’s one of my more successful outcomes.

Finally, we had to go out and find some wildlife. In commercialised woodland designed for scout use, this was quite difficult. The only bird I saw during the whole weekend was a pigeon, so glimpsing the roe deer they boasted was less than likely. Instead, I chose the artsy approach. In both of the images below, I worked with a theme of contrast: harsh against soft.

Needless to say, I was exhausted when we got back Sunday afternoon, but Media Skills Weekend was a valuable experience and I know my technique has improved.