Just after 9am this morning a small formation of common cranes flew over the house - flying due West.

It's turning into another frugal month of diary entries. Again this is more due to us being busy on other things rather than there being nothing to report on.

However, today, while raking up the leaves, we found this purple mushroom, Cortinarius violaceus, growing under our hazel tree.

We've tried before to establish some spignel in our garden. We've only managed to get a small patch growing near the house, but today we spotted some growing in the back 'lawn'. We've not seen it there before, so it is a mystery as to how it got there. Perhaps a seed on a cow's hoof?

While out on a run, I was confronted by this extremely aggressive devil's coach horse beetle. As I ran past him he raised up his abdomen which made me stop and take his photo. When I put my finger in front of him, he had a go at taking a nip.