Master Mike

There is! Padley Gorge in the middle of England is tiny, but there's more of it on the west coast. It's rarer but present in mainland Europe.

Japan is covered by it.

Lots of it is very endangered - I feel very lucky to live close to it ❤️

A beige-brown toadstool - most likely a species of webcap - is featured prominently. It is surrounded by moss, browned oak leaves and water. The light is warm from the front and cold from behind (it is lit with LED panels). Another toadstool of the same species is out of focus in the foreground, to the front and right.

A closeup of the best mushroom from the shot I took in Padley Gorge. Particularly happy with the lighting - LED panels helped in the gloom of Storm Amy.

Fun fact - Padley Gorge is the most inland example of a temperate rainforest in the UK!

#mycology #fungi #FungiFriends #mushrooms #forests

A view of the villages of the Derwent valley, taken from the Curbar Edge escarpent. Dramatic skies are present with "god rays" as sunlight breaks through gaps in the clouds to illuminate rays of precipitation, also illuminating the vivid green of the early autumn grass.

The dramatic skies created by #StormAmy more than made up for the dousing we got over the weekend on our photo trip! This view from Curbar Edge over the Derwent Valley made me glad to be alive, active and present.

#landscape #photgraphy #onlybeautifulthings #peakdistrict #skies #storm #sonyalpha

A group of four mushrooms growing on a decaying oak log with moss and acorns around them.

Enchanted mushrooms. Fun with a Tamron macro lens, a couple of LED panels and a soaking wet temperate rainforest! 🍄🍄🍄🍄

#natureisbeautiful #macrophotography #onlybeautifulthings #fungus #mushrooms #fungifriends #photography #fungi

A large black slug (Arion ater) displaying orange markings and a mottled, scale-like appearance

Let's get a little love for one of the less traditionally endearing #inverts - the humble slug (Arion ater).

They may have a nibble of your lettuce, but they're a vital part of the ecosystem and very pretty in their own right.

#natureisbeautiful #macrophotography #onlybeautifulthings #photography

A closeup of the abdomen of a European garden spider, clearly showing the crown-like markings. The image is predominantly a golden brown and lit from the left hand side.

This garden spider (Araneus diadematus) shows off why they truly are known as the crowned spider in this macro closeup.

#BlueSkyArtShow #spiders #arachnids #photography #PhotographersofBluesky #onlybeautifulthings #photohour #thelittlethings #macro #macrophotography

A sheet weaver spider against a Brassica leaf. The underside of the spider is facing the camera.

A sheet weaver spider, about 6 millimetres acrosss, with its rough-spun web hoping to catch some prey in time for the imminent mating season.

#natureisbeautiful #macrophotography #onlybeautifulthings #arachnids #spiders #photography

A macro photograph of a metallic green flea beetle against a fibreglass backdrop

A metallic flea beetle, just a couple of millimetres across.

#natureisbeautiful #macrophotography #onlybeautifulthings #insects #beetles #photography

My boy tends to grab my robe and turn it into a pillow - I think he finds the scent of me comforting.

Don't tell me that, I'm a photographer with a spending habit

I don't know much about Kirk outside him being a right-wing asshole but I do know that this will be touted far, FAR more than the murder of a Democrat legislator and her husband several months back. And I'm British.

no

Rally Point: The ants are willing to die for me in Empires Of The Undergrowth Empires Of The Undergrowth is a strategy game about guiding a colony of ants towards growth and survival.

Thank you so much to Sin Vega of @rockpapershotgun.bsky.social for this lovely article about Empires of the Undergrowth. Excellent screenshots throughout!

www.rockpapershotgun.com/rally-point-...

#indiegames #screenshotsaturday

With the help of 15 psychically-tuned satellites, so even in the fictional setting it didn't work just by itself. Damn indeed.

Staffordshire (but only just).

These are at least cute

Same, and photography is an expensive hobby

Ants attack a salamander in a green-tinted underground environment in Empires of the Undergrowth

A bullfrog leaps away from a swamp environment in Empires of the Undergrowth

A diverse colony of genetically modified gene thief ants in Empires of the Undergrowth

An embankment in a rainforest swarming with ants and other critters in Empires of the Undergrowth

Not sure if I could come up with a collective theme for these community screenshots - amphibians & ants?

TY to Discord members Dino Dude, Serp, The Guy & Black Star for these ones!

Our ant-based RTS Empires of the Undergrowth is out now.

#screenshotsaturday #indiegames

You know what, "social butterfly" is the exact thought I had about myself in the moment after like ten drinks at a wedding recently! If that's what it takes for me to be that, it's probably for the best that I'm not.

Here's to all the introverts out there. May we find our peace.

Yup. The thoughts of events where I'll mostly be meeting people I don't know fills me with dread.

The gregarious and loud get to the top far easier. An extremely extroverted narcissist is currently turning America into a neofascist state, or is at least being manipulated into doing so.

I stan Bubby

Sigh. Time for the VPN, finally

24/7 Biden prostate updates or it didn't happen

Are you ok

Met Office: Extreme weather the UK's new normal The UK has a notably different climate compared with just a few decades ago, the Met Office says.

Is it just me or does this stink of "stop complaining, plebs - this is just how things are now"

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Arguably a way better photo

A macro photograph of a garden spider, orange-brown in colour, with a cross-shaped marking on its back. The spider is on a web, pointing downwards. Eyes are visible.

This garden spider (Araneus diadematus) is currently residing in my open office window. Pretty thing, very welcome to stay as long as it wants.

#BlueSkyArtShow #spiders #arachnids #photography #PhotographersofBluesky #onlybeautifulthings #photohour #thelittlethings #macro #macrophotography

A macro photograph of a seven-spotted ladybird beetle sunning itself in the centre of a leaf. Green grasses and other plants surround the central beetle and leaf. The leaf is partially ragged on the right-hand side. Bright sunlight is clearly illuminating the shot from the right.

An adult ladybird beetle nestles by itself on a leaf, in the early morning. Warming up to meet a day of chasing aphids and potential mates.

#BlueSkyArtShow #beetles #photography #PhotographersofBluesky #onlybeautifulthings #photohour #thelittlethings #insects #macro #macrophotography

A red soldier beetle, Rhagonycha fulva, sitting on a grass ear. The beetle is long, with red colouration with black features too. The ear and the beetle are pointed east, right-to-left. It's a macro photograph lit with a camera flash.

A red soldier beetle sits on grass, perhaps waiting for a mate. Tiny, but very visible this time of year if you're looking.

#BlueSkyArtShow #sideways
#beetles #photography #PhotographersUnited #PhotographersofBluesky #onlybeautifulthings #photohour #thelittlethings #insects #macro #macrophotography

America decided long ago that the guns are for shooting tin cans and schoolchildren, not actually defending freedom.