Sex Bombus

Sex, for bees, is famously terminal, at least for the male. Rather like the spider that eats its mate, the male bumble bee (Bombus spp) will die after it mates with the queen.

Bombus sex is having your end away, in every sense of the phrase...

The Big Wet

It's been wet. Very wet. We are now in December and there is a slight reprieve from the rain, but the Autumn was the wettest ever, and we had the equivalent of almost six months of rain in one month, October:

The Rain in Spain falls mainly...in October

The consequence has been a lot of mud especially on the track down to the village, fields that we cannot plough - which will delay our hay crop in 2019 - and a flourishing fungal population.

Torc of the Devil...

This first fungus I cannot identify, but the next is Ramaria aurea, known as Peu de Rata Groc, or Yellow Rat's Foot in Catalan. It's edible, if eaten young (it says here*. I'm not brave enough to try...)

Christmas Coral

 And finally, my favourite because it's so, so bad, Clathrus ruber, Gita de Bruixa (Witches' Net) in Catalan, the Latticed Stinkhorn in English. It looks scary, traps and eats insects, and stinks of dog poo. Yes, dog poo...

Stinks to Heaven (if you are a fly)

*Guia dels Bolets dels Països Catalans, 7th edition, R. Pascual,  Portic, Barcelona, 2007.