Microcosm

Not a bad day, but various commitments meant that I didn't get out until dusk, which now starts at about 3 p.m. By this time, the early sunshine had disappeared so I settled for a quick walk round Thorpe Wood with my macro and flash. 

There are far fewer fungi around now, but still some bracket and resupinate fungi on the larger pieces of dead wood. I wasn't sure of the identity of this rather ugly polypore (and am still not certain) but when I looked at the image on the computer screen I was surprised to see how many other species were not visible to me in the gloaming - at least three other species of fungi, a small snail and an insect larva of some sort. 

Dead wood is known to be of significant ecological value, but many of these small and less attractive species are overlooked by the conservation movement, who tend to focus on large charismatic species that bring in public money. Botanists, mycologists and entomologists have to put in a lot more hard work to get their voices heard, and make the case for conservation of all organisms, great and small. It is all these little things that underpin our battered environment.