Autumn bounty

The first meeting of Langdyke Creative was held at Etton High Meadow this morning - fortunately we were blessed with perfect weather
The allotment and hedges were bursting with fruit - such a wonderful array of colours and textures, from the golden fuzz of the young quinces to the waxy-boomed purple damsons.

I spent a long time enjoying the textures and patterns of the bark of the older fruit trees, which support a range of lichens, mosses and fungi - some of these have also made a home on the fruit itself.

And of course I couldn't resist a few insect photos - a richly coloured Common Darter sunning itself on a stone, and a writhing mass of Buff-tip caterpillars chomping their way through some rather leathery-looking birch leaves.