Mayfly nymphs from the river Wear

Some yellow May dun mayfly nymphs, from the river Wear downstream from Wolsingham. The upper reaches of the river are full of these, clinging on to the underside of every rock pulled out of the water. They are one of the food items that dippers catch, when they walk underwater, over the river bed, and flip stones with their beaks in search of prey. 

In the image above you can clearly see the feathery abdominal gills, that beat constantly and absorb dissolved oxygen from the water,

 

Two late winter/early spring invertebrates

This little crab spider was lurking amongst a bunch of ripening ivy berries. When I disturbed it, the spider quickly disappeared amongst the berries. I posted this picture on Twitter a couple of weeks ago and @ivysuckle kindly identified it for me, as a running crab spider in the genus Philodromus

 There's a shield bug nymph crawling over this lunar landscape of apothecia of the lichen Xanthoria parietina. On Twitter, it was kindly identified for me by @AlanM24217579 as a second instar nymph of the forest bug aka red-legged shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes, apparently the only shieldbug species that overwinters in the nymphal stage.

Some late winter toadstools

 Three late-winter fungi that have been very conspicuous here this month.

 Scarlet elf cup Sarcoscypha austiaca. Always a joy to find, especially when it's nestling in a bed of mosses. More about this species here.

Hairy bracket Trametes hirsuta, on the base of a dead silver birch trunk. Seems to be increasingly common hereabouts.

A nice cluster of very young velvet shanks Flammulina velutipes, on a dead poplar stump. A toadstool that continues to grow in the coldest, frostiest weather.