I don’t think I’ve seen anything like the fungus above, outside of a children’t book illustration. There was quite a colony of them, all shouting “poisonous” with their vibrant red colour.
This butterfly was having a drink from a sedum flower.
And below it’s a different butterfly on a buddleia. It was a good day for butterflies considering it was mid September.

The sedums are in the foreground. We almost had the whole of the botanic gardens to ourselves, I suppose if we had gone in high summer it would have been much busier.
There’s also a great museum attached the the botanic gardens . It has loads of wonderful geological specimens and ancient artefacts going back to neolithic times, well worth a look.



I think I can see an elf peering out from beneath that flaming mushroom! He probably flew in on one of the butterflies.
Joan,
I wouldn’t be at all surprised, it was like fairyland in parts!