A Walk in the Woods
Join me for a damp afternoon wander
After two weeks of October holidays and my working hours being even more part-time than usual, it was a bit of a shock to the system to be back into the school routine yesterday, with my alarm going off at 6.20am again. So after lunch, I took myself out for a walk in the woods with my camera to clear my head after a busy morning at work.
My local woodland is made up of a mixture of species, predominantly Beech (Fagus sylvatica), but also Oak (Quercus spp.), Silver Birch (Betula pendula), Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) and Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris), along with a few others. The leaves are turning and there are mushrooms everywhere – join me as I wander around. This is a very picture-heavy post, please enjoy it!
I love all the different colours and patterns on these Beech leaves…
It has been quite rainy here over the last few days, and the woods had that lovely damp smell that you only really get at this time of year. As I walked along the path a flock of birds were looking for food in the bare branches above my head – I spotted Chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) and Great Tits (Parus major) fluttering about, and made out the high-pitched peeping call of Goldcrests (Regulus regulus) above the squelching of my boots in the wet leaves. There was the loud chattering of a Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) – how does such a tiny bird make such a big noise?!
Looking up and looking down…
It has been a good year for berries. The few remaining Hawthorn berries that haven’t been eaten by the birds yet were dripping with raindrops:
The little growths on this oak leaf are made by a gall wasp called Neuroterus baccarum:
I don’t have a good mushroom identification book – something I really should rectify soon – so apart from the Sulphur Tufts (Hypholoma fasciculare) in the first picture here, I haven’t named the species in these next few photos. I think the third one looks like a little fairy city.
Thank you for reading, and I hope that wherever you are you manage to get out and enjoy a walk in the woods.
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I had a similar walk in the woods next to the village here yesterday, also captivated by the colours of the leaves.
I think the smell you describe is partly petrichor - the aroma released by the ground after rain - but almost certainly chemicals arising from all the fungal activity too.
As for fungi identification, surely there's only one book to go for - Mushrooms by Roger Phillips, published by Macmillan. Actual size photos of fungi in colour against neutral tone backgrounds.
You'd probably get a copy second hand fairly easily I should think. 🤗
Ahhh, I can smell the woods from here! Also, big fan of these photo-laden Substacks. I petition for more damp morning walks replete with photos!