Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Skullcap Daperling Mushroom

The change of seasons can add another dimension to a visit to our woods. Just as birdsong and woodland flowers subside as spring moves into summer, so the bees and butterflies decline as the summer progresses, the days shorten, and we approach the "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness."

However, if you have the time and the inclination, the onset of autumn in our woods can offer you a different wildlife spectacle to enjoy - the often weird and somewhat elusive world of fungi.

Being neither plant or animal, fungi exist in a kingdom all of their own, come in a myriad of shapes and sizes and can evoke the strangest feelings when suddenly encountered in the depths of a woodland. Although some of the more hardy examples are present all year long, it is those ephemeral toadstools, so evocative of elves and goblins, which appear from nowhere and disappear as quickly, that can perhaps give the most rewarding and enlightening display.

Check out our wildlife site for examples of fungi seen and photographed
in our woodland in recent years.