27 October 2016 Acres Down
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| Porcelain Fungus |
A couple of days of rain after a long dry spell had
brought out the autumn colours and the fungi. We walked from Acres Down
car park through Wick Wood which is a lovely deciduous wood with plenty of leaf
litter for the fungi. Notable were the Fly Agaric under their associated
Birch trees, the Porcelain Fungus gleaming on beech branches and the purple Amythest
Deceiver buried in the fallen beech leaves.
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| Fieldfare |
What was remarkable was how few edible fungi we
found. Sadly, in spite of all the publicity surrounding the
Forestry Commission's warnings on fungi picking, the pickers had been busy and
had left very little behind, just one small cluster of Hedgehog Fungi which we
tried to hide as best we could. A stiff climb up Acres Down and we
enjoyed the views from the top, Sway Tower, the Isle of Wight and Southampton
Docks were all visible. This is a wonderful year for berries and
grey rumped Fieldfares were enjoying the fine crop of Holly berries.
