Woodland Collage

It may have been raining this morning but Geordie and I had a fun walk in our favourite woods.
There was water dripping from every piece of foliage around us, but at least the tree canopy sheltered us from the rain. In one part of the wood we walked on a gradually deepening carpet of pine needles, cushioning the path. At the other end of the wood it was wet, slimy leaves underfoot, which could be pretty slippy at times.
There seemed to be much more birdsong than usual, small birds which I couldn’t see. None of the usual noisy magpies, or the lovely coos of the wood pigeons.
The colours of the leaves are changing by the day, yet most of the ferns are holding their own and reluctant to begin decaying.
We saw no squirrels. Thankfully we saw several greys yesterday at Silverburn, in the woods, and in the walled garden where I sat to enjoy my hot chocolate and brownie.

But today, in the wood, my focus was fungi. I’ve yet to see any brightly coloured fungus. I may have to check out some other woody areas for that. But there was still quite a variety. I was pleased to see more Collared Earthstars. There is one bottom right on the collage, taken from a different angle to the one I posted on 23 sep, and at a different stage in its development.

All in all it was a really good walk. Geordie needed a good brushing when we got home. His coat was full of sticky willies and grass seeds.