Magpie Inkcap

This is a small fungus called Magpie Inkcap (Coprinus picaceus) which I saw very near the entrance kiosk at Claremont Gardens this morning. I went to meet a friend and we had hoped to see some nice autumn foliage but I think it will be another couple of weeks before there are a lot of brown and yellow leaves on the trees….including the usually spectacular tulip tree. See extra. We noticed that quite a few of the geese and other water birds seemed to be ‘walking on water’ , this is because the water level in the lake seems to have dropped around a foot this summer so that it is very shallow in places.
I will return in a couple of weeks with the grandchildren to do the half term trail which has a witch theme! 

Spent the afternoon spring cleaning parts of the kitchen, not my favourite task