See the darkness of high canopy beech and holly understorey? Creepy. The gills look like flames to me and not of the campfire kind. In one of the those areas I found an oysterling ( Crepidotus) on a twig and found a nice tree to perch it in for its close-up. In some areas holly dominates and things get a lot darker. They are of significance to the whole of Europe (ecosystems are European-wide, people). Their pollarding stopped as a local practice some 150 years ago due to a wrangle of Acts of Parliament – who could lop what and where. The bizarre pollard areas near Ambresbury Banks are unique. She said how important is was for her to see the seasons changing and how different the trees were in different parts of the Forest. She said how much she loved spending time in the Forest and that she was moving away soon. A woman passing by on her Saturday jog asked what I was looking at. My books are telling me they are Marasmiellus candidus AND Delicatula integrella. There I spied these beautiful white parachutes ( Marasmius) in wet soil amongst bramble twigs. This was probably the least photogenic specimen I’ve ever found, but with the green flow of woodland behind and a bit of bokeh, anyone can look good.Ĭheered by the sight of a half-eaten mushroom I checked out the swampy dog-poo realm alongside a path. This is a tawny grisette ( Amanita fulva). Moving my little camera around to the right angle, you would never know the cap on the other side was almost completely gone. A slug-munched Boletus edulis or cep lay prone at the trackside. It was only getting near to Ambresbury Banks ( Aims-bury) that the mushrooms were in any way ‘common’. These predatory flies (not of humans) have had a good summer and I’ve seen more than I ever have before this year. The first wildlife encounter of any note was the above robberfly which I noticed out of the corner of my eye on the brim of my (it needs to go in the wash) sunhat. The ground was battered by recent rain and the sloping nature of the landscape had meant the soil was scarified by the heavy downpours. The early signs upon entering were not good. The mushroom boom in my eyes (let’s call it that) was spilling out from every path and Epping Forest’s many visitors were tripping up over them. I mentally (and verbally) built up my visit to Epping Forest due to the rain throughout the week. The two obviously are not linked, but having been an urban woodland warden where fires were lit both in ignorance and violence, it is hugely galling (no pun intended). Even more so when I saw a tent and a fire in the Forest when I visited. However, I must to admit to disappointment in the lighting of a fire in that book. The Forest and its mycelia feature in Robert Macfarlane’s recent award-winning book Underland, a book from a writer I love reading and admire greatly. Epping Forest is also prey to nature writers (guilty as charged, but not published) framing their own ego against this ancient wooded landscape. It was interesting talking to family recently who grew up locally and their reminiscences of putting ‘stop the M25’ posters up in their windows. The Forest shows the scars of this proximity to one of the world’s biggest cities, namely the M25. This woodland is very close to London and is owned by the City of London Corporation (other sites outside London in Surrey and Hertfordshire also belong to them. When mushrooms arrive en masse, we are witnessing a spectacle many millions of years old.Ī weekend visit to family in Essex meant a chance to visit the famous Epping Forest. ‘The coming of the fungi’ in autumn is an event in nature’s calendar that I would put in the same bracket as the first migrant willow warbler, swallow or swift, or the first butterfly. Hopefully not only an early burst in August but a good autumn clutch. Unlike most, I’ve welcomed the wet weather of recent weeks in southern England.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |