19 November 2010

Coneyburrow autumn

On a lovely autumn day I walked around Coneyburrow Wood and some nearby areas.

There are still some interesting fungi about.  I found the always late wood blewits (Lepista nuda) in several places.

20101119 BHW Lepista nuda 033

20101119 BHW Lepista nuda 011

If well-cooked this is an edible species and I have had it from time to time but, I have to say, I am not too keen on it as food - I just enjoy its pale mauve embellishment of the November Woods.

There was also a rather fine turkey tail fungus (Trametes versicolor) growing on a stump, in this case without a very strongly marked pattern of differently coloured rings on the cap.

20101119 BHW Tramestes versicolor 017

On another stump I found a neat little puffball which I think is just a baby Lycoperdon perlatum a common woodland species.  All the pictures I have looked at show it as having a broad, short stalk below, but this may develop on the example I found, or be hidden in the moss.

20101119 BHW Lycoperdon

Another striking feature today was the lovely golden colour of the larch trees (Larix spp.) as they shed their needles for the winter.

20101119 BHW Larix in autumn  024

They are not a native British species and, generally speaking, I find them rather ugly with lots of dead, spiky branchlets.  They do, however, have this autumn moment and another in spring when the fresh green needles emerge.

20101119 BHW Larix in autumn  030