Moving into Autumn now, we decided to return to Nettleton Woods to see how the autumn colours were coming on and whether there were any fungi about. We followed our usual route but included a detour to look at a pond on the edge of the wood on the way back to the car the whereabouts revealed to us by a lady dog walker who we met on the main path.
Autumn colours were developing slowly, although mainly in the bracken and rose bay-willow-herb, the trees still in their summer green. The rose-bay was living up to its alternative name of fireweed with bright red autumn foliage lit by the afternoon sun. The name comes from the plant's ability to recolonise ground immediately after fire has passed through; it was a feature of World War II bombsites.
What we did find, though, was plenty of fungi. Stinkhorns were plentiful, often alerting them to their presence by their smell of rotting flesh. None were fresh enough to be worth photographing, however. The best find was a pristine flyagaric. The pond, when we found it was a gem. There was a male and female migrant hawker there and it should be good for other dragonflies in the summer.
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