Depending on the season, time of day, your state of mind, a walk in the woods changes as the conditions change. Right now it just happens to be autumn and gradual adjustments in the forest are becoming evident.
This morning I hiked one of my favourite trails, Kain’s Woods, with some long-time hiking friends. The maples have started to take on their autumn colours, and the air was a bit cooler. Yesterday it rained, and a feeling of dampness still permeated the air. However, what struck me most was the very pungent smell of decaying vegetation. All around were downed trees in various stages of decomposition, producing a very obvious musty odour, not altogether unpleasant, but still very evident. My nose informed me to search for the source of these smells. What I found was an unusually colourful variety of the most interesting fungi growing out of these downed, rotting trees. Obviously the season, coupled with the rain from the night before, had created the desired condition to promote a very lively growth of these wonderful, otherworldly plants.
When I got home after our strenuous hike, I lost no time in packing my camera and heading straight into the Medway Creek Valley, at the end of our street. It didn’t take long to find a very similar selection of fungi to the ones I had seen on my earlier hike. This is a much busier trail than the one we covered this morning, and I received some curious looks from people who thought it odd to see someone on the ground taking pictures of rotting trees.
I hope you will enjoy the wonderful variety and outrageous designs of these plants. I will collect many more at different times of the year. Thank you John for adding your excellent photos to the collection.
I welcome you to the ‘ Fall Collection of Fungi, October 2017’
Square-wheel-jockey 