Fungi - Part 2

Wednesday 30th October 2013

Here are a few more photos of fungi taken in the last couple of weeks.  I have tried in the past to identify the various species but there are always one or two that are very similar so I am not going to even begin to try and name them but still, they look good.

This massive fungus was on the side of a tree and it needed to have a hand next to it to get an idea of just how big it was (and my husband's hand isn't small either!)

Nr Ringwood + Pigs and Pannage

Sunday 27th October 2013

We have run out of geocaches near to home in the New Forest so are having to go a bit further afield so today we went close to Ringwood to search for a couple.  The clocks went back last night so there were more people out and about early it seemed and the car park was almost full - not a good sign for me!  Anyway, close to the car park there was a small herd of Belted Galloway cattle, this one looked like it had been in for a curly perm, maybe it got soaked in the rain last night and dried out curly!  It was a nice look though.

As my dad used to say, rain's on the way - the cows are sitting down!

I wondered how long it would take ....... back to mud again!

The tracks were quite muddy today, it doesn't seem to take long for them to become soft, squelchy and very annoying, I have to say I'm not a fan of mud.

Today's two geocaches were set by the same people who are well known for hiding them in and mostly up trees.  This one, the first of the day was a bit of a scramble but obviously not for me I just stood and watched - the art of delegation!

We saw the cache easily enough it was just getting to it that was a bit of a problem.

The second cache was easier (as long as you had a tall person with you with long arms, and I did!) and was reached with feet remaining firmly on the ground.

We saw quite a few of these beetles about this morning, maybe they like it when the ground is saturated and muddy.

As I mentioned the other day, there are masses of acorns and chestnuts about this year, and the acorns are like a carpet of crunchiness in places.  Every year pigs are let loose in the New Forest to eat acorns, known as pannaging, as ponies and cattle can be poisoned by too many acorns.  

http://www.thenewforest.co.uk/discover/pigs.aspx

This year because of the large amount of acorns it has been decided by the verderers and the Forestry Commission that there will be an extension of the pannage season until Sunday 15th December. (The dates for this year would have been 9th September to 7th November originally).

Today we saw some pigs for the first time this season out in the forest, a family in fact, mum and eleven piglets - ELEVEN!! - nightmare!  They were all over the place.

At one stage there was a piglet bundle where they all bundled on top of one another, neither of us was quick enough to get a photo as it was all over and done with quite quickly.

Mum, it's a shame there isn't sound with this, as she was snuffling around grunting and squeaking.

All eleven piglets are in this photo- that wasn't an easy task either!

Just to complete the New Forest experience I took a photo of ponies, just so that we had cattle, ponies and pigs all in one post!  And so ends another morning out caching and incidentally the new walking boots got properly christened today in the mud.

Brockenhurst

Friday 25th October 2013

Today's walk was mainly about trying out our new walking boots.  We were a bit concerned about the new ones as our old ones are like wearing slippers but as we had had such an excellent fitting service from the staff at Cotswold Outdoors we were fairly confident they would be fine.  We walked just over three miles and they were brilliant no problems at all - good news all round!  We successfully found the only geocache in this area, hidden in quite an inventive container.  

The main thing we noticed today was the abundance of chestnuts and acorns, masses and masses.   I believe it's called a mast year when there is an enormous number of seeds like this.

 http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-9B8DHZ  

After a lot of rain last night the river Ober Water was full and overflowing.

Maybe not!!!

At this bridge the rivers Ober Water and Highland Water meet and become the Lymington River, the water in one river was darker than in the cloudier other and it made quite a strange effect as they joined.

Plenty of chestnuts about.

Lots of newly planted trees standing out in their white protective coverings.

A newly extended or built pen used when rounding up forest ponies.

A sad looking large area of dead trees - I have no idea what has been going on here - it looked like something out of Michael Jackson's Earth Song video.

Michael Jackson - Earth Song - YouTube

Juicy holly berries - which reminds me it's only 59 days until Christmas but let's not go there just yet!!!!!!!

Southampton Sports Centre + Warrior

Friday 18th October 2013

Having only a short space of time for today's walk we decided to stay local and went to Southampton Sports Centre. In the evenings and at weekends this is a very lively place with lots of sporty things going on, however on a Friday mid-morning all was quiet.  The trees are definitely beginning to change colour at last and there are still plenty of conkers around to collect and place strategically at home to keep the spiders away (so I have heard and anything's worth a go!!).

At this point there were plenty of fallen conkers.

We walked on across the Sports Centre where there was a lady limbering up on the running track and someone was skiing down the dry ski slope.  There were a few dogs about this morning and we got chatting to a lady walking a puppy, a Hungarian Vizsla (never heard of this breed before), she was a lovely little thing - all legs - the puppy that is not the owner! The owner had just had a bit of  trouble with another big dog worrying her puppy (so that she had to scoop the puppy up quickly into her arms).  Why is it that some dog walkers take their dogs out to a public place and then just let them run off without paying any attention as to where or what they are up to?

We walked on towards Southampton Golf Course, where we passed a memorial to Warrior a war horse that was given a civic burial in 1935 and laid to rest on the edge of the golf course at Southampton Sports Centre in 1935. 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-16487750

A memorial to Warrior, a war horse.

We skirted round the edge of the golf course where there were plenty of golfers out and about.

The golf course, still wet with dew.

We then retraced our walk back through the sports centre where we saw a charm of goldfinches, there must have been thirty plus of them flitting about.  Back near the car park it was good to see that the Sporting View pub is being done up after being closed for a while, as it's in a great position overlooking the sports centre.

Hatchet Pond

Monday 14th October 2013

This afternoon we went geocaching at Hatchet Pond near Beaulieu in the New Forest.  I think it must have been 'let's walk up the middle of the road day' at least it appeared to be for some ponies and donkeys - love 'em!!!  We started the walk in light drizzle this progressed to more full on rain with the sun coming through and producing a rainbow (all in the first twenty minutes).

Hatchet Pond is a very busy tourist spot at the weekends and during the summer, but today there were only a few cars in the car park, much better.  

Dull with drizzle.

The rainbow is only just visible in this photo just above the trees in the centre of the photo - honestly it really is there!

At this point we hunted amongst the bushes (it looks like heath in this photo but there were bushes in the opposite direction) for the geocache that we had come to find and find it we did.

Out came the sunshine.

A peaceful scene.  This pony's mane looked like it had been styled into a mohawk - very stylish!

What else did we see?  Many black headed gulls (now in their winter plumage with white heads) moorhens, herring gulls, swans, mallards, pheasants, (doing a sprint along the footpath ahead of us) and pied wagtails. 

There was plenty of soft boggy muddy ground between the cache and the car and our daughter found the squishiest mud and certainly christened her posh new wellies with some pale green smelly mud and then nearly lost one in a second incident - honestly you would think she knew better at nineteen! Still, it gave us a laugh.

Fungi - Part One

Sunday 13th October 2013

It was forecast to be a very wet day today with this afternoon having the heaviest rain so we decided to get out in the New Forest early before it got too wet.  Luckily we didn't get wet although there was a hint of rain in the air as we got back to the car.  It has only been a couple of weeks since we were last in the Forest, but this week the amount of fungi around is now amazing - it must be a good year for it.  Here is a sample of some of the best.

This is one fungus I do know the name of, it is Fly Agaric and it is poisonous.  When I was a child I would draw this toadstool with a mouse sitting underneath it - there were no mice around or under them today!

Apparently Fly Agaric is associated with beech woodland and this group was in a beech wood.

A mass of fungi on a fallen tree.

We also saw about six fallow deer in the woodland, they were very nervous and ran away at speed giving us no chance for a photo!  I am writing this post in the mid-afternoon and  it is now raining heavily, the forecast was right and we did the right thing getting out early. 

Between Warsash and Stubbington + Pumpkins

Monday 7th October 2013

Today we walked in an unfamiliar area and it made a pleasant change.  We walked a circuit of about four and a half miles and found eighteen geocaches (couldn't find two).  Many of these involved being stealthy and scrabbling about in amongst various thorny bushes, not me of course, I did the lookout job. 

I was really pleased to see these gorgeous pumpkins, all cut and waiting for the halloween rush.

A very colourful field of pumpkins on a bit of a dull day.

A view across the Solent to the Isle of Wight.

Oak apples.

Another view across the Solent (a nice spot for lunch).

A moody afternoon, warm but moody.

This cormorant found a perch with a pretty decent view.

My last note from today is to do with starlings.  We passed close to an enormous electricity pylon and before reaching it we could hear the chatter of many starlings who were perched all over it, nicely spaced out too. I would have taken a photo but they would have been a long way away and looked like little dots - best to imagine the scene I think!

Red Kites

Sunday 6th October 2013

Today we had a great day out at the Hawk Conservancy at Weyhill near Andover. We mainly went for the flying demonstrations and as usual they were fantastic - not the place to go if you are not comfortable with large birds of prey flying low at just above head height!  The highlight of the day was probably having vultures flying close over our heads, coming at us from both the left and right! Great stuff!

During this afternoons flying demonstration a group of black kites from the conservancy were flown over the audience and they were joined by about four wild red kites.  I haven't seen red kites in the wild before so this was an exciting first for me.

Other birds flown during the day included a peregrine falcon, a tawny eagle, various vultures, a golden eagle, a snowy owl, a fish eagle and a demonstration of a secretary bird attacking a rubber snake (needs to be seen to be believed!)  These birds are fantastically well trained and it's amazing that they don't fly away, they are obviously happy there.

The Hawk Conservancy does a lot of great work and it's a great place to visit, I can highly recommend it.

Snowy owl.

 

Vulture.

Bald Eagle.