Right Under My Nose ...

Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric).

LARGER.

Amongst those having a good laugh at my blip photo yesterday at work was 'D', with whom I'm quite pally. I mentioned Blip at the time and she'd asked what it was. It turns out that she's also a lover of photography (she has a Canon 450D) and she and her best pal are both fungi lovers! She asked if I'd ever been to Poringland wood. A wood? I'd replied, I didn't know there was one there. I know she lives at Poringland, less than 10 minutes drive from the office - apparently she often takes her dogs to the wood and there are some cracking fungi there. Though quite small, it's an ancient woodland and a designated SSSI. So she showed me some of her pics as she had her camera with her - and then she just happened to mention the 'red ones with white spots' .... I nearly fell over! She showed me some shots she'd taken just the previous day - apparently in one area of the wood they're all over the place. So she kindly drew me a sketch of where to find them, and lunchtime today I drove there. Now her map was easy enough to follow - from the small car park take the track to the right, over a bridge with a little steam, then over another with nothing underneath and then an area of firs with lots of ferns - the site of the Amanita Muscaria. Well, I hunted .... and hunted ... not a flash of red to be seen! I had to give up in frustration and headed back. Then about halfway between the firs and the first bridge, I caught a glimpse of red amongst the ferns right at the edge of the path to my left. There were 6 of them, 4 sadly too battered and folorn - but 2 were almost pristine, one with very few spots, and this beauty - my prize and my blip.

To think - I never managed to find one to blip (nor had ever seen one) until my trip to Foxley last November. Yet all this time they've been right under my nose 10 minutes from work! (Apparently 'D' even has them growing in her garden .... huh!)

On return to the office I told 'D' of my visit to the wood, and she's now elaborated as to the exact area of the firs where there are so many - the wood will be closed off for the next 2 weeks for maintenance work, but I aim to revisit a.s.a.p for more shots. There are also some other cracking fungi there - I plan to treat myself to a Saturday visit in the near future, so I can take my time and have a good browse.

There are also 2 or 3 other great small areas locally to her with some good fungi too, so she's said one day when we're not at work if I take a run to hers she'll take me on a tour of the area so I know all the 'hot spots'. Nice :)