Flying deer!

 I had to be out early this morning. There was a lovely red glow and a mist in the valley, so I imagined taking a prizewinning photo of a deer calmly grazing in the mist.  Of course, reality was nothing like that.  The herd of does and their young was obviously disturbed by a dog or something and they skittered across the ride in front of us, one by one.  There was so little light that they were rather blurred and the back view of a deer is not the best one.

I was quite pleased to see my first Fly Agaric of the season.  We had just been saying yesterday that I hadn't seen one yet, so I assume this one had popped up fairly quickly as the red is quite noticeable.

They are hallucinogenic and there are many folk tales about them.  My favourite (which could be why Santa Claus was depicted wearing red and white) is that they are the reason why Santa's reindeer can fly.  Historically, the Shamen of reindeer-herding tribes in Lapland would prepare Fly agaric fungi and their hallucinations allowed them to travel up the chimney to the spirit world.  These same tribes would sometimes drink the urine of reindeer (or even the Shamen) that had fed on the fungi, allowing them to sample the hallucinogens perhaps more safely. It is quite easy to see how these events could lead to our traditions.

On the way home we met the buck herd in the woods. They hadn't been there on our way out so they took me by surprise and I still didn't get the perfect photo. At least it gives me an excuse to try again another time! 

Just get outside!

 Good morning! It is a good morning here in Sussex. Sorry if your weather is not so great but getting outside is a great way to feel good.The rides have been mown here so the local fungi have been broken up and are very noticeable.  These two really illustrate the difference between fungi with pores (the Boletus on the left) and fungi with gills (the very white Amanita gills on the right if you are on a PC.)

Whatever you see today, have a good day!

 I'm not sure whether anyone can see yesterday's videos: they certainly took so long to load that I didn't type anything afterwards.  This morning I missed the lovely pink sunrise (well, I saw it from bed), walked in cloud, missed the sunshine while I did chores, then did the gardening in cloud! Sometimes it doesn't quite go as planned! Still always worth getting out though.

Whatever the weather there are some fantastic parasol fungi around at the moment: the dog is in this one for scale (or maybe because he wanted a treat!)

I left this one for others to see but sometimes it is worth getting a different view of things in nature.  I love the gills on the underside and annulus, or ring,  around the stem where there was a partial veil as the cap expanded.  In some species, like this, it can be moved up and down the stem.

I was also thinking about the amazing root systems of trees, having passed this one with roots exposed on the bank. Estimates vary (depending on the growth conditions) but tree roots can spread up to 8 times the width of the canopy.  They certainly spread beyond it in most cases, which is why so many roadside trees start to die back.

I definitely need to visit this bank when the sun is on it but I can't use that excuse now: must get on with some chores!

Last night the wildlife camera was in the gateway and picked up two fox visits and two badger visits but were they four separate animals or the same ones on the way out and back?

Elsewhere in Sussex

 This morning's walk wasn't exactly local but it is good to ditch the routine sometimes.

Obviously most of the plants are different from the Forest, but we were out for a walk rather than looking at the botany (in a former life I was a chalk grassland surveyor for English Nature, the Government body for Nature Conservation.) 

 It is a lovely time of year for looking at hedgerows though, with bright red haws on the Hawthorne and the fluffy seed heads of Old Man's Beard (probably better to call this Clematis vitalba but I always loved the name Traveller's Joy)

There were several colonies of Common blue butterflies, nicely colour-coordinated with the blue sky and the sloes but at the end of the walk the hedgerows were coated with the webs of Brown tail moth caterpillars. These caterpillars have hairs which can be highly irritating if you touch them and in some places they are considered to be a Public Health issue.  The infested hedgerow certainly didn't look as healthy as the others.

On a brighter note, we will take away much more positive memories of the day, like this fox moth caterpillar in the morning sun!

Wild Gentian chase

 As I mentioned before, we have been revisiting sites where Marsh Gentians were found in the past.  Sadly numbers are down this year but today's walk turned into a wild goose chase as the habitat had completely changed. Without management, birch tends to invade heathland: the area to  the left of the ride is very definitely no longer suitable and we failed to find a single flower.

We still had a lovely walk in an area that I rarely visit now.  The dogs were happy to find water in the stream and the hanging ivy made it look like an exotic rainforest! Ivy is amazing for wildlife and I get very upset when people kill it.  It provides habitat for many species including bats (which incidentally can be seen feeding up for winter at dusk on the lovely evenings we have been having) and many invertebrates.  

We also came across this slime mould.  These tend to be a feature of my blogs as I am amazed by these single celled organisms that come together to move and reproduce.  This one looks as though it it coming together into the classic blob that we often see.

Deer today

 

We kept coming across Fallow does and their fawns this morning.  The fawns are growing up but are generally still quite shy and difficult to photograph.  Generally I hear the rustling in the woods more often than I see them as their summer coats are actually quite good camouflage in the dappled sun between the trees. They are often quite noisy if you startle them: sometimes 'barking' their alarm call as they run, although mostly moving away in silence if they see you before you see them.

There are so many deer near us that there is a clear browse line, even under the holly, but I still enjoy seeing them.  Being still, watching wildlife is a fantastic way to de-stress, whether it is out in the countryside, in a park or in your own garden.