Fungi Hunting on Halloween at Causey Arch

 

It's taken me almost two months to edit these, and I'd forgotten how many species of fungi we spotted on our Halloween walk at Causey Arch, Stanley. We didn't intend to go looking for mushrooms and the like, but there were so many it turned into an impromptu fungi hunt! We obviously love all things nature and wildlife however admittedly we're currently pretty oblivious to the species names of fungi.

I'm going to try and list those featured here at the bottom of this post but feel free to correct me if any are wrong!
Wildlife was sparse that day and so what we lacked in birds and the like, we made up for in fungi. The birds we did see and are in this post in order were: Robin, Nuthatch, (the flock flying I cannot be sure about), Grey Wagtail and Wood Pigeon. 

Possible fungi:
Tawny Grisette
Velvet Shank
Candlesnuff Fungus
Coldfoot Bonnet
Jelly Ears
Blushing Bracket


My goodness, how difficult it is to identify fungi?! There are apparently around 15,000 species in the UK so it's not happening for me to name the ones in this post. I welcome anyone who'd like to let me know what they are though.

The Last Walk

 

Last year around this time I published a post under the same title, The Last Walk, sharing our photos from the last walk of the year. As mentioned in that post, in both 2019 and 2020 we took the opportunity to get out for a quiet woodland walk on December 25th seeing as we don't celebrate Christmas and had hoped most people would be at home that morning. This year however we regrettably skipped going on the 25th as I had my volunteer shift with Cats Protection earlier in the day and instead we went on the 27th. The photos in this post are from that trip. 

It was a wet, foggy, dull morning with not a bird in sight. I had to have my camera on such a high ISO that the photos are barely usable due to the graininess. In comparison to the blue skies and light from the 25th, it was a bit of a letdown.  It was still a nice time spent together, in the fresh air, exploring in nature and we were rewarded with an absolutely magical moment meeting two Roe Deer. We struggled but managed to get our final monthly portrait of the year making 3 full years and 36 monthly portraits! And by the time we left the empty-on-arrival car park was now full and we were lucky to have started and ended our little hour walk when we did.

Next year we'll stick to our usual day in December adventure!

Until next time...
All the best for a healthy 2022.