Rainforest

I’ve heard it said many time that Welsh woodlands are similar to temperate rainforests, and after heavy rains, our local wood does have that feel about it.  Walking along the slippery path, there’s a constant squelch underfoot, and it’s hard to keep balance, as I make my way down to the sea.  The wood is dark, the trunks of many trees are ivy-covered, and thick carpets of bright green moss cover most fallen branches.  Epiphytic ferns grow in the moss, which oozes water when pressed, and with more on the woodland floor, and a faint smell of decay in the air, the sense of a rainforest is very real.

October is fungi season, but there’s not a great deal about this year.  They need warm, wet conditions, and although it’s been wet of late, the temperature has fluctuated, and we’ve had some cold nights already. I reach the bottom of the valley where there’s a sheltered beech wood, which is always beautiful at any time of the year. There are several old fallen trees, and covering an exposed stump, honey fungus, which can kill healthy trees, is at work eating away at the roots.  After the rains, its beautiful mushroom shapes glisten in the sunlight breaking through to the woodland floor.  I take a picture and search for more. I find waxcaps, which as usual I can’t properly identify, but a fine blushing bracket on an oak is much easier, and gives me another photo-opportunity.