Sherwood Mycology - Part 1

It has been nearly a month since I had my lovely holiday in Sherwood Pines with Ed and my folks, the time has absolutely flown by with all the Christmas shopping and early dark nights. I am really looking forward to the shortest day because then it is the count down to long, warm summery nights camping in Doris. 

On our little holiday we went on an excursion to Sherwood Forest, the weather was beautiful, wintery and crisp and I had such a fun time snapping all this lovely fungus. I can only identify the first two though (I think), the first one is Trametes Versicolor which has a nickname of Turkey Tail which I think is very apt. The second one down is Ascocoryne Sarcoides which is also known as the Purple Jellydisk, I think it should be called Purple Brain! 

When I looked in my mushroom book I could kinda find some similar matches for the others, but none I was really sure about. I couldn't find out what the red, rusty one that was nestled into the bark, was at all though. If anyone knows what any of these are then please leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you. This was such a fun trip out, I can't wait to get out with my camera again.

Hope all your Christmas plans are coming together <3

Much Love,

Kirst xXx 

Forest Frolics.

Today has been another beautiful, breathtaking day in Sherwood Forest. The weather has been dry and crisp, whilst the forest bursts with autumnal hues. I went on a walk with my parents this morning and witnessed the mist transcending into the sky whilst hearing the leaves crackle and crunch underfoot. 

Ed and I went mountain biking this afternoon for a couple of hours. It was amazing! I must admit that when I come to a slightly scary spot I do squeal quite a lot, but I was a bit braver today than I was yesterday. It was a lot of fun and I loved seeing parts of the forest I would not have seen otherwise if I had just been on foot. The hot tub was a complete solace for my aching body when I got back to the cabin as well. 

Hope you are having a wonderful week <3

Much Love

Kirst xXx

Holidaying with Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest.

A few months ago Ed and I went to visit a friend in Sherwood Forest in these beautiful, modernistic log cabins. I totally fell in love with this place and it was top of my list when Ed and I decided we needed to get away from the city for a few days. The first image below is the view out of our cabin's living room, I could look at this view every morning for the rest of my life and I would never get tired of it. It is so beautiful and peaceful here that it is the perfect break to recharge our batteries before the manic Christmas season kicks off.  

We rented some mountain bikes today, this is the first time I have ever been mountain biking. The first bike I was given was a unisex one, it was huge, scary and the breaks were a long way from the handle bars! This bike hated me and I hated it, so I was very pleased to swap it for a ladies mountain bike. I had such a wicked day (once I got the right sized bike) in the gorgeous, sunny, crisp, autumnal air. Now all that is left is to have dinner and lounge in the hot tub with a beer.

Hope you are having an autumnal wonderland <3

Much Love

Kirst xXx 

Toadstools in Sherwood Forest.

As Autumn is starting to creep in slowly it means that it is a perfect time to go and search for fungus. So here are the toadstools that I managed to snap yesterday in Sherwood Forest. I have tried to identify them using my Mushrooms and Toadstools book and I think I have got some nailed but others I just couldn't identify.

This one seems to be Heterobasidion Annosum. I think the colours of this is really unusual and pretty. 

This one is Scleroderma Citrinum or more well known as the Common Earthball. If I'm right with this it has a black inside and it sometimes mixed with truffles as an adulteration! This is not good news as it is mildly poisonous and can make you have fainting spells and gastric problems. So watch out for dodgy truffle sellers. 

This one is Trametes Versicolor. I think it kinda looks like weird ears.

I think this one could be Hypholoma Fasciculare or more commonly known as Sulphur Tuft. I'm not 100% sure though.

This is a troublesome one to try and identify, I'm still pondering over this one. 

I couldn't identify this one either, but Ed said it looked like little ghosts, which I thought was quite cute. 

I think this one could be Kuehneromyces mutabilis commonly known as the Sheathed Woodtuft.



This one is Dacryomyces Stillatus or more commonly known as Orange Jelly. I think Orange Jelly is a rather forgiving name for this one, it looks absolutely gross!

This little beauty is Piptoporus Betulinus also known as the Birch Bracket or the Birch Polypore. Ed and I thought this one looked like a nose exploding out of the tree. It was a tricky one to identify because apparently it only looks like this when it is young, as it matures it looks more like a shelf fungus.

It was a lot of fun hunting for these in the forest and I spent a good part of yesterday evening trying to identify as many as I could. I must have been concentrating so hard on them that I even dreamt about mushrooms & toadstools! All I know for sure is that I don't think I would ever be brave enough to pick and eat my own mushrooms, there are just so many that you can't eat.  

Our Adventure to The Major Oak.

"We have now arrived at that portion of history where we must tread magical ground, where beings like fairies danced, where deer sported in groups unnumbered, and in limit almost unbounded; where Robin Hood and his gay followers, performed their many and renowned exploits" Robert Thorton in his History of Nottinghamshire.

The Major Oak is often thought of as the iconic meeting place that Robin Hood used to meet with his followers. It is named after Major Hayman Rooke of Woodhouse Place after he first described it in a book in 1799.

What is left of this wood is really beautiful, I'm sure if fairies live anywhere it has to be here!

The Major Oak has a girth of 32ft 10inches! This means that this wonderful tree is thought to be around 600 years old.  

And finally here it is... I must admit I am always a little bit disappointed at how this tree is all trussed up with scaffolding. It just feels so unnatural and this is about as close as you can get to it because of all the fencing. 

This part of Sherwood Forest is very, very touristy! You have to stick to the designated paths too which can feel a little restricting at times. 

This log is just amazing! It looks like someone sculpted what they thought the texture of a log should look like then just plonked it down.

After the hectic couple of weeks it was lovely to relax in the forest away from it all. We finished off our adventure with a delicious sunday roast at a near-by pub. What a perfect day <3