The magic of mushrooms!
Autumn is a magical time for the world of fungi, and our mild weather interspersed with rain has made conditions ideal for them to grow. With our local lockdowns seeing me unable to venture out of my borough into Newport to visit Goldcliff for the birds, I have found myself instead spending more time than usual in the local woodlands. Although I have been watching the birds as well, I have taken the opportunity to look for fungi, and always on the search for what we call a lifer - a new species for the list. I have been seeing pictures on Twitter of people finding Earthstars, Bird's Nest Fungi and Devil's Fingers - all of which are lifers for me, and my enthusiastic search for these continue, so far to no avail, but I will keep looking. Back in September, one Thursday evening after work, fortune was to smile on me. Since a young boy and reading the then weekly and very popular Living Countryside magazine, I always desired to see certain species that stood out as they looked so