Fungi and Monkey Business

We went to Dawyck first thing this morning because the forecast was that the afternoon would bring rain. That hasn't happened yet but it is certainly a lot more overcast than it was earlier. We weren't specifically looking for fungi but as luck would have it we found a wealth of them.

We even spotted (a first for me!) a so-called fairy ring as you can see above. Not the best photograph but you can see the shape of it clearly. At the top of this post is a detail of some of the mushrooms. In French these are know asronds de sorciers  (or witches' rings) which I like even better.

A traditional Scottish rhyme sums up the danger of such places:

He wha tills the fairies' green

Nae luck again shall hae :

And he wha spills the fairies' ring

Betide him want and wae.

For weirdless days and weary nights

Are his till his deein' day.

But he wha gaes by the fairy ring,

Nae dule nor pine shall see,

And he wha cleans the fairy ring

An easy death shall dee.

Hope that brushing off some leaves for photography purposes counts!

 I leave you to enjoy more pictures of all the different fungi we discovered. The above one was my favourite.

 The gills looked like ancient parchment.

Needless to say I couldn't resist taking some more pictures of those marvellous trees bedecked in autumn colours!

 And when we came to the monkey puzzle tree John noticed the beautiful colouring of the seed heads.

 I just love both those as well as the amazing patterning in the rest of the tree branches. Fractals come to mind.

 Finally there was the wistful sight of this weeping tree.