Mixed Feelings

I did end up going out the day of my last post.  It was a bit hair raising in the woods.  The wind was howling.  When I got home I logged onto the woodland for sale website to get the phone number for the North Wales agent.  I was going to give him a call and discuss a deposit for the woodland with him.  Sadly when I got onto the website it appears that someone else has beaten me to it.  Gutted to say the least, I had big plans for that place!  It's certainly knocked me back a bit.  But I have re-centred my attention on some land that I was looking at a couple of years ago.  The guy wanted to much for it, but he's not sold, so maybe there's a chance that I could get it cheaper.  Not quite the woodland of my dreams, but cheaper and still with potential.

Went out looking for edible mushrooms today.  Found a few Scarlet Elfcaps and a few Jelly Ears, but not the Velvet Shanks I had been hoping for.  Not ones that were worth eating anyway.  Lots of fungi still to find though, unbelievable that people think the season is over by winter.  Anyway I was going to attempt a wild mushroom chutney, but without the Velvet Shanks it wouldn't have been right with just ears and elfcaps!  So I made it with plain old button mushrooms instead.  If it's nice, I'll make it with oyster mushrooms when mine are ready.

We did map and compass work last week with Uni.  That was pretty cool, they dragged us all over the hills surrounding Plynlimon.  According to the fitbit I walked 24,746 steps and climbed 139 floors!  We're going to start looking at our footpath project tomorrow, so that should be quite interesting.

I'll leave you with some Turkey Tails (Trametes versicolor).  They are a rather pretty bracket fungus and are plentiful at the moment.

Stonechat

With OH and his cracked rib, it's been hard to get out and do stuff, but not over do it.  For someone who is usually up the mountains or exploring mines, it's incredibly difficult for him to rest.  He's also just got me a second hand Fitbit, as a late Christmas present, so I'm itching to go do stuff even more than normal!  But we had to make do with another gentle stroll today, up at the lakes and forestry at Clywedog.  (Well worth a visit if you're ever in the area!)  Here's my photo for the day.  Pity he's looking the other way though.

We had hoped to spot Kingfishers, but the water level of the lake has dropped about 6 feet, (it's a man made reservoir, with a dam, so the water level is controlled by human hands), so I think they must have moved fishing spot.  The perch we previously found is some way from the water now!  No fungus spotted today, but we did find otter footprints and fox scat full of bones!