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.
OH has cracked a rib and is lots of pain. We were planning a walk up Cadair Idris yesterday, but he was unable to carry his pack, so we had to abort. Today we managed a short walk in the woods.
At first it seemed that due to our climate there were no mushrooms left to find, but before long brackets of all types seemed to appear. Then the more we looked, the more we found. No Jelly Ears, to my disappointment, but a brand new find for me, Elf Cups!
Not sure if they are Scarlet or Ruby, but they are Elf Cups all the same. The brand new ones were just mm across! They grow to about a maximum of 7cm when fully expanded. Just as well they are the colour they are, much easier to spot! They grow on fallen hardwood and are often surrounded by moss, making them harder to see.
I also found plentiful Birch Polypore, and have learnt that although bitter, it can be brewed into a tea which is very good for the immune system. I might have to make up a winter brew. Maybe with some berries added to it for sweetness.
