Increasingly, this is becoming a blog about the wildlife of the Golspie area but, in these strange times, we are truly blessed in being able to find so much pleasure in the natural world around us. Through the summer and the brief northern autumn, we enjoyed a wonderful exploration of the local wildflowers but, as these fade - with the exception of some late species like this devil's-bit scabious, pinker than the more usual purple variety - their place has been taken by a feast of fungi.
For two people who enjoy a good mushroom on their dinner plate, a feast they would be if only we could identify them. The internet tells me that there are around 15,000 species of fungi in Britain, and I swear that most of them are currently growing in our nearby Beinn Bhraggie woods.
We wandered through the woods for a couple of hours today with Mrs MW patiently waiting while I took upward of 90 pictures of assorted toadstools. An hour's research after lunch has produced a couple of possible identifications but since one needs a microscope to look at the spores of some in order to identify them, most remain frustratingly un-named. These might, just might be a species of bonnet, and the purply-coloured group above might....
....along with this one, be a species of brittlegills, coral and scarlet respectively. That the red one isn't a waxcap is suggested by its whitish stem, whereas the waxcaps seem to have coloured stems.
This, too, might be a brittlegill because, to confuse the likes of me further, they change colour as they age, but....
We do so enjoy wandering these tracks, meeting hardly anyone, but having the additional spice of discovery makes each walk even more interesting.
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