A Balblair Wood Walk

If we thought a walk in Balblair Woods this morning would give us a break from endless fungi we were badly mistaken. We had hardly passed through the gate before we stumbled across....

....what looked like an out-of-date cauliflower. Not sure that it was even a fungus I checked for 'cauliflower fungus' on the internet and found.... the wood cauliflower, Sparassis crispa, a fungus with is not uncommon in Britain and is edible but only when young and fresh.

This was followed by another parade of fungi differing from yesterday's only in that there were fewer brilliantly red ones. We liked this one because it was so yellow. It may be a larch bolete, Suillus grevillei. The dimple at the top of the cap has been caused by something eating the fungus, and....

....we now know what makes a mess of so many of the fungi.

Again, I'm not sure this is a fungus, though I can't think what else it might be. It looked like a black candle that had been melted by a flame. The only thing I could find on the internet that bears any resemblance to it is the fluted black elfin saddle, Helvella vespertina.

We've met this wonderful fungus before and loved it again for its sheer ugliness - or is it beauty? Last time we identified it as a pine bolete, Boletus pinophilus, but it may be a penny bun.

After a while we had to firmly stop ourselves from finding any more fungi and concentrate on enjoying a walk in sun dappled woodland with....

....views out across Loch Fleet to hills with their heather just coming into flower. Give them a week or two, and give us some more sunshine, and they'll be spectacular.

We dropped in on the osprey nest fully expecting it to be vacated to find a fully-fledged young one in residence. However, either it or a circling parent must have spotted us as it took flight, though we saw it again later with a parent as we were leaving the wood.

We've had a good summer of osprey-watching but within a month they'll be gone, on a two-week migration covering some 5,000 kilometres to their other home in West Africa.