Wild Fenland

End of October and a weekend away visiting family - a bit of shopping and dinner out on the Saturday, and a quiet family day on the Sunday, including a walk round some of the local fenland nature trails.

We started at the Whitemoor Prison Nature Reserve - fenland countryside on our left, looming prison walls on the right (felt slightly strange!).  This eventually joins up with the more formally recognised Ring's End Nature Reserve, which follows a disused railway line, past ponds, reedbeds and scrubland - with views out over the fens:

Not a huge amount of wildlife to see - a passing dog walker claimed to have spotted deer in the fields but we weren't so lucky.

Lots of  Ink Cap Mushrooms in evidence though.






Back home again we were however treated to a (not terribly good) view of a Sparrowhawk, in the tree outside the conservatory window!

Nice Weather for Mushrooms!

Well the end of October proved just as damp - although November brought something of an upturn . . .

The mushrooms on our drive seem to like it anyway . . .

Bittersweet October

Was trying to find a nice literary quote online to sum up how October was going, and came up with this.

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.

(Carol Bishop Hipps, In a Southern Garden, 1995)

It just seemed to fit the autumnal experience - one day warm, the next decidedly cool. Leaves everywhere. Sunshine and showers (unfortunately a lot of the latter round here recently). In fact it's been so damp we have tiny mushrooms growing on the drive! And here's the photographic evidence to prove it . . .

The garden is beginning to wind down now for winter, the summer flowers are dying back, although a few autumn specimens can be seen - miniature cyclamen, primroses . . .

. . . kaffir lilies . . .

 . . . and some of the fuschias are still putting on a good show.

The cabbages and sprouts are also recovering nicely from their earlier caterpillar infestations and putting on some growth. The bunnies aren't so evident now, at least they don't venture into the garden quite as much as they did. And the swallows are long gone.  Otherwise the birds are in fine voice, with the Yew Tree acting as bird central; the nuthatch appears to have taken up residence, and there always seems to be something flying in and out.

I was peering through the branches earlier and got a photo of what appears to be a one-legged thrush (although I might be wrong).

Martin also got some good shots of fat robin having a bath . . .

Doubtless October will be over before we know it, and it will be time to get stuck into the accumulated firewood, and light the Rayburn. Halloween is dominating the shop displays at the moment, but it won't be long before Christmas takes over . . . how many shopping days does that leave us?

To Eat or Not To Eat . . . That Is The Question

Finally got out into the garden today - the rain actually stopped for long enough to allow us to cut the grass (which was getting a little out of hand to put it mildly). Got a bit of weeding done as well - Martin found the following under the Yew tree - the question is whether they are edible or not . . .

Anybody got any idea? Tried to identify them, think the white gills might be a bad thing . . . So I gues the answer is 'Not To Eat' this time . . .