Its the weekend again.
I was gonna go for a long run, but my partner @dawnsart has returned home from university so we can celebrate her birthday. I can easily reschedule the run for tomorrow, so we can spend some time together.
We didn't want to travel far, so we chose to walk along some of the foot paths along the edge of the village.
The path is actually part of the Viking Way which is a National trail cover 147 miles between Hull (the River Humber) all the way down to Rutland in Leicestershire. I have zero intention of walking the full distance lol, but locally it is used as a regular footpath to link some nearby villages together.
The view North, towards Lincoln
The view South, the path leads towards Waddington
The view was mostly wide and open, with clear blue skies and glorious sunshine.
Our aim today was to visit the small patch of woodland seen here in the picture above.
Why?
Well, we had visited there several years ago (6 years ago in fact!) and it is was long overdue a return visit
Mushrooms, most likely Brown Roll-Rim? - seen in October 2016
We were heading back to the area to see if we could find any more mushrooms to photograph... when we saw this sign:
Not to worry we thought, the sign had been here for many years, and pretty much everyone ignored it!
We skirted around the edge of the trees looking for a way in...
...Aha!
Perfect!, we'll just scoot in through here and...
Oh.
Not a great deal to see here....um...
Ok, not to worry, we headed back outside and follow the edge of the woodland looking for another way in...
Some pretty little Ragwort flowers we saw while wandering around
Oh damn it!
Another Keep Out sign.
We weren't doing very well!
We kept moving forwards, trying in vain to find a decent path into the woodland.
I did catch some pretty shots with the beautiful Autumn colours
Oh man... these gates weren't here last time!
Nope, looks like we are not getting in here today.
Evidently the local landowner has gotten fed up of people traipsing all over the place, littering as they go. After deciding the signs were pointless, he has put up this gate thing instead.
Oh well... guess that means no new mushroom pictures today.
Slightly dispirited, we turned and headed back along the Viking Way Trail
We did see plenty of berries, so in the absence of mushrooms, these will do!
These elongated berries are Rose Hips
And these round berries are Rowan Berries
Correction - these are actually Hawthorn Berries, thanks to my partner who actually knows the names for these plants!
Today had mostly been about landscapes and plants (no fungi of course).
I did get a surprisingly glimpse of a Dragonfly, sunning itself on the path.
A closer inspection revealed it to be a male Darter Dragonfly. I strongly suspect it to be the Common Darter, as I think I can see the lighter stripes on its legs.
All black legs would point to a Ruddy Darter
And I can also say it is a male, as it is red, whereas females of this species are a yellow-brown colour.
And then there was another unexpected find.
This striking flourescent green (and very hairy) caterpillar is the Larva of a Pale Tussock
With that colour, it is pretty unmissable!
In conclusion then.
While we didn't find the mushrooms we hoped for, it was a pleasant enough walk. And hey, it was nice and bright and sunny (and even warm for a time).
And right at the end I was able to see some interesting things after all, which is why it pays to always be prepared!
All names confirmed and checked via Wikispieces
Further Research from UK Moths and NatureSpot
If you have any thoughts or opinions on this article then I'd love to see your comments.
And if you really like the content then maybe you would like to upvote or re-hive it.
Check out my website for more of my work.All Photos taken by @dannewton unless otherwise stated.
Very nice pictures, better than mine. Just to point out your Rowan berries are Hawthorn berries dear.
lol yes you did say... my mistake, post has been corrected now 😊
This picture is very nice and is amazing thank for sharing this post
What a great walk, even though you didn't find the mushrooms you were hoping for, I'd say it was great.
Thank you... it was a lovely walk to be fair, guess I'll have to try to find some mushrooms elsewhere!
You got some really cool leaf photos! Liked the ragweed one also along with the berries. Looks like an excellent walk.
Thank you :-) We did some manage to get some nice pictures in the end... its been awhile since I have been out for a walk anywhere, really must try to do it again soon
Walking into the woods always find hidden surprises even when not what you seek, you find something amazing.
Agreed @joanstewart... that's why its always so important to keep an eye out whenever we go exploring... who knows what hidden gems will be found!
Thanks for sharing your walk, it looks beautiful. I had a dragonfly just like that one in my garden yesterday.
Hi @dannewton, Thank you for participating in the #teamuk curated tag. We have upvoted your quality content. For more information visit our discord https://discord.gg/8CVx2Am
Your content has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!
Support Ecency
Vote for new Proposal
Delegate HP and earn more
We appreciate your work and your publication has been hand selected by the geography curation team on behalf of the Amazing Nature Community. Keep up the good work!