A Cotswold Year - Charting the seasons in the South Cotswolds


Sunday 29 October 2017

Beech woodland in Autumn

 We have enjoyed some stunning rambles this week. This woodland at Owlpen was enhanced by the sunshine. Some of the leaves having fallen means that the light gets through showing off the dark Beech trunks


Tuesday 24 October 2017

Fairy Rings

 Rings of Fungi often appear in the autumn and these are sometimes called fairy rings. They are the fruiting bodies of the fungus which lives underground feeding on decaying material.
We think this is the Trooping Funnel (Clitocybe geotropa) which commonly forms rings under beech trees but  are not confident enough in our identification to eat them!

Sunday 22 October 2017

Sloe berries



There seem to be many Sloe berries in the hedgerows this year. 
The berries resemble a small plum. They can be used for making jams and chutneys but are very sharp. Apparently they are less tart of picked after a frost but I usually find they have shrivelled by this time you can collect them now and freeze them.

Sunday 8 October 2017

Hornets



When sitting down for a picnic in the woods today we noticed some large insects flying around this tree stump. Looking more closely we saw that they were hornets flying in and out. Luckily they kept themselves to themselves although one seemed to be on guard and we noticed it attach another hornet who came too close.