In the forest I saw goldcrests and a treecreeper high up in the trees. A group of jays were arguing loudly in one area. The main purpose of our visit though was to look for fungi. We aren't big fungi foragers, though we do know the main edible species. Tentsmuir is famed for its fungi and at this time of year it is full of a huge variety, edible, inedible and downright poisonous. We gathered a few ceps, bay boletes and chanterelles. If you want to pick wild mushrooms, you need to be positive about your identification, as many species are poisonous and others can give you severse stomach upsets. A good online guide to UK Fungi Foraging seems to be Wild Mushrooms online.
The weather was beautiful for our trip. Dragonflies and small copper butterflies were flying around in the sun over the rough grassland at the edge of the forest.
small copper butterfly, photo by Crafty Green Boyfriend
Swallows were flying over a lot of the fields that we passed on the journey.
Shirl of Shirl's Gardenwatch was also in Tentsmuir on Saturday (though we didn't see each other there!). You can read about here trip here.
12 comments:
I love natural foraging, admittedly though, my one tracked mind fixes on the dye pot potential. I've not been to Tentsmuir Forest. Sounds delightful xJ
Sounds so lovely. Wish we were there taking a walk with you.
It rained constantly all day yesterday, including a downpour in which the clouds opened and dumped their entire contents in about 5 minutes! So, no walk for us yesterday.
Sounds like a delightful trek. With the somewhat cooler weather we've been having here in Alabama (but still about 10 degrees above normal for this time of year), I've wanted to get some hiking and fishing in, but have yet to settle in with the new schedule. I miss my hours of sitting by the river just watching the wildlife while pretending to fish.
sounds like a nice place to go foraging for mushrooms and for spotting wildlife.
the flowers below are beautiful. hope all is well.
This isn't really so far from us but we still haven't been! Whenever we down that way it's always for something else...must go soon.
x
My favorite sentence, Juliet!
A group of jays were arguing loudly in one area.
We have jays in our area ... and now that you mention it, it does sound like they are arguing a bit! Thanks for being so perceptive. Must be something poets are good at!
Have a great day! Daisy @ SunnyRoomStudio
Hi there Juliet! Guess what we were at Tenstmuir on Saturday too… also looking for fungi and hoping to see the seals.
We weren’t foraging though… just taking photos. We were there later on in the afternoon. Perhaps you drove past us around 3pm as we sat on a picnic bench drinking soup from flasks! It was a lovely day for a visit wasn’t it? Must look out for more birds on our next visit :-)
Chantrelles -people go nuts for those here too!
What a lovely day out Juliet. You seem to see and be able to recognise so many different varieties of birds. I am fascinated by fungi although I would never eat anything I found in the fields and woods. I read just last week about a young girl who ate two death cap mushrooms because she didn't have her identification book with her...crazy. She was very lucky to escape without permanent liver and kidney damage. I will leave the woodland foraging to the mushroom experts I think.
It sounds like a lovely trip. Not an area i know at all...
King boletes are very much treasured here especially since there are not as many. There were huge mushrooms 9" across) in the hedge this year but so far cannot identify. Sounds like a wonderful area to visit.
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