Some people like a bit of ‘retail therapy’ but personally I do not find that very therapeutic, the quicker I can get it over and out of the way the better. My therapy, not that I need it that much, comes from a stroll in the woods. Sometimes our own wood but often one of the numerous woods that we are blessed with in the Wye valley and Forest of Dean.

Today I had a stroll round our own wood… it is part of a larger wooded area  called Ninewells wood. I noticed that the company Woodlands for sale who trade in small plots of woodland had erected a sign on the tiny patch that they retained when they sold us our wood some 5/6 years ago. I wonder if another chunk of Ninewells wood is being sold off or are they just publicising their existence. People will think that it is my bit of wood that is for sale…. but it is not.

Anyway it was a misty morning and the dew was highlighting all the spiders webs, mostly they were the raft/platform types which are not that photogenic but I did find this nice big orb web near the entrance.

The Heather (Calluna vulgaris) is now out and looks good, there is a small amount of Bell Heather but that flowers a bit earlier and is now over.  A reasonable number of bees were about visiting the heather but not huge numbers.

Signs of Autumns approach were about, one bracken leaf was looking particularly autumnal, I think someone had trodden it down a week or so earlier so it was a bit stressed. However its bright yellow colour made for a good photo.  Rowan berries were nice and red and there were also quite a few hazel nuts and blackberies.

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There were a  few fungi about. The Earth balls always make an early appearance and there were a few Boleti,  but not the edible Ceps or Bay Boletes, they might make an appearance in September.   I think this is one called the red cracked boletus (Boletus chrysenteron), it has reddish stains on the stem. I also saw  a bright yellow slime mould on one of the stumps, and this orangey yellow specimen which I do not have any idea of what it is.

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Bird life was a bit sparse…. it always is, I saw Robins, and Crows and heard Wrens, Blackbirds, Wood pigeons  and a tapping Woodpecker, probably Great Spotted. But there were also some little brown jobs about, initially I thought they might be Chiffchaffs or Willow Warblers but patience paid off and I was rewarded with some reasonably close shots from which it is plain to see that they are Spotted Flycatchers…. another new species for our bit of woodland. There were also quite a lot of House Martins zapping about overhead.

That was about it, there was a grey and white cat when I first turned up and I noticed a dead mouse by the entrance when I left….. possibly one was responsible for the other.