Despite a rainy forecast, the weather was once again kind to us for out monthly walk.

As we gathered in the car park, it looked like we were going to be joined by these ponies!

We decided to do a slightly different walk to take in the woods and see if we could spot fungi. We weren’t disappointed!

We headed up to the bridge and the autumn colours were in evidence.

We walked along the path and it wasn’t long until we started spotting fungi.

We continued walking parallel with Ober Water enjoying the sunshine.

We headed up into the woods and enjoyed seeing different types of fungi, enjoying the ingenuity of where they grow and seeing ‘fairy rings’ of fungi.

Julie said that she hadn’t yet seen Fly Agaric fungi this year, so we were on the look-up for some. After a few false starts, Christine spotted one and we were all delighted to see it!

In the distance, Julie spotted more red, so we went and investigated and saw this great group of it!

As we headed back, we discussed how sad it is when fungi is picked indiscriminately, not leaving any for people like us to see and how lucky we were to have seen so much of it. We met the retired New Forest Keeper who lives nearby and he reminded us of the saying that ‘”all fungi is edible, but some only edible once!” A great saying showing why the ‘look but don’t touch or pick’ motto and following the New Forest Code, respecting the natural environment of the New Forest and leaving it for others to admire is the way to go.

We agreed we are so fortunate to have this on our doorstep and be able to go out and enjoy seeing the joys of nature.