Fabulous Fungi

This year has been amazing for the number and variety of fungi appearing in the last few months. As a result, my runs have been taking much longer than usual as I keep spotting amazing new ones every time I go for a run! I'm no expert and only know the names of a small number for certain but I really want you to see some of them in all their glory.

Warning, this is a very photo-heavy post!

This one fascinated me as there were twigs growing through it so it must have been there for a while.

There were several of the next one growing in our orchard grass and one was caught by the mower so we got to see the underside of it:

What an amazing structure!

A Shaggy Inkcap

And again a few days later as it starts to deliquesce

It's wonderful to see the gills on the underside of the cap

This one looks rather like a large seashell!

Spotted along Lordine Lane

Spotted alongside Lordine Lane (I had to climb through a patch of brambles to get to it!)

I found this growing on one of our piles of woodchips. It has the rather unattractive common name of 'Dog Vomit Slime Mould'!

The next few are all Parasols and we've had them throughout both our fields. I've never seen so many!

Spotted in the grass behind our barn

This one looked as if it was bleeding!

Here are some beauties taken in Sempstead Wood over a few days:

In Sempstead Wood there were loads of Parasols but unfortunately my photo didn't show them off well enough.

 

I think they look like Sea Urchins

Growing on a rotting log 

I absolutely adore this pure white bracket

This log was fascinating as it with covered in beautiful moss with a frilly bracket fungus plus a white mould which looked rather like cauliflower florets.

The next few are from Stumblotts wood which is partly deciduous partly pine and has been logged heavily this year leaving lots of open spaces. Nature abhors a vacuum so I'm excited to see what comes to life next year now the tree canopy has been thinned out. Seed can lie dormant for many years so I'm anticipating a good show in Spring/Summer 2018.

Perfect 'Puffballs'!

I love the different shades of red/orange of this Fly Agaric which has been nibbled by something!

I've never seen so many Fly Agaric in one place before.

This one was attracting a lot of interest from small flies

I photographed this next one over the course of a few days to see how it developed. It was growing near a large Oak tree in our garden but was quite different from the Boletus which usually grow along the line of its roots.

It made a tasty snack for a slug and some small flies!

The woodman's pile of logs in the village always provides lots of photo opportunities throughout the winter months but he's just added more new logs so I've only spotted one so far:

Road verges are always a good hunting ground and these were spotted just outside the village:

This bracket fungus has been appearing at the same time each year for at least 7 years. With Mike's hand for scale.

The structure is amazing in close-up.

This beauty only lasted a few days before dying back. It looks like the petals of a flower! With my running shoe for scale.

Honey anyone? These next photos will strike fear into the heart of a gardener but Honey Fungus is just doing what it's supposed to do - help the rotting process!

The rotting stump of a dying Cherry tree which was cut down 14 years ago.

There were lots of small flies crawling all over them.

This is a beautiful example of decay in action! This is the remains of a diseased pear tree we cut down about 10 years ago. Mike attached some brackets to the tall stump and we hang bird feeders from them.

The whole tree trunk is teaming with insect life.

The next ones were found behind the barn either in mown grass or along the field margin:

This beauty was about 3" across

These next ones were really tiny, no bigger than my thumbnail and I had to lie on the ground to get close-ups.

These conical ones reminded me of the counters in Coppit. I've still got the game from my childhood!

I can't remember where I took this next photo but I think it might have been on the verge near the woodsman's yard.

If you've made it this far, well done for your perseverance and I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Catching up again!

Here I am again playing catch-up rather unsuccessfully it would seem! I still haven't uploaded all my photos of amazing fungi, I've completed 2 more ultra marathons, finished my jumper and goodness knows what else I've forgotten about.

The ultra marathons

First there was another visit to Betteshanger Country Park for another of Traviss and Rachel's  Cakeathon Challenges where I decided I would do an extra lap for an ultra so left my camera at home deliberately. Of course I spotted loads of interesting things but then I would have wasted too much time and I was on a strict time schedule as part of my training  for my next challenge for ARUK so the reports will be brief.

There were loads of my running chums there together with an assortment of other who were starting out on their running journey and perhaps completing just 1 lap.

Ross and sweet baby. Ross ran an event the day before whilst mum Kelly looked after the little 'uns so it was her turn to run that day.

There was lots going on in the park but thankfully not too many mountain-bikers to watch out for - the footpaths we used are intersected by their routes so you have to be vigilant. Things I wished I could photograph in no particular order: a display of birds of prey (owls, kites, falcons etc), countless small children screaming and crying (bless them!) whilst strapped into a carriage and being towed behind a parent on a bike, a massive new tepee covered in camouflage fabric, the colours of the trees (so many buttery yellows and vibrant reds), a beautiful heron flying overhead, a strange sort of amphitheatre carved into an old slagheap and grassed over, people flying kites. I love how they have transformed this old coal mine into a place used by many different people and benefiting flora and fauna too.

The weather was perfect and I decided to just run at whatever pace felt good and I didn't look at my watch until I was on my last lap and realised that I was going to get a pb for the distance coming in at 6:08:05 for the 30.5 miles completed.

This being a cakeathon I'd baked 2 different cakes and omitted my usual banana cake (to the consternation of some of the male ultra runners who apparently use it as fuel!). I always make one vegan and one standard and was delighted to get prizes for both.

Andrew, fellow runner and cakemeister extraordinaire.

This was for my vegan and gluten-free orange and chocolate cake which disappeared very quickly

I made a coffee and walnut traybake as requested by Andrew the cakemeister and Rachel. I'd never made it before as we aren't very keen on coffee cake so was delighted that it got a trophy too.

Goodness knows how many of these medals I have in different colours!

Next it was the Halloween Challenge over at Samphire Hoe, another place I love for its diversity of flora and fauna and for the amazing sea views. Fancy dress was encouraged and so I bought myself a pair of spooky tights for the occasion. Classy hey!

There were lots of spooky ghouls and other scary characters. Some people managed to keep their costumes on right until the end whilst others just did a couple of laps.

Thanks to Dee for the photos

I played tag with the pumpkin man throughout as we kept overtaking eachother!

This was a big test for me as it started at 1pm with a time limit which meant you had to go out for your last lap in under 6 hours. This also meant that I would be running for at least 2 hours in the dark and wearing a headtorch. You may remember I did a similar experiment at the Moonlight Challenge back in September but the sky didn't get anywhere near as dark back then so this was a real test. Did I faceplant? You have to wait and see!

I trotted off for my first lap on my own and settled into a nice steady pace. I've been told my pace is metronomic and I do find that I am quite good at getting and maintaining the right pace for me at any given time. On the next 4 laps I was joined by Neil with whom I ran at the Veganathon exactly 12 months ago and he said that my efforts had inspired him to what he's achieved since then which was very kind as he's far surpassed anything I've ever done - he's about to run his 100th marathon and was running his 85th marathon for this year alone, aiming to have completed 100 marathons in a year by the end of this year which is a magnificent achievement and way beyond me!

The wind wasn't as strong has it has been in the past but it seemed to be coming at us from several different angles either from the side or we'd be running into it for about 2/3 of each lap.

Mike managed to phone me just before it went dark and so Neil and I went our separate ways (he had wanted to do an ultra but dropped down to marathon distance as he was running the next day too) and the last 3 laps were spent on my own which was good practise for next year (gulp!).

Once my headtorch was in place and it was properly dark everything changed; I couldn't see peoples faces as their headtorches were so bright which I found difficult. We did exchange lots of banter and words of encouragement as we passed and I could recognise most people from their voices as there were many of the usual suspects still out there. I found that a combination of my headtorch light on a low setting combined with a small handheld torch gave me just the right amount of light and I was amazed at how comfortable I felt given that my night vision if not very good.

I noticed different things in the darkness: I saw a tiny mouse scuttling along the concrete of the sea wall and we exchanged glances, both questioning the others reason for being in such a hostile environment, before he disappeared and I ran on. There was a waxing Gibbous moon and it threw the most beautiful light upon the sea. The lights on the container ships looked really pretty on the horizon and the Port of Dover was really bright and twinkly. I also became more aware of the sounds around me and it really was an interesting experience.

What I also learnt was that I should have changed from my baseball cap to a woolly hat without a peak. I knew that the peak restricted the beam and so had turned it round but that became uncomfy after about 30 minutes - serves me right really! I'm also starting to experiment with refueling during a run as I regularly run marathons in a fasted state (ie I don't have a meal beforehand) and rarely eat during them, nor do I use gels etc but next year I'm going to have to eat before and during the event so it's important for me to experiment with what works for me over the coming months.

I finished in 6:33:56 and was presented with this lovely medal.

I have a few weeks now without any events so will be churning out the miles at home which will be nice.

Slouchy

I do rather enjoy finishing a project except for darning in the ends and there were so many of these with all the colour changes. First of all I separated each colour and sewed up the seams. For the rib I used blanket stitch but for the body I used backstitch - I do love a nice neat line of backstitches and it gives the seam strength.

I was careful to line up the colours exactly at each colour change.

Mike wasn't around to take a photo so Tilly and I improvised and used photo booth!

What I love most about Kidsilk Haze is that it creates a wonderfully light yet warm fabric - being a woman of a certain age I can't wear thick jumpers any more and prefer to use layers so I can rip a layer off if I get a flush!

I didn't want the jumper to be as baggy as the photo in the pattern and I managed to get gauge using much smaller needles so I'm very happy with the fit.

Next up will be another poncho 'cos a girl always needs more ponchos doesn't she! Plus, I've promised Mike to make him another cowl and I'm going to make it in brioche crochet but amazingly I have nothing suitable in my stash as I don't have many dk yarns so we'll need a visit to a yarn store.........