There is a magical fog in the woods as I take my morning walk. It has woven itself between the trees in the middle distance. I set off from the Oak House and head across the newly fallen Hornbeam carpet, shining yellow leaves in their resting place.
I have an appetite for leaving the beaten track and turn right through open woodland of Oak and Scots Pine. I sort of know where I am and at the same time I’m disorientated.
I’m on the lookout for places where we could thin out trees that are crowded together. Thinning brings more light to the ground could provide us with valuable timber and gives more space for the other trees to grow.
I cross the main track from an angle I wouldn’t have expected and I’m heading west now to where the bracken provides a copper understory to a Hazel midriff supporting more lanky Oaks.
A deer path catches my attention: a clearly marked de track that is easy to see when you crouch down to the height of the deer. It takes me not where I would have headed but instead into the dark stand of Douglas Fir. My reward is a startling array of mushrooms spreading out their huge parasols. I sit on the forest floor and there must be two dozen of these magnificent structures surrounding me. I gently prod at the canopy of one mushroom and enjoy watching its stiff structure vibrate in many different modes.
The deer track leads me on to the northern edge where the wood is wet and I lose the trail at the stream.
From here you can really see the hill of Hazel Hill. I head up the slope past the last of last season’s felled timber for seasoning. The fog is retreating and the rising morning light shines ever brighter through the golden Hornbeam leaves that are yet to fall.
