Though the days are growing shorter and the evenings are now dark so early, I find this to be the most enchanting time of year. The leaves are in their full autumn raiment, all glowing fire when the sunlight slants through them and creating a striking contrast against the stormy grey November skies. Despite the warmer weather there’s no denying we are now nearing winter and somehow or other, another year has almost past by.
It has been a wonderful year for mushrooms and we’ve been out on many forays; in woodland, heath and meadow, to spot a small selection of the abundance fruiting there. Of course one of the most captivating aspects of autumn for me is colour and the sensory experience it evokes.
I’ve been so drawn to the purple fungi this year. Pictured here are the violet webcap, amethyst deceiver and wood blewit. The comparison picture shows an amethyst deceiver on the right with a violet webcap on the left. It’s good to know the difference as amethyst deceivers are edible and violet webcaps are not.
The woods have also been abundant with fly agarics, trooping like faery houses across the leaf litter and it’s been a good year for other red fungi too such as the scarletina bolete and the red cracking bolete, which is one of my favourites to see.
Another of my favourite mushrooms is the rosy bonnet. Its delicate hue is so soft and enticing. I also found myself captivated by the pinks in these Virginia creeper leaves.
Gathering medicinal mushrooms is something I love to do every year and luckily birch polypore, turkey tail and ganoderma are all common where I live in the South of the UK. I have written about the benefits of the birch polypore here and have long been intending to cover the others too. At some point I will!
A few more lovely finds include these beauties; the blusher, sulphur tufts, bay boletes, oak milkcap and fairy bonnets.
And it’s not just the mushrooms that make October a magical month. The light through leaves of gold and green is a sight that will never fail to move my heart.
Finally I’ve been busy in my studio creating illustrations for a few projects. The redwing and caterpillars are for a little booklet I’ve been working on for a while about the wildlife, medicine and folklore of the Hawthorn tree. I only have one picture left to do so I’m really hoping to have it finished and in my Etsy shop before Christmas. There’s a new selection of prints available too which you can see here.
Your post is absolutely drool-worthy! I’m looking forward to your little booklet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! Autumn is definitely a drool-worthy season! 🙂
LikeLike
These photos of your findings of Autumn treasures are absolutely gorgeous. Such a magical season. Nature is a great soother and inspiration, so much more than any app!!
Blessings to you Lucinda.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I couldn’t agree more. Blessing to you too.
LikeLike
Such sensory delights – beautiful post, thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! x
LikeLike
Wonderful photography, thoughtful words and exquisite artwork. You have truly captured the essence of autumn, Lucinda. Thank you for an uplifting post.
LikeLike
Thanks so much Alice! ❤
LikeLike
This is absolutely amazing. So informative and beautifully illustrated. Would love a book just like this which had references to the benefits of the plants and trees we can forage in the UK.
LikeLike
Thank you so much Judith.
I am working on a book, it’s taking a long time but at some point it will be finished!
LikeLike
Beautiful. Great things to remember October by.
In my neighbourhood October is a month of grass flowers
LikeLike
Ah so different! where do you live?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Take a look 🙂
LikeLike
Very nicely written, with beautiful photographs and illustrations. Thank you x
LikeLike
Thank you Katya!
LikeLike
Hi Lucinda.
Thank you for your October Retrospective. Very nice reading.
I just wanted to say how pleased I am that you have written a book championing the much maligned Hawthorn. I say maligned because regularly my mother (when she was healthy) and myself have locked horns with high-handed so-called ‘Conservation’ groups, ‘Friends’ groups, Natural England and the like. All of whom seem to delight in ripping out and burning as much Hawthorn, bramble and such like as they can get their hands on. ‘Pernicious scrub’ is their favourite derogatory term I believe. Never mind the fact that 40% of the UK’s red listed species rely on ‘scrub’. But those red listed species do not attract the lucrative grants of pin up money magnets such as the Adonis Blue. An unfortunate creature whose inevitable demise is used to attract grants for ‘returning areas to chalk grassland’. In other words tearing up existing natural habitats to artificially create and extensively manage (for money) a new one. Never mind that nature does not exist as a static entity and chalk grassland is pre-dated by scrub and woodland. “You’ll never stop me ripping out scrub” snapped one typically shirty Countryside Ranger on the phone when I very politely enquired (as you have to for they hate being questioned) as to why huge swathes of habitats were being ripped out on the Downs one year.
So thanks for advocating for the Hawthorn. I have ordered a copy for my mum (up in Normandy, Surrey, you may remember). Which I am sure will be very much appreciated.
All the best Chris
p.s In relation to the anarchic, hardy and beautiful Hawthorn, I thought that you might also be interested in this website: http://www.self-willed-land.org.uk/ Some very interesting articles are archived here. Questioning and documenting the orthodoxy of the ‘conservation juggernaut’ (as he puts it) and discussing ‘letting nature be natural’ as I put it.
Cheers.
LikeLike
Hi Chris, thanks so much for sharing that, very interesting, and so often the case sadly. I’ll be really interested to find out more and will look at the website you shared. I hope you and your mum both enjoy the book. Warm wishes.
LikeLike