Baby Beefsteak

 

I spotted a baby Beefsteak fungi (Fistulina hepatica) tucked away in the ragged bole of a fallen veteran tree. It was fresh and completely unmarked. It looked as if the tree were sticking its' tongue out at us, or blowing a raspberry. Made me think. Mushroom season will be coming around soon. If it remains as dry as it has been though, mushroom season will be a very thin affair indeed.

Witch Mark

In amongst well weathered graffiti of unidentifiable date, and nearly fully obscured by a broad scar in the bark, you can just make out what remains of a Witch Mark.  Concentric circles, doubled V's and Daisy Wheels or Hexifoils (as above) are the most common, although they come in other forms too; they're thought to have been carved since at least the early Medieval period and were still being cut in the 1800's, and a tradition that no doubt continues today. Believed to be examples of protective magic, apotropaic symbols to ward off bad luck or the evil eye. They're a fascinating insight into the world as our ancestors experienced it.

Mill Lawn Brook

Mill Lawn Brook is one of those lucky forest streams, a selected few, that seem to be able to weather a dry summer. That doesn’t mean it doesn't struggle in places, or at times, but the flow is consistent, and the water remains clear and clean; well, the sections we've seen anyway, and so far. A striking difference to Highland Water yesterday.

Skanky waters

 

With only a few exceptions the forest streams are running low, and in most cases they're running dry, or at least their flow runs beneath the gravel beds. With an occasional hop, skip and and a jump I could walk extended sections of the gravelly bed of Highland Water this morning, and seeing no running water on my travels. All that remains of the stream are ever decreasing and increasingly murky looking pools of motionless dark cloudy water, surfaces coated in dust, pollen and detritus. Skanky as.

Chicken dinner

Someone has grabbed themselves some tasty fungi for dinner, a lovely fresh bracket of Chicken of the Woods. It looks like it's been harvested fairly recently  allowing a good look at the flesh, and it's easy to see how it got its' name. Remember, always 110% on identification, and they can cause gastric upset to some.  

Tiny acorns

Many of the forest oaks are laden with tiny acorns. It's looking like it's going to be a bumper year, and I'd imagine heralds a long pannage in Autumn.

Brinken Wood

 

When you're moving through the stands of Brinken Wood you can feel that you're in old wood, ancient wood in fact, meaning this land has been continuously wooded since at least 1600. There are trees in this wood that remember the Tudors.

Urgh!

Urgh! You'd be amazed at how many times I've picked up these small oxygen absorber pouches of late, a particularly problematic piece of garbage being unsafe for animals to eat. It's a new phenomena too. I'm not sure why, or what they're coming from, but they appear a growing problem.

Beech Beds

Beech Beds enclosure, 1830, 77 acres.

Chuck

Even at a distance it's easy to spot a clump of Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) off amongst the stands. This year they've been both particularly numerous and particularly beautiful, their yellowy creams through to bright oranges definitely adding a splash of colour to the woods. When young and fresh like this they do look good enough to eat, and are. Remember though, although classed edible good, Chicken of the Woods can cause mild, though quite unpleasant, reactions in some. If you do collect some, only collect young and fresh as above, cook well, try a little at first, and you should always be 110% with your identification.

Peek bracken

 

The stands are choked with a tangle of bracken, often thick and tall enough to obscure your view and hamper your movement.  Though the time of peek bracken is coming to an end, it's zenith passed. A heavy downpour or strong wind will see them take a bow, they've overstretched themselves. There was a weird sense of autumn amongst the stands this morning, strong enough to prompt recognition. A reminder of where we are in the year and how fast the seasons pass.  

Corduroy roads

 

To aid the winter traveller, and by the good works of fellow ramblers, the forest has been furnished with numerous Corduroy roads. Trackways of log and bough through marshy terrain and boggy woodland. Always a welcome sight, these saviours of many a route through the wet season come in many shapes and sizes, not all though are as uniform and well presented as this fine example.

Forest gate

 

A hairy forest gate. Although as far as I gather not classified as Temperate rainforest, pockets of the New Forest can exhibit some similar features. Thick moss covers trunk and bough, and lichens hangs thickly from branches and woodland furniture. Pockets of fairytale woodland hollow are common. It's an aspect of the forest I've seen develop over the years, maybe associated with the restoration of the forests streams and subsequently a wetter forest.

Field of flowers

 

Our route by way of the Corfe Valley had us encounter a huge field of wild flowers, through which our footpath fortuitously passed. Approaching the final hill of what was an arduous Purbeck walk, the wonder and colour of the field was a welcome distraction.

Broad Bench pebble art

 

Covering a fair portion of Broad Bench someone has put a lot of time and effort in to this work, the piece extends way beyond my framing. Just collecting the appropriate shale pebbles must have taken an age. Nice result though. I doff my cap.

Gad undercliff

 

Gad Cliffs is a striking section of cliff on the Jurassic coast. A 150 year old layer of Portland Limestone capping steep scree slopes of Portland sand and shale between Kimmeridge Bay and Worbarrow Bay.  The undercliff is a particularly rugged piece of terrain, and I'm not certain if it's strictly open to the public, so wouldn't advise  it. It's certainly a wild piece of the coast. 

Avon Water

 

Since its' restoration Avon Water, for the most part, has become one of those streams you can only reliably navigate through the dry season. The restoration having slowed the flow, holding water back in the forest. During the wet season the Avons' environs have become a mess of watery hollows and sucking mud, a real quag. Horrible going. During the dry season though, one side of the stream becomes walk-able again with a path that follows the streams' meanders.  However, the other bank remains consistently boggy, a rich and diverse environment of carr, reed and sphagnum beds.  This dry season has been particularly beautiful walking.

Holmsley enclosure

 

A pocket of pine burst through a carpet of sedges and grasses within Holmsley enclosure, their adjacent deciduous stands couldn’t be more different in nature. As with many of the forests enclosures Holmsley is comprised of blocks of deciduous and coniferous stands, a mix which allows for the creation of wonderful niche environments.

Heathland restoration

 

The face of the forest is changing at quite a pace as restoration programmes undo the works of previous generation in pursuit of a more balanced and environmentally sensitive forestry.  I've been pleased with these programmes so far and am excited to see the current ones develop. That said, change still takes a time getting used to, and if honest a bit of me mourns the loss of the forest I've known. All is transient though, only change is eternal.

Malus

 

It's been a bumper year so far for apples, both domestic and wild forms. Unusually as yet there doesn't appear to have been a significant, if any, June drop, with most trees sharing an abundance of smallish fruits. How many of them will survive until harvest is yet to seen. Hopeful though.

Dry as a bone

 

The face of the forest changes between the seasons. During the wet season the woods through which Warwickslade Cutting meander are impassable without wellies, and even then you can fall foul of a hollow. Currently though Warwickslade Cutting is bone dry. When this was a deeply cut dead straight forest drain Warwickslade Cutting was an appropriate name, not so now it's course is restored to natural meanders. Warwickslade Brook feels more appropriate.

Cobnuts

I've got high hopes for our cobnuts this year.

People, eh!

People, eh! Is it any surprise we can't have nice things. You know in Englands' entirety legal wild camping is restricted to one small area, Dartmoor. Why? Historic inequity and a landed class who maintain control of much of the land, in part, by cultivating the spectre of feckless townies marauding about the countryside causing untold damage to our cultural heritage. A discarded tent and a couple of bags of crap* left amongst the stands serves to make their point. Of course, the truth is there are legions of wild campers who camp all over the country regularly and responsibly without issue, and they far outnumber the dullards. That's not how it works though, and sadly you see sights likes this far too frequently, each lending ammunition to those who seek to keep us excluded from the majority of our own country. If you've kept abreast of the news you'll have seen even the meagre access we enjoy is always under threat somewhere. Recently in Devon a wealthy landowner tried to put an end to wild camping on a swathe of Dartmoor, this time he lost; or a picturesque Dorset estate acquired by an investment company, as a consequence the entire village is to be evicted, with the removal of established permissive access to much of the lands to boot. We should always be mindful not to do the work of our opponents for them.

*Credit where credit is due, they had bagged their crap, which is more than most. Still.

Fletchers ford

One by one the forests' ditches, drains, and tributaries have slowly dried, in turn several of the larger of the forests' waterways have gone underground, leaving only increasingly murky pools in their meanders. Fletchers Brook (above), Dockens Water and Highland Water are all showing extended sections of gravelly bottom. With Avon Water and Mill Lawn Brook the only forest streams I've seen still flowing consistently. Still, tis the season though.