Thetford Forest

    This week saw my first two trips to Thetford Forest and what a pleasure the trips were. The forest is one of the oldest and covers a huge area, over 18,000 hectares and has many different areas to explore. For many years I had driven through the forest but this was the first time I had walked in part of it.

   First trip was Monday morning and I spent around two hours there, keeping close to the carpark so as not to get lost, an easy thing to do in such a wide expanse of woodland. Within 50 yards of the carpark beneath a small group of Oak trees I found a couple of young blushers, a great start in this new hunting ground.


   This first visit produced some really nice finds including a fallen tree covered in moss which was home to what must have been hundreds of Dead Molls Fingers. I was also lucky enough to find my first group of Yellow Staghorn this season, was great seeing the bright yellow orange glow that to me always points this wonderful coral like fungi.


   On Wednesday morning I took my second look round, starting with an upday on the young Blushers. One was now a wonderful mature mushroom with that freckled cap and pink blushed stem.


    There was another example, this one not so developed but this was a rather spendid looking mushroom.


   This two hour hunt saw me exploring a little further during which I uncovered a huge wooded area which lay on a carpet of magical green moss. Soon I was finding more fungi and enjoyimg every second,


   I will be heading to Thetford as much as possible and can't wait for the autumn months to arrive, I believe this Forest is going to look amazing then with a wide range of fungi yet to arrive.



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