A touch of autumn in Morrone Birkwood

We spent a pleasant afternoon walking above the village of Braemar last weekend.  To the south west of the village on the lower slopes of Morrone is the Morrone Birkwood ("Birk" is the Scots name for Birch).  Although named for the Downy Birch (Betula pubescens), the wood has been designated as a Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of the good amount of Juniper Juniperus communis) in the understorey of the wood.

Climbing from the village, a road goes up past a duck pond and becomes a track which climbs to a viewpoint. There's a good view back to the village, which sits in a hollow above the River Dee at 340m/1115 ft.  The relatively high site in a bowl between big hills is part of the reason that Braemar has (twice) recorded temperatures of -27.2 degrees Celsius (-16.9 Farenheit) - a record low for the UK.

The viewpoint has an indicator post mapping all the summits which can be seen - near at hand the main Cairngorms massif looms large.

THere's a definite touch of autumn colour on the high ground now; the heather has turned to rich brown and patches of bracken are bright yellow. 

On the birks, the first sprinkle of gold is among the leaves as this lovely tree starts to colour up towards its climax in early October.

On the woodland floor fungi are numerous and some make for patches of vivid colour such as this Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).

Poisonous and hallucinogenic as it is, the Fly Agaric is quite beautiful in its own way - and an early sign of  the purple of late summer beginning to give way to the reds and golds of autumn.

This short walk is about 5km in distance with 120 metres of ascent and takes a couple of hours.  There are sign boards in the village and some waymarking along the path itself - a good short walk with great interest and super views.

Strangeness in Paradise

This autumn seems to have a great one for fungi - and on a walk through through a wood next to a quiet stretch of the River Don we came across a whole range of mushrooms and fungi in all sorts of strange, wonderful forms.

Paradise Wood is a mainly deciduous woodland on the south bank of the river and on a north facing slope.  As a result it gets much less sunlight than the woods on the opposite bank and is almost always cool and damp.  Wonderfully untended, there's lots of standing and fallen dead wood, leaf litter and the proximity of the River Don - all of which must favour the conditions fungi thrive in.

Fungi identification isn't my strong point -  it's been fun trying to identify the unfamiliar species we saw but I'm not sure I've got them all correct and there a couple I can't identify, so if you know your mushrooms - please leave a comment!

In the damp grass by the side of the path we came across this striking inky-purple mushroom which seems to be Amethyst Deceiver (Laccaria amethystina). 

Keeping the colourful theme going, a fallen pine trunk was home to several Yellow Stagshorn (Calocera viscosa); the colour of which was really vibrant. The Linnaean name translates as "beautiful waxy - viscous/sticky"...which neatly sums up this small fungus which grows only on rotting wood.

I think this is a Hoof Fungus (Fomes fomentarius) although it's not dark grey like most of the Hoofs we see on Birch trees. 

On the stump of a fallen Beech tree was this strikingly white fungus.  I can only tentatively guess that it's one of the Pleurotus species; I've never seen a fungus quite as pure white in colour.

This group of large mushrooms emerging from a split in the bark of a tree is one of the ones I can't identify.  The fruiting bodies seemed to be climbing over each other to get to the best spot......

This Birch Polypore (Piptoporus betulinus) had grown on a Birch trunk after the tree had been blown over; it was at ninety degrees to both trunk and the other, older Polypores on the tree.

I think this is a group of Sulphur Tufts (Hypholoma fasciculare), again on a fallen Birch tree.  These mushroom specialise in consuming the cellulose content of the wood, and die away after a few years once the timber is reduced to a lignin core - then other lignin specialists in the fungi world move in.

This priapic fellow is another mushroom I can't identify, just a single specimen which seemed to be growing from a buried tree branch under the leaf litter and moss.

This I think is Artist's Bracket Fungus (Ganoderma applanatum), so called because the white underside can be scratched with a sharp point to leave brown marks.  It's a specialist on fallen hardwood branches and that's exactly where we found these two.

Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) are edible and cultivated varieties can be found in supermarkets - but I'm not confident enough to eat any wild fungus I can't absolutely identify given the toxicity of some of them!

Perhaps the most spectacular fungus we encountered were these golden yellow, fleshy, almost alien-looking large fruiting bodies growing on a felled Oak trunk -  I think that they may be Hairy Curtain Crust (Stereum hirsutum).  Given that it was Hallowe'en on the day we took this walk we thought that they looked suitably otherworldly!

It had been a fascinating walk and a real treat to encounter all the strange fungi....but after all the strangeness in Paradise it was nice to walk back up the track and out into the autumnal sunshine!

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Autumn has arrived in Aberdeenshire and we've enjoyed some lovely days which have epitomised the opening line of John Keats "Ode to Autumn".

In the woods there are still some summer plants in flower - this is Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum), a common member of the geranium family which seems to thrive on the partly shaded banks along woodland tracks.

The Brambles (Rubus fruticosus) have ripening berries; a sharp and juicy treat during a walk!

This seems to have been "a good year for the roses"; all the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) bushes have plenty of  hips which will be an important food source for the flocks of winter thrushes when they arrive from Scandinavia.

Fungi are sprouting everywhere, this is Birch Polypore (Piptoporus betulinus) which, as its name suggests, is host-specific on Birches.  It's a fascinating fungus whic is weakly parasitic on the host tree. Healthy trees will support it but weak or aged trees will be killed by the fibrous spread of the fungus within the wood.  The fruiting body is an annual growth, the top two in this image are this year's fruit, the lower one from a previous year.

Birch Polypore has a number of useful properties - it can be used as tinder, particularly to carry a spark from one fire to the next as it  and also to sharpen blades with when cut into strips (a common name for it is "razor strop fungus").  The list of medicinal properties claimed for the fungus is impressive too: Immune tonic, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour, anti-parasitic, anti-septic, anti-viral, anti-bacterial and styptic.


The medicinal properties have been known for a long time too.  "Ötzi" was the name given to the 5300 year old body of a hunter found preserved in the ice in the Italian Alps. Amongst his kit Ötzi’ carried two strips of hide onto which had been threaded pieces of birch polypore. As he was later found at autopsy to be infected with intestinal parasites against which the birch polypore is active, it has been suggested that he was carrying them as treatment and also as a possible anti-septic in case of minor injuries.

Smaller and more delicate fungi are emerging from the leaf litter and grassy areas, this is, I think, a Mycena species, but my fungus identification isn't good enough to tell which one.....

It's always a thrill when the leaves begin to turn and autumn really gets going; I really think it's my favourite season of the year.

It's a gradual change but some trees are colouring up to brilliant, flaming autumnal shades

On the farmland surrounding the house the barley is all harvested after a wet and windy summer, the yield later and less than the average, but at least it's down safely.  The stubble fields are still golden and dotted with "tractor eggs" which will be stored for winter feed and bedding for beef cattle.

It's a great time of the year to be out and about!