Fungi Photo Foray!

28/09/11

Epping Forest is an amazing place, despite its location - the north-east suburbs of London. As forests go, it is far from being a peaceful wilderness. It is riddled with roads that are used by chav boy racers as a skid track; it is littered with the detritus of the 'Dirty Britain' contributors; it is tightly hemmed in on all sides by the concrete, bitumen, and brick of urbanity; the otherwise soothing swish and sway of leaves, normally enjoyed in woodlands, is spoiled by the perpetual hum of traffic. But despite all of this, Epping Forest is full of natural delights. If one allows oneself to quietly wander through the woods then a spell is cast, and the distractions of our so called 'civilisation' begin to fade - if not just a little.

During recent weekends I've enjoyed strolling through the Honey Lane Quarters Wood, in the northern part of Epping Forest. There I've been amazed by the towering, mast-like Beeches, Hornbeams, and Oaks; just as their leaves are beginning to turn golden by the shortening autumnal days of late September. I've seen foxes, adders, nuthatches, buzzards and fallow deer, in different parts of the wood. I've even spotted a mini-froglet hopping along the way on an occassion. I've spent enjoyably long minutes watching Jays gather up several beech nuts in their wattles before flying off, with a rasping screech, to find a place elsewhere in the wood to cache them for the long winter ahead. In the brighter, sunnier spots of the wood, the last remaining Speckled Wood butterflies flutter around somewhat pointlessly, as if they're enjoying the last moments of their time in the enchantment of the wood knowing that summer has now ended. All of these sights combined together have been enough to relieve the tensions of city-life.

Whilst the wildlife was wonderful to see, it was the organisms at my feet, hidden in the leaf litter and veiled by bracken, that amazed me the most – mushrooms. By scanning the forest floor closely, as I've meandered along the trails, Honey Lane Quarters has revealed some fine examples to me. I've observed all the common species, such as the 'Boletes', 'Fly Agarics', 'Amethyst Deceivers', and 'Sulphur Tops'. But amongst them were some other mycological delights. A cluster of 'Dog Stinkhorns' stood proud in a golden bed of fallen beech leaves. An uncommon 'Elfin Saddle' was nestled in a damp ditch. Further along a 'Wood Funnel' with a cap diameter of about 10” towered above the ground, but remained otherwise camouflaged by the taller bracken. Another surprise was seeing an apparently rare 'Lion Shield'. The Lion Shield’s cap is butter yellow, and its stipe is about 3” tall. It grows in single fruits. It was a lucky find, but like all of the species I’ve mentioned, it was simply more fascinating to look at and admire.

Naturally, I ventured to set up my camera kit and made my best efforts to record images of each of the species I saw. I used my Nikon 60mm macro lens, my tripod, and my collection of bean bags to get in as closely and as intimately as I possibly could to the mushrooms. I varied my aperture from f/5.6 to f/7.1, in an attempt to reach a fair balance between focus and background blur. I used my cable release in addition to my tripod to minimise camera shake as much as possible in the slightly dimmer light of the under-canopy. All of my exposures were then made using the available light; as is always the case for me.

Please visit my 'fungi' galleries to see my results.

I’m quite sure that I walked by and missed many other fungi specimens over the past few photography forays. However, autumn has a long run still to go, and I’m planning to seek out more of these wonderful organisms to photograph in the days to come! So don’t forget to comeback and visit me at www.iainproudfoot.com!

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