Waterhead Wood

02/11/11

I travelled to Northumberland National Park on 29/10/2011 for a photography fungus foray. Described as “England’s most tranquil place”, I was really looking forward to the visit. I was hopeful of finding some of the more colourful pine-wood fungus in the wood at Waterhead, near to the Reivers’ Black Midden Bastle House. The wind and the rain of the day tempered those hopes though and I became worried that the day would literally be a wash out.

Contrary to the Park’s history of ‘Border Reivers’ that marauded, hustled, and caused strife, the wood at Waterhead lived up to the Park’s more appealing bill of being a tranquil place. I must admit that knowing about the bloody history of the valleys and hills that I was in, I half expected the woods to be far from tranquil; rather I imagined them to be dark, eerie and haunted places, just like J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Fangorn Forest’. However, I am pleased to report that the wood was very much silent and peaceful. There were no signs of Goblins, Orcs or Ents anywhere!

What is more, this wood (and no doubt all other woods in the Northumberland area) had an extra special sense of silence and peacefulness. The pines were tall, and stood closely together in the neat rows typical of the Forestry Commission. They shielded me from the worst of the rain and wind that were trying to penetrate the canopy of a billion needles above. Moist-rich sphagnum, moss and lichen covered the floor of the wood almost entirely. It was soft underfoot and felt like a thick patchwork quilt made up of the many shades of green of the mosses and lichens. If it wasn’t so wet I’m sure I could have lain down on it and slept most comfortably.

The moisture of the sphagnum had a lucky, beneficial quality. The trapped water droplets reflected the otherwise dim light all around the wood, subtly brightening the wood’s under-storey. The conditions were perfect for finding mushrooms.

I got to work using a simple set-up – just my camera, a 60mm macro lens, a cable release and a couple of bean bags. I soon found what I was after, but alas only a view species. I recorded Sickeners, Yellow Stag Antlers, and Milkcaps. A good session was had despite that - all in blissful peace and quiet.

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