Elusive Inkcaps

06/11/11

I went to Essex Wildlife Trust's 'Bedfords Park', situated near Havering-Atte-Bower this afternoon (06/11/2011). I went there specifically to look for Shaggy Inkcaps.

When I arrived there I went through the normal routine of saddling myself with my 20kg backpack, my hefty tripod, plus a menagerie of bean-bags and mats. Once I'd encumbered myself as much as possible, I went off walking around the park fully laden with all the photography equipment that I might possibly need to take my shot. I most have looked like I was on a right mission!

One hour later I returned to the car worn out, sweaty, and muddy, after walking up and down the paths and hills in the park without the reward of finding what I was looking for. I was very dissapointed. I hadn't seen one Shaggy Inkcap! I off-loaded all my kit, packed it in to the boot, then slumped in to the driver's seat ready to go home. I started up the engine then drove along the lane towards the exit of the Park and the main road.

I was trundling along the lane then, "Look! What on Earth!?" A small cluster on Shaggy Inkcaps on the roadside verge, growing amongst the leaf litter! I then experienced a delerious mixture of annoyance and euphoria! All that weighed-down trekking in the fields and woods, and I must have drived right past these specimens on my arrival to the park sixty minutes earlier! Arrgh!

Aww well! In the end I was just pleased to have caught some new photographs to add to my portfolio!

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