Fields at Swindon Village 25th November 2011

A short walk across the fields at Swindon Village. I want some wild plums to make plum gin with and there may be some fungi about. This is what confronted me when I reached the footpath!

I couldn't see any cattle, so I carried on along the footpath, making a note of escape routes! Halfway along the second field I found these.

Like so many of the fungi I find, I'm not 100% sure of what it is. On my first scan through the Roger Phillips book, it looks like Lepiota Hystrix (no common name) and not edible.

I spotted the cows with the bull in the field parallel. The path crosses into that field almost opposite the bull! I carried on as there is an alternative crossing further on and it was a good job I did as I found these in the corner of the field.

Parasol Mushrooms. I thought these were edible, so I picked one to take home. When I got home, I identified it as Shaggy Parasol which can cause stomach upsets. Damn! Thought I was going to have a good supper.

I carried on to where the wild plum trees grow. The farmer has ploughed up two fields which are usually left as grass and had planted a cereal crop. These fields were always left to grass. Even when I lived there in the 60's. When I got to the plums trees ... disaster! I'm too late and there are no plums or even leaves on the tree. I should have known it might be too late. I'm supposed to be a forager after all. I'm still learning :)     I remembered my alternative supply that I found earlier this year and as it wasn't far away, I walked over to it. Brilliant, plums and leaves still on the trees. Maybe it's a bit more sheltered here. I picked enough to make my plum gin.