Anyway, I went to my usual place in the Forest of Dean. Last year the crop was very poor, but a couple or three years ago it was massive! You could have picked sacks full. There is a reasonable crop this year, so I picked enough for myself and family.
You can usually hear the stags roaring as it's rutting time in October. I have never seen one in the forest but have heard them a couple of times. I walked down the path into the forest and heard a stag straight away. I was determined to see him, so I followed the path. But the sound was getting quieter. The only way to see him was to dive into the forest off the path. I walked into the trees towards the sound and it got louder and louder. Then I saw him. He was very dark, almost black for a Fallow stag. I found out afterwards that they are sometimes black. When he started to walk towards me I thought it was time to bale out! I walked backwards looking for trees to climb up just in case :) The following video has this roaring on it, but it is a bit quiet. Turn your volume up to 11 maximum :)
I went off to another spot to see if I could find any Chanterelles. Nothing at all and hardly any fungi. Just too dry I think. Just some large puffballs
There are signs of the wild boar everywhere. From where they root up the turf with their snouts, to the odd mud wallow and footprints.
I also came across a tree stump where squirrels had been extracting seeds from pine cones. I took some cones home in the hope of free pine nuts, but they are the wrong type. I was thinking of free wild pesto :) You could make it with beech nuts if you had the patience to shell them.
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