Friday Fungus: a few magic mushrooms (and some others) at Ogden Water

Ogden Water is just on the Halifax side of the hill down from Denholme (from where it is always downhill) and is a great place for a wander. Especially if you like mushrooms - ones like the rather chewed fly agaric in the picture above. We'd wandered up to the top of the woods - right on the edge of where the moor fires of this spring had caught into the trees:

It was really striking to see just how quickly nature recovers from fire - and to ponder about how it must have been during the burning. And to remember the discussion I had with Bradford's top fire officer about the moor fires and the difficulties in responding to them, the work with farmers and gamekeepers, and the problems with getting water to the fire (Yorkshire Water have a helicopter that drops those big water bombs). Looking closely you can see how deeply the fire cuts into the peat and leaf mould:

With the recent rains, it was a great day to see some mushrooms - and there were plenty to see including this rather attractive fellow - which I'm not sure about but think might be a rufus milk cap;

An excellent walk - a lovely wood. Worth a visit if you're over that way.

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