This morning we returned to Finglandrigg Wood, a place we last visited during the early part of 2009.
Our quest was to find colourful leaves, fungi and general stock images of autumn for the various websites mum and dad maintain.
Following the recent rain, the paths were in remarkably good condition, with only the occasional puddle of water to cool our paws.
As we set off from the car, it became clear that we were ideally suited for today’s challenges, as everything required was at our level.
For the little people
After five minutes we found our first unusual object in the woods. Standing fixed to a wooden post, about 1.5m from the ground, was a pair of wooden boxes.
No doorway could be seen or hinged lid, so dad started to guess what they were for.
He concludes that they must be post boxes for the woodland folk. As they possess secret forest powers they don’t need a slot to post letters, but can magically transfer mail into the collecting box.
Acorns and coloured leaves
Scattered all over the paths are the first signs of the autumn leaf drop.
As the weather turns cooler, some trees lose their leaves and turn dormant for the winter. Dormant is like going to sleep. These types of plants are called deciduous plants.
Birch, rowan, willow, oak and beech trees can all be found within the woodland all providing some great habitat for animals, birds and insects wanting to set up home here.
Fungi
Basking in the late morning sun, we came across this fine fungal specimen.
We had strict orders not to go near any of the bright shiny objects littering the edges of the path, as they could be really bad for us.
Having spotted our first fungus we knew what we were looking for and it wasn’t long before we found yellow ones, dark brown ones and even small white ones. Some were even bright red with white spots, just like in the cartoons.
Everyone was kept some distance from the fungi and ensured that they did not touch, lick or sniff.
Fungi hunting is tough work
With little running water, in the form of paddling streams, it was a good job dad had brought the drinks bottle.
What little moisture that was around, had somehow found Charlie and had started to make his fur a little sticky.
You can just imagine the number of leaves that started to stick to him as he took a little rest awaiting his turn for a drink.
Not wishing to be left out from all of the attention, I started my own game of wrap around the trees.
An 8m lead can wrap around a tree a number of times!
Orange tree foam
Among the dark coloured rotting tree stumps, dad spotted what appeared to be one stump sprayed with bright orange foam.
Set against the dark woodland the bright orange substance looked totally out of place.
Zooming in with the camera lens the foam actually looks to be made up of thousands of tiny spheres.
Mum says she is not sure if this is a form of fungi. Do you know?
Have your say in the comments area below.
Finglandrigg Wood is managed by Natural England as a National Nature Reserve.
Until next time
Buster and Charlie