On the Autumn Equinox I popped out for an early morning walk in the woods, mainly to get my steps up as I’m worried about maintaining cardio exercise as we head into winter. As I’ve grown older a genetic disposition to high blood pressure and bad cholesterol has reared its head. I’ve also noticed my knees ache in winter if I walk less. Looking for wildlife gets me out the house.
I was delighted to be barked at by an angry roe deer buck, put out that I’d interrupted his morning. It was shortly after I left him to it that I stumbled upon a fungus that’s been top of my list to spot for some time, the Amethyst deceiver, Laccaria amethystina.
Emerging out of the leaf litter, these small mushrooms really are every bit the bright purple I’d hoped for. Beautiful. They’re fairly common in deciduous woods, if small and hard to see initially.