Tyrrels Wood - slight return

As it was such a lovely day today - bright and sunny, with gorgeous full blue sky - I decided that we needed to get out of the house. So we went to Tyrrels Wood again, which is so close to our house, it makes for a nice little jaunt out with the kids and not too far to drive.   Even though there are often a few cars parked there, it's nearly always single people walking a dog, or mums with a bunch of kiddies. So safe and nice to take the kiddies to!

A view up into the canopy on a bright autumn morning.

There are some splendid Rowan trees in Tyrrels, as well as Birch covered in Witch's Broom.  Oak, chestnut, maple, beech, even fir  ... lots of different varieties of trees. 

We were exceedingly lucky today, in that we saw a total of FOUR Grey Squirrels in different parts of the wood.  Either running up trees, or across fallen branches.

Not my shot!   Google image

It was so cool but frustrating for me, as I couldn't get a clear shot of them.  We watched one for a long time as he moved around one of the really large Oak trees, peeping at us, dropping acorn pods almost at our feet.

One of the trees where a squirrel was playing in its upper branches

We took the BBC Wildlife magazine that I brought back for Faye (when I was in Scotland), it featured a page on treasure hunting in woods during autumn and she was on a mission to identify as many fungi as she could.  She has sharp eyes and found nearly all the things on the page in the Treasure Hunt. 

Really cool fungus growing in a line along the fallen tree trunk - I think this is called Chicken of the Woods bracket fungus - this has gone quite brown, now that autumn is upon us.   There is also a large cap type of fungus growing on either side of the Chicken of the Woods

My Macro is playing up on the Nikon, I just cannot get it to take sharp images in extreme close up.  This little pinky/purple fungus was so tiny, it could have been completely overlooked  - well spotted by Faye.

After a quick drink break.

This is Thread Moss (the green with the little spiky bits).   It sends up those stalks to release spores in springtime.  The tiny orange/yellow fungus is really pretty but again, my macro shot was out of focus, so I haven't put it up here.

To show the size of the Thread Moss

 Don't know what type of fungus it is that's growing on the fallen tree stump in this little video, it's a chocolate brown, almost black and looks wet.  Really weird and nasty looking, if you ask me.

There is lots of this type of dirty potato coloured looking fungus - it could be a Wood Blewit, Lilac Bonnet or Clouded funnel.  We don't have a book specifically on fungi.

I WISH this was my photo!   :)  - sourced from Google Images

It was absolutely the most perfect time for us to spot Tawny Owls and I was hoping that we would hear them squawking away at each other as they set up and defend their territories.  October and November is when this activity peaks.  So we were thrilled to see a pair having a right old argument in the lower trees deep in the wood.  Faye and I clearly saw the male bird who was about 20 foot away from us swoop down, land on a log and then fly off after the female.  It was so great!   Later on, we saw another larger male bird flying down from quite high up, through a clearing from the left of us into a clump of trees - the sunlight catching on his wings as he flew past. Quite magical.  No, I didn't get a shot of any of the birds but next time, I think I will go just with Faye (if we can leave Ewan behind) and maybe we'll get lucky and be able to take some photos.  We saw lots of evidence of recent bird kills - dead and partially eaten pigeons on the ground in areas where we had seen the Owls.

The exit

After our trip to Tyrrels ... well, should I say whilst we were walking around after we'd seen the last owl - Ewan decided that he was hungry and it was time we went to the rest a rawn.   So I took them to Goodies Farm Stall restaurant for Sausage, Chips and Beans; I had a bap with bacon and egg.   It was very nice food, all fresh and not expensive.  As we were driving home, Faye fell fast asleep in the seat.   All in all, a very nice few hours spent out in the fresh air and lovely green sparkling woodland countryside of Southern Norfolk. 


Postscript:
Tyrrels Wood is 16.75 ha (41.39 acres) in size.
At the centre is an ancient woodland site, named Boscus de Grischave in records dating back to 1251, and believed to have been around since the Ice Age. Paths wind through dense undergrowth, emerging in open areas that boast big veteran oak trees.