Category Archives: Plant and Fungi Stories from blog

Today the veil of fog never lifted and i walked out after 3pm. I had been in the studio preparing paper and looking at my collections. I remembered the velvet shanks I picked last week and went to check on the spore prints – they are a beautiful white as predicted and there is theContinue reading “Monday 18.01.21 Damp & overcast – Velvet Shank Spore prints”

Two walks today… it snowed in the morning and I couldn’t resist recording my icy footprint from earlier in the day, still pressed into the gravel and resisting the warmth of the winter sun. Children were sliding down the path the whole morning on shopping bags and polythene sheets. It was 5pm before I reachedContinue reading “Thurs 7.01.21 ~ Angelica on the Fleischmann footprint”

Some of the Glen walkers have decided to leave impermanent offerings of presence in spots of the park and to leave clues on the Friends of The Glen page, the clue that spoke of discarded robes led me directly to the soft circle of leaves beneath each tree on the little avenue of Swamp Cypresses,Continue reading “Weds 6.01.2021 ~ Sun ritual and velvet shank”

Cardamine hirsuta // Searbh-bhiolar giobach is sprouting out of the ground already. It is a native plant and member of the Brassica family. Like many of the plants in the Glen it is self seeded, and like many Glen plants it is widely considered a pest by gardeners. It claims its place, taking hold byContinue reading “Hairy Bittercress”

In summer 2020 I made some ink from the fallen galls of the large oak on ‘the ridge’ and since then I’ve been watching and waiting to see the arrival of new ones, hoping to catch a glimpse of their formation – there is no evidence of galls on the branches there yet, but onContinue reading “last year’s galls”

… the foxglove is already sending out tongues in the leaf litter. Foxgloves are biennial so this plant has grown from this year’s dropped seed, and it is growing leaves now to make it strong in 2021 and prepare for flowering in 2022….

Now the undergrowth is clear we can see more fungus forms too these hold the light in their glory and seem to me like creatures and a little like offal…I am intrigued by their form, not veiny and branching out as vegetation does, they appear more homogenous, almost like sorbet, or organ-like even perhaps thickContinue reading “fruiting bodies”

Ivy is everywhere all year and stands out more in winter, on clambering the paths I notice the ground scattered with ivy stars, these little tumblers settle into the leaf litter – I wish I could upload smells – I look around and see the ivy vines make musical shapes from trees, like woodland harps,Continue reading “Ivy”