A LIFELONG DREAM REALISED

When I looked through some photographs on one of our local Facebook pages last night, I saw that someone had found a Fly Agaric Toadstool at Coate Water, a country park that is only five minutes down the road from where we live.  Being a firm believer in “What you don’t ask for, you don’t get”, I put a comment on the photograph asking where the person had taken it.  The very kind man responded quickly and told us that it was “Behind the yellow hut at the Pitch and Putt, near some trees”.  Well that could have been anywhere because there are a lot of trees in that particular area.

I was up very early this morning as I had to take something back to Tesco, so was back home just after 8 o’clock.  Mr. HCB was already up and dressed, and being such a kind husband, said that he would take me to Coate Water in order to look for the toadstool, as he knew it was my dream to find one, so just before 8.30 off we set and what a beautiful morning it was, although the sun hadn’t quite got its act together.  We were fortunate in that it was really quiet at that time, so I could take lots of photographs along the way without worrying about too many people being in my shots, although of course,  I don't mind Mr. HCB being in them.

We found the yellow hut, on the edge of the Pitch and Putt Course and then Mr. HCB walked along some hedging so I wandered over to some nearby trees, both looking intently on the ground, afraid that we would miss this little toadstool.

However, after a few minutes, Mr. HCB shouted that he could see something red over to the left of me - amazingly, he could see the toadstool without his glasses - so he then looked through is binoculars and confirmed that it was, in fact, what we were looking for.  I was so excited, as I have never seen one in all my life and it was my dream to be able to find and photograph a Fly Agaric toadstool.

Of course, I took lots of photographs and interestingly, as I was bending down and taking them, two ladies, one with a Shar-Pei dog, also appeared by the side of the yellow hut.  One of the ladies said that she had seen on Facebook that the red toadstool was here, so they were out looking for it and when they saw me bending down and taking photographs, they knew they were at the right place!  I told them that it was me who had asked where it was, so they said they were excited too, as they had been looking for one, but had never seen one.  They also mentioned that they had been up in Marlborough Forest a couple of weeks ago and had found plenty of fungi but no red toadstool, so of course, we said we had also been up there but hadn’t seen one either!

It wasn’t a perfect specimen but after the two ladies had walked off, we decided to look for more toadstools and found several, although again, not in perfect condition.  We had to shoo a dog away from one we found, because we didn’t want it to be broken off, but eventually found the one I have put in as my main shot for today, underneath a birch tree, which apparently is its common habitat.

I have also made an extra collage, showing the first toadstool we found, and the one I saw on Facebook, which is a slightly different shape.  There is also a shot of Biffy, the Shar-Pei dog, and Twiggy, a dog being walked by Delia and Ken, friends of ours, but they said it belonged to their daughter, and weren’t quite sure what it was - some sort of Cockapoo or Cockerdoodle they thought.  However, the black Labrador wasn’t keen on having its photograph taken, so you will have to be content with a shot of Mr. HCB walking along the path with some beautiful autumnal trees and also an avenue of trees.  Finally, I have put in a shot of two Cormorants drying their wings - not a particularly good shot, as they were rather a long way away, and I only had my small Panasonic camera, when I could have done with having my long zoom Canon but it was another interesting part of our morning.

What an exciting morning, so I’m afraid it is SMM (Stuff Mono Monday!) day today - how could I not show this wonderful toadstool in glorious Technicolor?  Special thanks must go to Phil Messenger, the kind person who pointed me in the right direction.  I have to say his shot was better than mine, in that it was unblemished, but I’m happy with the photographs I got.

I guess now that dream has been realised, I need to find another goal and a new dream, even at my age!

“You are never too old 
     to set another goal 
          or to dream a new dream.”
C.S. Lewis