Fun with fungi...

Yesterday was a really rainy day. The kids didn't really fancy going out. I persuaded them to put their waterproofs on whilst I sorted out the packed lunches. Jam or ham, as always!

We got in the car and put the windscreen wipers on all the way to Barlaston downs banks. We were meeting our home ed friends there. I'd discussed a few 'autumn projects' with one of the mums just the day before. We were fired up for loads of activities. The kids weren't. One of the little guys wouldn't get out of the car. We tried to stay chirpy though and talked him into just half an hour, "see how it goes. If you want to come back to the car that's fine. Just give it a try ok?". It was still raining.

We started by walking a route some of us hadn't been before. The kids loved it amongst the woods. There had been some den making going on so they busied themselves amongst all the shelters, occasionally grabbing a jam or ham.

We took quite a walk upto the millenium point. A monument erected in the year 2000. On a clear day you can see all the way to Wales. Not today.

The millenium monument

The kids had begun looking for mushrooms back in the woods. On this side of the hill we found our best one yet. A beautiful fly argaric. I decided it was time to start taking photos of the ones we found so we could do some identification later on once we were home.

Here are some of the ones we found. I'm on the lookout for a field identification guide so we can hunt some more and maybe even eat some.

The kids managed to pick up all kinds of things in their little bags. Blackberries were amongst the common finds. Acorns, pinecones, leaves of all shapes and sizes and some puffball mushrooms that we could cook up at home.

We couldn't resist a paddle in the stream before heading back to the car. We were already wet. Wellies were on but soon they were overflowing with cold stream water. Wet socks ensued and so it was time to go.

Getting back to the car we talked about the things we found and looked them up in a couple of books we had, as well as autumn sheets I'd printed off from www.naturedetectives.org.uk which is a great site with lots of free seasonal printables for outdoor play.

The pictures say a lot. The weather didn't put us off. We had a great day.