It’s amazing what you can find when you get down on the ground and root around in the forest debris. The smells of the damp earth and the prickles of the pine needles in your knees make for a real animal experience when hunting for mushrooms. This beautiful family of toadstools growing in the forest beside Bonaly Reservoir brought me much excitement over finding one of the most iconic mushrooms out there… the Amanita Muscaria, or Fly Agaric.

Returning only a week later found the cap completely dessicated and ant-eaten. My lesson learned: cherish beautiful fungi as you would a flower; it won’t be there long!