A shorter than normal walk through the woods out by Almonte produced some mushrooms and examples of good woodlot management practices.
A wooly bear caterpillar, one of my favourites, greeted me as I started down the trail
There were still a number of flowers in bloom including fall aster, lobelia and gentian
Fall asters
lobelia
gentian
gentian
One of the gentians had a visiting snout fly
There were few mushrooms, although there were some fresh oyster mushrooms on a dead beech tree.
Some fall colours are starting to show, although some leaves seem quite dry and not as colourful.
The woodlot management I referred to was dealing with dead beech trees. Some fifty years ago, the established forest was a mix of beech and maple (other trees as well in smaller numbers). A disease that kills beech trees has been making its way north for many years and has now reached our area. All the beech trees in the 120 acre forest are either dead, or dying. The beech are being cut down and if still solid, will be used for firewood, otherwise, like the tree below, left to disintegrate on the forest floor.
