Autumn Fungi Walk Turned Deer Hunt

It was a damp, drizzly day in half term in the New Forest. We feel it compulsory for us to go for an autumn walk in the forest every time we visit, so we were not going to let a little dampness put us off. Into the woods we went and discovered a fungi walk we could do, little did we know it would also turn into a deer hunt!

The forest is always so beautiful to us, even in the rain. The colours are vibrant, the shapes from the trees are fascinating. We even discovered a base of a tree that looked like the back end of a dog!

We were armed with fungi trail questions. We followed the route reading fascinating facts about fungi along the way and we had to guess what each fungi’s name was. That was very interesting as they have such weird names, like stinkhorn and beefsteak fungus. We did have a bit of a laugh about guessing the names, though mummy and daddy ended up trying to answer the questions as they were rather hard.

Then in the distance, we spotted something amazing, It was big, with large antlers. It was shy, hiding amongst the trees. We desperately tried to stay quiet, so as not to scare it away, but the excitement got the better of the children and the deer ran off. It was wonderful for the children to see real nature, real animals living free. They thought it was amazing.

However, there was an even more amazing sighting…a whole herd of deer prancing along in a line, some young and small, some bigger. The children stood still, quietly taking in the moment. It was quite magical.Deer hunting

At the end of the walk there were signs for all the different types of deer living there. We discussed which we thought we had seen.

It was a lovely fun autumn walk together, very educational and inspiring in a beautiful setting.

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