An Enchanted Place

For day 209 of 365 Days Wild I spent some time exploring the nature themed books and gifts that I received for Christmas.

First, here’s a closer look at the wonderful book that I received  from the secret Santa who left a Christmas gift on my doorstep. It’s The Good Bee by Alison Benjamin & Brian McCallum.

I read far more of this lovely book than I intended whilst sitting and flipping curiously through it. It’s a fascinating read with beautiful illustrations. I’ve already learned something new. I had no idea that bumblebees raise their forelegs as a warning sign. It’s not behaviour I’ve ever witnessed but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for it in the future. I might be sitting and reading more of this book this evening.

From my sister I received two books: a 2021 diary and a fungi guide.

The Country Wisdom & Folklore Diary is full of country lore and folktales, all connected to the date and season. I love that it includes the sun- and moon-rise times, as I usually have to look these up online. One thing I noticed, looking at this next week, is that the sunrise time remains unchanging at 8:06am, whilst the sunset is now getting a minute later every day as we progress away from the Winter Solstice.

The Collins Fungi Guide by Stefan Buczacki, illustrated by Chris Shields and Denys Ovenden is a very welcome addition to by bookcase. There have been so many occasions whilst flicking back and forth through pages on websites over this past Autumn that I’ve just wished for a physical book to look through.

Whilst having a preliminary browse through the guide, I think I might have spotted the small white bracket fungi that I found in the woodland a few days ago: Antrodiella onychoides. I can tell already that this book is going to be getting a great deal of use!

I also received some fungi themed Christmas gifts from my nephew and brother, respectively. They know my love of toadstools!

The other part of the Secret Santa gift was a pair of fingerless bloves, which is exactly what I wear when I’m out and about on my wanders around the local lanes and meadow. My old pair was starting to look rather tatty, which I think I must have been noticed by my fellow meadow walkers!

That’s all for today. Did you receive any nature themed gifts for Christmas / recently? Let me know in the comments below.