Season Of Mists & Mellow Fungusness…….The Pomona…...More On The Stonehenge Altar-Stone Controversy…
by Bernie Bell - 07:55 on 09 September 2024
Season Of Mists & Mellow Fungusness…..
On a sunny September day, we went for a shady walk in Binscarth woods, as we have done many times before….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/10/11/binscarth-wood-on-an-autumn-day/
Approaching the wood, I noticed what a clear line the underside of the trees make – almost as though they’d been trimmed….
Mike suggested that it might be a ‘browsing line’ – as high as the cattle can reach to nibble the trees.
On the field-path to the Woods, on a cow-pat – an orange fungus which we later discovered is called https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/cheilymenia-granulata .…
Then, on the track up the side of the Wood, on a tree-stump – some extra-ordinary fungi, glistening in the sunlight….
When we got home, Mike looked it up in Roger Phillips ‘Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe’ and they’re known as ‘Dead men’s fingers’. Very appropriate.
We walked as far as the gate to the track by Wasdale Loch, then turned back the way we came and, on returning to the main track by the Wood, we cut down through a gate to our right to actually walk through the Woods, which were a delight – dappled light – green leaves - tall trees – perfect.
Then we came across another form of fungal growth, on a dead tree trunk – don’t know what it is, but it’s impressive…
Not one woodland den, but two....
And that was our fungal foray on a sweet September day.
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The Pomona…
Walking through Finstown, we noticed that the Pomona Inn is open again, and is looking very smart…
Too many pubs – often the heart of a community – are closing and it was good to see this one re-opening after four years.
It has the look of being a proper old pub, and so I thought I’d find out a bit more about it.
I’ve copied this extract from the Wikipedia entry about Finstown - I think that’s allowed!
“Formerly called "Toon o' Firth", the origin of the Finstown name is thought to come from an Irishman named David Phin who came to the area in 1811. A soldier with the 9th Royal Veteran Battalion, he married a Kirkwall girl in 1813. In 1820, he opened an ale-house which was called the Toddy Hole by arrangement with John Miller of Millquoy. Four years later they quarrelled and Phin left for Aberdeen, but his name remained. The ale-house building is now the site of the Pomona Inn hostelry, after an old name for Mainland Orkney. The British poet Zaffar Kunial is a direct descendant of Phin and has written about Finstown and George Mackay Brown in a poem that appeared in The Dark Horse magazine (Autumn/Winter 2021).[9]”
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More On The Stonehenge Altar Stone Controversy…
From Steve Drury…..
https://earthlogs.org/2024/09/07/provenance-of-the-stonehenge-altar-stone-a-puzzling-development/
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