Daniel Greenwood

Summer-autumn 2025: unveiling the sun Here's my seasonal update of stuff you don't need to know about, but then welcome to the Internet. What I’m writing Soon I will be self-publishing my third poetry collection, Fool’s Wood. It's seven years since my last one and this collection has taken longer because of LIFE. There will be a booklet and also an audio recording. Fungi Friday…

Summer-autumn 2025: unveiling the sun

Here's my seasonal update of stuff you don't need to know about, but then welcome to the Internet. What I’m writing Soon I will be self-publishing my third poetry collection, Fool’s Wood. It's seven years since my last one and this collection has taken longer…

Mushrooms at Sheffield Park National Trust Sheffield Park, Fletching Parish, East Sussex, September 2025 A journey into the other half of Sussex! Sheffield Park is a wonderful park and garden near Uckfield in East Sussex. It's free to National Trust members to enter but there's a fee otherwise. Sheffield Park is Grade I listed due to the autumn colour in the grounds, and I think it's a very good place to see/photograph fungi.

My finds at the spectacular Sheffield Park in East Sussex

Salisbury’s oak timbers Here's another entry in my slow-blogging Oak Timbers series. You can view my galleries and posts archive here. I visited Salisbury in Wiltshire (south-west England) for the first time in 2023 and was really charmed by the place. If you're interested in this kind of thing, Salisbury is the place for you. Here's a gallery of the timber-framed buildings that interested me the most.

A gallery of timber-framed buildings in Salisbury from 2022

Podcast: September fungi walk 🍄 I'm getting into more of a routine of recording and editing audio, so here is the latest episode of Unlocking Landscapes. Listen on Podbean or via the usual platforms. Also via YouTube: Following on from July's rather optimistic fungi walk, I popped back to the same area of ancient Wealden woodland to see if the rain had brought any mushrooms.

Podcast: September fungi walk 🍄

I'm getting into more of a routine of recording and editing audio, so here is the latest episode of Unlocking Landscapes. Listen on Podbean or via the usual platforms. Also via YouTube: Following on from July's rather optimistic fungi walk, I popped back to the same…

Thanks James! I did wonder you know. I'll add a line to the blog. I've got it on iNaturalist but no suggestions yet.

Shaggy scalycap Colgate, West Sussex, August 2025 In August I was perusing the woods in hope of some late summer shrooms. In these dry periods (August usually has rain, but not this year) it's best to look for large dead or decaying wood. And so it proved. I passed a large fallen pine trunk that has spent several years decaying, soaking up rain and moisture, getting mossy, and accommodating fungal life.

Shaggy scalycap

Colgate, West Sussex, August 2025 In August I was perusing the woods in hope of some late summer shrooms. In these dry periods (August usually has rain, but not this year) it's best to look for large dead or decaying wood. And so it proved. I passed a large fallen pine trunk that…

Austrian Alps: Innsbruck by sleeper train Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria, June 2025 This is a longer post of the images I captured during a recent visit to Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps. We travelled to Innsbruck on a sleeper train from Amsterdam. It's such a great experience and is significantly lower in carbon emissions compared with flying. If you consider the fact it's travel and accommodation, as well as the ability to see so much more, it's a better way to travel.

A photographic tour of Innsbruck's architecture and some of the surrounding peaks

It was so shockingly dry, but still some things were pushing through. Holly doing a very good job of maintaining moisture levels in drought, I reckon.

Green brittlegill Ebernoe Parish, West Sussex, August 2025 On a hot and dry afternoon in late summer 2025 I headed out towards Petworth. The woods around there are well known for their fungal diversity, due to the amount of ancient Low Weald woodland, the number of old trees and lower impact land management. Let's keep it that way! It's surely one of the highest priority areas for conservation in the UK, so much so that I feel bad for even going there!

Some dried-out mushrooms from late August

Postcards from Western Ireland, September 2025 🇮🇪 I'm back from my annual visit to the west of Ireland. I managed a couple of day trips to forage for photos, which will crystallise later this year into dedicated posts, all being well. Like many people I enjoy the Blind Boy Podcast, none more so when I have the headspace to take in all that gets said in an episode.

Postcards from Western Ireland, September 2025 🇮🇪

I'm back from my annual visit to the west of Ireland. I managed a couple of day trips to forage for photos, which will crystallise later this year into dedicated posts, all being well. Like many people I enjoy the Blind Boy Podcast, none more so…

Mushrooms in England This is the first of a series of posts I've been working on covering national relationships with mushrooms. It's just a bit of fun, but there's definitely some interesting stuff to share.

England is one of the most diverse countries in the world (typified by London's long history of migrant communities) which actually makes it a great place to discuss fungi with people.

Spindleshank in Handcross Handcross, West Sussex, August 2025 Happy Fungi Friday! 🍄 It's that time of year when spindleshank is popping up at the toes of oaks that are not too healthy. I was in Handcross (technically Slaugham Parish) when I spotted my first spindleshanks of the year. They get their name from their long and spindly stipe or leg. Shank is an old English word for leg, hence redshank the wading bird with red legs.

Spindleshank in Handcross

Handcross, West Sussex, August 2025 Happy Fungi Friday! 🍄 It's that time of year when spindleshank is popping up at the toes of oaks that are not too healthy. I was in Handcross (technically Slaugham Parish) when I spotted my first spindleshanks of the year. They get…

Late summer timbers at the Weald & Downland Museum In August I made my annual visit to the Weald and Downland Living Museum in the South Downs. You can see my timber-framed building photo gallery here. This is the first view you encounter inside the museum grounds after you pay your entry fee. Amazing to think the medieval hall house is from Cray in the London Borough of Bexley.

Late summer timbers at the Weald & Downland Museum

In August I made my annual visit to the Weald and Downland Living Museum in the South Downs. You can see my timber-framed building photo gallery here. This is the first view you encounter inside the museum grounds after you pay your entry fee.…

Austrian Alps: up and down Schafberg Welcome to a big blog of sunny alpine images, from my walking highlight of the year so far.

Austrian Alps: up and down Schafberg

Welcome to a big blog of sunny alpine images, from my walking highlight of the year so far.

The previous CEO of the South Downs NPA would speak of a potential 'green bridge', but it never got anywhere. Maybe people weren't willing to admit the original decision was a grave mistake.

Tuberous polypore in Colgate 31st July 2025, Colgate, West Sussex The Parish of Colgate is a very wooded part of West Sussex and so it's one of my 'go-to' locations when the season is upon us. This was a quite optimistic walk around a large area of ancient woodland and pine plantation. It was a struggle to find anything, but this was the first thing I saw, growing on a fallen beech branch.

Tuberous polypore in Colgate

31st July 2025, Colgate, West Sussex The Parish of Colgate is a very wooded part of West Sussex and so it's one of my 'go-to' locations when the season is upon us. This was a quite optimistic walk around a large area of ancient woodland and pine plantation. It was a…

Going to Battle (the village) Not that kind of battle, but instead to the village in East Sussex. Battle the village is the site of one of the major battles of the Norman Conquest of England of 1066, when the Normans invaded Britain and defeated the Anglo-Saxons. It's a period in history that absolutely fascinates me. The land ownership brought about by the Normans has shaped much of the rural landscape today, bar the impact of the enclosures in the 18th-19th centuries.

Going to Battle (the village)

Not that kind of battle, but instead to the village in East Sussex. Battle the village is the site of one of the major battles of the Norman Conquest of England of 1066, when the Normans invaded Britain and defeated the Anglo-Saxons. It's a period in history that…

Summer boletes in East Grinstead East Court, East Grinstead (near Ashplatts Wood), July 2025 The summer bolete season is in full swing in West Sussex. Last week I found these large boletes in a little bit of woodland next to a lane. They were under oak. I turned one of the mushrooms over to check the underside. I found these wonderful tangerine pores with blue bruising.

Summer boletes in East Grinstead

East Court, East Grinstead (near Ashplatts Wood), July 2025 The summer bolete season is in full swing in West Sussex. Last week I found these large boletes in a little bit of woodland next to a lane. They were under oak. I turned one of the mushrooms over to check…

Reading the First World War It's been more than 20 years since I studied First World War fiction in sixth form college. It remains some of my favourite reading and has dominated my book consumption of late, so here's a run-through of my adventures in this very challenging area of literature and history. My family and the First World War The face above is that of my great-grandfather Wilfred Hill (1896-1961).

Reading the First World War

It's been more than 20 years since I studied First World War fiction in sixth form college. It remains some of my favourite reading and has dominated my book consumption of late, so here's a run-through of my adventures in this very challenging area of literature and…

Chicken of the woods Horsham, West Sussex, July 2025 Happy Fungi Friday! 🍄 My wife sent me a photo while she was out for a walk with friends and asked, what's this? It was this. This is a massive old boundary oak stump next to a cricket pitch. There was a game going on at the time actually, but they were playing the wrong game unfortunately.

Chicken of the woods

Horsham, West Sussex, July 2025 Happy Fungi Friday! 🍄 My wife sent me a photo while she was out for a walk with friends and asked, what's this? It was this. This is a massive old boundary oak stump next to a cricket pitch. There was a game going on at the time actually, but…

Austrian Alps: wildflowers on Zwölferhorn A walk atop Zwölferhorn (1522m) in the Salzkammergut mountains of the Austrian Alps.

Austrian Alps: wildflowers on Zwölferhorn

A walk atop Zwölferhorn (1522m) in the Salzkammergut mountains of the Austrian Alps.

Satan’s bolete, or not? Horsham, West Sussex, July 2025 Happy Fungi Friday! 🍄 The other day, I noticed some mushrooms growing in short grassland underneath a copper beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) on a main road. It's a slither of green that I've inspected before and found Amanitas. At first thought they were some indescribable grey species. But they were much more than that. I picked one to have a look at the gills and was surprised to find the bright red or orange pores of one of the more interesting boletes.

Satan’s bolete, or not?

Horsham, West Sussex, July 2025 Happy Fungi Friday! 🍄 The other day, I noticed some mushrooms growing in short grassland underneath a copper beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) on a main road. It's a slither of green that I've inspected before and found Amanitas. At first thought…

Thanks Jan. I did smell them and it was a non-mushroomy, unappetising smell. Best I can do to describe. Looking at other pics, field guides etc I think it's not pale enough on the cap for Satan's bolete.

Thanks Lukas :)

Mushroom help required please! Is this Satan's bolete (Rubroboletus satanas)? Found in Horsham town yesterday. @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #Fungi #MushroomID

The ash tree’s survival I noticed some good news about ash trees recently and wanted to share my experience of a difficult decade for the European ash (Fraxinus excelsior, referred to here as 'ash'), as well as some of the photos I've taken of this iconic tree.

The ash tree’s survival

I noticed some good news about ash trees recently and wanted to share my experience of a difficult decade for the European ash (Fraxinus excelsior, referred to here as 'ash'), as well as some of the photos I've taken of this iconic tree.

Podcast: summer fungi walk

Earlier this week I went for a short walk around part of the Sussex Weald to see if any mushrooms had popped up. Podcast: summer fungi walk Here's a repost of my fungi walk podcast I produced this week! Search for Unlocking Landscapes on all the non-BBC podcast…

Putin's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine is ruining Russia

Podcast: summer fungi walk Earlier this week I went for a short walk around part of the Sussex Weald to see if any mushrooms had popped up.

Mushrooms need rain, warmth and moisture to thrive, and after a downpour earlier in the day I thought it might be worth having a look

Wasps vs. spiders This post is generally wasps and spiders, with some lovely little bees to calm you down afterwards.

Wasps vs. spiders

This post is generally wasps and spiders, with some lovely little bees to calm you down afterwards.