The fascinating world of fungi

Exploring an ancient woodland in Dorset, England

Oyster mushroom growing in ancient woodland, Dorset, UK. Photo: ©Zoë Chapman Poulsen.

I recently took the long journey back from my home in Cape Town to visit family in England. It was my first English autumn in many years, which I spent in rural Dorset.

It was a fleeting trip, leaving the howling southeaster winds of early summer in the Cape for cool crisp weather and the intense yellows…