October 7th: Trees and fungi walk at Brodie Castle

About 25 members assembled at Brodie Castle on a fine and breezy autumn morning for the annual trees and fungi walk, though unfortunately we did not find any fungi this year. The walk was lead by Jonathon Barton, First Gardener at Brodie. We started off from the old walled garden, which now contains the Playful Garden, but is also a work in progress : an area of formal planting is planned and a new designated area for Brodie’s collection of daffodils, which numbers about 700 species. The vegetable garden is already in production and the apple trees, some of which are over 100 years old, were laden with fruit. From there we walked through the arboretum, and down to the fine old copper beech in front of the castle, now cordoned off  to protect it from parked cars and climbing children. The walk continued down to and around the ponds, where Jonathan explained about areas that have been clear felled of commercial timber, with a view to replanting with broad leaf species. The pond is scheduled to be drained and cleared of algae in the near future. There were only ducks on the pond during our visit, but otters, osprey and bittern have been spotted.