The Enchanted Wood

This is my first time photographing mushrooms. The woods near where I live is a treasure trove of toadstool charm this time of the year. For me, it’s the season of enchantment. I was down on all fours creeping about the forest getting up close and personal with these beauties.

The woods is transformed into a magical place and I am filled with an incredible sense of pleasure when I see these delightfully rotund red knobs. There’s just something about a fat, squat toadstool that makes me want to smile.

 

Growing up on an almost exclusive diet of Enid Blyton as a child in Malaysia, my world was one infused with pixies, fairies, goblins and brownies who made their cosy little homes in these very toadstools.

Even today, I still get a pang of wistful reverie and childish excitement each time autumn rolls around and these little funny, fleshy fungi flourish all across the rich, damp earth of the forest floor.

Enid Blyton, thank you for firing up the imagination of one little Chinese girl so very long ago and starting her on that wonderful journey of becoming a lifelong bookworm. And to all wide-eyed wanderers out there…may the magic always live on.