Win a prize for your favourite child or grandchild (or yourself!)

Blackwater Valley Nature Walks and Blackwater Valley Countryside Trust have launched a fun competition.  It’s free to enter.

Summer, its flowers and insects may be waning but new life is suddenly appearing in our Valley. Under bushes and hedgerows, on trees and in the fields fungi are growing. Some are spectacular, brightly coloured, some are graceful and some are enormous! We want to see them! There's loads about!

Get your family out on a walk and find some! Take a photo or two and enter them in our simple competition. We would love it if the children helped find the fungi and took some photos. It’s a great way to involve children in nature.

Learn a few simple things

• that fungi appear mainly in the warm and wet conditions of autumn
• They mainly appear on organic matter like rotting leaves or wood where the fungi help them decompose.
• We should be aware about safety. Some fungi are edible and some are poisonous so not touching and being careful even when the fungi might be the edible sort is important. Great information for the kids!

For prizes, the winners can choose from a list of great nature books, selected by Blackwater Valley Countryside Trust, our local nature charity. Read more about the Trust here.

So, what are you waiting for? Choose a walk in the Valley area  - see here for ideas, take the camera or phone and find some fungus.