Walking Through The WoodAs the minibus headed from Bradford towards Leeds on our annual Mystery Outing the odds-on favourite destination amongst the 14 members appeared to be Roundhay Park, so there was some surprise when we drew into the car park at Temple Newsam.
This is an admirable destination for a November visit, being not too far to travel whilst offering a variety of activities and facilities. There was a decision to be made for some – 
Snowy Waxcap do we visit the house first and have a walk afterwards or do it the other way round. Three opted for the house first and the rest of the group wandered through the woodland area to see what treats a fine late autumn day might provide. There was immediately another mystery waiting to be solved – where had Robert disappeared to?
Bird life was reasonably plentiful, but limited in variety of species and whilst mistle thrushes were about, we had only ‘possible’ sightings of redwing and fieldfare from Donald. We had better luck with fungi species, of which John recorded about 15 with sulphur tuft being the most common and the most spectacular with one large group being especially attractive. There was still some late autumn colour in the grounds - the most colourful species being Maidenhair-tree (Ginkgo biloba) and Persian Ironwood (Parrotia persica) – Veronica’s favourite tree.
Sulphur Tuft
Visitors to the house reported a very interesting morning – they had enjoyed a tour of the cellars and admired an exhibition of tapestries by popular cross-dressing artist Grayson Perry. After lunching in continuing fine weather more of the party visited the house whilst others continued to explore the grounds but all met up in the café before the scheduled departure time where the second mystery was solved when Robert appeared. He had taken himself off to do a spot of bird watching around the parkland and Home Farm and was able to report seeing sparrowhawk and goosander, neither of which was seen by the rest of the group.
Jay
Unfortunately joint-leader Joan had fallen sick and couldn’t be with us on the day, but co-joint-leader Marilyn managed to look after us all on her own and ensured that the full complement of 14 returned to the minibus at the appointed hour for departure. As we had crawled slowly around the Leeds Ring Road to reach our destination, we decided to try the motorway route for our return which we accomplished in good time to round off a most enjoyable day. Many thanks to Marilyn and Joan for organising this popular event and to Robert for undertaking the driving.
Stuart