Dunsford Wood
Dunsford Wood is almost empty. It’s raining and only a few intrepid dog walkers are emptying their dogs along the River Teign.
![Dunsford Wood - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Dunsford-Wood-The-Hall-of-Einar-9040-725x408.jpg)
I’ve been here before, in spring, when it was bursting with life.
The reflections today, in the slow-flowing water, are of yellowing leaves:
![Dunsford Wood - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Dunsford-Wood-The-Hall-of-Einar-9052-725x408.jpg)
In spring it’s the bright yellow of the native daffodils which is the most distinctive feature.
Watching autumn appear in a woodland is fascinating. Seeing which leaves turn brown first and wondering what made them the first to turn is intriguing.
![Dunsford Wood - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Dunsford-Wood-The-Hall-of-Einar-9040-725x408.jpg)
What possessed these leaves to start autumn early?
![Dunsford Wood - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Dunsford-Wood-The-Hall-of-Einar-9012-725x544.jpg)
They are so completely, beautifully, brown against the lushness of the rest of the tree.
I want to come here every day and trace the changing of the colours, but I don’t.
![Dunsford Wood - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Dunsford-Wood-The-Hall-of-Einar-0695-725x408.jpg)
In autumn there’s a different profusion of growth, as puffballs sprout from the dead tree stumps here. These are the Stump Puffball, Lycoperdon pyriforme:
![Dunsford Wood - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Dunsford-Wood-The-Hall-of-Einar-9045-725x544.jpg)
They will soon be pumping great clouds of dark ochre-green spores into the air with every raindrop which falls on them.
![Dunsford Wood - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Dunsford-Wood-The-Hall-of-Einar-9046.jpg)
Lycoperdon means wolf-fart. It’s a great name.