Country diary: pockets of stardust in the November gloom

Hollingside wood, Durham City: Earthstar toadstools puff out spores as cyclamen create floral fireworks

Apart from the screech of a jay, all is quiet. So quiet that the rustle of each falling leaf, adding to the bronze carpet of beech foliage that smothers the floor of this bluebell wood, is audible.

The woodland is settling into winter dormancy, but on the edge of the lane that runs through it there are flowers: pink and white shooting stars of sowbread, Cyclamen hederifolium, also known as ivy-leaved cyclamen, shouldering aside the detritus of autumn.