We went to visit Golitha Falls and were surprised to see lots of cars parked on the road before we got to Draynes Bridge but we were lucky to be able to squeeze in between two vehicles in the crowded car park. I had never seen so many cars parked up like this before, but I’ve got to say, when we started to walk down the path in the woods it was fairly evident that many people have walked this earthen track as the roots of trees were bare and above the ground.

The first thing we saw was lots of Catherine’s moss – Atrichium undulatum – growing on the path side bank. Now, this plant has many leaves so I am wondering why it is called a moss rather than a fern? Anyway this moss provided a great contrast between bank and track.

As the water level of the River Fowey was quite low there were several small falls that weren’t as spectacular as those when the water level is high. However, they were nice to look at and provided something for the many visitors to photograph, as well as the soothing sound of the rushing water.

I don’t really know what brings so many people to these woods but I asked three different family groups if they were aware that a king had supposedly fallen into the river and drowned there. But none of those people had any idea that King Doniert, the last king of Cornwall or Dumnonia as it was called back in 875 AD, had died there.

There were not many flowers to be seen but I did spot a creeping Jenny - Lysimachia nummularia – runner that was making its way along on the damp ground beside the stream that empties into the River Fowey and had a single yellow bloom on it. Nearby, at the foot of a tree was a boletus erythropus mushroom that looks a bit like the penny bun – Boletus edulis – with a brown bun-like cap but has a reddish stem unlike the penny bun’s white stem with tiny brown speckles. Several weeks early I thought.

We found some yellow slime mould growing on a dead tree stump. This is one of several myxomycetes that grow in our part of the county and is technically a fungus and very pretty to look at.

There is a small stream that runs parallel to the river and although I could not find any flowers in the vegetation, I was pleasantly surprised to see a southern damselfly flitting around. This is probably our most common damselfly and has a colourful blue body with black bands around it.

A down side of our visit was something that I think the numerous visitors must also have found out of place, there are several tree trunks that have been cut down and virtually left where they fell, especially in the river itself. Although some were probably left for insects to inhabit, I think the owners, the Woodland Trust could do something about this by offering the timber to someone who could saw it up and use it for firewood at there own expense.