A favourite circular walk of mine starts from Tillicoultry and goes across the Red Bridge over the River Devon, then past the redundant coal colliery and into the woodland of the Sheardale Ridge, before returning back along the haugh.
My most recent venture along this route was accompanied by the sound of screeching jays in the woodland, along with bounding parties of great, coal and blue tits as they worked their way through the trees in search of food.
These tits often form mixed flocks during autumn and winter as there is safety in numbers, including the advantage of having more pairs of eyes to look out for a marauding sparrowhawk.
The air was heavy with the damp aroma of fallen leaves and fungi abounded on tumbled tree trunks, including a most eye-catching small bracket known as hairy curtain crust.
These fungi play an essential role in breaking down dead wood and recycling nutrients back into the soil to enable the continuation of the circle of life.
By the edge of the wood, I stumbled upon a cluster of rosy bonnet toadstools, a species new to me.
I hunkered down to examine them more closely and was blown away by their subtle lilac beauty.
There are thousands of different species of fungi in Scotland and it is impossible to tire of their infinite variety and form.
On my return journey by the banks of the River Devon, flocks of fieldfares new arrived from their Scandinavian breeding grounds cackled in the trees above me and a lone cormorant perched on a dead branch.
Cormorants often hold their wings open when at rest, resembling a dark crucifix cross.
They do this to dry their wings out after diving because they do not have the same waterproof oils in their feathers as ducks and grebes.
The longer a cormorant has been immersed, the longer it will stay open-winged afterwards.
Cormorants conjure an impression of the macabre due to their prehistoric, pterodactyl-like appearance, which is no doubt why they have been regarded with suspicion since the earliest of times and traditionally associated with evil and greed.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, for the cormorant is simply a bird that catches fish in the same manner as much-loved species like osprey and kingfisher.
Unfortunately, due largely to its ungainly appearance, the cormorant has become tarred by the innate human trait of prejudice, having failed to gain the deserved recognition of being just another integral and valued piece in the jigsaw of life.
Share