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Surrey LinksYou are in: Southern Counties > Nature and wildlife > Surrey Links > Wee faerie ringer?  Fact or fiction? Wee faerie ringer?There may really be fairies at the bottom of your garden, afterall. Or at least in the campus of the University of Surrey. Whilst Alvie the SCR dog and I were out walking, we found this... Since I was a small girl reading Enid Blyton, I have always been fascinated by the idea of fairy rings, where the grass inside was a different colour from the outside. And even better if there were rows of tiny fairy (toad)stools for them to sit on, surrounding it.  Ring or ringer? Until the age of 8, I had never seen a real one, and then one day, to my utter delight, they started popping up all over the place on the school playing field! I genuinely believed the fairies had been busy out there, between lunchtime, when there were none, and the afternoon break, when the whole field was covered in them like a virulent dose of the measles. It wasn't until I was much older, but not necessarily wiser, that I heard the mushroom spore theory, which was supposed to be the real answer to the phenomenon....  After the last waltz? Somewhat disappointed, I have spent my adulthood wishing it were different. That they were really caused by the fairies, pixies and elves dancing in a circle and wearing down the grass. In fact, in Sussex, there is even a special word for them: Hag Tracks. But today, while walking the SCR hound Alvie, we came across a perfect fairy ring. Bizarrely, Alvie, who is not known for his fondness of funghi, went into sniffing overload! In fact right up to the point when I tried to take a picture of him, mid-sniff! But I did get one of the ring, and the tiny fairy stools left over from the dance....  Did someone leave a tiny white stilletto behind? When we returned to the office I started reading up on them. The more I read, the more it became apparent, there may be theories as to why they appear BUT no known way of controlling them. How very odd, Alvie and I thought, as we gazed pensively at my photos. So over to you. Are there genuine fairy folk tripping the light fantastic on the turf or is there not "mushroom" for that theory and has funghi fooled the fantasists? last updated: 02/04/2008 at 10:16 Have Your SayFairies or funghi? What do you think?
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Maria from Surrey, living in W.Sussex
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Rod SEE ALSOYou are in: Southern Counties > Nature and wildlife > Surrey Links > Wee faerie ringer?
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