A stink in the woods

It's late autumn, it's been raining, therefore logic suggested that there would be a lot of fungi sending fruiting bodies up above ground. My morning visit to the beech woodland close to Mickleham was a partial success - yes, there was fungi, but not in the numbers that I was expecting. Maybe it will be better in the next couple of weeks.

I'm not anything other than a mycological dabbler, so I was quite pleased to identify (within reason) twenty species: Orange Bonnet, Lumpy Bracket, Porcelain Fungus, Southern Bracket, Turkeytail (below), Beech Woodwart, Candlesnuff Fungus, Green Elfcup, Oak Pin, Toothed Crust, Marasmius cohaerrens, Fairy Inkcap, Lemon Disco, Flat Oystering, Burgundydrop Bonnet, Lilac Bonnet, Stinkhorn, Ivory Woodwax, Inky Mushroom and Cabbage Parachute. Haven't they got fantastic names?

The Stinkhorn is always a highlight - foul smelling and covered in flies (but which species?) Today's three individuals all lacked the black goo (spore mass) that normally covers the 'head' - it wears off - but still managed to smell a bit and attract insects. As you can see from the accompanying picture above, disturbing, suggestive and erotic in equal measure...

Comments

Gibster said…
Apparently the Victorians would only illustrate Phallus impudicus upside down, for fear of offending the ladyfolk! You do know there's more than one Green Elf Cup, and you need to check the spores to differentiate...
30 October 2020 at 23:25
Steve Gale said…
I did know about the Victorian’s sensibilities towards the phallic fungi Seth, and yes, my Elfcup identification is ‘generalist’.... btw, for some reason Blogger will not let me leave a comment on your blog, but if I could I would have told you how much I am enjoying your Scilly posts.
31 October 2020 at 07:10
Gibster said…
My silly posts? How very dare you! Oh, I see. No idea why Blogger won't let you leave a comment, I'll have a play and see if I can sort that out at my end. Glad you're enjoying them anyhow :)
31 October 2020 at 10:12
Stewart said…
What a great feature of autumn fungi are...now the birding is slowing down, I might venture into some inland habitats for a look around...
31 October 2020 at 10:57
Steve Gale said…
There are times Stewart when a great show of fungi is enough - to name them is not necessarily important. Have you read Peter Marren’s ‘Mushrooms’ book? A great read.

Seth, I can leave comments on some, but not others. I think it is the way some blogs are set up, coupled with something at my end no doubt.
31 October 2020 at 11:31
Gibster said…
Checked the settings at my end Steve, it says commenting is open to all. I changed it to Blogger members only, then back again just in case that makes any odds.
31 October 2020 at 16:28
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goldfinches and Lavender

Image
We have three medium-sized Lavender bushes in our back garden. Throughout the summer the flowers (which last for several months) are a magnet for insects and give off a most restful aroma. As tempting as it is to cut the dead stems in the autumn, we always leave them, as we know that during the late winter we will get visitors to feed on the seed heads... This video was taken from the kitchen window this morning. We will normally see one or two birds over a few days, but have had up to 14 at once. We never tire of watching them. Lavender is a wonderful plant to have in the garden, with year round natural history benefits. So what are you waiting for? They are readily available at a garden centre close to you right now! There is an historic association with Lavender in this part of northern Surrey and south London. Lavender fields have been harvested for many years, with one particular field close to Woodmansterne being very popular with day trippers. A significant proportion o...
Read more

Welcome back!

Image
In November 2005 I purchased a pair of Swarovski 10x42 EL binoculars from The London Camera Exchange shop in Guildford, for the then princely sum of £899. These bins have served me well, with almost daily use in all types of weather, testing their durability to the maximum - salt water spray, deluges of rain, 38C temperatures, dust, dirt, slight knocks... and apart from the armour coating that had started to bubble and come away from the body, nothing to be alarmed about. Then, in the summer of 2022, I noticed that I had a problem when close focusing - the outer focusing wheel would lose grip and it would take me an age to regain a middle-ground distance of focus - plus, over the next few weeks this outer focusing wheel became loose. I resorted to the use of tape to keep it all in place, but realised that I had to do something about it in the long run. For a while I did consider buying a new pair - after all, they were then 17-years old - but they were still optically superb. It seemed...
Read more

A special day

In birding, timing can mean the difference between an average day in the field and that of a spectacular one. Good timing can be helped by reading the weather conditions correctly, or understanding local conditions but it is more often down to pure luck. In this case, I just got lucky... I had not visited Dungeness since March 2022, quite a gap for me. It was high time that I once more trod the shingle and my timing of a visit was down to several factors, mostly a personal liking for mid-late autumn but also because I needed to be at home until September 20th and could not make the journey south until then. I also chose to stay at the bird observatory for a few days rather than make it a day trip. All this conveniently found me stepping outside the observatory's back door in the breaking dawn of Sunday 22nd September, quickly making my way to the fishing boats, an area I prefer to stand to best appreciate any visible bird migration, an aspect of birding that I find exhilarating.  A...
Read more