The tree where I found these lush Velvet shanks growing was the Wych elm where, in October 2021, I found my first ever Elm zigzag sawfly larvae (Aproceros leucopoda), the first of this invasive species to be recorded in Wales (see my blog post Zorro comes to Wales). Now, that tree and several other young Wych elms growing in the margins of this field are all dead, presumably as a result of another invasive species, the fungus that causes Dutch elm disease (Ophiostoma novo-ulmi).

The Elm zigzag sawflies have spread well beyond this field now so won’t be affected by the tree’s death, and, though, presumably, the Dutch elm disease fungus dies when its host tree has died, it will continue to spread as it’s carried to new trees by Elm bark beetles (Scolytus species).

Yet, as with all living organisms, the death of one brings life-giving opportunities for others. So, though dead, the Wych elm is now providing sustenance to invertebrates that thrive in decaying wood and to the lovely Velvet shanks (Flammulina velutipes) that are specialists in devouring standing dead wood. Some of the clumps of Velvet shanks had already completed their lifecycle and were themselves rotting away but, as you can see in my photos below, more were oozing from the cracks in the tree’s trunk and branches.