Tag Archives: crust fungus

Fungi Friday: The Cobalt crust challenge

27 Friday Jan 2017

Posted by in fungi, nature

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My fellow Glamorgan Fungus Group members and I are taking part in another challenge this month, hunting far and wide within the county to see how many specimens we can find of the supposedly rare Cobalt crust fungus (Terana caerulea). You may remember that I blogged about this special, once-seen-never-forgotten fungus back in February. It’s generally classified as rare but, here in Glamorgan, it most certainly isn’t.

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Here are the latest stats: for the 14 days from 13 to 26 January inclusive, 14 of our group had made a total of 45 separate finds on 16 different host plants, ranging from elder, bramble and buddleja to hazel, oak, ivy and even Japanese knotweed. Our results just go to show that this fungus is not actually rare but rather rarely recorded, and our participation in challenges like these also highlights the benefits of ordinary folk like you and I making the effort to record the biodiversity we see around us every day. We’re helping to rewrite science!

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Pick-up sticks

17 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by in fungi, nature, winter

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Did you play pick-up sticks as a child? Do you still play it, perhaps with your own children or your grandies? Well, I play pick-up sticks quite often too, but not quite the way you might imagine. You see I pick up sticks sometimes to find out what’s scurrying around underneath them or, especially at this rather moist time of year, to see what might be growing on them.

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You might’ve looked at this first stick lying on the ground in my local woodland and thought, ‘Nah! Nothing on that’ but you would’ve been wrong …

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… because if you had looked closer …

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… a little bit closer, you would’ve seen this! Isn’t it gorgeous? This oozing mass of loveliness is a fungus, the Bleeding broadleaf crust fungus (Stereum rugosum) to be precise.

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I admit that I can sometimes spend an hour or more, bending down and examining stick after stick and finding nothing but, when I discover little gems like this, they make the effort totally worthwhile. So, next time you go to the woods, try playing a little game of pick-up sticks. You might get a pleasant surprise! (Oh, and take tissues or wet wipes, as you’ll almost certainly get a bit dirty, as well.)