Puffballs

02 Saturday Oct 2021

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British fungi, Common puffball, fungus, Lycoperdon perlatum, puffball, UK Fungi Day

Happy UK Fungi Day 2021! We have heavy rain here and it’s forecast to last all day. Being something of a wet weather wimp, I’m not heading out on a fungi hunt so have only some puffballs to offer.

But I shouldn’t say ‘only’, as puffballs are fungi that many people will be able to find for themselves, and I think they’re rather stunning. Just look at their amazing textured surface, especially on the smallest, youngest specimen, above left. Though that looks quite spiny to me, I think these are all Common puffballs (Lycoperdon perlatum), as opposed to Spiny puffballs (Lycoperdon echinatum).

211002 common puffball (3)

Puffballs lack gills from which to release their spores; instead, their surface is covered with tiny pores through which spores can be released to the wind. Of course, if the surface becomes damaged and rips open, as in my final photo, spores can be released en masse, and we might expect to see even more of these sculptural beauties in the future.

211002 common puffball (4)

17/366 Starry soils

17 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British fungi, collared earthstar, earthstar, fungus, Geastrum triplex

I know we usually speak of starry skies rather than starry soils but, three years ago, when I still lived in Cardiff, I found this one small patch of dirt, ’neath towering conifers in a local cemetery, where the stars could be found emerging from the soil.

200117 earthstar (1)

These Collared earthstars are the reason for the name of this blog: they show how amazing things can be found in everyday places if we only look; they show how incredible Nature is; they inspired me to write this blog, to try to get people to open their eyes to the beauty our world has to offer, even ten minutes’ walk from home.

200117 earthstar (2)

This cemetery is no longer managed with wildlife in mind – it is overly neatened and tidied – so I was particularly delighted, during a recent walk, to find these earthstars had escaped the over enthusiast strimming and pruning and scraping and chopping of the council’s operatives. Fingers crossed they continue to thrive.

200117 earthstar (3)

361/365 Soggy shanks

27 Friday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ 2 Comments

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British fungi, Flammulina velutipes, fungus, Velvet shanks, winter fungi

It was so misty and soggy out today that I could hear more than I could see, particularly as my specs were alternately splattered with raindrops or steamed up.

191227 velvet shanks (1)

Yet, these gorgeous fungi were impossible to miss, a burst of golden orange amongst the drab browns and greys and greens.

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These are very slippery, soggy examples of Velvet shanks (Flammulina velutipes).

191227 velvet shanks (3)

314/365 Toothed and crusty

10 Sunday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

British fungi, crust fungi, fungus, Toothed crust, toothed fungi, toothed fungus

Crust fungi are notoriously difficult to identify and I’m not at all sure which this is, though one possibility is Toothed crust (Basidioradulum radula). Despite my uncertainty I thought I would share some photos as its shape and form are wonderfully sculptural and more than a little beautiful, I feel.

Toothed crust Forest Farm 191108 (3)

287/365 Hygrocybe, but which

14 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

autumn colour, autumn fungi, British fungi, fungus, Hygrocybe, waxcap fungi, waxcaps

191014 hygrocybe (1)

Waxcaps are my favourite fungi but they can be difficult to identify. Sometimes the colour helps, but there are several species of a reddish-orange hue. As these have quite a coarse upper surface on the caps, I thought at first that they might be Fibrous waxcaps (Hygrocybe intermedia) but, as these were at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, I’m wondering if they might be Hygrocybe calciphilia, which are smaller and grow on calcareous grassland. I really need to check their features more thoroughly in future. What I do know for sure is how lovely they are!

191014 hygrocybe (2)

285/365 Mousepee pinkgill

12 Saturday Oct 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

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autumn fungi, British fungi, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Entoloma incanum, fungus, Mousepee pinkgill

What’s in a name? That which we call a Mousepee pinkgill
By any other name would still smell like mouse pee!
(with apologies to William Shakespeare)

191012 mousepee pinkgill (2)

Truth be known, I have no idea what mouse pee smells like (and these fungi had been rained on for several days so the smell may well have dissipated) but I’m fairly sure that is what these fungi are. The greenish stem is a bit of a giveaway, and these are definitely not Parrot waxcaps, which are the only other green-stemmed fungi I know (though that, in itself, doesn’t mean there aren’t others).

191012 mousepee pinkgill (1)

You can read up on the Mousepee pinkgill (Entoloma incanum) on the most excellent First Nature website here.

191012 mousepee pinkgill (5)

278/365 Happy National Fungi Day!

05 Saturday Oct 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#NationalFungiDay, bracket fungi, British fungi, Candlesnuff, fungus, National Fungi Day, oysterling fungi, Stump puffballs, Sulphur tuft, waxcaps

As today was National Fungi Day in Britain and we’ve had good quantities of the rain needed to stimulate fungal growth, I caught the train in to Cardiff today for a fungi foray around Heath Park and the new part of Cathays Cemetery. Here are some of the fungi I found …

Wild Christmas, day 3

27 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature, walks, winter

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

bracket fungus, Cathays Cemetery, Clitocybe fungi, club fungus, coral fungus, earthstar, fungi foray, fungus, inkcap, mushroom, Redlead roundhead, waxcaps

I’m currently taking part in the local Wildlife Trusts’ #7DaysofWildChristmas challenge. This ‘is a week-long challenge to do one wild thing a day from the 25th to the 31st of December’. For me a challenge like this is easy peasy ’cause I try to live my whole life as one long wild challenge but I like to support these initiatives to help to inspire other people to put more Nature and wildness in their lives. Believe me, in a world as crazy as ours currently is, you will feel better for it.

For today’s challenge I spent about four hours at Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery, hunting for fungi to photograph (not forage) in both the old and new sections of the cemetery. I figured that, after all the rain we’ve had recently, I should be able to find one or two nice things. I wasn’t disappointed.

Fungi Friday: Turkey tails

21 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ 2 Comments

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#FungiFriday, British fungi, fungi, fungus, Trametes versicolor, Turkey tail, Turkeytail

I’ve been collecting these images of Turkey tail fungi (Trametes versicolor) for the past couple of months, thinking they would be appropriate for the last Fungi Friday before Christmas seeing as how a lot of people eat turkey for their Christmas dinner.
So, merry feasting … but not on these!

181221 turkey tails (1)

Fungi Friday: variety

14 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

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#FungiFriday, black-and-white fungi, British fungi, diversity of fungi, fungal diversity, fungus, Heath Park, shapes of fungi, textures of fungi

I took myself off for a fungi foray around the woodland at Cardiff’s Heath Park today as it’s usually a good place to find a wide variety of fungi. And, rather than post colour photos of my finds, I thought I’d convert them all to black and white as that shows, I think, the fungal world’s amazing diversity of shapes and textures.