I’ve decided to name it Stumpy, this ‘creature’ that appears to be growing out of a fallen tree at one of my local nature reserves. Its scientific name is Mycoacia uda but that’s a bit of a mouthful.

Last Thursday was the first time I’d encountered one of these but, luckily, one of my Glamorgan Fungi group friends was able to identify it for me. It’s a resupinate tooth fungus and can be found growing on the fallen branches of deciduous trees in Britain, Europe and North America.

But, at night, when no one’s looking, it emerges from its fallen branch and roams the woodland eating stray dogs, howling at the moon, and searching for a mate … Just kidding!