Autumn Advancing...

Fencepost of the Week #173

Autumn advancing in the background. #FencepostOfTheWeek

Clump of Cups

Fencepost of the Week #172

Long-forgotten

Fencepost of the Week #171

Long-forgotten fencepost, deep in the woods.

Excessive..?

Fencepost of the Week #170

Is this too much? I don't even know...

Forest Light

Fencepost of the Week #169

Dramatically lit forest fencepost.

More Blobs

Every so often I find a strange blob of something growing in the woods. Trying to identify what they are is often challenging - it's hard to tell if they are fungi or slime moulds or something else entirely (eg. star slime from gutted toads.)

 But this week, with the aid of a slightly more comprehensive field guide, I resolved two of my longest standing mystery blobs:

Tremella steidleri

Blob 1 was an impressive gelatinous lump I found growing on the side of a mossy oak in 2007. Revisiting the site last week, I found a smaller but similar blob. It was right next to some Stereum hirsutum brackets, and looking through Tremella again I found this species which has a distinctive, knotty form, and a distinctive, frosty bloom. The way the ageing fruiting body disintegrates into slime might also be distinctive enough to aid in identifying similar blobs.

Postia ptychogaster - old, weathered specimen

Postia ptychogaster - fresh specimen

Blobs 2 & 3: One from 2010 and one from 2016, I couldn't figure these out until I was looking up a very ordinary bracket fungus from the genus Postia  and saw an illustration of Postia ptychogaster on the same page.

Yellow Club Fungus

Yellow Club Fungus - Clavulinopsis helvola

Yellow Club Fungus - Clavulinopsis helvola

Cup-lichen Tuft

Fencepost of the Week #168

Jelly Tongue Fungus

Psuedohydnum gelatinosum - Jelly Tongue Fungus

Twenty Plume Moth

Alucita hexadactyla - twenty plume moth

Alucita hexadactyla - twenty plume moth

Alucita hexadactyla - twenty plume moth. Back-lit to show wing structure.

Defunct Corner Post

Fencepost of the Week #167

Loch Garten Foray

I had a wonderful hour nosing round the pine woods NW of Loch Garten near Aviemore yesterday. It's a long way from my usual haunts and the extensive woodland was supporting large populations of many new and unfamiliar fungi.

Cortinarius violaceus

Cortinarius armillatus

Leccinum cyaneobasileucum

Chroogomphus rutilus

Tapinella atrotomentosa

...and a few old favourites.

The miller - Clitopilus prunulus

Wooly milkcap - Lactarius torminosus

Orange birch bolette - Leccinum versipelle

Fly agaric - Amanita muscaria

Welcoming Post

Occupied Post

Fencepost of the Week #165

Otter Crabbing Along the Shore

Crested Coral Fungus

Clavulina coralloides - Crested Coral Fungus

An unusually neat, near circular patch of crested coral fungus.

Clavulina coralloides - Crested Coral Fungus

Where the Wild Fenceposts Roam

Fencepost of the Week #164

Laccria bicolor

This is Laccaria bicolor - one of the deceivers. Its distinguishing characteristic is the purple down covering the lower part of its stipe.

It grows on nutrient poor, acidic soils and has recently been observed killing and digesting insects (springtails in particular.)  It absorbs nitrogen from the springtails and trades it for carbon with neighbouring trees via ecto-mycorrhizal connections.

Here is a clear (if slightly sensationalist) description of the discovery.

Lactarius chrysorrheus

Lactarius chrysorrheus

Lactarius chrysorrheus is a milkcap that grows under oaks and exudes yellow milk.

Adder Newborns

I saw this adder mating back in May. Since then it has been basking in the same place most days. Then this morning there were three baby adders curled up in the grass next to it!

For 1-day olds, they are pretty adventurous...

 ...but still make time for snuggles.

Not Living Up To Expectations

Fencepost of the Week #163

This fencepost failing to contribute fully, but doing it with style.

Young Adder Sloughing

I was lucky enough to come across this yearling adder shedding its skin in the rain today. ^_^

Blue Train Millipede

This is Parafontaria tonomineai - ミドリババヤスデ - a rather splendid blue millipede from Japan.

Alder Bracket Droplets

Inonotus radiatus - alder bracket

Lovely droplets on some fresh Inonotus radiatus fruiting bodies!

Inonotus radiatus - alder bracket

...and a more typical set of Inonotus radiatus brackets:

Inonotus radiatus - alder bracket