Grizzled Cup Lichens

Fencepost of the Week #67

closer...

Horn Stalkball

Monday Mushroom #64

Onygena equina - Horn Stalkball

This is Onygena equina - the horn stalkball. It subsists on rotting keratin - hoofs and horns of dead animals mostly.

Onygena equina - Horn Stalkball

Dormant spores shed by these fungi are activated by passing through the digestive system of a ruminant. Leading them to be deposited in an activated state somewhere close to the keratin.

Onygena equina - Horn Stalkball

Onygena equina - Horn Stalkball

Onygena equina - Horn Stalkball

Onygena equina - Horn Stalkball

Onygena equina - Horn Stalkball

Frogspawn and Fenceposts

Fencepost of the Week #66

While out admiring fenceposts at this time of year one often finds the objects of their appreciation mysteriously adorned with globs of frogspawn. Questions arise: 'Who put them there?', 'Why?' and - if you have ever tried to pick up frogspawn - 'How!?'

If you like frogs, the answer may sadden you - the spawn is all that remains of a gravid female frog that was caught by a bird and - being too large for the bird to swallow whole - was taken to a fencepost where it was pecked to bits.

In a few weeks time, lumps of a mysterious, pale, translucent slime will start to appear on the banks of ponds and swamps. Sometimes it is called star slime - but it is the poisonous, distasteful remans of a toad that has been similarly caught and selectively eaten by some beaked creature. More at Wikipedia.

Phlebia tremellosa

Monday Mushroom #63

This is Phlebia tremellosa - the jelly rot fungus. It is one of the more distinctive crust fungi with its translucent flesh, wrinkly underside and fluffy upper surface.

Jelly rot fungus - Phlebia tremellosa - spore-bearing underside. 

Jelly rot fungus - Phlebia tremellosa.

Gunpowder Mill

Some photos of the Millhouse gunpowder factory - it operated from 1839 to 1921. The factory site had been planted up with trees to baffle the effects of accidental explosions, and it is now a beautiful, mossy woodland.

Parasola plicatilis

Monday Mushroom #62

Fairly common in parks and lawns, the little, but impressively gregarious Pleated Inkcap - Parasola plicatilis.

Pleated Inkcap - Parasola plicatilis

Pleated Inkcap - Parasola plicatilis

February Frogs

Here's a few photos of the male frogs - Rana temporaria - hanging around by the breeding puddles on the forestry track behind my house. For most of the year they are pretty shy and difficult to photograph, but with spawning season in full swing, they have more important things to worry about than hiding from photographers!