Eerie glow in the woods? Watch out for coral spot fungus!

Pretty pink or orange spots are the fungus Nectria cinnabarina, which has to be one of the most scrumptious names of all the fungi.  Don't eat this one though, it's poisonous.

Oh, and it's bioluminescent!

Ashen chanterelle with false gills

Canthalrellus cinereus

A couple of years ago in the Outwoods I found Cratellus cornucopoides, and thought it was the most magnificent fungi I'd ever seen. Large trumpets that folded in on each other, black and foreboding, like a witch's cauldron.  I've been back a few times since to the very spot, but there has been nothing to see.  

This year, just a about 100m away but in Jubilee Woods, I thought I had come across it again! It was not quite as big, and not quite as funnel-like, but I could have thought it was the Black Trumpet or tromoette de morte as the cornucopoides is known.  When I took it home to dissect I realised it was different; it had very marked (and false) Gill plates, that literally just fell on in my hand. 

Chanterelles don't have this, and on further investigation I found that I had the Ashen chanterelle, which has recently moved genus. 

Stinkhorn volva dissection

The young immature form of the Stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus was in great abundance in the local woods. The volva is round and found just emerging from the soil.  This is one I dissected.

The first cut went through a fairly tough protective layer in white. It was quite thin, and easily slid back over slimy gelatinous yellow ball inside.

i then sliced this material. 

The middle layer was a darker tissue and more frilly. I think this becomes the gills. It was more dense than it looked.

The white section grows into the phallus which is up to 20 cm tall. They don't seem to stay upright for long, maybe a day, probably knocked over by animals

Shaggy ink cap and deliquescence

It's a great year for fungi. My brother-in-law in Shropshire sent me this photo of a young Shaggy Ink Cap. It's neither Shaggy nor inky yet but he's keeping an eye on it.

It starts off quite egg like but eventually extends upwards to be a cylinder about 10 cm tall.  The gills deliquesce, or turn black and only.

Coprinus comatus
This is the same one three days later, starting to open up.  Some people know it as a Lawyer's Wig.

Butterfly Copulation

I went to see the Tropical Butterflies at the Sensational Butterflies Exhibition at the Natural History Museum.

On the East Lawn is a tent in which warm humid conditions have been created, the planting is tropical and a hatchery is releasing hundreds of butterflies to fly around the visitors.  The butterfly flight is leisurely, and they stop often to bask or feed. They were quite attracted to the bright green dress I was wearing.  Mostly they communicate with each other by the release of pheromones, particularly when it comes to attracting a mate.

It is fascinating to be able to observe their behaviour in such close quarters.  One pair were copulating. In butterflies this consists of the male transferring a packet of sperm called a spermatophore into a pocket on the female's abdomen called an ovipore. This male had the female at close quarters and was curling his abdomen up to meet the female. It seems a tricky business; he tried quite a few times.  I wasn't sure that they were even the same species!  However, fertilisation does not necessarily immediately follow.  The female may collect spermatophore a from a number of different males until she is ready to combine it with her eggs.  She will lay eggs and then deposit the sperm on them, using the last spermatophore first. So some males produce a sticky secretion after they have mated with her to try to prevent her mating with other males.

Fungi on dead silver birch

Lots of signs on spring in the woods.  Bluebells are coming along nicely, the new leaves hurriedly photosynthesising before the tree buds open and block out all the light.

But I am still finding great examples of fungi.  And although some people find them depressingly a reminder of death and decay, I am conscious that they have a very significant role to play in the carbon cycle, and without them releasing Carbon dioxide, there would indeed be no new life.

The local woods have a lot of dead birch, and are rich in fungi.

I found a huge specimen of the Razor Strop Fungus, Piptoporus betulinus.  
This was about 30 cm across

This is the Oyster Fungus, Pleurotus ostreatus 

Fomes fomentarius 

King Alfred's Cakes

Daldinia concentrica

These fungi are found on hardwood trees such as beech.  Their common name derives from the legend of King Alfred who took shelter with a peasant woman and had promised to watch some cakes  for her, but failed to pay attention, and the cakes turned to cinder.  

The paler pinky brown fungi are younger versions in the asexual stAge of their life cycle. As they mature, they turn black and release spores from the apical pore.