Inspired by Melanie's latest Nature-Led mushroom free-for-all - and also because I had loads of photos to use up that didn't make the cut, and have nothing else ready to publish - here are some fungi photos from the last couple of months:
A broken & blurry specimen from my allotment on 11th October:
A little nubbin of a toadstool by the front garden fence (from 20th October):
The following fungi were all from a walk around Blickling Hall grounds on 22nd October:
Here's the house and a fraction of the grounds:
I've also scoured through my blog for older photos of fungi, and here are the links to them:
Some sort of tall, feathery looking thing (a bit like the one above) - August 2015
Internal organ-y looking fungus - January 2016
Some sort of rubbery-looking bracket fungus. Maybe? - 13 March 2016
Horridly lit and blurry bracket fungi - 20 March 2016
Coral-like bracket fungus - 30 March 2016
Bracket fungi on Small Hopes Hill trees - June 2020
Furyhill plantation bracket fungus - 5 September 2020
Sunbathing FGES - 15 September 2020
Puffballs - August 2020
Fan-like bracket fungus - November 2020
There are certainly more, but I wasn't very good at labelling/captioning back then,
so I quickly gave up trying to find them.
: : :
And finally, here is the frost from today.
Although, first, a few photos from a quick, cold spin around the village:
The frosty trees outside my study/office window at 9:15 this morning
The Electric Witch's cobblestone cottage. I was trying to get a photo of the rainbow refracted light through the front window from the round west window, but it didn't really work.
Up there are the allotments.
Two-in-one. A pine and fir tree on the main road.
I noticed this frosted spider's web over the gas meter when I got home
Another angle
And this suspension bridge-like affair was on the other side of the carport by the bins
(apologies for the blurry photo - it was getting dark, and I was cold)
Close up
Perfect feature for the Season of Death - I hate this time of year, but the fungi, predators of decay, are attractive in a sinister way... Jx
ReplyDeleteWell, that's this year's alternative Xmas card message sorted. Thanks, Jon!
DeleteMushrooms, the fruiting bodies of the mycorrhizal network. Nature's infrastructure that provides both means of communication and rubbish removal in the form of decomposition. I like Jon's illustrative words "predators of decay" as they are a bit like wolves thinning the herds of trees so that only the strong survive and propagate.
ReplyDeleteAlways a pleasure to be a source of inspiration! These are lovely pictures! I also love frosted spiderwebs highlighting the architecture of a web.
I'm imagining a timelapse video of various fungi preying on a fallen, decomposing tree now. With some masterful editing and a good music track, the horror will be complete!
DeleteThe frosted spider's web....gross, or a thing of fragile beauty? I would love to see Blickering Hall someday. I wonder if I could find an escort to show my around? Preferably with long legs.
ReplyDeleteI must go see the fungi post...I'm grossly behind with being away a few days.
Fragile beauty, Maddie. I know spiders aren't for everyone, but their webs are beautifully fascinating.
DeleteNow, I'm sure there's a willing, long legged escort around here somewhere...
I think you might be in for a dumping of snow today, so keep your camera handy!
ReplyDeleteThose spiders are damn clever, aren't they? I have been wary of Fungi after reading Donna Tartt's The Secret History featuring a particularly grim death - even mushrooms from Waitrose make me think: What if????
Sx
Do you know, Ms Scarlet, we haven't had any snow. None! It has been desperately cold, but other than a handful of hailstones in the early hours of one morning, there has been no precipitation of any sort. Just a thick layer of frost when this all started that has never gone away (until today - it is warming up. Apparently it is 2 degrees now!)
DeleteI expect mushrooms in lesser stores are even more sinister?
What sort of deranged spider spins a web like that?
ReplyDeleteI was friendly with a gypsy boy in my youth, he was named after a racehorse, we used to scour the grounds of Beverley Westwood looking for magic mushrooms, we also went ratting together, if mother knew, she would have been appalled.
A spider who has taken an architecture degree?
DeleteA gypsy boy, eh? Well, I suppose every well-to-do young lady rebels a bit once in a while?
You put the FUN in fungi!
ReplyDeleteNow I just need to find a guy to put the fun in...
DeleteI love the artistry of the frozen cobweb. How beautiful. And I just checked in on the fungi post of Melanie's. I'm getting behind in reading blogs again. And I would love to see Blickering Hall someday. I wonder if there is a host who could show me around the property. A tall host.
ReplyDeleteA tall host with long legs, you say? Well, I'm sure something can be arranged...
DeleteSpiderweb... very nice. I adore fungi. We get all sorts in the woods that surround the prairie during periods of damp and rain. They are fascinating, for they appear without warning. And such a variety... things I'd never thought I'd see up close. Thanks for sharing these, dear. Just lovely.
ReplyDeleteFungi really are fascinating, aren't they?! There are some inkcaps which pop up on the front lawn in the autumn that I keep meaning to photograph, but by the time I remember, they've turned into horrid, black-slime dripping monsters. Maybe next year?
DeleteDoes the spider of doom sit on the fungus of death ? And where is the bogeyman ?
ReplyDeleteUnder your bed, Mago!
DeleteI know I'm too late to play, but perhaps you could re-post the slime mold link I sent the other day? I can't find it! Oh, hang about! Here it is https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-26/slime-mould-tasmania-fungi-hunting/10554338
ReplyDelete