December 26th – The Boxing Day weather was altogether better, but still somewhat grey and overcast with that keen wind. Again, bad weather was forecast for the evening, with heavy rain and even snow predicted.
I slipped out at lunchtime into a grey landscape, and was encouraged to find these bright honey fungus clumps growing on an tree stump on the Black Path.
Some days, the mere sight of something natural and bright is enough to improve your day.
December 24th – The weather was bad, I had much to do, so I didn’t go far. I’ll be perfectly honest, I’m nursing a shoulder injury at the moment which is making life uncomfortable – sustained falling over my own feet on the stairs, I ended up with bruises and some kind of muscle strain that’s making long rides very uncomfortable right now.
I was pleased to see however that at Clayhanger Common, in the usual spot, earthstar fungus had returned this year. The fungus here doesn’t usually show until December when the leaves are finally off the brambles that cover their spot, and this time, they’d been difficult to reach on a bike due to the snow.
I finally noted one badly damaged by frost and the spore pods of several others, so at least we had a crop this year, even if it went mostly unrecorded.
They are an most unusual fungus.
November 17th – Just after dawn, on a grass verge ion Darlaston a delicate Japanese parasol toadstool coated in what I think is the first frost of the year.
I was a real shock this morning to awake with a ground frost, and I rode carefully watching out for the old devil and adversary that is black ice, the wheel stealer.
So, it’s winter now, pretty much. The cold has come and Christmas is in sight. I’m ready. Bring it on. I’d like some real snow this year, please.
November 1st – Also growing well by the cycleways and roadsides of Telford is a surprisingly copious crop of puffball fungus.
Still young enough to be tasty, I made a mental note passing in a hurry, to on my return pull out my bag and gather some for tea.
Not everything about autumn is sad!
October 25th – Pleasingly, I escaped work in daylight, so took the chance to spin along the canal home. On the embankment at Pleck, the fly agaric are dying off now, after yet another spectacular display – but one or two good examples remain, like this huge one.
I have no idea what’s so favourable for these most traditional of toadstools, but there’s a huge quantity grow here. Right in the urban heart of Walsall.
You never can tell.
October 24th – With the immediate rush easing off a little, I took a diversion on the way to work to check out the earthstar fungi a little further up the industrial estate I discovered accidentally a few weeks ago.
They’re doing wonderfully and there were some perfect specimens.
I love how they look like they’ve been made out of clay or plasticine. Their shapes almost look inorganic.
fungi are fascinating. I wonder if we’ll get any in the usual spot on Clayhanger Common this year? They normally come later, around December…
October 7th -The Saturday was just as grey, and seeking fresh air I went out in steady rain, dried off for a short while, then returned home again in penetrating drizzle.
My seasonal barometer, the horse chestnut at Home Farm, Sandhills is currently wearing autumn colours, and will soon be naked once more, it’s green majesty having pleased me throughout the summer. Now it’s the turn of the fungus, and on the bank near Wharf Lane on the canal, where I thought there were to be none this year, the fly agaric are having a riot amongst the ferns under the silver birches.
It looks like contrary to my previous assertions, the fairytale red fungus with white spots is having another excellent year.
October 4th – This is a great Autumn for fungi – everywhere I look there seem to be great examples of different species, and stuff I haven’t seen before.
This interesting clump of button toadstools is growing on the exposed, fractured roots of the spot where a tree fell near the Tannery flats in Walsall. I think it may be some kind of honey fungus, but I’m really not sure. It’s really colourful and the photo doesn’t do it justice.
I suppose this is the tradeoff for the damp, grey autumn – great toadstools!
October 2nd – This has really, really surprised me. Mooching about the industrial estate where I work in Darlaston, I was looking for some paperwork that had blown up the road, and retrieving it from a hedge, spotted these beauties thriving beneath.
I see earth star fungus on Clayhanger Common in December, but wasn’t aware they grew this early. Looking like they’re clay or plastic, they are the most extraordinary fungi I’ve ever seen, and finding them is a real treat – there is a whole colony there, growing undisturbed in a roadside bed hardly anyone would ever notice.
Amusingly, Tumblr (the blog platform this journal runs on) has a system that automatically scans images posted, and detected these photos as being indecent. Sent for re-review, they were obviously passed as a false alert.
It just goes to show, some shapes recur throughout nature…
October 1st – In and around Hints church, the fungi is booming; most of these examples were spotted in God’s Acre itself, with some remarkable specimens growing undisturbed amongst the gravestones and memorials. I spent a happy half hour there, just seeing what I could find, all the time with the feeling I was being watched closely.
Then the reason for my feeling of paranoia became clear – I was being watched by an elegant, snooty siamese cat from the edge of the graveyard!
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