Tag: rosy

#365daysofbiking Stars on earth

October 1st – I had to go to have a medical procedure, so I was out in a rainy dawn on a quick spin to get the ride in for the day.

On Clayhanger Common, a first for the year: Earthstar fungus.

This remarkable, almost unreal looking fungi grows quite widely now but was once a rarity, and there are lots on Clayhanger Common from now until Christmas.

They work like puffballs, and the central sphere pops releasing it’s spores to the wind.

They always look like plasticine to me. Beautiful, curious things.

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December 9th – Near the canal at Moxley, Darlaston, I found these fascinating fungi – I’d stopped to undertake a quick mechanical adjustment, and had I not been crouched fiddling with the bike, I’d never have seen the rosy earthstars and what I assume from guides is some kind of pterula multifida living well in the under hedge leaf litter.

It just goes to show what wonders go unseen in our everyday environment.

November 28th – Pleased to note the return this year of the sunny rosy earthstar fungus to Clayhanger Common.

They aren’t looking too good at the moment – they need more damp – but these uncommon fungi have plenty of young ones developing and will look like no other fungi I’ve seen when fully developed.

I was hoping last year’s find wasn’t a one off. I’m  chuffed to bits.

I watch with interest.

December 31st – Remember the peculiar fungus I found a few weeks ago on Clayhanger Common – the Rosy Earthstar? Well, today I passed the same spot again and stopped to have a scout around. It seems that there were a whole bunch of them here – now the leaves have gone and the undergrowth is less dense, it can be seen there were at least 25 of these remarkable fungi.

Interesting too to see how they go over, seemingly with the ‘petals’ of the star rotting away first.

Hope we get them again next year and this wasn’t just a fluke. I’d love to watch them grow.

December 12th – A wet, horrible day, but a remarkable, surprising find – a rosy earthstar.

This curious thing, looking like plasticine or glazed ceramic, is a fungus like toadstools. It’s relatively rare, and I’ve never seen one before. It’s in a bunch of about 5 in various stages of life on a small patch of CLayhanger Common, and I spotted it entirely by chance.

A great find on a very unpleasant day.