Tag: toadstool

October 3rd – I had somewhere to call on the way back, and returned in darkness, but I couldn’t resist checking up the little forest of glistening ink caps on the edge of Clayhanger Common. 

Grown well, these curious toadstools have peaked now and will soon decay to mush.

I have no idea what triggers these busy, short-lived clumps but they’re fascinating to study.

September 27th – I was lucky to spot this Japanese parasol toadstool fully open on Clayhanger Common on my way to work. They are generally so short lived that actually catching one fully open is quite hard to do.

When open, you can see just how these delicate little fungi got their name – fragile, with a pleated cap no bigger than a 10p piece, they’re one of my favourites.

Twelve hours later it will have disintegrated to nothing.

September 15th – With some damper weather, the fungus is coming on well, and few better places to spot it than the relatively undisturbed verges of industrial estates.`This venerable specimen was spotted in Wednesbury, and seems quite old, although it does appear to be growing. About the size of a small plate, it’s fascinating, and also a home for lots of bugs.

It looks like some kind of lactarius and was part of a fair-sized group.

September 9th – Found in Kings Hill Park in Darlaston, a sign of the oncoming autumn. Glistening ink caps, shooting up after a night’s rain; tiny spores waiting in the ground until exactly the right combination of light, temperature and moisture. Then – ping! – instant toadstool forest.

Isn’t fungus incredible?

September 3rd – Shooting through Weeford on my return, expecting the rain to start again, I noticed these mushrooms growing on a verge. They were huge, and their presence reminded me that now we’re coming on Autumn, watching out for the fungus could be productive.

Wondering in the rosy earthstars and orange peel fungus will be back on Clayhanger Common this year?

June 15th – Noticed on a grass verge in Wednesbury, this fine crop of toadstools.I think they’re roundheads, but I didn’t have time to study them closely. But you know you’re advancing through summer when the shrooms are out.

I love to see fungus – such a fascinating, misunderstood part of the ecosystem.

December 15th – I spotted these odd remnants of toadstools on a damp grass verge near the canal at Walsall. I can’t recognise the original fungus, and they seem to  be decaying in an almost skeletal manner. I’m fascinated by the way they seem to be reducing to the structure of their gills.

Fungi are endlessly captivating.

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.

November 25th – Spotted on a damp Darlaston canal towpath just after daybreak, this tiny toadstool. It was alone, and looked almost pristine – I have no idea what it is and would appreciate suggestions. Key is the dimple on top of the cap; this is a delicate and tiny orange-brown fungi yet was outstanding enough to catch my eye as I passed at speed, so I felt it deserved recording for posterity.