Surprised to see this morrel growing by the edge of the pavement not far from the entrance to Coxley Woods. It is edible but I think that I’ll give this one a miss.
Morrel
Category: Fungi
White Saddle
We found a small colony of white saddle fungus, Helvella crispa, alongside the track on the south bank of the River Aire between Mickletown and Methley.
Ferns and Fossils
Mahonia, otherwise known as Oregon Grape; croziers of unfurling ferns with matching wrought ironwork; cross-bedding in magnesian limestone and dryad’s saddle fungus at Brodsworth this morning.
Birch Bracket
Birch bracket fungus at Newmillerdam this morning.
Yellow Brain Fungus
For my winter Dalesman spread, I needed a spot of colour so I’m including yellow brain fungus, Tremella mesenterica, which, as here, can also be orange. I photographed last January at Emroyd Common, growing on elder, but it doesn’t feed directly on wood: it’s parasitic on species of a crusty fungus, Peniophora, which grows on dead twigs and branches.
Autumn Fungi
Fungi at Harlow Carr this morning included common puffball and a large bracket growing on beech.
Stump Fungus
There’s a sweet, moist, earthy smell of autumn in the woodland around the Lower Lake at Nostell Priory this morning. The bark of the old sweet chestnuts here reminds me of Arthur Rackham fairy tale illustrations.
On a fallen trunk, this fungus is sprouting from a crevice, perhaps a species of Mycena?
Hoof Fungus
This hoof fungus, Fomes fomentarius, appears to have powdered the roots of the beech it is growing on with a film of rusty spores.
It’s also known as the tinder bracket because it has been used as in fire-starting since prehistoric times.
Autumn Regulars
As I walk into the woods above the Boathouse at Newmillerdam, I feel as if I should be switching a light on. The leaf mosaic – still green – of the tall, straight-trunked beeches cut out so much of the light on what is already a dull and overcast morning. Not surprisingly, it’s this white fungus on a sawn-off stump that catches my eye.
On the pond cam, apart from the usual wood pigeon, the goldfinches have been coming down to drink, one of them fluttering low over the surface before realising that the duckweed isn’t going to be a safe surface to land on.
We feel that we’re getting some of our autumn regulars back at the bird table: a regular nuthatch, a single long-tailed tit and, swooping through at top speed, a large (so probably female) sparrowhawk, which soon went off and put up a flock of goldfinches which were probably feeding on thistle seeds in the meadow.
Parasol
These parasol mushrooms were growing in a small troop in a corner of our friends, Matthew and Tonia’s, back garden in Ossett, who’ve recently cut back shrubs to rejuvenate a shady bed by an old stone wall.
I remember that back, in the 1980s, Matthew attempted to remove the large stump of what I think had been a diseased elm from this corner, but in the end he had to bury it and leave it where it was, so these could be fungi associated with rotting wood.
To me it looks like one of the agarics, some of which are good to eat, others deadly poisonous. I should have taken a closer look at the gills.