Fungal Forays

A very rewarding autumn for fungal forays, so far.

Here are a few recent finds in Teesdale, Weardale and around Durham city

I think this is probably southern bracket Ganoderma australe, growing on an old beech tree in Stanhope dene. The black colouration is probably due to several days of heavy rain, soaking the surface. There were about a dozen of these on the trunk. They weaken the tree and the trunk usually snaps in high winds, about 10-15 feet above ground. The brackets are perennial and produce an annual crop of spores over a decade or more.

A beech stump, infested with old southern brackets

Trooping funnel Clitocybe geotropa, part of a fairy ring in Weardale that appears in this spot, under old hazel coppice, every autumn

Crimped gill Plicatura crispa, a Scottish species that's moving into northern counties of England. On dead horse chestnut branches, at Egglestone in Teesdale

Common puffballs Lycoperdon perlatum, in vast numbers, under Norway spruce in Hamsterley forest

Common puffballs Lycoperdon perlatum in Durham University Botanic Garden

Hairy curtain crust Stereum hirsutum in Stanhope dene, Weardale

Possibly a wood blewit Lepista nuda  (?) that has had some of the colour washed out of it by rain? Low Barns Nature reserve, Durham

Turkey tail Trametes versicolor in Durham University Botanic Garden

Honey fungus Armillaria mellea on an ash tree at Wolsingham in Weardale

Wood blewit Lepista nuda in Hamsterley forest, Durham

Sulphur tuft Hypholoma fasciculare Weardale

Clouded agaric Clitocybe nebularis in Durham University Botanic Garden, where it forms spectacular fairy rings

Unidentified, Durham University Botanic Garden

Angel bonnets Mycena archangelica on a fallen beech branch, Durham University Botanic Garden

Candle snuff Xylaria hypoxylon, Egglesone, Teesdale

Bitter bracket Postia styptica (?), Durham University Botanic Garden

Collared earthstar Geastrum triplex, under an old ash tree in Hollingside lane, Durham city

Collared earthstars discharging spores after being hit by raindrops

Upright coral Ramaria stricta (or maybe the less common R. abietina?) under Korean fir Abies koreana, in Durham University Botanic Garden

Shaggy scalycap Pholiota squarrosa on a Californian redwood in the arboretum of Durham University Botanic Garden

Wasps - the end is near

Almost at the end of the wasp season now. but there are still a few lethargic common wasps Vespula vulgaris in the garden, feeding on rotting fallen fruit. After cold nights they move very slowly, so it's easy to get close to them and get a good view of those powerful jaws. All season long they've been chewing wood to make paper for their nests, then catching other insects to feed their brood. Now, in their final days, they search for anything sweet to boost their flagging energy levels.

A few are feeding on the last of the late-season red-hot pokers Kniphofia sp. These popular garden flowers grow wild in South Africa, where they are pollinated by sunbirds that come to feed on the large volumes of nectar they secrete. The nectar trickles downwards in the dangling, tubular flowers and the wasps force their way in, so they often become covered in the sticky secretion and need to spend a lot of time cleaning their antennae afterwards.

Click here for pictures of the remarkable structure of a wasp nest - a marvel of paper engineering.

Our two year-old granddaughter's favourite spider

Our two year-old grand daughter was fascinated by this magnificent house spider Tegenaria domestica that's living it its web in a corner of  a window in our house.

It's not often that you get this unusual underside view of the body, revealing the prey's-eye view of the jaws, and all the leg joints. Usually you just see them dashing across the floor late in the evening, or trapped in the bath when they search for a drink from a dripping tap.

Though large, they are harmless and do a very good job of catching those annoying flies that find their way into the house in autumn. These spiders in turn are preyed upon by cellar spiders (daddy-long-legs spiders) and, since there are two of these living behind the settee, this house spider's days may be numbered.