Sunday 16 September 2018

Fungal inflection

We've had a bit of a early Autumn break, spending a week in Perthshire, soaking up some sun, rain, wildlife and cake. Our Lass had booked us into a cottage on the Bamff Estate in the hope that we would have the opportunity to see Beavers. Yes, you read that right but, sorry, Leslie Nielsen fans, no nakedness, no guns, just wild Beavers.

More of that in due course, but with plenty of damp Beech and Birch woodland to wander around, we were astounded by the abundance of fungi to be seen. I know that this is the best time of year for mushrooms and the like, but we were amazed at the variety of colours and forms on display.

Not being anything of an expert in these matters, I looked but did not touch, and neither do I have identifications for many of them...


Sulphur Tuft, I'm told

This is a slime mould, not a fungus


Yellow Brain Fungus on Gorse

Porcellain Fungus, I'm told


I think this is a Lurid Bolete

Fly Agaric




There were more, but just how much of a holiday does one spend crawling around in the leaf litter, when there's cake to be had?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

They’ve got fabulous names, fungi, haven’t they? I missed seeing the beaver in Devon by seconds ☹️

Imperfect and Tense said...

I do wonder whether the people who gave some of these fungi their names were actively experimenting with them!?

I have previous when it comes to spotting beavers, having accidentally seen one on the Tay when not in the presence of Our Lass. One of my hopes for the holiday was that such a keenly-felt imbalance (by me, not Our Lass, I have to say) would be righted.

SharonLarkin said...

Much as I love eating mushrooms, there is definitely something a tad weird about fungi in general! Looking at some of 'em, I could almost convince myself that they might actually be aliens LOL We've got some little ones coming up on the front lawn, must remember to take some photos before hubby cuts the grass ~ if it ever stops raining, that is!

Imperfect and Tense said...

Compared to other lifeforms, fungi seem to play by very different rules.

Spadger said...

you can have your cake and eat you know!

Imperfect and Tense said...

I try not to think of it as an addiction but, on several levels (or layers!), my cake habit is a concern.