Thursday 4 February 2010

Fungus on decayed beech twig

Our resident scientist, Natasha de Vere, examines a tiny fungus discovered on a decayed beech twig. This was on one of the Waxcap Discovery walks in the fields opposite the lakes. We discovered over 18 species of waxcaps and associated fungi, which makes the site nationally, if not internationally, important.
The main field is on a steep slope and partly because of this has been ignored for regular grazing, and never ploughed/fertilized as it is useless for growing cash crops. This is why it is such a species rich area of undeveloped pasture - wild plants/fungi have developed to thrive in such conditions.

2 comments:

  1. Superb! Please, please, please keep me informed so I can try to join the next walk. I would love to do some unique macro photography of these for the Garden's online gallery.

    Kindest regards

    Darren Boxer

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  2. Hi Darren - not many fungi till October/November. However, there may be some Scarlet Elf Caps by the Aqualab, I will have a close look wednesday and let you know. Sometimes at the back of the Japanese Garden, where the wall buts onto the bee area, I have seen inkcaps

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