Author: David

They don’t trap their prey in a web. Instead, they hunt by stalking and leaping.

On one of the plants being grown in the Conservatory, Bantock House.

Cuckoo spit can be found on many plants in late spring/early summer. Nothing to do with the increasingly rare bird, but a protective foam for an insect larva, a froghopper. This one was on the top of a nettle which was going to seed.

Scrambled egg slime is also known as dog vomit slime. It is common on dead wood, including wood mulch, in wet conditions. So no surprise this arrived this summer.

It was on a tree stump which was also playing host to a bracket fungus, probably some kind of polypore.

Twenty-four hours after these pictures were taken, all that was left of the slime was a dark stain on the wood where it had been.

Yellow staining mushrooms looks rather like the edible field and horse mushrooms, but it is a seriously bad idea to eat them.

The first warning sign is the strong yellow colour when the mushroom is cut, broken or scraped: the colour eventually turns to a dull brown. The colour is showing on these mushrooms, especially in patches on the rims of the caps of the second and third.

This odd-looking fungus is a Ramaria or coral fungus. There are several species which are approximately this yellowish colour.

A second fruiting body, very near the first.

Another picture of the specimen in the top picture. This shot was taken under overcast conditions, and seems to show that the tips (of the basiocarps) are a more vivid yellow colour.