Wolves Wild

Carrion crow on the bank of the West Park lake, stepping carefully down to reach for a drink of water.

Once again a fungus which can be seen much of the year, not just the autumn. And not necessarily a very welcome sight. A cluster of these sprouting at the base of a tree trunk means the tree has been infected, eventually fatally.

Honey fungus is not one species, but a group of closely related species. One of these is claimed to be the largest living organism on earth right now. Spreading across the whole of a wood in Oregon, it’s estimated to weigh perhaps as much as a couple of hundred times as much as an adult blue whale.

The West Park lakeside liquidambar as featured in the post a couple of days ago, seen this time from across the lake and reflected in the water.

Turkey tail is a common year-round bracket fungus, with a cluster of small fan-shaped fruiting bodies. The white stain on the same tree stump is perhaps the white rot as the fungus digests the wood.

A liquidambar tree by the lake in West Park, with leaves which turn vivid colours in autumn. Usually I take its picture from the opposite side of the lake, getting double value from its reflection in the water. For a change, here it is with the lake and the island just showing as background.

Deceivers, small mushrooms which can crop up mush of the year as long as it’s not too cold. Deceptive because they are very variable in form, making it easy for some of us to fool ourselves that we’ve spotted something more interesting.

The trees at the back of the West Park chalet (currently the tea rooms) turned a particularly varied set of colour this autumn.

More late-season fungi: a cluster of mushrooms which may be hen of the woods, at least according to the pattern-matching algorithm at iNaturalist.

Another try at capturing the unusual berry colour of one of the purple beautyberries in West Park. This time I ignored the macro function on my phone’s camera.

Nestling in the base of one of the trees by a quiet cul de sac, a cluster of common inkcaps. In my experience, there are other inkcap species which are commoner.

The purple berries of a purple beautyberry bush in West Park. The not quite in focus effect in the close-ups comes from me struggling with the macro setting on my mobile phone’s camera.

Growing at the base of two (and probably more) of the tree trunks in West Park, shaggy scalycap mushrooms. Within the trunk, the mycelia (the not exactly roots of the fungus) will be spreading white rot, which will eventually prove fatal.