Fungi are the commonest new growth at this time of year. But here is a change from all the fungi pictures which have dominated recent posts. This red admiral was pictured eating ivy flowers back in October.
It was having a long and leisurely meal, and kept changing its pose. The final picture shows the less conspicuous underwing.
Another mushroom which is so small and inconspicuous that it is hidden in grass unless a deliberate search is made.
Wood mulch often supports fungi. These were in Tettenhall.
These were on the Buckpool LNR in Dudley.
This pure white mushroom growing through the moss on a tree trunk was about a centimetre tall.
These inkcaps had already partially deliquesced.
A mushroom species with a very distinct umbo (a raised area in the centre of the cap, named after the technical term for the boss of a shield). This one was growing on a grassy verge in a quiet lane by the side of Danescourt Cemetery.
Another fungus which is a common parasite of deciduous trees. This one was growing on a tree on a corner of Church Hill Road, Tettenhall.
The butterfly was looking directly at me as it fed in October.
Another mushroom which is almost hidden even in shortish grass.
Boletes are toadstools which release their spores from the underside of the cap through pores not gills. Brown birch boletes only grow in association with birch trees, and are commonly found by such trees in the autumn.
These were a few of the brown birch boletes growing on Rectory Bank in Wordsley, which is also where I noticed the honey fungus in the previous post.
This mushroom grows in large clumps, often at the base of trees which they are killing. They are very variable in form, and not good to eat – I presume that “honey” refers to their colour rather that their flavour.
