The classic toadstool of fairy story illustrators.
Don’t try at home to test out its hallucinogenic properties: the toxic chemicals which cause this effect are as likely to give some very unpleasant, and just possibly fatal, symptoms.
In Britain, this mushroom is always found close to birch trees.
Not an apple, but a mutant leaf forming the cradle for the larva of a gall wasp.
The hole is where the larva eventually came out.
The snowy wax cap, Hygrocybe nivea, is bright white in colour.
Despite this, it can be hard to spot lurking in short grass in places like sportsfields or lawns.
Bright colours aren’t always a sign that something should not be eaten.
During the second world war, schoolkids were sent to pick rosehips, which are a rich source of vitamin C.
This tiny and brightly coloured mushroom doesn’t have a common English name. Bolbitius vitellinus can be found hiding in short grass. Like many things in nature, its colour is the clue that it shouldn’t be eaten.
These mushrooms, growing through moss, were only about a quarter of an inch high.
This moth was attracted to settle on a window by the brightness of the house lights.
The feathery antenna is a characteristic feature of this species.
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Another species of inkcap. Although it is fairly common, and reasonably conspicuous, it does not have a generally accepted English name. Surprisingly few species of fungi do.
There were only traces of colour on the feathers and beak of this goose, which is probably a cross between a barnacle goose and a white one.
It was happily swimming in the canada goose flock in West Park.
This recently emerged specimen of Coprinus comatus shows the beginning of the cracking of the cap covering which will eventually become the “shagginess” when it is more fully-grown.
This pattern is seen in the more developed, and parasol-shaped, fruiting body below.
This squirrel almost seemed to be posing to have its picture taken.
This is what a shaggy inkcap, also known as the lawyer’s wig fungus, looks like when it has only recently emerged.
As it sheds its spores, the cap of the mushroom appears to eat itself from the rim inwards. This one is well on the way.
This grouping show more advanced stages in the process.
Finally, the cap is reduced to a blackened rim around the stem.
