Cramp Balls

I got Cramp Balls today at Swithland Wood. And a Stinkhorn, and Hairy Curtain Crust. In case anyone is wondering, you haven't just inadvertently stumbled on a Finbarr Saunders storyline - these are all vernacular names for some of the fungi I found this afternoon.

Like any other branch of natural history recording, there is a skill to finding fungi. However as I do not possess this skill I once again resorted to shambling about in hope rather than with knowledgeable purpose. It was a dull day in any case, and within the damp woodland the light was pretty poor. It was the sort of light where using flash at a distance just results in under-exposed shots, so it was a case of either very long shutter speeds or flash just for real macro stuff. Whilst this next shot is not particularly exciting, I'm very pleased with it given that the fungi is black, and it was on a dark wet log in the shade in what was already dull lighting. Using a tripod and the camera on self-timer mode, this shot it the result of an 8sec exposure at ISO80 f8.0. I could easily have gone for higher ISO but the shot would have been grainy as hell.

Cramp Ball, or King Alfred's Cake (Daldinia concentric)

Here's a selection of other bits that I found ..

Common Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus)

Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)

Common Bonnet (Mycena galericulata)

Hairy Curtain Crust (Stereum hirsutum)

Yellowing Curtain Crust (Stereum subtomentosum)

Silverleaf (Chondrostereum purpureum)

Yellow Stagshorn (Calocera viscosa)

Another crusty type thing I can't identify

More Mushrooms from the Bog

Managed to (I think) identify a few, though most I have either seen or similarly mis-identified before. Only new one so far is this:

Oyster Mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus

Blushing Bracket Daedaleopsis confragosa

Southern Bracket Ganoderma australe

Sulphur Tuft Hypholoma fasciculare

I've also revisted this recent posting with some IDs.

Still lots more to have a go at, and I think I'll start setting up a 'Fungi Wot I can't ID' page.