Country diary: the magical mushroom biology of the fairy ring

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: The appearance and disappearance of these strange forms gives them an uncanniness that seems to have nothing to do with their ecological function

The fairy bonnets have popped up from the turf and the world is reflected in a million raindrops. Suspended on spindly stalks, the pale flesh of their pointy heads has an ethereal glow. These Marasmius fungi grow in troops or circles in grassland as rotters of organic litter, feeders of grass and stages for supernatural dances.

Unable to manufacture its own food, the fungus is a collective body made of hyphae, the filaments that form the mycelium, an intricate lacework expanding outwards in a slow-motion ripple. This questing, hunting body surrounds and infiltrates the food material. Enzymes are secreted that break down complex molecules into smaller compounds to be absorbed into the hyphae, which grow rapidly as proteins and other materials are synthesised and channelled through its streaming cytoplasm. Without these decomposers, the inorganic nutrients necessary for plant growth would be tied up in organic matter and not returned to the soil.