A stealthy birth, then to sprout and spore
by Phil Gates from on (#K9B2)
Hollingside Wood, Durham: New life is erupting from the humus - the toadstool season has begun early this year
Papery seed capsules are the only sign of the bluebells which carpeted this woodland floor in the spring. Now, in the humid aftermath of torrential rain, among deep green shadows and sun flecks flickering through the tree-leaf canopy, new life is erupting from fallen branches and humus: the toadstool season has begun early this year.
The outer ranks of a troop of several hundred fairy inkcaps, Coprinellus disseminatus, encircling a coppiced hazel stool, are already deliquescing into gooey black spore-laden ink that will soon be carried away on the feet of beetles and flies.
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