There be fungus in the forest...

Wherever I went today, I found fungus - on living trees, dead wood, woodland floor and in grassy fields. I will admit straight away that I am terrible at identification (aside from a few easy ones like Fly Agaric) but one day I hope to get myself on a proper identification course. I love eating mushrooms but I don't want to chance eating the wrong ones! We do have a resident expert, Ron Iremonger, who leads the Fungi Foray events here at Attingham but unfortunately he was not with me today to identify what I found. I've spent the last half hour scouring my book to try to name some but I still cannot be confident I have the right ones! So here are some pictures instead:

Ok, this one I do know - Auricularia auricula-judae or 'Jew's Ear Fungus'. Apparently, the name comes from the story that Judas Iscariot hung himself from an elder tree, and this type of fungi is often found growing on elder trees.
 

Today a group of us were clearing elder and alder (try saying that ten times quickly!) from the edge of a large (currently dry) pond. Over the weekend, the pond will be dug out and years of mud and deposits removed. Hopefully this winter the water levels will return to normal and the pond refill to become a good habitat for insects, amphibians and other fauna. The local ducks usually enjoy this pond so the dry summer has been a big disappointment to them!

It was a long day and the sun was setting by the time we were finished but looking out across the deer park, there are worse ways to end a day.