Fungus - # 102/10

I said I'd show the fungus, so here it is. Looking closer I realise that the photo doesn't really do it justice, and more time should have been spent in true photography mode creeping around the site and taking 100 shots from numerous angles and at various settings.

But never mind.  What startles and impresses me is the brilliant white edge of the fungus. There is no flash lighting. This white edge is natural and I suppose that it comes from some property in the organism that responds to light, gathers and emits light.....or what ever.  I don't know.  But it is another miracle of the natural world.

Fruits of Autumn # 1 - # 08/251

The fungus.

Everyone has something to eat. The fungus is eating the fallen, rotting wood and returning the sugars to the soil. The animals are nibbling the fungus. I have friends who are experts and love foraging at this time, but on the whole, I think that mushroom hunting and understanding are lost wisdom in modern Britain.

That's one reason why it is nice to visit the Continent at this time, where the understanding of the mushroom is better exploited by cooks. What's better than wild boar, venison and forest fruits? The traditional winter cooking of Europe - so fortifying in cold weather - now comes into it's own. It's now clear that I'm not a vegetarian.

It's that time of year - # 08/202

In the forests of France and England and Italy the truffle hunters are out with their dogs and their pigs on harnesses hunting for truffles which are particularly good this year because of the damp conditions.

On the oak trees, like this one, remarkable fungi are appearing, looking strange and magnificent.