Fungus

Dead moll's fingers fungus, Xylaria longipes.  The one on the right has been nibbled, probably by a mouse or a squirrel (would a slug climb all the way to the top before starting to nibble?).

I prepared a microscope slide of the spores using the method given here and this is the result (at x600):

These spores are roughly 1.5 times the length of the spores of Peniophora quercina shown here.  This, and the shape shown above, is consistent with the description given for X .longipes which includes 'Spores 13-15 x 5-7 um; smooth; fusiform' (fusiform = spindle-shaped, ie: pointed at both ends).

At first I assumed this fungus to be Xylaria polymorpha but that has 20-31 x 5-10um spores, which would be 2 to 3 times as long as those of P. quercina.  This is clearly not the case with the spores in the above image.

First photo taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-12-15.