Magpie Mushroom

The magpie ink cap mushroom, Coprinopsis picacea (family Psathyrellaceae).  This species is also often referred to by its old name Coprinus picacaeus.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-11-13.

The Destroyer of Insects

A dead dung fly, probably Scathophaga stercoraria, infected with a fungus, probably a member of the genus Entomophthora (Ento = insect, mophthora = destroyer).  Apparently, before these fungi kill their hosts, they make them move to the tip of a blade of grass or twig and stand there with their wings in the open position.  Presumably this improves the dispersion of the spores that eventually emerge from the dead body.

Photos taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-05-29.

Concave Translucent Mushrooms

A few days ago I noticed some of these on a pile of wood-chips in the woods between Farnborough North and Frimley stations.  I also noticed that they seemed to change form between the mornings and the afternoons.  I have tentatively identified them as Coprinus lagopus, a type of ink-cap mushroom.  In the mornings their stems are straight (up to 12cm long) and their caps neat little inverted translucent grey umbrellas (up to 5cm across), as shown above.  By the late afternoon, the stems have drooped and the caps are ragged, shrivelled and blackened, as shown below.

However, by the afternoon, the next day's mushrooms are already thrusting their heads up:

Mushroom

Now autumn is here the fungi are starting to come out.  I came across this mushroom yesterday in Reading University grounds.  I think it is of the genus Russula but, as there seem to be hundreds of species in that genus, I don't think I will go any further in my attempts to classify it.