Some details: - at 07.00 this morning it was creamy white with yellow patches. A little of the white can still be seen in the close up photo. By 13.00 it had turned to this dark chocolate colour. Temperature this morning 24C (WOW) sunny but humid.Growing on a fairly old felled Pine stump on heavy damp soil - Blackpool, Lancashire, (c. 53 degrees N).
It is, or at least was early doors, soft and squidgy.
A most bizarre organism.
Tried getting on the Wild About Britain forums but pc gremlins kept booting me out! They are usually pretty good with this sort of help.
Where to next? Got some mothing sorted out for later, hope the 'hazy sunshine' keeps off, not looking too promising now... 'A bit black over Bill's mothers' and the wind has picked up again...still warm enough though.
In the meantime...answers on a post card please......and let us know what is weird and wonderful in your outback.
STOP PRESS - The clever chaps at WAB (problems accessing WAB seem to have been universal and are over) tell me it is a Slime Mould, but there are hundreds of them". Stemonitis sp is the best 'guess' so far. Could be the nicely named Chocolate Tube S/M.
2 comments:
Blackpool Zoo was breeding water voles - might be worth asking whether they're on view to the public, and where they're being released.
Thanks Kate - many years ago I worked in the zoo and these were probably the last Water Voles I ever saw. Don't know what happened to them but there is a proposal by the Environment Agency to reintroduce animals bred at Chester Zoo into a wetland area our BEAT NatureWatch group and the council's Ranger Service has just had totally refurbished after it was drying out. Hope the scheme is successful. Used to have 'loads' of them 'plopping' along the ditches on 'our' farm in the 70's and early 80's but not been back for too many years and don't know if they are still there..be great if they were.
Cheers
Dave
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