Fairy Ring Mushroom (#505)

I don’t get many fungi in the garden, so it was a pleasant surprise to find a crop of what I believe were Fairy Ring Mushrooms (Marasmius oreades) popping up out of the lawn this weekend. I suppose the damp conditions are better for fungi than the dry heat of last summer. I would be pretty happy to have fairy rings in my lawn, so hopefully the mushrooms find the place to their liking.

Small Things growing in Dark Dank Corners

Part of the bio-blitz, especially in this season, is about checking some of the hidden corners of the garden for things that I might have missed before. Procumbent Pearlwort (#366) was lurking in a damp corner of the front yard, hidden by bamboo and one of my pond/basins. A tiny Wall Rue Spleenwort (#375) growing between the bricks by the dustbins, is only my second species of fern in the garden. A solitary Dwarf Bell toadstool (#376) emerging among the mosses in a neglected planter is my first new species of fungus this Autumn; hopefully there will be a few more in the next month or so. All three are quite small and insignificant, but they are part of the ecology of the garden.

#366 Procumbent Pearlwort (Sagina procumbens)

#375 Wall Rue (Asplenium ruta-muraria)

#376 Dwarf Bell Toadstool (Galerina pumila)