Ganoderma

The heatwave has driven me and the spaniel into the woods for our walks. As a consequence I came across a fungus that I've not seen before and which turns out to be quite rare in Britain. Its a bracket fungus called Ganoderma resinaceum - when the surface is damaged it oozes a thick resin (hence the name) which hardens. You can see one hardened bracket in this image just above the bottom bracket and another between the top two brackets. There were several more of these impressive brackets on the basal roots of this old oak.