The beholder's eye

By uniqueandlovely

Beefsteak anyone ?????

We all went to Leechpool woods this morning on a massive Sweet chestnut foray, which was great fun, despite the rain and we managed (between the 9 of us) to collect a huge big bowl full of plump beauties to roast.
The children were a bit put off by the Chestnut's prickles, but soon learned to 'roll' the shells under their boots to release the goodies!
I did take quite a few shots, of the gathering (family & nuts) but the light was so awful, due to the dismal weather, nothing was worth blipping.
Instead after much deliberation I decided to blip another fungi - sorry!
I found this lovely bracket fungus while we were walking round the forest and knew immediately what it was, which is a surprise as I find fungi ID a total nightmare!
This beauty is a Beefsteak fungus Fistulina hepatica,also known as Ox tongue for pretty obvious reasons, and I think this one really does look like a tongue. It is edible, and in the past has been used as a meat substitute, when cut it 'bleeds' with a dull red juice, making the resemblance to meat even greater. The underside of the fungus is creamy white, and a mass of tubules from which the spores are released.
It is common in the UK, and well worth looking for, but please don't try eating it or any other wild fungi without expert advise.

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