What big eyelashes!

We had a fungus foray at the nature reserve today for the Bucks, Herts and Beds Fungus Groups. It did not look at all promising after such a long dry period. Even after the rain yesterday the woodland areas were still quite dry. I was further dismayed when I arrived this morning to find much of the valley white from a ground frost. After this the sun came out and around 17 of us had a lovely walk around two areas of woodland that had not been surveyed before. Sharp-eyed members did still to find things and by lunch-time we had a list of over 60 species.

After people had left, I looked at another patch of woodland that I know stays damper and found a few more species, including this tiny cup fungus, Scutellinia scutellata or Common Eyelash Fungus. This little disc is less than 2mm across and many people would just walk past it...but get down close to it with a hand lens and these amazing eyelashes are revealed.