The Wildeep Daily

The ash trees may be dying, but there is still a lot to like about this ravine.

The forest floor was studded with thousands of tiny, white cup-fungi. These are Hymenoscyphus fraxineus - the fungus that causes the ash dieback disease that has swept across Britain in recent years.

Deep in a tangly spruce plantataion. These trees were blown over by a storm about 25 years ago but they didn't die. They just grew up again from side branches.

19 months of development on this fantastic dead end sign. November 2024 -> June 2026.

Behold! A hornwort.

I think this is Pilobolus kleinii, one of the dung cannon fungi AKA hat throwers.

This fungus grows on dung. Its strategy for colonising new piles of dung is to have its spores be eaten by a herbivore, pass through the animal's gut and end up in a freshly deposited stool.

To this end, these sticky black sporangia are propelled clear of the dung pile by the explosive force of the turgid swelling beneath them bursting. Each has a chance of landing on some palatable grass away from the faeces, where they can be ingested.

Big volume #FencepostOfTheWeek

Puccinia albescens, a rust fungus, growing all over these townhall clock plants.

All photos from April.

Tongue and Groove #FencepostOfTheWeek

Auspicious signs in Inverary!

Buff-tip moth from Achnabreac near Lochgilphead yesterday.

A close look at some of the different scale/hair shapes contributing to its fancy get-up.

So many bones. A thick layer of detritus from the bottom of a barn owl nest box.