Thursday, August 26, 2010

Fungus or Mushroom Identification


It looks pretty much like a dried out black grape at first glance.
But it has a hole which releases a black powder - which turnes out to be spores, which are more olive brown than black. Here you can see a blade of grass has pierced this one, the base is at the bottom, and just out of sight is the hole in the top from which comes the spores. The shape is not for a mushroom really since it has no visible stem.

This is what it looks like from underneath.

The inside of the fungus shown here, it has a carpet of fluffy dust - brownish in this pic, but almost black in the other one I found. It's a powdery dust that gets airborne quite easily.
For scale, that's a windscreen wiper blade.
It "looks" like these fungus are Gasteromycetes, puffballs for us non-fungii, meaning stomach. Not a family as such, so this is not an identification, puffball is more an identification aid.
Time: is late August - I'm guessing this is the mature stage.
Location: Norwich, Norfolk
Site: A school field - an unused field, which we were allowed to pitch tents on. They appear to be loose amongst the grass.

Can anyone tell me what it's called?

Friday, August 20, 2010

Political Comment

2010 is probably the stress year for european politicians. I blame them for the collapse of the economy, but I also blame individuals for job losses at home. Far too many people fly kites, some of us without knowing it, ...before I move onto August being the month of brilliant kite flying weather, I share one more criminal thought with you.
If a house brick can be used to hit someone with, does that make the makers bad people?
On the other hand, should a maker of house bricks supply them to someone who has a track record of hitting people with them?
All this does is force us to legalise making a black-list, something known to cause problems of it's own in terms of corruption. We black list weapons, oil, cryptography and even jobs, STOP!
Sunset in late July
Get some fresh air - everything is a lovely green this month with all the rain. With the days getting shorter, I shall be packing more into them than actually fits - but what can I pack into my soul?
Check out this inspiring tweeter and blogger on the soul. Lee Bezotte

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Sometimes it rains gently

It starts to rain
She opens a window
Firmly I close it again
Relenting I open the window

Not because I may get wet
But for the love I always get