Fungus

Another wet grey day, still focussing in rather than out into the mist.

On the site of our garden there used to be a small wooden cottage for holidaying in, which was replaced by the present house [resited] in the 80's, so we're lucky that we have some quite mature trees and bushes dating back 50 or more years.

When we moved here there were several enormous ash trees that were leaning dangerously towards the house. Had to have them removed, still leaving a couple that were ok, whose avowed aim is to repopulate the garden with ash trees in record time, judging by the copious quantities of seeds they produce annually. The ones that were left as stumps on the perimeter have produced so much growth that we now have an ash hedge which would take over given half a chance.

Each year, this fungus grows over the buried old wood of one of them within the garden, pushing its way up through the grass and leaf mould to tumble about in abandon. It's at the edge of the bunch of fruit trees which accounts for the bits of confetti-blossom.

No idea what it is, the guide book I have doesn't help. Can anyone enlighten me? It has creamy gills with a greyish tinge in places, and a creamy white stipe or stem which is quite short. Think the image colours are pretty accurate for the caps. What you see here is about a week's growth.