Orange ping pong bats take over the world

This innocuous-sounding name has been given to  Favolaschia calocera , a  sinister fungus recently arrived in the UK. It was first seen in Cornwall in 2012 and now it has crept into in West Wales.

Originating in Madagascar it spread via imported timber to New Zealand and Australia and thence, assisted by climate change, to other parts of the world before reaching the UK. It lives on rotten wood and is so invasive that native species struggle to compete. It  imitates  in this respect the grey squirrel, the signal crayfish and the ruddy duck to name but three. (The latter has been eradicated.) With its spores already on the wind there's no chance of  getting rid of the ping pong bats; it's just as well they look so pretty.