sparassis crispa

Look what Jess found in the woods today! *

We had already had some nice ceps and had found another edible mushroom called Lactarius deterrimus which I left behind as it didn't look very appetising. I left this behind as well but I may come back another day - just for a sample, there's a month's worth of meals here! See extra for a better photo) No deerstalkers today and still no sight of the still-missing Tess :-(

sheilwill asked me the other day how I learned about fungi...well, what little I do know, I have learned mostly by spending hours crawling about under trees, taking photos, looking in books (Roger Phillips' "Mushrooms" is excellent) and using the internet (especially a fantastic FB page called Wild Scottish Fungi).

And then there's YouTube - see here for the Sparassis ID

* actually jess was running about chasing rabbits when I found it, but she came back when I whistled to pose for a photo :-)