The Fastest Living Thing on the Planet

Not only is this one of the smallest things I have ever photographed, but it it is definitely the fastest. It is the Hat Thrower Fungus, or Pilobolus and you can find more about it here. Definitely worth a look, but if you don't have time, basically, the small black blob is a packet of spores which is catapulted with astonishing speed and force onto grass clear of the pile of dung on which it grows so it will be eaten by a ruminant in order to complete another life cycle in a new pile of dung.
You may by now have gathered that it was our fortnightly Fungi recording day at Longshaw. By July there are often more larger fungi stating to appear, but as it has been dry and hot, there were few around, meaning that we had to be creative (turning over logs and peering at poo) in order to get our quota of specimens.