Monsters in the woods - well, monster fungi

It's going to be a good year for fungi, I think. These monster bracket fungi appeared recently and seem to be lasting.


You can see that they're quite thick and fleshy. To give you an idea of the scale, the larger one is about 40cm x 30 cm - larger than a dinner plate.


The skin underneath appears fairly smooth - there are no gills.

When you look more closely you find that the under surface consists of small pores from which the spores are released.

In contrast the upper surface has a sort of spotted, "furry" pattern.

If you want to see these fungi for yourself, they're in the fringe of the main wood, off the upper part of the lower path, some way down from where the upper and lower paths join.