EDIT – 6th October 2024
I’ve edited the section on Artomyces pyxidatus to reflect my daughter’s re-examination of the coral fungus that she found during her 2023 mycological survey of Strumpshaw Fen
END OF EDIT

We didn’t get to visit Strumpshaw Fen much in July — a family holiday and a DofE expedition got in the way.

Not much in the way of fungi or slime moulds on this day.

Some mature and some mouldy Stemonitis, some Hemitrichia and Arcyria cinerea, some Scutellinia (eyelash fungus) in the woodland area between the bench and the railway line at the end of the drainage channel and our first sighting of the year of Scleroderma citrinum (common earthball) — the photos of which were not great

Near Basecamp we spotted an old pseudoaethalium spore mass most likely Tubifera ferruginosa.

On the log at Basecamp where we often find slime moulds and last year where we saw some Artomyces pyxidatus (daughter’s 2023 mycological survey at the reserve) — more A. pyxidatus – the crown-tipped coral.

When she first spotted this fungus in September 2023, the daughter did think that it could be Artomyces pyxidatus but was persuaded it was likely Ramaria stricta.

However, R. stricta is typically found growing on the ground, albeit from buried wood [1] — these specimens (and the ones last year) are growing from a log off the ground and have the key distinguishing feature of A. pyxidatus — the crown-like tips on the branches of the fungus.

The new Cyathus striatus (Fluted Bird’s Nest) sporocarps that we saw earlier on 9th June were fully opened — some still containing peridioles (“eggs”).

Opposite the Outpost on a stump that has had previous Fuligo septica this year — two small older aethalia.

And on the fallen trunk next to the stump, a younger aethalium (above the lens attachment).

Close up.

And at the end of the trunk on a separate log (probably broken off from the trunk) — a Reticularia lycoperdon (false puffball) aethalium.

Towards the end of the Woodland Trail another Fuligo septica aethalium with some white translucent hypothallus visible around the the twig.

[1] https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/ramaria-stricta.php