Early March

At the Zen Zone in early March we spotted an Enteridium lycoperdon (false puffball) aethalium in it’s early mucilaginous stage and were able to see how it changed on two subsequent visits.

Mid March

In mid-March we spotted some carmine Lycogala near Basecamp

On a log also near Basecamp some Metatrichia slime mould — some of it parasitised.

In the photo below you can see empty peridial cups, cinnamon-buff capillitial masses and the beginnings of parasitisation — the white mould.

Parasitised sporangia.

Before The Outpost we saw for the last time some hibernating ladybirds (we first spotted them in late November 2023) — the following week they were gone.

In the photo one of the ladybirds has white spots.

In The Outpost we spotted a slime mould that was probably Stemonitis fusca.

This is a timelapse video by Daniel Brunner of Stemonitis fusca.

Late March

In late March we noticed a decaying trunk in The Dell that hosted a number of Hemitrichia and Scutellinia groups.

Hemitrichia on the decaying trunk at The Dell.

After The Outpost we found a small log with more Hemitrichia.

Hemitrichi clavata and H. calyculata are very similar — at first I felt that these were H. calyculata — they are somewhat different in form and colour to the Hemitrichia at The Dell on the decaying trunk.

These slime mould sporangia have a stalk that is distinct in colour to that of the cup and to a certain extent in structure, whereas those at The Dell have a stalk and cup that seem to merge more gradually and overall the sporangia are more yellow than those here.

The literature states that H. clavata is distinguished from H. calyculata by a deeper cup that tapers to merge with the stem. H. calyculata has a narrower stem and a shallower cup that is more abruptly separated from the stem [1][2][3].

End of March

After The Dell we spotted a decaying Enteridium lycoperdon.

Near the Gnarly Oak we noticed some of the nettles with a strange but wonderful yellow growth that we had never seen before — Puccinia urticata (nettle rust).

Near The Outpost another Enteridium lycoperdon forming a sheeny peridium under which the spores are forming.

Towards end of the woodland trail we came across a some wonderful prolific Scutellinia (eyelash fungi) on a decaying damp log and trunk.

This is wonderful with the water droplets attached to the eyelashes!

[1] Myxomycetes : A Handbook of Slime Molds – Stephenson & Stempen.

[2] Hemitrichia calyculata – BIOTA of NEW ZEALAND

[3] Key to Hemitrichia – Danish Myxomycetes

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