Earth Ball Fungi

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 Another spot last week whilst away was an earth ball fungus. I am cheating again as I didn't photograph this in the Eden Valley but we do get them here. This was taken in some Beech woodland.


This feels pretty solid when you poke it in contrast to the more common (in our area) puff balls which are visually similar but spongy to prod. According to this Food for Free web site this fungus is responsible for more mushroom poising cases than any other species in the UK. Its hard to see why this might be as they are pretty distinctive and not that hard to identify.
We had some common meadow mushrooms appear on our lawn overnight.






Diary
There was a flock of half a dozen partridge on the road above the house yesterday. It was only a fleeting view but I would say they were red legged partridge. I was walking in the Howgill Hills yesterday and saw a peregrine falcon above Cautley Spout Waterfall (see photo). The weather is getting cooler and we woke up to a ground frost first thing this morning.





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