More fungi and other autumnal species

The fungal season is progressing well, which is unsurprising given the amount of rain we've had this year. In no particular order we have:

Tremella mesenterica, otherwise known as Witches Butter or Yellow Brain fungus:

Witches Butter

I usually find T. mesenterica on dead branches of Gorse, although the Tremella is actually parasitic on Peniophora sp. crust fungi which are decomposers of the dead Gorse, so this is a double dependency.

Just for the challenge, I took a shot of the Tremella spores:

Spores of Tremella mesenterica at x400

On the same branch, I noticed some microscopic Lachnum virgineum:

Lachnum virgineum

These cups are 1-2 mm diameter, and absolutely beautiful. New to my species list.

I noticed these yellow marks on the leaf of Creeping Buttercup, and immediately knew I had found something new:

Leaf of Creeping Buttercup, showing yellow indications of fungal attack

I turned the leaf over and saw this sporulating fungus:

Urocystis ranunculi on Creeping Buttercup

The description of Urocystis ranunculi reads: "Sori in leaves and stems of R. repens as silvery blisters which burst to expose black masses of spore balls." I cannot imagine a more accurate description. There is only one previous record from Ireland, and that was in 1946. New to my species list.

The spores of Urocystis ranunculi are interesting: each round, brown spore is accompanied by some transparent sterile cells the same size as the spore (top right and mid left):

Spores of Urocystis ranunculi x400

Taphrina tosquinetii is a leaf gall of Alder:

Taphrina tosquinetii on Alder

The fungus enlarges the surface area of the leaf in order to create more area for spore production. The remaining normal part of the leaf can be seen to the left.

The Harvestman Mitopus morio doesn't make a web: it lies in wait and jumps out on prey when triggered by movement. It usually (?always) uses one leg as a movement detector. In this case, it's the right rear leg, which has been crossed over and suspended from the right second-from-rear leg, presumably to heighten sensitivity:

Harvestman waiting for prey

I found this solitary sawfly larva on Alder:

Sawfly larva on Alder

I think it might be Nematus viridissimus, but I'm waiting for confirmation, since I haven't seen this before.

We had a single night of frost last week and every night since then has produced a few November Moths:

November Moth - Epirrita dilutata

These can emerge from late September to November, but this is the earliest I have seen them. Larvae feed on leaves of numerous trees.

Stirrings

I thought I would take a look at the likely suspects today and found encouraging signs that our wildlife is at least having a try at this early point of the year.

A single Snowdrop was just opening; the rest were still firmly closed.

And a single Lesser Celandine bud had appeared:

The closely-related Ivy-leaved Water Crowfoot has started to come into growth on the muddy entrance to the field:

The jelly fungus Tremella mesenterica, or Witches Butter, appears to grow on dead Gorse branches, but in fact it's parasitic on the almost-invisible crusting fungus Peniophora incarnata, which grows on dead Gorse: 

This stacked dependency is a recurring theme in our wildlife: without the Gorse there would be no Peniophora and without the Peniophora there would be no Mesenterica. When you consider that Gorse is also the specific host for some moths, beetles and other fungi, you begin to see that removal of one species can have a significant impact on the whole series of its dependent species.

I also spotted the Hawthorn associate Tubaria furfuracea:

Award yourself bonus points if you can identify the leaf to the left of the image.

April Sun

Another small mystery resolved. Some Barbula sp. mosses are very difficult to tell apart unless you have setae to look at, and these can appear irregularly or not at all. This one has yellow setae, and is hence Barbula convoluta. The confusion species (which I also have locally) is Barbula unguiculata, which has red setae. The tumbled specimen at the rear is Bryum capillare. Again.


Things are moving along quite quickly, now. Viola riviniana is out. You can just see the notched, pale, spur at the rear.


The 'Yellow Brain Fungus' - Tremella mesenterica is associated with Gorse. Or rather, it isn't. It is parasitic on another crusting fungus that grows on Gorse - Peniophora incarnata.



Leaf miners will soon be in evidence: this is one from last year. It belongs to the micromoth Stigmella aurella, and is always found on Bramble. I like to look at the path of the mine and try to work out the strategy the larvae use to decide how to turn at leaf edges and veins.


I could happily have made a mystery out of this one: the leaves of Greater Stitchwort.


Just for the record, first Swallow of the summer was 4th April, and first Bombus terrestris queen was 12th April.