26 July

 A summer day at the Wetlands and Forest with an occasional hint of autumn.  The morning began overcast; 

 clouds parted now and then to set the Forest aglow.


Mossy limbs and swordfern gleamed in the sunlight.


The ghost pipes, abundant this year, their bloom now blackend, approached the end of their seasonal growth.


Other fungi are appearing.  These birds nest fungi are emerging near the ghost pipes.


They're small--this photo is almost exactly actual size--and have a distinctive way of reproducing, as described in the Royal BC Museum's Handbook, Mushrooms of British Columbia:

Bird's nest mushrooms rank among the strangest visual echoes in the fungal world--they look like small avian nests, complete with eggs.  What appear to be eggs are spore cases called "peridioles."  Basidia inside the peridioles produce the spores in vast numbers...The nests holding the eggs serve as splash cups.  When drops of water hit these splash cups, the eggs are propelled from the cups at high speeds, sometimes travelling up to a metre from the nest.  The cases, made of waxy, sticky material, can attach themselves to nearby vegetation, dry out, and release the spores.  

By their shape, and the grey-brown "eggs," these look to be "flowerpot birds nest mushrooms."

A formerly yellow slime mold is producing fruiting bodies.  They appear to be a shade of purple--we'll need to monitor.


More beauty in nature (!)--these appear to be juvenile banana slugs.  They're quite small when their size is compared to the sword fern leaf blades.


The bald hip rose vines near the Marsh are proliferating, and the hips on the existing mature plants are ripening.


The water level at the Marsh continues to sink.



Overcast skies complimented the colours of the Marsh, providing a foretaste of autumn.


Some foliage is already turning, less a seasonal effect than that of heat stress.

There seem to be fewer frogs this season, including the invasive predatory bullfrogs.  Their reduced number is unlamented.  

We continue to watch as summer continues its progress in the Forest and Marsh.  



 

 

 

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