Fungus of the day!

[FungiJus]

Originally Posted by diggleken

Jus, that single shot is brilliant and should be in the Gallery so more will see it........................
Cheers
Ken

Thanks very much for your comments Ken - I must say I was pleased with the way it came out too.

Another bonus is that I was able to make use of pretty much all the gear that people have bought me recently (just had a big birthday...), including my Raynox 250, polarising filter, gold reflector, gorillapod, and my new Hunter wellies came in useful too!

Cheers,
J.

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

evening all

it isn't often that one is able to collect and name a resupinate basidiomycete fungus with complete confidence (the 'one' being me of course!)

this collected in Nottinghamshire today (don't tell my Yorkshire chums) on the underside of a decorticated branch in a seasonally wet area (dryish today)

the lemon yellow colour is rather distinctive:


as is the 'odontoid' tooth-like surface - particularly towards the centre:


this points towards the genus Mycoacia - though there are others - however, a useful trick if one suspects Mycoacia is to drop some dilute potassium hydroxide on it and lo and behold a deep wine-red colour change occurred instantaneously:


so almost certainly Mycoacia uda, one just needs to make sure that it isn't the somewhat similar (and less common) M. fuscoatra which can be yellowish in some instances and which also reacts with alkali; a quick check of the ends of the 'teeth' under the microscope showed that the hyphal ends were not encrusted

so Mycoacia uda it is

cheers

Chris

an addition to the above - I've just acquired the Nikon R1 close-up speedlight remote kit and am starting to practise with it; Nettle Runner Les assures me I'll have fun ; in the above post it was difficult to show the spines - this was using a Nikon Coolpix 4500 attached to a zoom stereoscope (this set-up can be made out towards the right of the 'lab' photograph below this one):
OK but not brilliant

so tonight I tried using two speedlights (on 1/4 power) close to one side of the specimen; the equipment is a Nikon D70s, with a Nikon Micro Nikkor 105mm 1:2.8D lens + a x2 teleconverter (the latter having the disadvantage of rendering the lens as a manual one); the speedlights can be seen to the left of the specimen (the lights attached to the copy stand are not used in this instance but are useful while focussing the camera):


while I have much to learn about using this set-up (it's only just out of its rather cool case), I'm quite pleased with this image which shows both the spines and the fimbriate margin of the fungus much more clearly than the examples above:



a definite improvement . . . I suspect Les will be proved right - can't wait for next week's BMS Ascomycete Workshop and Spring Foray!

cheers

Chris

edit it's worth pointing out that the above image is only around 2cm across on the horizontal (i.e. under an inch in old money)

[Bill S]

Originally Posted by FungiJus

Thanks very much for your comments Ken - I must say I was pleased with the way it came out too.

Another bonus is that I was able to make use of pretty much all the gear that people have bought me recently (just had a big birthday...), including my Raynox 250, polarising filter, gold reflector, gorillapod, and my new Hunter wellies came in useful too!

Cheers,
J.

You should be very pleased, that image is stunning thanks for sharing.

Bill

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

so tonight I tried using two speedlights (on 1/4 power) close to one side of the specimen; the equipment is a Nikon D70s, with a Nikon Micro Nikkor 105mm 1:2.8D lens + a x2 teleconverter (the latter having the disadvantage of rendering the lens as a manual one); the speedlights can be seen to the left of the specimen (the lights attached to the copy stand are not used in this instance but are useful while focussing the camera):


a definite improvement . . . I suspect Les will be proved right - can't wait for next week's BMS Ascomycete Workshop and Spring Foray!

cheers

Chris

edit it's worth pointing out that the above image is only around 2cm across on the horizontal (i.e. under an inch in old money)

Are you taking this lot with you Chris?

I'm still unsure just how much to take

John

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Are you taking this lot with you Chris?

I'm still unsure just how much to take

John

LOL - not taking the copy stand! . . . .

am taking
stereo dissecting 'scope + fibre-optic lighting unit + Coolpix4500
compound 'scope + digicam
laptop
Nikon D70s with macro lens and R1 kit
Nikon D40 as my 'point and shoot'

so travelling light really!

seriously, I'm keen to get as full a photographic record of everything found as I can - when the likes of the people Carol has got together all descend on Yorkshire, you've got to make the most of it!

really looking forward to it - and we're finally getting some rain (need a lot more though)

Chris

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

LOL - not taking the copy stand! . . . .

am taking
stereo dissecting 'scope + fibre-optic lighting unit + Coolpix4500
compound 'scope + digicam
laptop
Nikon D70s with macro lens
Nikon D40 as my 'point and shoot'

so travelling light really!

seriously, I'm keen to get as full a photographic record of everything found as I can - when the likes of the people Carol has got together all descend on Yorkshire, you've got to make the most of it!

really looking forward to it - and we're finally getting some rain (need a lot more though)

Chris

Thanks for that Chris. I'll put a few more things in (I hope Carol doesn't mind )

That is my view too Chris ... Make the best of it!

We visited the Stones today for a couple of hours and found several 'Ascos' just on the main path on fallen material. The rusts are appearing too!

John

[Lancashire Lad]

Nectria episphaeria, growing on Hypoxylon fragiforme: -



One that I have looked for many times, but had only seen one very small group of four or five fruitbodies prior to today.

Regards,
Mike.

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

Nectria episphaeria, growing on Hypoxylon fragiforme: -



One that I have looked for many times, but had only seen one very small group of four or five fruitbodies prior to today.

Regards,
Mike.

nice shot(s) Mike - thanks for getting the thread back on topic!

cheers

Chris

[Cordaline]

Found 3 separate clusters of Dryad's Saddle on the same log yesterday.
I used a pound coin for size comparison.

[flaxton]

Not the best of photos of a rather shrivelled up fruitbody but still my first find of the actual thing that causes all that green wood.



The Green Elf Cup Chlorociboria aeruginascens.