A time for Giant Puffballs (Calvatia gigantea)

We were walking with David along the River Idle at Notts Idle Valley Reserve on 12th August when we came across this Giant Puffball and close by a second one that looked as though it had been kicked open (photos 2 and 3).

Then on the 17th when we were up in N Yorkshire working in our garden there I came across this specimen at the back of our wooden compost bins.  At first I wondered if it was a wasps‘ nest and gingerly gave it a kick.  However as nothing happened John bravely fetched it out and we were able to confirm that it was a Giant Puffball.  It was clearly past it’s best as you can see in the last photo and was developing quite an odour.

Follow up roughly a fortnight  after the meeting on June 6^th 2023 in Finningley Churchyard

 A fortnight can indeed make a difference, working in the churchyard yesterday (19^th June) Lady’s Bedstraw had come into flower and I saw my first Harebell and Common Knapweed flowers of the season. I also found Hoary Willowherb, Epilobium parviflorum, and once again, growing at the foot of the church’s north wall and behind the church tower, two Pyramidal Orchids, Anacamptis pyramidalis, are in flower. Curlews were heard calling again from the airfield (one positive from the closure of Robin Hood Airport) and a Song Thrush was spotted singing in the top of one of our Hollies.

Here are some photos I took when working in the churchyard in sunny conditions. 

I was clearing out the drainage channel around the church when I discovered this snail that appeared to be creating foam.  I may have caught it and wondered if it was some kind of defence mechanism.  I wondered if any of the Nats had come across this behaviour.

White Plume moth, Pteroforus pentadactyla

I was pulling some of the vegetation out that was growing at the foot of the church walls and discovered why Bulbous Buttercups are so named.

Here are the Pyramidal Orchids, Anacamptis pyramidalis.  I have recorded Pyramidal Orchids twice before in 2016 and 2021, in each instance growing in totally different parts of the churchyard!

Hoary Willowherb, Epilobium parviflorum

Tricia