I decided to test out the theory in my last post, that the Witches Whiskers on Beard lichen (Usnea subfloridana) were more likely to occur in damp humid areas, and headed off alongside the Calder river but on the West (Biallaid) side. There are plenty of old birches in boggy ground.
Sure enough, there were (tiny) fruiting bodies on the lichen so the theory seems to be promising.
There were other things to see as well:
These strange jelly-like blobs were on a dead fallen tree and I am assuming that they are some kind of fungus that has swelled in the rain. The closest match I can find online is the Crystal Brain fungus (what a great name!) Exidia nucleata (= Myxarium nucleatum) Names get changed quite often nowadays, especially if they do DNA analysis. Or it could be Exidia thuretiana, White Brain.
The dog found a roe deer antler which I brought home.
"Under normal circumstances, antlers are shed and re-grown annually to coincide with the deer’s breeding season. Red, Fallow and Sika shed their antlers during April and May and the new growth is complete and cleaned by August/September. Roe, which breed earlier, shed their antlers in November/December and re-grow them over the winter and early spring"
So this antler must have been shed very recently. This was confirmed when I washed it as there was still some blood oozing from the end.
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