In search of a Stinkhorn (29.09.2018)

It has been over 40 years since I had seen a Stinkhorn fungus and so when I found two ‘eggs’ close together on a fungi expedition to Duxbury Woods, Chorley on the 21st.

September 2018 I was determined to observe and photograph them in their erupted state. Over the following week or so I observed them on a regular basis.  I visited the site on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th but could not get there in daylight on the 25th due to work commitments. When I visited on the 26th in late afternoon I found that one of them had erupted and was almost gone. That made me even more determined to catch the second one in action. I visited again on 27th, twice on the 28th and at 07:50 hrs on Saturday the 29th when I noted that the ‘egg’ was more oval and a white ring could be seen beneath the outer coating. I returned again after the Chorley & District Natural History’s annual Fungal Foray (to White Coppice) at 11:15, when I saw that the Stinkhorn was partially erupted.

 

 

I returned again  at 14:00 hrs when it was more fully erupted.

 

In both instances the gleba (the green material) was in one piece and there was only the odd fly buzzing about, neither was there any bad smell. I returned again mid morning on the 29th when I noted and the stinkhorn was almost gone, with all the gleba missing and large areas of the stem eaten by slugs.