The visible progress of Fuligo Septica

....otherwise known as Scrambled Egg Slime Mould (among other things!).

I've seen this slime mould growing in two places on the Boggy Brae now. Last year on the old, rotting rowan tree and this year on the felled cypress that was threatening to fall on the car.

 These first two pics (click to enlarge, or 'embiggen' as a friend of mine says) show the mould looking really eggy in July last year. Don't let this put you off scrambled eggs! This is not to be eaten.

<< This is it growing on (and presumably in) the stump of the cypress tree, and below, same day side on:

              Here is the same patch two days later >>

On 31st October I found some of the mould in grass and on a stalk of plantain. These plants are a metre or so away from the cypress stump. I suppose the mould is growing underground on the roots of the cypress and that's why it appeared like this.

The photo below shows the cypress stump patch of the

mould on 1st November. Click on the pic to enlarge and see

that some of the spore-releasing 'capsules' have burst

I didn't observe this phenomenon with the mould on the rowan tree last year. That may have been because the yellow mould showed on top of mosses that were also growing there, which may have hidden the later stages of the slime mould's development from view.