Sulphury

Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare)

Our dead whitebeam stump wears a spectacular golden cape this autumn – a mass of Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) mushrooms which spill down its side and extend out along its roots. At first, they had the rounded tops of the tiny one in the foreground but they soon flattened out, though often retaining a little raised bump in the centre. They're smooth on top, typically yellowish on the edges and darker orangey-tan in the middle. Their stalk (called the stipe by those who study fungi) is also two-toned: yellow near the cap and darker at the base. The gills, which are the thin ribs located on the underside the cap, are attached to the stipe, an arrangement which can be an important ID feature. The gills start yellowish-green, like those in the photo above, and go darker with age.

Sulphur Tufts are very common and widespread in the UK, and across much of Europe and North America as well. They attack the dead, decaying wood of both coniferous and deciduous trees, like that of our poor whitebeam, which succumbed to a windstorm several years ago. Rumour has it that they taste bitter. Given that consumption causes serious gastrointestinal issues, I don't think I'll be checking that out in person!

Herald

Herald (Scoliopteryx libatrix)

Mike trotted downstairs last night to get a "spider jar" from the kitchen. But when he returned, the jar contained a moth rather than a spider – a Herald (Scoliopteryx libatrix), which the field guides call "unmistakable". The burnt-looking edge to the scalloped forewing, the white crosslines and the overall pinky-purple tinge are certainly distinctive, as are those orange blotches. This is a female; a male would have feathered antennae. I'm not sure exactly what the moth is supposed to herald. In most of the UK, there is only a single generation, which lives for most of the year. Adults hibernate overwinter in some sheltered location (cave, tree trunk, outbuilding, etc.), emerging in the spring to mate. The female lays her eggs on willows, aspens and poplars, and the larvae develop from May to July. When they're ready to pupate, they build a cocoon between two leaves. Adults emerge in August and fly until November, when they go into hibernation, and the cycle starts again.

Heralds are common and widespread residents across much of the UK, though they're localised and limited primarily to the lowlands in Scotland. They range across a variety of habitats: pretty much anywhere their foodplants occur. Now that the termperatures are dropping into single digits, this is probably one of the last moths we'll see this year. It's certainly a handsome one!