A Bracket Fungus Ganoderma australe

e6filmuser

I found these on 3 January during a solo trip to a local nature reserve. They were half way down a very steep bank in a deep valley, the bottom of which was, maybe 50 feet from the path.

What attracted me was a greenish yellow bracket fungus on a dead but vertical birch trunk with a very chewed-looking, truncated top. That turned out to be a very old, much-grazed FB of Birch Polypore, some 3m above ground level. I dislodged that with a stick and it fell to where I got my first view of the Ganoderma FBs. The genus name refers to the shiny appearance.

The hoof-shaped one was about fist size. It was quite near ground level and I couldn’t get other views due to the very difficult ground underfoot. (If I got into trouble I would probably not be visible from the path).

The disc-shaped one was no more 2m from the tree and was about saucer sized.* It was on a horizontal, dead birch trunk, which was low down, near the ground. It was quite heavy but I just managed to raise it and rest the tip on another, adjacent, horizontal trunk to enable good images to be taken. I replaced it afterwards.

*This species persists over many years and can reach up to 50cm across.

Olympus EM-1, (aperture priority), Olympus m4/3 30mm f3.5 ED macro, 1/30, 1/25 & 1/13 at f11 and ISO 2000, hand-held.

The stereos are conventional and crosseye.

Harold