Since I've returned from vacation I have a lot of material to publish. Hopefully momentum will carry me through it all.
Apparently it will be my first mushroom post this year - how the time flies. For this opportunity I've chosen mushrooms that recycle dead wood and other parts of dead or dying trees. Most of the photos were taken in parks and nature reserves of Barycz Valley.
This is my contribution to #FungiFriday by @ewkaw
Let's start with two specimens of chicken of the woods - edible when young after thorough cooking.
Unlike my previous find from last year, those had a chance to grow despite presence of some slugs.
Young beefsteak fungus growing at the roots of large dead oak. Also edible, but the species is under partial protection in Poland.
The smell, distinct texture, color gradient and the placement on the fallen birch all tell it is a birch polypore, but with unusual underside. Normally it would be flat with rounded edges, here it has wrinkles that try to pretend to be gills. Maybe the mushroom experienced prolonged drought that made it to contract and it only regained its plumpness on the top? Who knows...
The first photo shows many tinder conks competing for the same wood meal, here one on the other size, but with nicely colored rim:
Probably red-belted conk, but photos of small ones can show either younger specimens (close proximity) or very early stages of chicken of the woods (the big ones from the start of the post were in the same area, this was also a strong suggestion from google lens and AIs), or something entirely different.
Above we had mushrooms on the same tree trunk. However next photo shows that proximity really means nothing when identifying mushrooms - two completely different ones side by side, collectively munching on dead leaves and branches:
I have no idea what kind of mushrooms those could be. The white one is a bit similar to the following, although I'm pretty sure they are not related :o)
Another unidentified fungi attacking oaks:
I had some types, but those species don't even have English wiki pages.
My guess for the following one is spectacular rustgill, although the caps are cracked. I can almost feel the smell of freshly baked rolls coming from those photos :o)
Mushrooms themselves can become food for other mushrooms. Here is some bolete or leccinum completely covered in white mold:
Last one, most likely thelephora penicillata or similar species, comes from forest near my garden. At certain times those become very common, clumping on small branches, wet needles or cones, only to disappear completely after two weeks.
