The advance of the Roundheads

I've said it before and there's a good chance I'll say it again - gardens are AMAZING places for learning about wildlife...and life!

My latest discovery was today in a part of my garden that is due to eventually be a Bee Border. However, this year it has just had a covering of wood chippings from last winter's tree work. And it is through these, prompted by the recent rain, that a little green army has risen up.

You can see why it grabbed my attention. How often do you see turquoise toadstools?!

After a little bit of rooting around in books and the internet, I'm pretty sure they are Blue Roundheads Stropharia caerulea.

My Collins Photoguide to Fungi says "blue green but fading yellowish; sticky".

Yep, that looks about right. (They are so sticky that a tiny fly had actually got caught on one of the caps and succumbed in the gloop.)

It also says that the stipe (that's the posh name for the stalk of a toadstool) should have erect white scales on its lower half.

Tick!

And where can it be found? "Mulched flowerbeds in parks and gardens." I think that firmly hits the nail on the roundhead.

So my garden has allowed me to learn yet something else new. It even prompted me to go off on a tangent and fill in a glaring gap in my historical knowledge about the Roundheads and Oliver Cromwell. I blame my comprehensive education. Or perhaps it was just my fixation towards history that had 'natural' in front of it...