Fluted Bird’s Nest
Cyathus striata
Fluted Bird’s Nest, a bizarre wild mushroom found on our log piles in autumn. Creative Commons - Attribution (BY): Bruce Langridge
This bizarre wild fungus can be found every autumn on log piles in Trawscoed Wood, along the Welsh Country Walk. Fluted bird’s nest looks like a tiny bird’s nest with tiny eggs inside.
These ‘eggs’ actually contain the spores, and are flung out of the ‘nest’ by the force of a falling raindrop. ‘Egg’ eating herbivores, such as a slug, can help to spread the range of this wood-rotting fungus.
Come to Trawscoed Wood and you’ll also find a sculpture of bird’s nest fungus, created by Tina Ashdown and Laura Vettori. This has been inscribed by Welsh and English poem about fungi written by Eisteddfod bard, Einir Jones.
