Home Page
   Articles
       links
About Us    
Traders        
Recipes            
Latest Articles
Stuff!
Page 1, 2  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Land Management
Author 
 Message
Wingy



Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 270
Location: Fife, Scotland
PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 06 2:48 pm    Post subject: Stuff! Reply with quote
    

Not sure where to stick this but does anyone know what it is? I came across it stuck to some grass blades down amongst the trees.






dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 06 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

fungus or eggs ?
or couscous from a picnic
sorry new to me

Wingy



Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 270
Location: Fife, Scotland
PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 06 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I'm not sure I'd like to eat this particular cous cous. It's very wet. I have never seen this in the garden before in all the years I've lived here.

Bernie66



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft
PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 06 3:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I'd say eggs but of what I'm not too sure.

Mary-Jane



Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 18397
Location: The Fishing Strumpet is from Ceredigion in West Wales
PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 06 3:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Blimey - weird! Have you thought about sending the pics to the RHS advisory service? They may be able to help. Here's the link https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/advisory_service.asp

Hope this helps.

hardworkinghippy



Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Posts: 1110
Location: Bourrou South West France
PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 06 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It looks like dog or cat sick - sometimes dogs eat grass to make themselves sick, but otherwise I've no idea and I'm very curious to know the answer....

Fee



Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 15922
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 06 4:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

how bizarre!

Does look like eggs, haven't a clue what, but I hope you've taken it back outside, just in case you have lots of crawly things hatch in the warm house or something

Wingy



Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 270
Location: Fife, Scotland
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 06 8:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've never seen cat sick like this before - my cats tend to throw up in slimey dark lumps usually with identifiable bits of mouse or rabbit or something. Gross! And there aren't any dogs in the vicinity for a mile in any direction so I'm ruling that out as well. What does fox vomit look like - anyone?

I found another smaller sample in a completely different location but still within the same acre of garden, in an open patch of lawn. The sample in the photo I put back outside, however I did collect today's smaller sample and have just emailed the St Andrew's Botanical Gardens and will drop in the smaller sample this afternoon. They have been great at identifying mystery plants for me in the past.

I would have sent the photo to the RHS as suggested but it says in the link that it's a members only service and I'm not currently a member. But thanks anyway for suggesting them.

I'll let you know what they say.

Wingy the Mystified

Wingy



Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 270
Location: Fife, Scotland
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 06 10:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Found it!

It's neither eggs nor fungus, but a slime mould which falls into the Protists category - organisms that contain a nuclei such as amoebae, algae and protozoa.

https://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/FungalBiology/slime.htm

2steps



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 06 10:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

strange but interesting. my first thought was sick and then eggs - you learn something new everyday

Behemoth



Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 06 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Can't wait to slip that into everyday conversation.

Fascinating.


Chick-pea



Joined: 02 Aug 2006
Posts: 148
Location: Cheshire, England
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 06 5:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Slime moulds rock! They're single-celled doodads that normally go around individually, so you might be in a field full of them but they're microscopic and spread about so you don't know they're there. But sometimes they all decide to come together, nobody knows how, and then they act as one single multi-celled organism like a kind of big slug - they can move for example at up to 2cm per minute, engulf their food, and sometimes they turn into something that looks like a plant with a stalk and a knobbly head that ripens and releases spores. Then after a bit they split up again and all go about individually as single-celled doodads again. Amazing. I'd love to see one.

Nick



Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 06 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Sounds like Norfolk.

oldish chris



Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 4148
Location: Comfortably Wet Southport
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 06 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Chick-pea wrote:
Slime moulds rock! Amazing. I'd love to see one.


Wingy saw one on Sunday up in Fife. When I got home this evening, I saw one on my lawn (Wingy thanks for web address). At that kind of speed, they'll reach Cheshire within the next 40 minutes

Wingy



Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 270
Location: Fife, Scotland
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 06 6:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Chickpea - I can send you some of mine if you'd like, some of it is now turning black.

Oldish Chris - you are most welcome. Actually I found loads of sites on slime mould but only two on the particular one I have. I read pine wood is key with this one and that would explain it as I found the first sample down amongst the Scots Pines, but by heck has it travelled! The second sample was quite a distance away from the first. Makes me wonder just what is going on underground...

Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Land Management All times are GMT
Page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2
View Latest Posts View Latest Posts

 

Archive
Powered by php-BB © 2001, 2005 php-BB Group
Style by marsjupiter.com, released under GNU (GNU/GPL) license.
Copyright © 2004 marsjupiter.com