Not a day to be prudish!

 Yesterday morning on the wooded slope just south of the ruin of Troserch Mill there were over half a dozen Stinkhorn fungi ( Phallus impudicus  ) all brazenly standing to attention in the undergrowth.  This fungi starts off as a grey-white coloured egg, half buried in the ground. When the conditions are right, a spongy white shaft erupts from the egg. It has a slimy, olive-green coloured bell-shaped top. This is where the spores are released, and it smells revolting - hence the name 'stinkhorn'.

The purpose of the foul odour is to attract flies. The flies land on the slime, pick up the spores and then carry them off to new locations. All in all an interesting spectacle but doesn't last long (it never does!) and very soon it will keel over and melt away into the earth around it.