October 10th, 1998

A good show of fungi might have been expected in the grounds this year, following the rather damp summer, but this does not seem to be happening, so far. However, there was a healthy clump of sulphur tuft growing on an old tree-stump in the shrubbery earlier in the week. A much smaller fungus that is very noticeable at the moment causes tar-spot disease on the sycamores. A microscopic fungus creates black blobs on the leaves of the tree, which become very conspicuous as the leaves turn yellow in the autumn.