A Long Wait

    In the winter while on a morning walk I thought I would explore an old apple orchard that was left to the village and has since been turned into a small nature area. The existing apple trees are really old with some younger mixed trees have been added, including fruit and a mixture of deciduous. It was on this walk I noticed a large dry Dryad's Saddle laying beneath one of the ancien apple trees, I was sure it had fallen from the tree but couldn't find any evidence to clarify my assumption. 


   Since that freezing January morning I have kept an eye on the tree in question, more so since spring, having even stopped off on my daily cycles in case anything appeared. Well the good news is that this morning while walking through this quiet little parcel of land, as normal I headed off the path to check on the grand old apple tree and tbere growing around 12 inches from the ground was the sight I'd been longing to see, a lovely young Dryad's Saddle. 


   A very young example being only around 5 or 6cm in size but none the less it was tbere, and all that waiting had given results at last. After looking around the tree further I found there were more tiny saddles growing inside one of the rotten branches, so I hope after a while there will be a few nice mature examples for me to photograph and maybe  I may even see how they taste.


    The Dryad's Saddle (polyporus squamosus) is the largest capped mushroom found in the UK  and can grow over a foot across. Maybe we'll see if this one gets to a good size, that's if the call of my frying pan isn't too strong!





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