This autumn, again, there are strange deposits on the grass in our orchard: a soft, yellow, coral-like substance, which changes to a whitish-grey. Underneath is a blackish something which could be badger droppings. Might the yellow stuff be a sort of mould or fungus?
Also, which creatures like to eat conkers?
Lorraine Marshall, Kildomery, Co Cork
The yellow stuff probably is a slime mould, a strange category of fungi which consumes bacteria and has affinities with micro- scopic animals, the protozoa. One bright yellow kind, Fuligo septica, looks like dollops of custard. As for the horse chestnuts, badgers eat acorns and beech nuts, and field mice will chew on sweet chestnuts. Both, I imagine, eat conkers, which are full of starch.
Edited by Michael Viney, who welcomes observations sent to him at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo. email: viney@anu.ie. Observations sent by email should be accompanied by a postal address, as location is sometimes important to identification or behaviour.