November 15 UK - What happens underground

Another amazing sunny day in one of the most beautiful autumns I can remember. It's wonderful to look at but not much is happening to our oak tree above the ground. Underneath an oak tree, tapping into its roots and connecting it to other oaks in the area is a network of fungus. These fungi have mycorrhizal associations with the tree and live simbiotically. The fungus get sugars from the sap of the tree and in return give the tree various minerals (most importantly phosphates and nitrogen.) Also the fungi can reach into much smaller spaces in the soil than the oak roots.

I was watching the BBC last night - a program called Natural Britain (or some such) with Alan Titmarsh (the biggest tit as he is unkindly known.) Private Eye have decided to hate him but I think he puts on a pretty good show. Certainly the photography was wonderful. Anyway he said that the average length of the roots of a beech tree when all put together was about 5 miles, however if you added the length of the mycorhizal fungus it would stretch round the world.

Anyway occassionally the fungus puts up fruiting bodies and these are the mushrooms or toadstools or whatever. Above are some pictures of some round our tree. They are some sort of russula. But remember when you see a mushroom this is like one apple sticking up from and underground apple tree. The real life of these fungi is underground.

And finally a picture of the little bullock that lives around our tree, some droplets or water that settle on the fallen leaves and, growing on the lawn, a little blue scabious(?) flower that seems to think it is spring.