A Fungal Infestation

We were walking past the immaculately-maintained grounds of the Golspie Bowling Club this morning when we noticed that the gravel which the members have recently had laid between the green and the A9 has been infested with an exceptionally vigorous fungus.

The infestation appears to be centred on an old tree stump which is rotten in the centre, and has poured out to spread for as much as ten metres, with satellite fruiting bodies popping up all over the gravel.

One of the species which does this is the honey fungus, Armillaria mellea. It uses fine mycelial threads to link an infected tree to a new host tree up to several metres away. The First Nature website (here) says, "This parasitic fungus can do immense damage to forests. It attacks both coniferous and broad-leaf trees. By the time the fruit bodies are in evidence, the damage internally is usually so great that the tree is doomed."

It may be that the trees whose stumps line the wall were attacked by the fungus and had to be chopped down, which hasn't deterred the fungus from continuing to grow. I'm just happy that out garden isn't next door to the Bowling Club.