Magic is back

Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria)

Svartskog, Norway

After the driest summer on record, autumn has brought some hefty downpours. Yet this has not at all replenished the record low ground water levels, nor increased the flow of rivers and streams.

It is so dry that even though the last rainfall was just a few days ago, the mushrooms that have popped out of the ground have become dry and have a stunted growth.

Yet there are a few spots that were absolutely amazing last autumn, that have some really amazing specimens like this one just coming out of the ground. This is in a very dark location under dense spruce, and there is no vegetation – not even mosses growing here, which makes the beautifully colored fly agaric stand out like a manifestation of magic.

As the days are still much warmer than normal, these mushrooms grow incredibly fast. Just before encountering this one I checked on another specimen I had encountered the day before to capture its beautiful appearance before it opened up. But opened up it was! The day before it was just like this one, and the next day it was fully grown!

Autumn is still very young, and if more rainfall come along, the autumn might be a great one for mushrooms, but I think it will be a long time before any can compare to that of the autumn of 2017.
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