Geograph - photograph every grid square

A slime mould - Badhamia lilacina (plasmodium)

The slime mould shown here was beside a NS3681 : Footpath following the edge of the woods. There are slopes to the north-east, but the ground traversed by the footpath is comparatively level, with many very boggy patches.

According to Bruce Ing's identification handbook, this is a species found in high rainfall areas, on vegetation emerging from Sphagnum bogs. The species was in abundance on the day this picture was taken, with several other examples visible nearby. In this photograph, the yellow plasmodium is beginning to transform into the spore-producing stage (before this, it simply appears as an undifferentiated slime, still visible as a clear watery substance in some parts of the image); a day later, the slime mould no longer had a liquid appearance, and the individual small yellow globs had become darker solid sporangia (spore capsules): NS3681 : A slime mould - Badhamia lilacina.