The fingers of dead men

I am afraid that yesterday's theme of death and corruption continues today. This afternoon Talpa III and I came across these dead man's fingers protruding from the earth..

Fear not , they aren't the fingers of a real dead man but rather the fruiting body of a fungus known as Xylaria polymorpha. Dead man's fingers, is a saprobic fungus, that is to say that it gets its nutrition from dead and decaying organic matter. It is a common inhabitant of forest and woodland and usually grows from the bases of rotting or injured tree stumps and decaying wood.

I do hope that Talpa III doesn't have nightmares tonight!