Ink for free!

The recent rains and mild weather have encouraged the local fungi to get on with their reproduction duties.
These mushrooms  are common inkcaps Coprinus atramentarius. They are edible but not to be consumed in conjunction with alcohol unless you want to be very, very poorly indeed.
Very soon the mature mushroom caps will deliquesce and turn black. An excellent black drawing ink can then be made by boiling them with a little water and cloves. Hence their common name!
Coprinus, literally means 'living on dung'. The specific epithet atramentaria comes from the Latin atramentum meaning a very dark or black substance, such as ink.