Autumn in the forest

After the recent rains and with the temperature still quite high the forest fungi are out in abundance.

The brown mushroom at the back is a species of Boletus. Boletes are mushrooms with pores and tubes instead of gills.

The handsome fellow at the front is a fly agaric Amanita muscaria, everyone's idea of what a toadstool should look like. The fly agaric, which will give you serious hallucinations should you be silly enough to eat it, is closely linked to the iconography of Father Christmas; think red and white costume, flying reindeer and more. For more details take a look here or here.