Bertie the Brown Birch Bolet - Diary entry No.3

Yesterday's bad weather came as quickly as it arrived and the barograph rose sharply yesterday evening to its current reading of 1018 millibars. The cloud cleared away during the night and the air temperature dropped. A crisp and bright dawn brought forth people wearing their winter overcoats, hats and gloves as they made their way to work.

Bertie the brown birch bolet

The weather remains unsettled, and another low pressure system is expected to pass to the north west of Ireland early tomorrow morning bringing very strong winds with it. I believe Bertie should survive this weather without too much difficulty, however next week sees the establishment of a large high pressure system off the west coast of Ireland. From Tuesday the weather may be sunny and bright but northerly winds could bring the first morning frosts, and effectively bring Bertie's budding career to a premature end.

I reached Bertie at his secret location at about 1300 hours. The sunlight was warm and pleasant in comparison to yesterday, and consequently the flash was not required to photograph Bertie. Over the past 22 hours Bertie has continued to grow and a good rate; the cap now measures 28mm in diameter and he is about 45mm tall. The condition of the cap is not as good as it was, because there is evidence of slugs feeding on the rim of the cap. They were not present during my measurement and examination, and hopefully they will not return.

For some unknown reason, I always believed that these mushrooms grew quite quickly. From the measurements taken to date it is becoming clear that a time lapse camera will not be necessary for this exciting research, and I should be able to monitor most of Bertie's life as he slowly develops into a king of the colourful birch forest floor.

Unfortunately, we have no data on Maurice today. Further announcements will be made as the facts become clear, and following a thorough investigation, which is currently underway, it is intended that a full report will be made available to the public.

As Bertie is developing at a slower rate than I expected, I have decided to introduce to the study a number of more mature bolet specimens. Gerry and Martin are almost fully developed and I found them about 60 meters from Bertie. Both Gerry and Martin have not had it easy and show signs of being attacked by slugs. They have done well to survive thus far and the flesh of both their caps remains firm. Gerry measures as follows: cap110mm in diameter and 135mm tall. Martin, the smaller of the two, and less than a meter from Gerry, measures as follows: cap 105mm in diameter and 115mm tall.

The firm flesh of the cap suggests that a bolet is still growing and alive. Once the flesh becomes soggy and soft, and the pores below the cap become dark and waterlogged. From this point on the bolet begins to decompose and eventually fades away into the forest floor from whence it came.

Gerry the brown birch bolet

Martin is less presentable than Gerry and will not qualify for any catwalk work in the near future. I believe he may be the weak link in this research project, and at the first sign of deterioration I shall ready him for the pot!