Bertie the Brown Birch Bolet - Diary entry No.4

Bertie the brown birch bolet

The MET office a severe weather warning for today, and it certainly was windy. The rain also fell quite heavily for a period, but by late afternoon the situation was improving and will continue to improve overnight. The air temperature probably averaged out at 13 degrees Celsius and overall it was not a bad day for Bertie. The barograph did not fall below 1011 and has been rising since 1600 hrs.

Once again I braved the conditions early this morning, and after visiting a local orchard to inspect and collect some apples, I made my way to Bertie's secret location at about 9a.m. The weather was certainly not improving at this time and hence the light and conditions were very poor for photography. Unfortunately, the above photograph is the best I could manage.

Bertie continues to grow and now measures as follows: the cap is 32mm in diameter and he is now approximately 50mm tall. There appears to be no evidence of further attacks from slugs and hopefully this state of affairs lasts for a few days.

I inspected Gerry and Martin, and discovered that they were starting to become soft. With omelette on the menu for tomorrow morning, it seemed a shame to neglect them, and leave them to their fate. With very little encouragement, I carefully cut them just above the root and they have recently been brushed down and sliced carefully, fried in butter, and await the beaten eggs. Gerry's cap was 115mm in diameter and Martin's cap was 110mm in diameter. They were both approximately 135mm tall. May they both rest in peace.

Gerry the brown birch bolet in his prime