Shelf mushroom on Sycamore tree

There is a huge shelf mushroom (?) growing high up on the sycamore tree outside the house (this is mid Wales, UK) …

It's as close as my mobile phone pictures will cope; I need to borrow a proper camera, but I see no 'gills' under the mushrooms - it's that smooth and 'cream' colour.

Sometimes you have to look up to find something out of the ordinary …

Early yesterday morning I was really surprised to see so many mosquito-looking flies on the leaves of the same sycamore. Incidentally we are surrounded by trees, but this happens to be one of my favourite trees here so I look at it and appreciate it every day 🌳

When I saw so many mosquitoes my initial thought was … let’s not wake them up yet … and moved on. Had I looked up I might have seen the mushroom earlier in the day…

I spotted it by chance in the afternoon. The tree has had a big mushroom in the same area in the past. After a few days it just falls off the tree.

None of the photos I found online truly matched the look of the huge mushroom - I think it was too fresh … Anyhow I have found some interesting articles here and here on shelf mushrooms. I do not think I could bring myself to eat any of it but it could easily feed a family of 5 (or more) ...

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all photos and musings by @cryptocariad