~ Fungal Friends & Tree Traps ~

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There is a particular tree that almost always seems to have some mushrooms growing at it's base. As everything is snowed in and over at the moment... I still look at the tree's base for signs of fungal life whenever I pass by. I can tell it's not quite time for Spring yet so I never have my hopes up too high. This doesn't mean I rule out all wishful thinking.

I do look forward to longer cycles of light, warmer days ahead, and of course the flourishing abundance of life that comes with Spring! Let's enjoy some Trees with their fungal friends and a trap that was such a sight to behold!

Here, is a second set of photos from the same tree around the same area of the base of the trunk. Mushrooms don't last long, so it's pretty cool to be able to capture some of the beauty of the fleeting lives of these mushrooms. In the next two captures, I can almost imagine this "Mushroom Family" growing up in a group hug!

I especially like this second image with the acorn in the bottom of the shot. We see a well-established tree with these mushrooms at the base. Knowing how long it takes a tree to become established and how short the mushrooms live's are for the fruiting bodies, the addition of the acorn adds some irony to the theme by representing another potential tree. I am sure these fungi and this tree have a pretty good relationship below the surface. I wonder how long it has taken the tree and all of it's roots to become so close with those fungi friends and their mycelium?!

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~ The Tree Trap Is Set ~

Below, is a series of photographs I took on one of our walks just before Winter. Within the hollow of a stump, I found a spider's web. I never found the spider, but the web was quite amazing. It was spun horizontally covering the circumference of the stump. I thought this was a pretty clever idea for the spider to implement. Anything that would fly in the gap or fall off the top would get caught up in the Tree Trap!

I tried my best to get an eye-level view of the web from a macro perspective. I really wanted to accentuate the plane of the web. It did drape and bend a little which really gave this web a lot of character. I wanted to get some shots from the vantage points of being slightly above and below the webline as well.

I didn't actually see anything caught in the Tree Trap! but it was super cool to see either way. I tried my best not to disturb the trunk or it's trap. The web was only visible if the light hit the strands a certain way. I almost walked right past this marvel without even noticing! I wonder how many poor creatures never saw it... until it was TOO LATE!?

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~ More Fungal Friends ~

Lastly, I wanted to show a few shots of some Fungal Friends growing out of some Tree Stumps. I really enjoy looking at mushrooms popping up out of tree trunks and stumps so I decided to wrap up our #TreeTuesday with some shots of some happy little Tree Friends! Everybody Needs a Friend!

~ KEEP ON STEEMIN ON ~

I really hope you enjoyed my contribution to #TreeTuesday initiated by @old-guy-photos. I took these images here in Sweden with my Canon PowerShot SD1100 and a Nikon CoolPix S4300.

Feel Free to Share Your #TreeTuesday post links in the comments below!

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STEEM ON MY FRIENDS