The Lyons Share

'Oh - stop

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself

Where is my mind?

Where is my mind?

Where is my mind?'

Thanks to Jake Everitt for finding this Caterpillar Fungus Cordyceps gracilis at Mill Hill this weekend. I headed up there with Dave and Penny and sadly, my bad back tagged along too. I thought I had seen the back of it (see what I did there) but alas it appears that no amount of strengthening of my core muscles is enough to keep it at bay. It's not the disk this time though, just muscle spasm but it's very painful. The extra strong painkillers make me pretty spaced out and I can't drive with them.

Anyway, I saw the strange little fungus which was a tick for me. I found this short video from Planet Earth on YouTube which basically tells you about the genus Cordyceps. This species parisitizes Lepidoptera larvae, someone told me specifically Common Swift moth larvae, before sending the little fruiting body up out of the caterpillar's head to produce yet more of the spores. I had two more ticks at Mill Hill yesterday evening too but that will have to wait for another post...