Fungi in Edinburgh Cemeteries

 I'm continuing my wildlife surveys of Edinburgh's cemeteries. One thing I'm noticing at the moment is that many cemeteries are full of interesting fungi. 

On Thursday, I visited Colinton Kirkyard and Cemetery, which sit alongside the Water of Leith. 

 

This cemetery has connections with the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, whose grandfather used to be the minister of Colinton Parish Church (there's a Robert Louis Stevenson train running through Colinton Village and a statue of the writer as a child stands close to the church gates). 

There are some interesting fungi in this churchyard including these puffballs

and a few parrot waxcaps

That evening, Crafty Green Boyfriend and I watched a presentation that mycologist Liz Holden gave on behalf of the Wildlife Information Centre on Waxcap Grasslands, where she stated that churchyards include some of the most important waxcap grasslands. 

On Friday I met a friend to walk round North Merchiston Cemetery, where we discovered lots of fungi, including more parrot waxcaps, lots of puffballs (with an artist's palette fungus in the photo below)

and purple disc fungus 

The autumn colours were beautiful in the cemetery 

and there was a lovely rainbow