Belts and Brackets

Fungus observations from LAPLAND

From Sweden we headed for Finnish Lapland and spent a night in Lemmenjoki national park. There's an old forester's cabin by the river – Härkäkoski – which you can rent for €60 a night. This is the view from the sauna:

Looking up the Lemmenjoki River from Härkäkoski, Finland.

It's about a 10 km hike out to the cabin from the car park near the Ahkun Tupa campsite where you pick up the key. There's a well-marked trail through old growth pine forest and it was here that we spotted this striking bracket fungus.

Bracket fungus. Lemmenjoki national park, Finland.

I think it might be a Red-belted Bracket Fomitopsis pinicola – seldom recorded in Britain (although one was found recently in Sussex). The Collins Complete (photographic) Guide says it's a common species in Scandinavia.

Apparently I should have held a match to it – the Red-belted Bracket Fomitopsis pinicola has a resinous covering which melts in heat. Shame I didn't know this at the time, as for once I actually had matches with me. Another thing to add to the list of fungus-hunting paraphernalia!