Ink-cap, maybe Trooping crumble-cap (Coprinus disseminatus)?
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Ink-cap, maybe Trooping crumble-cap (Coprinus disseminatus)? by David Hawgood as part of the Geograph project.
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Ink-cap, maybe Trooping crumble-cap (Coprinus disseminatus)?
Image: © David Hawgood Taken: 15 Jul 2009
A batch of these suddenly appeared between paving stones outside our kitchen door, stayed long enough to be identified, and crumbled away by next day. This is another batch, which appeared today by our water butt. I picked one of the tallest, height 70mm, diameter 18mm, no ring or volva, gills very dark, and it does drop spores. I think I have the correct identification - I thought at first it was a common ink-cap Coprinus atramentarius. Later, looking at The Mushroom Expert article on inky-caps http://www.mushroomexpert.com/coprinoid.html, it seems they are hard to identify, only differ when viewed under the microscope, and are being reclassified following DNA studies. So I may never know the correct identification.
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Image Location
Latitude
51.520692
Longitude
-0.2672