What the bloody hell is this creature in my outhouse?? [pic]

[CountryMummy1]

Just been outside the feed the cat who has his food in the outhouse. There, hanging from the old pipework are 3 absolutely huge cocoons. They are hideous! Black and more than 4 inches long. They weren't there yesterday. What the hell is going to come out? AIBU to be very worried?

So if its a fungus smash it off the wall ?

BMW6, phew, Southampton is suitably far away from Scotland.

Do Lakeland do flamethrowers?

NHM called it a fruiting body, sporangia

Fucking hell bigredball is that true?!!

I daren't google it as I have an irrational fear of mushrooms and fungus although looking at the OP's pics, it may not be that irrational after all...

Now you have its smell on you it will think you are it's child and will try to feed you in the night...

Off to check shed...in the country...in the Midlands :/

Yes but what type of fungus?! Google images no joy. Is it dangerous or just rank? Come on NHM you can't leave us hanging!!

Yes it's true. We were learning about how fungus can be found anywhere with the right conditions and I distinctly remember this particular picture of a baby mushroom growing on a lung. I'll try to find a pic.

My chest is hurting when I breathe now. It's like there's spores going inside me. .

How is it possible to be simultaneously so amused yet so horrified! You are all brilliant.

Still itching though...

No I really doubt it's any sort of moth. It's more the size of a bat.

Just read that

"Slime molds were once considered fungi, but unlike fungi, they can move, and their cell membranes are made of different stuff."

All righty then.

Did anyone actually believe it was not fungi ? The jokey wind ups though ;-)

Loved the jokey wind ups though

waiting with baited breath and suitcase packed.........................

After extensive research thanks to Balamory I have found this page which has a very similar picture and calls it Black Mold.

Look at this thing! Plasmodial Slime Mold Sporangia

BMW6

Eurgh. Sounds like he squished a spider's egg sac. It's awful. Been there, done something similar, never want to repeat it.

Yes, but that web page is clearly a front for a Men In Black type operation.

do you have mould like this? We will come and zap it and erase your memory once the alien invasion has been thwarted

Those thread is fascinating horrifying

Are those a line of engineering bricks? I am suddenly uneasy about where in the Midlands!

Exidia glandulosa or Daldinia concentrica ?

I hate all kinds of insects. What if its a stinging type insect, or a family of insects?

KILL IT WITH FIRE.... can you set it alight?

Hey OP! I can help you out, these are almost certainly DALDINIA CONCENTRICA. The common names are King Alfred’s cakes, Coal fungus and Cramp balls,they can be found growing on dead or dying wood. It's not uncommon to see it like this before they turn more ball shaped.

Yep found it, and just seen your pp need

This one is in a house, it's also known as king alfreds cake

www.timberwise.com/news/surveyors-photo-king-alfred-cakes