Dead man’s fingers fungi spotted in Alderney

Dead man’s fingers – a common fungi in the UK – has been spotted and recorded by the Alderney Wildlife Trust at St Anne’s graveyard. The saprobic fungus, meaning it typically grows out of the base, roots or stumps of dead or dying broadleaf trees, can be seen year-round.

It can grow to between three and eight centimetres tall and can sometimes be found on beech trees, of which there are very few in Alderney.

Conservation support officer Chloe Hayward said it was not surprising to see fungi in graveyards.

‘Cemeteries and graveyards often contain various micro-environments that support many different types of fungi and as far as landscapes go, graveyards provide an environment where the nature within goes relatively undisturbed,’ she said.

‘We can see the irony as it is very fittingly called “dead man’s fingers”, for its eerie resemblance to fingers reaching up from the grave. If you were to cut the fungi down the middle you would find that the interior is a pale white and bears resemblance to a skeleton, which adds to the overall spookiness.’

Miss Hayward said that the run- up to Halloween would be a likely time to spot it.

‘Naturally, this species always gets more of a buzz around Halloween due to its creepy appearance. Overall the run-up to Halloween, in September and October, is a great time for spotting fungi in general, so lots of other weird and wonderful species will also be starting to pop up around now,’ she said, adding there were not many recorded sightings of the fungi in Alderney or Guernsey.

‘This may be that people aren’t looking for it as much here, or it could be less common here, but it’s difficult to know for sure as fungi have not historically been recorded or monitored extensively in Alderney.’

Dead man’s fingers start to emerge during summer, so it is most commonly spotted then and in autumn, but can be seen all year round.