Fungus

Definitely not, wrong colour and type of pores/tubes and stem. Judging by the characteristics visible in the photo, it probably is Xerocomus chrysenteron s.l. By the way, did you take a bite and taste it ? In Dutch C. piperatus is called Pepper bolete.

Danavan, Although old and dry, because of the rather well conserved FB's including the wide thick gills, I think it could be a Lentinus, such as L. adhaerens or L. lepideus.

In The Netherlands, meanwhile all symptoms attributed to OPM are recognized and diagnosed by health care professionals : if you have a rash or have problems breathing they'll ask whether you have been around OPM-infected oaks. And the same goes for the symptoms of Lime disease or borreliose caused by ticks, because of which people actually do get hospitalised. By the way. Isn't there some kind of national health authority, which should inform health care professionals and the public ?

In The Netherlands, even though we had an explosion of OPM for the second year in a row, this far no hospitalisation is documented. The only reports of symptoms (eye and skin irritation, allergic and asthmatic reactions) being treated come from GP's and from eye doctors, which because of the damage done to eyes by the hairs ranging from irritation to (temporary) blindness, advise sportsmen to wear protective glasses in oak forests. And vet's warn for the effects on dogs, cows and horses after ingesting the hairs, which even lead to the death of an unspecified number of dogs.

... annual, spores white, trama juicy and sulphur yellow, later crumbly and whitish grey.

Spores rusty brown or white ? Annual or perennial ? Trama corky and cream, woody and whitish to cream or juicy and pale ocre ?

Yes, in Holland and in The Netherlands too. With lots of poplars present, they're quite common.

Yes, it's terrible but true. But what about the genocide of millions of "pagans" and "heretics" by the inquisitors, crusaders and conquistadores of the Catholic Church, we ignore or deny for obvious reasons ? Some figures : - Most victims of the inquisitions were female. They were healers, midwives, herbalists, witches, shamans and naturalists, or - in my words - familiar with the psycho-active plants and mushrooms, the clergy of the Catholic church in the Middle Ages exclusively claimed to be used by themselves to reach "enlightment" through drug-induced hallucinations and visions (talking about Amy Winehouse being a junkie). There was no regard for age, as women from childhood to old age were tortured and murdered. Women who lived alone or owned property were especially targeted. It has been estimated that the Protestant and Catholic churches were responsible for putting to death as many as 50 % of all women living in Europe until 1792, and until 1830 in South America. - By the end of the 19th century, millions of Native Americans were killed, forced to find a new home, or sent to reservations. More Native Americans were slaughtered in America than Jews were slaughtered in Hitler's extermination camps. (Source : J. Irvin (2009). Astrotheology & Shamanism. Christianity's Pagan Roots). And how about the Norwegian fundamentalist "Christian" and former free mason stating, that in killing his own people he was inspired by the brotherhood of "Modern Templars" ?

David, Also see my posts under : Oak Processionary Moth.

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It must be taking off the helmet you're wearing in your profile picture Janey, which makes you, a woman aged 38, in this picture look like her mother .

Scott, And that's also correct, even though in The Netherlands we don't have that much squirrels to see much damage done by them.

Even at 150 % enlargement and considering the height, to me this looks like a vertical crack in the trunk.

... which spores need an entry spot, i.e. mostly is triggered by the first damage to the bark caused by sun burn or scald after sudden overexposition.

Where ? In the first photo or in one of mine ? If in mine, the black layers coming from underneath the bark are not rhizomorphs or plaques of Armillaria, but crusts of the not yet reproductive phase of Diatrype stigma.

Vuilleminia does not cause bark necrosis, it is one of the saprotrophic pioneer bark "peelers", which only loosens the bark from the cambium, which died of other causes. This looks like the end phase of sun burn or scald. See the photo's, the last photo shows the end phase with Split-Gill (Schizophyllum commune) on the dead sapwood. ---

No, just some species of boletes (sub)specializing on Quercus, along with tree species specific Russula, Lactarius, Amanita, Cortinarius, Tricholoma, Hygrophorus and Ramaria species and some Hydnaceae, which are all part of the species rich and complicated tree species specific ecosystem and the life cycle of "mature" Quercus robur.

Tony, Yes and no. Tree species with compared to Quercus robur rather short tree species specific life cycles, such as Acer, Platanus, Aesculus and Fraxinus, associated with generalistic endomycorrhizal microfungi, which are far less effective in protecting and defending the roots and the tree as a whole then ectomycorrhizal macrofungi are, are more vulnerable for (epidemic) pests and diseases (bacterial bleeding cankers, leave mining insects, etc.) or parasitic fungi (Massaria, Chalara fraxinea, Inonotus hispidus, Perenniporia fraxinea, Ganoderma australe, Meripilus giganteus, Armillaria species, etc.) killing lots of trees before they grow old. And oaks with a much longer tree specific specific life cycle suffer (but do not (yet) die), because the nitrification causes major shifts in their tree species specific ecosystem from which the tree species specific ectomycorrhizal macrofungi, which are the most effective in protecting and defending them, disappear and are replaced by far less effective generalistic ectmycorrhizal symbionts.

Three weeks ago, for 259 euro I bought a Canon PowerShot SX230 HS 5.0-70.0 mm optical zoomlens 14x, 12.1 Megapixels, full HD with optical image stabilizer, manual control, advanced subject detection, movie button and GPS, which is quite handy, because you can link the exact location of the tree/fungus to the photo. For some field "documentation" pictures at close range and long distance, see : Chalara fraxinea and the following hand held try outs on automatic. ---

Any kind of well rotted wood will do for this representative of the final phase of wood decay with pink spores turning the gills to greyish pink and the smell of raw potatoes : Pluteus cervinus (= P. atricapillus).

John, Which probably is due to Crataegus (mainly) being associated with generalistic endomycorrhizal microfungi, which are less vulnerable for intoxication by nitrogens.

Tony, Great shots . Two remarks : Lycogala terrestre = L. epidendrum and Chlorociboria aeruginascens can also be C. aeruginosa.

Graham, If it is the gilled fungus, of which the dog has taken a bite, it's a Russula, probably R. ochroleuca.

No, Rosy starlings (Sturnus roseus) are .

To complete the picture : Also exclusively Betula associated : L. atrostipitatum, L. holopus, L. melaneum, L. niveum, L. onychinum, L. oxydabile, L. roseofractum, L. roseotinctum, L. rotundifolea, L. thalassinum, L. umbrinum, L. variicolor, L. versipelle (= L. testaceoscabrum). Exclusively Populus alba or P. tremula associated : L. decipiens, L. duriusculum both P. alba, L. rufum s.s. (= L. auriantiacum) P. tremula. Exclusively Quercus associated : L. quercinum. Exclusively Fagus associated : L. atrostipitatum. Exclusively Salix repens associated : L. salicicola. Exclusively Pinus associated : L. vulpinum. Exclusively Picea associated : L. piceinum. Associated with Betula and Populus : L. coffeatum. Associated with Betula and Quercus : L. subcinnamomeum. There is still discussion on whether some of the Betula associated Leccinum species are species sensu stricto or should be implicite species sensu lato or categorized as subspecies or varieties. Sources : H. Engel, A. Dermec & R. Watling (1983). Rauhstielröhrlinge. Die Gattung Leccinum in Europa. E. Arnolds, et al. (1996). Overzicht van de paddenstoelen in Nederland.