Country diary: While all else withers, this plump fungus is in its prime | Phil Gates

Tunstall Valley, Weardale: Called chicken of the woods, it is reducing this oak tree to dust, molecule by moleculeA sultry afternoon, with hardly a breath of wind. A few clouds, barely moving, are perfectly reflected in Tunstall reservoir’s mirror-smooth surface, only disturbed by the wake of a flotilla of mallards. From here, high on the dam wall, there’s a fine view down this secluded valley’s patchwork of recently cut hay meadows, sun-bleached and yet to regreen through lack