Does this look like a gathering of Coprinus comatus to you? Or do you know them by any of their other names – shaggy ink cap, lawyer’s wig or shaggy mane?

They were spotted by one of our Good Life deliverers in a front garden in Woodstock Lane North, Long Ditton.

The fungi, a gilled mushroom, is seen growing on lawns, along footpaths and gravel roads and in open woodland. Shaggy Inkcaps often appear in small groups and occasionally in long, wandering lines or fairy rings.

The young fruit bodies first appear as white cylinders emerging from the ground, then the bell-shaped caps open.

Typically five to 10cm (2in to 4in) but occasionally 15cm tall (6in) and up to 6cm (2.5in) in diameter, the white caps darken and decompose from the lower edge, eventually leaving just the stem (or stipe) with a very small black disc perched on top.