Velvet Shank - maybe

This year's fine crop of fungi continue to fascinate, particularly when a variety as brightly coloured as this happens to become caught in some of the low, golden sunshine of early morning, and even more so when it was growing against such a beautifully textured background.

This one was pictured today at Branault, growing off the stump of a large tree which had been cut down some years ago.  It may be velvet shank, Flammulina velutipes, a common fungus on rotting wood.  The 'may be' is inserted carefully here as, when checking it against pictures on Google's images, this specimen seems to have darker stems than usual.

If it is velvet shank, it's edible, the Japanese growing it commercially as enokitake.  For anyone interested, there's more about it here and, if you want to pick some, there's enough for several helpings where this came from.