A 27-year-old trainee lawyer based in Edinburgh, Alfred Drummond-Herdman, has become a natural history sensation on social media by filming fungi that grow on animal faeces. His timelapse videos, which capture the development of brightly coloured fungi photographed every 30 seconds, have garnered millions of views globally.
Drummond-Herdman, a self-taught amateur taxonomist, has formally identified two new species of coprophilous fungi, with further identifications anticipated. He became fascinated with these fungi, which grow on dung, after observing mushrooms on cowpats in the Ochil Hills during the pandemic.
His bedroom in Edinburgh houses terrariums and plastic containers with sections of cowpats, grouse droppings, and rabbit pellets, sent to him by others. He states that the boxes of dung do not smell because they are from herbivores and primarily consist of undigested plants. Drummond-Herdman hopes his videos will promote greater appreciation for nature conservation, particularly fungi, in the UK.