I took this picture in our garden in mid February and none of my friends can come up with any idea as to how it was formed, so I thought I would ask the whole of the UK. (ie you lot). Trying to come up with the mechanism myself is driving me barmy, especially when I am trying to get to sleep.
Here is a bit of background:-
The photo (apologies for the quality - especially compared with the wonderful pics some of you have posted), taken in mid morning, is of a bird bath in our garden and it measures about 20 inches across.
The mushroom was about 1.5 inches in from the side and about 1.3 inches high.
The water was clean, empty and unfrozen the previous day.
The temperature got down to about minus 4 during the night - obviously cold enough to form a thick ice layer but not cold enough to freeze a "splash"
In common with most frosty nights, there was no wind
The mushroom was well fixed onto the ice and as it thawed a bit I could spin the ice disc around holding the mushroom
When it all melted there was a very slight scum trail, I guess because the mushroom had some bubbles in it(which is why it looks white).
Have fun trying to come up with an answer, and I'll post £5 to the nominated charity of the person who has the most believable explanation. Anybody else seen anything like this in their garden?
Because of our location I think I can rule out "hoax", and "aliens" is not accepable as an answer!!
Didn't know whether to put this in Soapbox or Beginners as it seems to fall between.
No idea, I have been wondering about it too though! I've been picturing a poor frog lying in the birdbath blowing bubbles that have frozen, someone putting a pump & fountain in & then carefully taking it out from under the frozen blob, some kind of balloon filled with water floating in, freezing then popping & the rubber blowing away! Got me stumped!
Thanks, Sue, I think we both know that all of these are extremely unlikely. However if it was simple then we would be inundated with the answers.
I just feel at this stage that if I could go back in time and watch it happening, then I still would find it difficult to believe. ie your answers although unbelievable, may(or may not!!) be close to the truth. Anway, thanks for the speculation, and as the only entrant you are in pole position for the £5.
Out of interest, are frogs active in Winter? If so he must have been very fit as the bowl is about 30 inches from the ground. Unless he was a tree frog and leapt about 6 feet from an adjacent conifer.
Thanks also for the info on Shirleys - I''ll just buy plants next year as it is very disappointing to look after something for months to get nothing from it, especially as the neighbours water them while we are away and expect some of the crop.
I couldn't think of anything 'serious' that could be the explanation, it really is baffling isn't it. As for frogs they do tend to hibernate in winter so you don't see them as much, I think females hibernate on land & the males usually at the bottom of ponds, I've found frogs & toads in my compost bin, in pots with plants in etc. in the spring. I think frogs & toads can climb a little, they manage to get into our pond which is in a raised bed, probably a couple of feet off the ground, I think they climb up the pots around it though, I doubt one would climb up your birdbath but you never know?!
You've had this going round in my head all night now! I was thinking maybe if there was an overhanging tree branch (probably not though as you say the conifer is 6ft away!) & the air started to warm up frost could have started to melt & dripped off the branch down onto the birdbath & then frozen when it hit the colder ice & built up with each additional drip! The temperature can vary at different heights so maybe that would be possible?
Really good answer, Sue, that would be believable,although as you say there is nothing overhanging and there was no wind.Come on everybody else, dont be afraid - has anybody got any kids at uni doing meteorology, or a PhD on Ice Mushrooms?
Sorry have read this a few times and can't seem to think of an answer.I do get 'scum' on my bird bath and it is the pigeons. As to the ice mushroom, not sure.
I thought it might be due to rapid freezing from being mild-trapping in air bubbles before they could escape. You could send photo to your BBC TV local weather man, if he is anything like ours he likes to recieve this type of pic.If he can explain it you could give your donation to your local hospice.
Good effort, Ladybug, but why would the bubbles all come in one place, and it would have to be as fizzy as 10 cans of coke to cause that much lift. Anybody think it looks like a flying saucer, abandoned after crashing, by very small aliens from an ice planet?
Good effort, Ladybug, but why would the bubbles all come in one place, and it would have to be as fizzy as 10 cans of coke to cause that much lift. Anybody think it looks like a flying saucer, abandoned after crashing, by very small aliens from an ice planet?
Sorry I don't have a clue,but ,lettingyour mind,brain, or any thing else you use run wild,it could be a jelly fish in disguise?other excuse I could use is ,that a big wave hit the 2000 DOME and as it flew through the sky it shrunk and as it was tired flying it stopped for a drink,and as it was there its liked the room,had a bath and stayed the night. Another thing you can do, send it to 10 scientists and get 20 different ideas... I do hope you get an answer to your puzzle. (STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN IN NATURE) tHANK YOU Alex
I was thinking about Claire's mention of pigeons & thought maybe a pigeon with a slightly upset stomach flew over & left a large 'deposit' in the birdbath which gave off methane gas which then rapidly froze into a mushroom shaped bubble!
You could try contacting 'New Scientist' magazine online Stuart, they like 'odd' sitings & may be able to come up with a scientific answer. Here's a link to their website.
From the shape of your ice formation, I would suggest that it has been formed by a swirling motion, perhaps caused by a leaf caught on the surface, then blown around in circles on the surface of the water, picking up moisture as it did so. In the morning, when the temperature rose, the leaf became detached and blew away.
Ok, I've registered and posted a message on Steve's-Digicam to see if anybody came up with an answer, but the jpeg is 9 years old and from your link, Alistair, and trying various searches, I could not find a relevant discussion. But, prompted by your search, I did find another photo on the net which looked a bit like the S-D one, and it had a bit of leaf fixed in the top by a stalk.You may be onto something here, but I sill have a few reservations :-
1. It was a very still night, although I must admit that I did not monitor the wind speed all night.(What sort of person would do that?)
2.The ice in the other two is very clear, whilst with mine it is milky due to minute air bubbles.
3.The previous day, before freezing, the water was fairly clean and certainly had no leaves in it .
I've sat and looked at this photo for some time,even when I got it enlarged,but if one looks at it ,take a look at the shadow under it, The shadow looks like a face,the other side like the mouth of a salmon buuut use your imagination, its a hat for a wedding dress,but it did'nt make the wedding, well folks I do'nt have mush room in my brain for another thought, it is a strange item that landed, it only makes me think that the bath was visited by the fairies at the bottom of the garden,well hope someone comes up with an answer.......... Alex
I thought this could this be a snap shot in a sequence?
The frozen bit is a problem. had it not been frozen then the following might be an answer
A small/large pebbple, stone or marble dropped into water will sometimes make a formation like this.
I am sure I have seen something very similar to this before but not sure where. Taken with a high speed camera this could be picked out as a single shot.
You'll just have to trust me, Ken. This is not a picture of water - it IS ice. And with the temp only going down to minus 4, the splash could not have frozen.
denotes Subscriber-only content | Tuesday 6 January 2009 | Help | Glossary 
You could send photo to your BBC TV local weather man, if he is anything like ours he likes to recieve this type of pic.If he can explain it you could give your donation to your local hospice.
