The Devil's Fingers

admin
, 30 August 2017
The Devil's Fingers
Devil's fingers / Sam Ellis

Halloween arrived early when this terrifying-looking fungi, known as devil's fingers or octopus stinkhorn, was spotted at Brickfield Meadow nature reserve near Fairwarp. It was this first time this exotic species had been recorded on a Sussex Wildlife Trust nature reserve.

The fungi are native to New Zealand and Australia and made their way over to Europe in 1914, believed to have been introduced through military supplies during the start of the First World War. It was first spotted in Cornwall, gradually spreading to other southern counties in the UK.

While most fungi emerge from the earth or deadwood, the devil’s fingers hatches from a slimy, gelatinous ‘egg’. As the fungi grows, the tentacle-like arms start to protrude eventually reaching a length of 5 to 10 centimetres.

The arms of the alien fungus are covered in a brown foul-smelling goo. The stench they emit is truly horrible, akin to rotting flesh, but it attracts flies that help to disperse the fungi’s spores.

If you spot this amazing fungus in Sussex, please let us know using our species recording form.

Leave a comment

Comments

  • Adèle Anderson:

    Spotted one of these fungi on our land on Monday and took a photo as so unusual and I didn’t know what it was

    31 Aug 2017 12:56:31

  • v.mitchell:

    I have loads of devils fingers this year been erupting for the last couple of weeks.

    01 Sep 2017 07:27:24

  • Susan Horne:

    I saw some devils fingers in top end of perrymans lane, high hurstwood , near A26 a few years ago. Wondered what they were

    03 Sep 2017 06:17:26

  • Geoff Cook:

    Devils Fingers seen by daughter growing in our weald meadow, adjacent to Furnace Wood, off Furnace Lane, Horam on Monday 28 August 2017. OS ref/ TQ571179

    03 Sep 2017 10:05:52

  • Frances and Bill Arter:

    Found something similar in our field today, in Thakeham, but ours is more akin to an image of Asereo rubra except that ours does not have a black centre, it has black spots.

    23 Sep 2017 14:01:22

  • Jason Reid:

    Spotted at Sheffield park

    29 Oct 2022 11:32:00

  • Stephen Kellie:

    Spotted one of these on 19/10/2022 off a woodland path east of A22 Uckfield By-Pass near Maresfield. Took a photo, but cannot see how to submit.

    29 Oct 2022 18:02:00

  • Anna Williamson:

    I saw a Devil’s finger fungus in Buxted Park today. I have a photo if of interest.

    11 Oct 2025 18:14:00

  • Jane Trew:

    12/10/2025 Sighting TN22 5HT area on wooded grass verge

    12 Oct 2025 16:37:00

  • Jane Trew:

    12/10/2025 Sighting TN22 5HT area on wooded grass verge

    18 Oct 2025 20:59:00

Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1783538872.81110 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1783538872.83720.026Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1783538872.83730.0001Server address: 216.73.216.55
1783538872.83740.0001Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1783538872.83740Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/the-devils-fingers
    [s] => the-devils-fingers
    [1] => the-devils-fingers
)
1783538872.83790.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783538872.83890.001 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1783538872.84070.0018 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1783538872.84140.0006INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1783538872.84360.0023 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22794139
1783538872.84430.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22794139
1783538872.8450.0007 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-08 19:27:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-08 19:27:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1783538872.84640.0014 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='the-devils-fingers')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 19:27:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1783538872.8490.0027 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783538872.84960.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=1407 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 19:27:00'
1783538872.85040.0008 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1783538872.85110.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1783538872.85170.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=55 LIMIT 1
1783538872.85240.0006Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783538872.85260.0002 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1783538872.85350.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 19:27:00' AND postSlug='the-devils-fingers'
1783538872.87480.0214Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783538872.87530.0005 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1783538872.87790.0026Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1783538872.87820.0003 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1783538872.8790.0009 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1783538872.88050.0015 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783538872.88360.0031 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783538872.88420.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783538872.88630.0021Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1783538872.88630.0001 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783538872.88730.001 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783538872.8880.0007 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783538872.89130.0034 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783538872.89260.0013 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783538872.89360.001 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783538872.89620.0025 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783538872.89720.001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1783538872.89970.0025 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1783538872.90010.0004Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783538872.90040.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783538872.90120.0008Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1783538872.90160.0004 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='the-devils-fingers')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 19:27:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1783538872.9040.0024 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783538872.90450.0005 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783538872.90740.003Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1783538872.90880.0013 [10] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=1407 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1783538872.96170.053 [10] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1783538872.96420.0025Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783538872.96440.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783538872.96530.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1783538872.96590.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1783538872.96670.0007 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783538872.96870.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783538872.96930.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783538872.97120.0019 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783538872.97230.0011 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783538872.97290.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783538872.97340.0005 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783538872.97590.0025 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783538872.97640.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783538872.97820.0018 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783538872.98130.0031 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1783538872.98210.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1783538872.98280.0007 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783538872.98510.0023 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783538872.98560.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783538872.98930.0037 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783538872.99160.0023 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783538872.99240.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783538872.99290.0006 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783538872.99530.0023 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783538872.99580.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783538872.99760.0018 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783538872.99930.0017Request time: 0.19
1783538872.99930Process time: 0.1898
1783538872.99930Memory: 1.6221