That hollow/hallow thing

So, I went for a trot around the copse and decided to head in. As I scrambled through the hedge I came upon this ash.

The lower part of the trunk was completely hollow.

I put the phone inside to try to "see" in...

The tree seems to have ash die back, as it had very few leaves - the ashes haven't dropped many leaves yet. But, it stands there still, offering a warm hole and much food.

It was hard getting through the wood - brambles, nettles, overgrown blackthorn, fallen poplars - but I battled on and found fairyland!

Another ash encircled by mushrooms!

The ash has three slim stems - it must have been cut back at some stage. What remains is really healthy!

Is the fungus helping the tree?

I couldn't determine what species of fungus this was, but it reminded me of two things:

1. A recent paper published by the Royal Society which suggests that fungi have language. The paper is open access and you can read it here. This is an excerpt: "Are the elaborate patterns of electrical activity used by fungi to communicate states of the mycelium and its environment and to transmit and process information in the mycelium networks? Is there a language of fungi?"

2. That the minerals used in the communication of neurons in our brains are the same ones used by tree roots to pass on information.

Whatever is happening, there is communication, information transfer, going on under our feet.

I sat by the tree and did the breathing thing. All I could sense was connection, entanglement, the porosity of identity.