A Surrey artist creates incredible life-like embroidered mushrooms - which form part of a new fungus-themed exhibition.

Amanda Cobbett photographs the fungi on walks with her dog, before painstakingly embroidering life-size replicas of them in intricate detail.

Her creations can take more than two weeks to complete, and were born out of a fascination with the importance of mushrooms in the natural environment.

Amanda works from real specimens - by collecting mushrooms from the woods, or returning over the span of several days to take multiple reference photographs.

Several of her works are now on display until December, in a limited-time exhibition entitled Fungi Forms at Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Gardens.

"Fungi was something I'd been interested in as a student, but I put it to one side," said Amanda.

"It wasn't until we moved to the Surrey hills 18 years ago that I picked it up again.

"We’re surrounded by beautiful nature, so when you’re getting out and discovering things – even by taking a dog walk – there’s just so much to see.

"I can work from real specimens, and they’re changing all the time, so I’ll take lots of photographs of them.

"If I can’t take something from the forest – and I certainly don’t take things off trees or anything that isn’t in abundance then I’ll take lots of photographs.

"I’ll also go back and take a look at them and see how they’re changing.

"I get to know the pieces – I take lots of photographs and then choose the day that I think it was looking at its best or most interesting."

Each mushroom in the exhibit is one that Amanda has seen in her own travels around the Scottish Borders - including her personal favourite, the amanita muscaria, or fly agaric.

She added: "Those pieces are part of a bigger collection which I’ve made for the Buccleuch Estate.

"There are about 20-25 pieces that will eventually go on display as a whole in his stately homes that are open to the public. 

"We decided that I would make some embroidery based on what I could find during the time that I was there.

"It’s a collection of what I could find and reproduce into a collection of embroideries that have taken almost two years to complete.

"I did research into the pieces and how relevant they are to the Scottish landscape. It’s been a beautiful project, and it was such a gift for me to be able to do."

Amanda hopes that the exhibit at the Royal Botanic Gardens will encourage art-lovers and plant-lovers alike to appreciate the work - and go out into nature and spot the real thing.

"Mushrooms are the most underappreciated part of the natural environment," Amanda said.

"If people can come to the exhibition and enjoy the embroidery and the art, and then they can go out into nature and discover these things for themselves, then that’s a really good thing."

The exhibition will be on display in the Inverletih House Gallery inside the garden grounds.