Mushrooms in The Mens

A trip to north-west Sussex on Saturday morning to drop off a car-load of colleagues at the start of their #WildestWalk – an epic challenge raising funds for Sussex Wildlife Trust.

This seemed like a good excuse to pop into The Mens and have a fossick around for some fungi.

The Mens nature reserve, near Petworth.

I spotted this little beauty growing on a fallen, moss-covered bough. Tough to know what kind of tree it once belonged to – probably Beech as that's the predominant species in this part of The Mens.

I'm not too confident identifying mushrooms. There are a lot of them. But this one looked distinctive with it's conical cap and little cinnamon-coloured nubbin on top (which I think I'm supposed to call an "umbo").

Flicking through my Collins Complete (photographic) Guide, it looked a good match for Saffrondrop Bonnet Mycena crocata. But, if it were that, it would bleed saffron-coloured milk when damaged. This seemed too implausible to be possible.

I tried it.

Saffrondrop Bonnet doing what a Saffrondrop Bonnet does.

This happened!

It is indeed a Saffrondrop Bonnet Mycena crocata: a most pleasing discovery.

Now here are all the mushrooms I haven't identified, because I've been too busy being excited about the #WildestWalk.

Some spindly mushrooms

UPDATE 07/10/2016: Showed this photo to Nick Aplin from Sussex Fungus Group and he reckons it's a safe bet calling these spindly mushrooms Garlic Parachute Marasmius alliaceus. This species is well known from The Mens.

Some rounded mushrooms

UPDATE 07/10/2016: Nick also suggested these could be Common Stump Brittlestem Psathyrella piluliformis – a widespread and common species found on decaying wood. In another photo (not posted here) you can make out the beige gills which are characteristic of this species.

Some very-high-up mushrooms

A red mushroom – one of the Brittlegills.

That last one could be the Beechwood Sickener Russula nobilis but I didn't examine it closely enough to be sure.

Last but not least, I found a mass of Small Stagshorn Calocera cornea on a fallen branch.

For the record
Date: 24/09/2016
Location: The Mens
Grid reference: TQ0223
Entered into FRDBI: 13/02/2017

Here comes the rain

Another day out with the Sussex Fungus Group yesterday, to Stedham Common near Midhurst – coinciding perfectly with the arrival of the Autumn rain. 

Stedham Common has an interesting mosaic of habitats including birch woodland, coniferous woodland and heath. Apparently the group's last visit generated a list of around 100 species for the site, including a first-for-Britain on the cattle dung, but we didn't expect to see as many this time. It has been so dry.

From the car park you enter a mixed woodland of birch and conifers. Here we saw a few small, well-nibbled Chanterelle Cantharellus cibarius growing amongst the leaf litter. The colour of the cap and the decurrent gills which run down the stipe make this species quite distinctive.

Alongside the main track which runs from the car park we saw a huge Chicken of the Woods Laetiporus sulphureus. This species is beginning to feel familiar as I've seen a few this year, starting with that gorgeous young one at Woods Mill in May.

Further down the main track – a treat for me as I've never seen one before
– we spotted this Cauliflower fungus Sparassis crispa. This one's a little past it's best.

Heading into a patch of coniferous woodland, I found this bracket fungus growing on pine. Nick Aplin identified it as a rather aged example of Purplepore Bracket Trichaptum abietinum. I think I've seen this before at Rowland Wood and not known what it was.

I gave up taking photographs after this, as the rain fell harder.

We got a few different species in a grassy, heath-y glade where the trees had been cleared. Four or five moderately-sized inkcaps grew around the edges of a small fire site – probably Coprinellus angulatus as these are burnt ground specialists. Two faded Plums and Custard Tricholomopsis rutilans poked out from behind a decaying tree stump – presumably pine. And a troop of Spotted Toughshank Rhodocollybia maculata grew under a conifer at the edge of the glad. 

We passed a few Brown Birch Bolete Leccinum scabrum on our way around. I have to confess I paid these scant attention as boletes still look all rather-the-same to me.  

Common earthballs Scleroderma citrinum were plentiful through the woodland at the eastern side of the reserve. Although I haven't figured out how you separate them from other species like Scaly Earthball S. verrucosum.

Nick also pointed out a new species for me from the same family as Turkeytail
– Lumpy Bracket Trametes gibbosa, growing on a decaying tree stump.

And here's a photograph of Sussex Fungus Group folk. Wet, but with spirits undampened by the rain.

For the record
Date: 10 September 2016
Location: Stedham Common
Grid reference: SU856219 (site centroid)
All records submitted by Nick Aplin on behalf of Sussex Fungus Group

Mushrooms on the verge

Spotted these mushrooms growing on the verge on my way home from work this evening.

With these dusky pinkish-brown gills, ...

this stem which tapers towards the base, ...

And that fugacious ring, ...

I reckon it's a Field Mushroom Agaricus campestris.

For the record
Date: 8 September 2016
Location: Small Dole (verge adjacent to the Shoreham Road)
Grid reference: TQ214131
Entered into FRDBI: 13/02/2017

Birchden Wood

Had my first trip out with the Sussex Fungus Group on Saturday at Birchden Wood, near Groombridge.

I rarely venture this far into the north of East Sussex but the journey made me feel I should come more often. Past Maresfield, I took the scenic route through Fairwarp, Duddleswell and Hartfield, enjoying the views across Ashdown Forest.

Having been too disorganised to bring lunch, I hoped there'd be a bakery when I got to Groombridge and I wasn't disappointed.

The Village Bakery furnished me with a 'Sussex pasty' and I pressed on to Birchden Wood and my rendezvous with the Sussex Fungus Group.

Over the course of this year, as I've laboured over identifying (or trying to identify) each mushroom I've found, I have occasionally wondered how I'll cope when the main season hits. How will I make sense of the autumnal abundance of fungi?

I don't have a head for lists, so trying to remember the name of every species that's pointed out to me is hopeless. Making the observation is the interesting bit for me: learning something about what I'm looking at. I decided I'd focus on getting my head around the different families of fungi and not worry too much about remembering the species names. If I could remember a few of the more distinctive species – so much the better.

Arriving at car park I found Nick Aplin and Martin Allison were there to lead the foray. Once everyone had arrived, we were seven, and we headed into Birchden Wood.

The first section we came across was mixed woodland. Nick, who has an eye for the small stuff, quickly turned up Twig Parachute Marasmiellus ramealis among the leaf litter.

Not far away, he also found Marasmius rotula, a rather similar-looking species except M. rotula has this collar around the stem. Apparently, Marasmiellus species never have a collar, so that's one way to tell which family you're in.

Marasmius rotula with its distinctive collar.

In the same stretch of woodland, Martin found an interesting Cortinarius (or 'Webcap') species, with Poplar.

I don't think I've knowingly seen a Cortinarius before. Here's Martin showing me the web-like strands which cover the gills of the young mushroom.

Nick found another specimen showing the cobweb-y veil at the top of the stipe which has caught the rust-coloured spores.

It wasn't possible to identify this Cortinarius to species in the field, so Martin took a specimen to determine at home.

As we walked through the woodland, we saw a few Russulas poking up through the leaf litter. I'd rather got the impression that Russulas are impossibly hard. But Martin said he finds them fairly easy. Well, I guess everything's easy when you know how, but I can see what he meant – there's a logic to identifying Russulas.

Martin carried with him an iron sulphate crystal (more fungus-hunting paraphenalia!) – rubbing this against the stipe creates a chemical reaction which colours differently in different species. The extent to which the cap peels away is also a key feature. And taste, although I wasn't quite brave enough to try this.

From the mixed woodland, we crossed a large patch of sphagnum and headed into birch woodland. Not a great deal of fungus on display here, but Martin did find an impressive Chicken of the Woods Laetiporus sulphureus which I recognised immediately as the same thing I'd seen at Woods Mill earlier in the year. I embarrassed myself at this point, blurting out, "Turkeytail!" as my brain had made the wrong poultry connection. Thankfully people were very understanding and a conversation ensued about the surprising number of fungus species with poultry-related names  (see also, Hen of the Woods).

Around here we saw quite a few Common Earthballs Scleroderma citrinum.

 
These were considerably bigger than the earthballs I've seen previously (see here and here) which makes me think I've been misidentifying them.

Emerging from the birch woodland, we strolled down a dirt track with a narrow grassy strip at each side. As we approached a junction, I saw some large-ish mushrooms poking up through the grass.

It turns out these were a Melanoleuca species (or 'Cavaliers'). I was surprised to note these mushrooms – with their flattish beige caps, creamy white gills and tall stems so-slender it's a wonder they can hold the cap up – drew surprisingly little enthusiasm from our group of forayers.

Here we are, being not-very-enthusiastic:

Nick explained that, as a group, the Melanoleuca are not well-described and the species concepts are often ambiguous or conflicting. So it's hard to identify these to species level with real certainty. After some hesitation, Martin decided he'd rise to the challenge and took a specimen home for further examination.

At the top of the slope, we came to a beech woodland (with so many habitats to choose from, I was beginning to see why this had been chosen as a foray destination). Here we came across a few species I recognised: Blushing Bracket Daedaleopsis confragosa, Yellowing Curtain Crust Stereum subtomentosum (although I took it for Turkeytail at first), Dead Man's Fingers Xylaria polymorpha and Green Elfcup Chlorociboria aeruginascens, fruiting rather splendidly.

Emerging from the beech woodland, I was rather delighted when we came across this Stinkhorn Phallus impudicus, growing in association with a beech root.

Here it is in all its glory.

From there we headed down through a conifer plantation, where it was rather too dry to find any more fungi, back to the car park.

That is the end of my first foray with the Sussex Fungus Group.

But, if you remember, I had a pasty to eat. So there is a minor post-script to this story as I wandered in the direction of Harrison's Rocks to find a nice place for a spot of lunch.

Atop one of the sandstone outcrops, I spotted something.

A handsome bracket fungus growing on the broken trunk of a beech tree.

 It's one of THESE!

Either Southern Bracket Ganoderma australe or Artist's Bracket Ganoderma applanatum.

And, in case you're wondering, the pasty was one of the best I've ever had. 

For the record:
Date: 3 September 2016
Location: Birchden Wood
Grid reference: TQ5336 / TQ5335
All records to be submitted by Nick Aplin / Martin Allison on behalf of Sussex Fungus Group