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