A spring foray at Burton & Chingford Ponds

Looking out onto Burton Pond from Sussex Wildlife Trust's nature reserve.

I took myself off to Burton & Chingford Ponds last Saturday, to see what I could see and make the most of the gorgeous weather.

I spotted these on the left as I set off through the Sussex Wildlife Trust reserve.

I think they must be Dryad's Saddle Polyporus squamosus – you can just about make out the net-like pore surface, where the slugs and snails have eaten away at the flesh.

Further on, I spotted a scattering of mushrooms on the grass verge, not far from where I found the Deathcaps Amanita phalloides last summer.

These mushrooms looked familiar from my recent forays around my village.

White, crowded, sinuate gills. A flour-y smell.

I decided these must be more St George's Mushrooms Calocybe gambosa.

As the path skirted round the back of Burton Pond, I spotted some more mushrooms tucked away on a mossy stump.

With a slightly green-ish tint to the yellow gills, and a faint ring-zone – made dark by a covering of fallen spores – I'm saying this is Sulphur Tuft Hypholoma fasciculare.

Some old, hollowed-out Birch Polypores Piptoporus betulinus adorned the birch logs lying by the path.

And on a big old tree trunk, I came across a patch of Oak Curtain Crust Hymenochaete rubignosa.

That was about it as far as fungi goes. It will be interesting to hear what the West Weald Fungus Recording Group picks up on its foray there today.

For the record
Date: 5/5/2018
Location: Burton & Chingford Ponds
Grid reference: P. squamosus SU977179; C. gambosa SU972176; H. fasciculare SU979177; H. rubignosa SU980174

Records entered into FRDBI 07/09/2018