Misidentifying Fungi: Mushrooms on the Isle of Iona

I've been on my holidays to the Isle of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland. We had three nights there in a shepherd's hut ('the bothy'). What a beautiful little island it is!

Iona is famous for its Nunnery and the Abbey, founded in 563, where scribes illuminated the ancient Book of Kells (probably).

[The following image from the Book of Kells might take a minute to load ...]

Are those mushrooms I see gracing its pages?!

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Thinking that three days there would afford me some time to explore the island, I did a bit of research before I went, to try and suss out what I might expect to find...

A search on the NBN Atlas turned up zero records of non-lichenised fungi on the island.

I contacted Argyll Biological Record Centre who said: "We don't have any non-lichen fungi records from Iona at present, but would be very pleased to receive some!"

A search on the new FRDBI brought up fungus records for Fairy Ring Champignon Marasmius oreades, a mildew Plasmospora densa, a rust on Daisy Puccinia obscura and an obscure ascomycete that grows on Juniper Mytilinidion acicola.

So it seemed that the Isle of Iona would be largely uncharted territory, as far as fungus recording goes. How strange that on this holy isle, which has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries, where visitors are invited to enjoy the "inspiring landscape and wildlife", scarcely a soul has taken any notice of the fungi. Or so the available evidence would suggest ...

In the visitor centre, a hessian display board draws attention to "Flowers of the Machair" [the sandy shore along the western seaboard] and there is a choice of two guides to the wildflowers of Iona in the shop. But nary a mention of mushrooms.

Maybe there just aren't any good mushrooms on Iona? We took a walk to the Machair to find out.

A' Mhachair, Isle of Iona, Scotland

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Collection #7

It didn't take long to find these little stunners. Conical orange-red caps and yellow stipes.

Collection #7

Similar-looking mushrooms were popping up at various points across the Machair.

Collection #3

One thing these reddish specimens had in common is that they showed some signs of blackening; but they weren't quickly or strongly blackening like other waxcaps I've come across (e.g. here).

Collection #4

They have the appearance of Blackening Waxcap Hygrocybe conica s.l. but there is another species described by P.D. Orton which occurs in sand dunes and coastal habitats: H. conicoides which has the characteristic of not turning black as readily as H. conica, and in dried specimens the gills usually keep the original colour (as my collections have). I think that may be what I have here.

According to Boertmann's descriptions (The Genus Hygrocybe, 2nd Edition), H. conicoides tends to have longer, narrower spores than H. conica.

After a frustrating attempt at trying to measure spores from a gill squash, I thought I'd try finding some mature spores on a tiny strip of the surface of the stipe - a new technique for me. It worked!

Collection #7. Image of spores resting on a fragment of the stipe surface. 40x magnification mounted in water.

With an average Q value of 2.0, the spores do appear to be quite long and narrow. So I think perhaps I can call this collection Hygrocybe conicoides, or Hygrocybe conica var. conicoides (P.D. Orton) Boertm. It's not a species I've had any experience with before.

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Perhaps even more frequent across the Machair were these lemon yellow waxcaps. The slightly conical caps and non-blackening flesh suggests Persistent Waxcap Hygrocybe acutoconica. The young fruit bodies were noticeably moist, particularly on the stipe where they weren't exposed to the sea wind.

Collection #5

Another, smaller, collection showed the characteristic of weathering to a light grey colour (and not blackening).

Collection #1

I had a look at the spores from collection #5 and they are a good match for Hygrocybe acutoconica var. acutoconica - mostly oblong shaped.

Collection #5. Here you can just see a few spores resting on the stipe surface. 40x magnification mounted in water.

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Also in the Machair, this small orange-red waxcap was something different. Note the slightly scaly ('squamulose') appearance to the cap and the compressed stem. This collection looked like Honey Waxcap Hygrocybe reidii to me, but I wasn't able to detect a honey scent.

Collection #2.

A quick look at the spores rules out the similar-looking (and much rarer) Hygrocybe constrictospora, I think.

Collection #2. Spores on the stipe surface. 40x magnification mounted in water with Melzer's iodine.

Working with tiny dried-out specimens, which spent two days on a shelf in a humid shepherds hut before I managed to find a radiator to properly dry them out on, is testing my microscopy skills somewhat (!) but I think I got a reasonable look at the shape of the spores here, and they don't look constricted to me.The size also looks about right for H. reidii, so I guess I'll go with that identification.

Collection #2.

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At the northern edge of the Machair, near Port Ban Beach, the coastal grassland transitions to heathy grassland and then moorland: a more acid habitat.

On a grassy bank, we found a patch of glistening yellow mushrooms. The viscid cap, smooth stem and adnexed gills took me to Golden Waxcap Hygrocybe chlorophana. I believe typical fresh specimens of this species are confidently identifiable in the field.

Collection #10

After tramping through the moorland along Iona's north-west coast, we reached some grazing pastures near our campsite. In one of the fields we found another waxcap - a little the worse for wear after some heavy rainstorms.

Sadly this collection went putrid before I was able to dry it, so ended up in the bin. But I'm thinking it's most likely a reddish-orange form of Persistent Waxcap Hygrocybe acutoconica.

Back at the campsite, in the rocky grassland near our shepherds hut, a final waxcap. With its dry, apricot-coloured cap and decurrent gills, it's the unmistakeable Meadow Waxcap Cuphophyllus pratensis.

I think that makes at least five species of waxcap on the Isle of Iona, from a couple of hours of looking.

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So there ARE good mushrooms on Iona, just waiting to be recorded. Not only waxcaps! I saw some nice fungi on dung too, although I'm less confident on identifying those.

Psilocybe coprophila?

Egghead Mottlegill Panaeolus semiovatus?

Have you seen some fungi on the Isle of Iona? You can capture observations on iNaturalist, even if you don't know what it was. Or you can record species observations on iRecord or the FRDBI.

If you like the sound of the shepherd's hut on Iona, I should warn you it's a few minutes walk to the bathroom. But there's a chance you might see a toad on the way there.