BBC4 The Magic of Mushrooms

The Magic of Mushrooms

Fungi enthusiasts may be interested to note that starting on BBC4 on 24th April 2014 a new television programme will be starting on Fungi.  It is introduced by BMS Vice President Richard Fortey.

It is entitled The Magic of Mushrooms.  Mushroom enthusiast Richard Fortey explores the strange and surprising science of fungi.


It is very good indeed that the subject of fungi is being given a platform.

Bulgaria inquinans - Exton, Exmouth October 2013

Bulgaria inquinans - Black Bulgar 

I returned to Exmouth during October 2013.  Having visited earlier in the year (February 2013) when I was hopeful about finding some fungi,  but the weather then was arctic with temperatures plummeting to -6 with even colder windchill, so I found nothing.

During October 2013 I was blessed.  Apart from one episode of rain early one morning I experienced wall to wall sunshine with temperatures reaching a heady 18 degrees.

Stayed again at The Manor Hotel, Beacon Hill which is just lovely.  The staff are wonderful and the relaxed atmosphere is ideal for me. "The Manor Hotel is just a few houses away from the former residence of Lady Nelson and Lady Byron. It was one of the first properties to be built on The Beacon and is in fact Exmouth's oldest hostelry dating back to the 1790's and was once visited by the composer Franz Liszt in 1840.Just a short stroll to both the beach and the town with stunning sea views across the Exmouth bay." 

My aim was to cycle along the River Exe coastal path to Topsham a fourteen miles return trip.This I did and the fabulous bonus was that a very kind member of staff  lent me her mountain bike.
It is a superb trip as the path is wooden, very safe,  and hugs the Avocet single track railway line running from Exmouth to Exeter. 

I came across Bulgaria inquinans at Exton.  They were growing on a dead log tucked away some distance from the path.  Unfortunately they were behind a metal fence, and luckily my camera lense just fitted in between the railings. A huge number of them - some young and others at full maturity.

The characteristics are:  1-4 cm across, black, rubbery and shiny at maturity.  When young more brown with a tightly in-rolled margin.  At maturity it resembles a disc.  The habitat is on dead wood of deciduous trees, oak and less likely beech.  Autumn.  

This is not to be confused with Bulgaria exidia which is more rubbery and flexible in texture and not so disc shaped.

On the return cycle back, I ate my sandwiches sitting on the bike, alone, having the pleasure of watching three fox cubs squealing, playing and grooming themselves in the sun.
A great day.

These photographs can now be viewed on Browse 5 of  www.fungiworld.co.uk

Paxillus Involutus (Rollrim) fungus

Paxillus involutus (Roll rim) fungus

This is a large agaric that can grow either in trooping groups or is solitary.  It usually can be found in broad-leaf woods near to birch and on acid soil.

The cap can be up to 12 cm and it can be tall with the stem measuring up to 7 cm.  Initially the cap can be olivaceous and as maturity happens it will become more hazel-brown, firstly convex, then becoming expanded and somewhat depressed in the middle.  The margin will be in-rolled.  The gills become sienna-brown with rust spots, decurrent and crowded.

The stem is concolorous with the cap.  It is distinguished by darker bruising at the apex of the stem.  There is no ring.

I came across my first P involutus on a day trip to Stanage Edge in the Derbyshire Peak District.  Stanage derived from stone edge, is famous for rock climbing.  It has an elevation to 1,503 feet at its highest point.  It was historically a paved packhorse road which ran along the top of the edge.

We walked across the ledge on a crisp and very windy October day.  Silent except for the wind and the chink of metal from the rock climbers.  We took a path downwards to Curbar Wood. a magical wood empty except for us.  During that lovely walk I came across huge groups of Fly Agaric.  The P involutus was solitary in a little clearing next to birch trees.  It is a handsome fungus.  The one I photographed had an extremely prominent umbo.  I have subsequently been told that this sometimes happens, and then it becomes depressed.  It is easily recognised by the decurrent gills which stain darker brown at the apex of the stem.

Also on this trip I think I came across Beech milkcap (Lactarius blennius).  The cap had a white droplet of milk visible at the margin edge.  The cap is 4-10 cm across and the colour is very difficult to describe but being a mixture of olive, grey, green and even silver.  The texture of  the cap reminded me of unfired Denby pottery, which is interesting as it is a pottery based in Derbyshire!

Thank you to RE for taking me to this lovely area of Derbyshire/S. Yorkshire.

These photographs can now be seen on www.fungiworld.co.uk,  Browse 5.

Clathrus Ruber

Clathrus Ruber

The Clathrus ruber is a species of fungus related to the stinkhorn family.  Also known as latticed fungus, basket fungus and red cage.  This fungus grows alone or in small clusters near wood debris, on lawns and fallen leaves.  It is native to Southern and Central Europe.  There have been recordings in Southern England, mostly from Cornwall, Hants, Devon, Isle of Wight and Surrey.  It is also recorded in the USA.

Its colour can range from pink, to orange/red.

Characteristics

Initially starts out as an egg which is white/grey.    This then opens up to reveal a lattice that is orange/pink/red (the exact colour can vary).  The spores are green/black.  This attracts flies. Once exposed the lattice can be covered in slimy olive-green spore mass which is foul-smelling.  The height can be anything up to 20 cm but seems to average out at 11 cm or so. It appears in later Summer-Autumn and is rather rare.
It is recorded as inedible.

My story relating to Clathrus Ruber started in February 2012.  I received an email from a gentleman who contacted me for an id on a fungus he believed to be an Orange Peel fungus.  This photograph had been taken in Branscombe, E. Devon. the previous November 2010.   It most certainly was not an Orange Peel Fungus.  Having received a photo more recently of Clathrus Archeri,  I believed it to be the related, but collapsed Clathrus Ruber.  It looked well past its sell-by-date and I needed another photo to verify its id.

I wrote as such to this gentleman who told me he visited Branscombe on a yearly basis during November and he would look out for it.  I was naturally thrilled by this, as to have a photo of this more rare C. Ruber would be a marvellous addition to the website.  The following year he visited the exact area and there was no sign of this fungus.

Out of the blue during November 2013 I received another email from him informing me that he'd visited the exact spot again and this time had struck the jackpot!  Not only had he done that, but he'd managed to come across C. Ruber at the 'egg stage' and over a 48 hour period took a series of photos of the egg, the emerging lattice structure and then finally the mature C. Ruber. 

The dedication and commitment of this man to repeatedly search for this rather rare fungus and to provide such a detailed series of photographs is heartening and so very well appreciated.
Above is a small photograph of C. Ruber and more detailed photographs will appear on fungiworld in the near future.

BBC warning of Wild Mushroom Foraging October 2013

Ashdown Forest, Sussex

The BBC reported on the 8th October that professional foragers are cashing in on the market value of mushrooms.  Some prized mushrooms have been taken.

It is not actually illegal to pick wild mushrooms but to do so for commercial gain IS.

Today 3rd November 2013 it is reported in the Mail on-line that mushroom pickers have stripped the New Forest of wild fungi to sell to hotels and restaurants.  One Common at a national park (Bramshaw Common), in Hants has no edible mushrooms left.  The same thing happened last year.

Unfortunately media chefs are encouraging foraging during the recession and this is not only endangering  the future of many mushrooms but causing consequences such as trampled ground and other environmental impacts.

I wonder if these commercial chefs know that fungi need protecting and conserving, are vital to the eco-system and are natures recyclers.

Experts have been giving warnings for the past 15 years that the only solution might be heavy fines.

So,  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall et al, please, please, use your high profile status to encourage the population to appreciate and protect mushrooms and not to pick too many of them.

UK Fungus Day, October 13th 2013 - celebrating the wonderful fungal kingdom

UK Fungus Day, October 13th 2013

The aim of National Fungus Day is to celebrate the wonderful fungal kingdom.  There will be a series of events, lectures and forays held across the UK on the above date and also over the weekend of the 12-13th October.

Coinciding with the National Fungus Day there will be an International Mushroom Festival 12-13th October held at Killegar, Ireland.

Events are to be held in various locations around the UK including National Trust Sites, Wildlife Trusts, Natures Reserves etc.  For further information please visit The British Mycological Society Website, or  check to see if any events are to be held in your own local area.

Gymnosporangium confusum up-date

Gymnosporangium confusum update

In a previous blog dated 26th May 2013 I wrote about a rust that I photographed on a friends Juniper tree and was subsequently confirmed to be G. confusum which was a first recording for Nottinghamshire.

The spores travel over a number of weeks either to hawthorne or pear trees.  Observations followed over some weeks and I couldn't locate a hawthorne tree, nor see a pear tree infected in adjacent gardens.  On a practical level though, it is impossible to knock on the doors of all local strangers and ask to snoop around their gardens!

During the period when the spores travel,  I was invited around to see a different friend who has a large orchard garden.  Knowing my interest in fungi, he mentioned that one of his pear trees was becoming infected with rust.  As the crow flies his pear tree is probably 500 m from the Juniper tree.  It is probable, but I can't prove it, that his pear tree became infected from that very Juniper tree.  The photograph here shows the rust.  All photographs relating to
G. confusum can be seen on Browse 4
at fungiworld.co.uk.