Netted Crust (Byssomerulius corium, #979)

This blob of what looks like old chewing gum on a dead Buddleia branch, is I believe Netted Crust (Byssomerulius corium), a new species for the garden. This fungus is found all year round on dead wood - usually deciduous/ The white spots on another piece of dead wood, this time from my Corkscrew Willow, are some kind of slime mould.

Autumn Fungi @ Kemerton #2

Eight fungi and a slime mould from a guided walk at Kemerton Lake this weekend. Several fungi I never saw, or managed to identify, before. Now I just need some to pop up in the garden, where I’ve barely seen any fungi this year - it’s certainly damp enough…

Cleeve Hill Fungi

Some spectacular fungi up on Cleeve Hill on the Cotswold scarp last weekend; they were everywhere. Still a few I didn’t identify yet.

Autumn Fungi @ Kemerton

Some fine fungi, but sadly not in the garden. A local nature reserve at Kemerton is always good for Autumn fungi, and also for otters which I now see on most visits if there are not too many people & dogs around.

Pin Mold (Phycomyces sp., #971)

Spotted these impressive hair-like structures growing out of some organic matter (bird poo probably) on our outdoor table. They are sporophores from a pin mold fungus that’s quietly going about its business of naturally breaking down organic waste in the garden. With the current damp autumn weather it should be good for fungi.

Parc naturel régional de la Forêt d'Orient

We made a stop-over near Lac d’Orient in the North of France for a couple of days. There is a lot of nature to see there in the forest and around the lakes. Birds included Osprey, Black Storks, Purple Heron, Black Woodpecker and most surprising for me, a Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus). The kites are spreading north from their stronghold in Spain, and have even turned up in UK, but this was my first in France and a good find so far North. With thousands of young Marsh Frogs all around the lakes, there was plenty of food for herons, storks and the dozens of great white egrets.

In the forest fungi were everywhere and lots of were people foraging. We picked Black Chanterelles (known in France, as Trompette de la Mort), which were very edible - great on pizza! The red Devil’s Fingers (or Octopus Stinkhorn) has an unpleasant smell of rotting-meat. It is an accidental introduction from Australia that was first found in France during the first world war, believed imported with military supplies.

Raspberry Yellow Rust (Phragmidium rubi-idaei)

The yellow/orange spots on many of the lower leaves of my raspberry plants are from a fungus called Raspberry Yellow Rust (species #924). This is not something I’ve seen before in the garden, but it thrives in wet conditions, as we have had for most of this Spring. The pustules appear on the leaves in the spring and slowly darken over the summer. Apparently it’s harmless and won’t reduce the raspberry crop, so that’s good news.

#924 Raspberry Yellow Rust (Phragmidium rubi-idaei)

Dryad's Saddle

This large fungus was growing off a hidden tree root right in the middle of the path at my local nature reserve. It is a Dryad’s Saddle (Polyporus squamosus). The fruiting body of these fungi is always on the dead wood of a deciduous tree, either up a tree stump or growing out of a tree root just underground, like this one. They appears quite early in the season, in late spring to summer, but quickly decay and are eaten by fly larvae.

Fungus at Kemerton

A nice variety of fungi around the woodland at Kemerton Lake nature reserve a couple of weeks ago

Turkey Tail Fungus (Trametes versicolor)

This Turkey Tail fungus is growing nicely on an old wooden garden table. The fungus contains a chemical called Polysaccharide-K (PSK), which is used in some countries as a medicinal / alternative-medicinal compound in treating immune deficiencies and some cancers. It’s a pretty common dead-wood fungus growing right around the northern hemisphere.

Brown Rot (Monilinia fructicola) on Plums

Brown Rot fungus has infected all the plums on my plum tree this year. While there was a lot of blossom on the tree, perhaps a lack of pollinators early in the year meant that there were few fruits. And now these are all lost. The fungus spreads in the fruit, starting from blemishes caused by insect pests, such as Codling Moth.

#803 Brown Rot (Monilinia fructicola)

#803 Brown Rot (Monilinia fructicola)

Turkeytail & Woodwart

Two new fungi found at the weekend. A large twig with Beech Woodwart (Hypoxylon fragiforme) fell from next door’s Beech tree. I tried the moth trap, but caught absolutely nothing; however I did find a couple of tiny Turkeytails (Trametes versicolor) growing out of the (very rotting) wood table it was standing on.

Snowshill Fungi

Found these dead-wood fungi during a very scenic Christmas walk around Snowshill Manor. King Alfred’s Cakes are found on dead Beech, Ash or Birch branches, and were used a prehistoric firelighters - as they smoulder slowly it’s believed they were used by stone age man to transport fires from one camp to another. The stripey Turkey Tail is another fungus commonly found on rotting hardwood stumps. This fungus also has its uses, in Chinese medicine where it is believed to boost the immune system and even have anti-carcinogenic properties.

Candlesnuff Fungus

Candlesnuff Fungus (Xylaria hypoxylon) is a saprophytic fungus that breaks down rotting wood, and is typically found in the Autumn and Winter. This growth of it was on some dead sticks that have been lying around in the garden for a few years and are now well decomposed.

The lichen, looking swollen after all the wet weather, is Collema auriforme, looking like a glob of green-black chewing gum someone left on the wall.

Autumn Fungi

These are fungi found last weekend and this weekend, mostly around Kemerton Nature Reserve.

Common Inkcap is also known as Tippler’s Bane, as it was regarded as edible, but poisonous if consumed with alcohol - these days it’s recommended just to avoid it. The White Saddle is unusual with its fibrous looking stem, there were a lot of these along the edges of the footpath at Kemerton. The Snowy Waxcaps were nearby at Alderton Hill; apparently they are edible but honestly they don’t look very appetising. The Candlesnuff Fungus was growing around a well rotted cut stump in the path - an interesting thing about this fungus is that it is very mildly bioluminescent. I’m not sure about the identification of the other two species - for Christmas, a decent identification guide for fungi, please Santa.

Wood Blewit

My garden is not really that rich in fungi, so it was a surprise to find these Wood Blewits (Clitocybe nuda, #702) popping up among my courgette plants in the veg plot. I dug in a large trough of compost and leaf litter for the courgettes, and this seems to be to their liking as several clusters of Blewits have appeared. These are edible fungi so I’m plucking up courage to try them. According to various foraging websites the identification is based on the shape, pale mauve colour turning brown with age, the gills & how they join the stem and the fat stem itself - also the season and the habitat. Wood Blewit is not a rare mushroom, but there are other similar (and toxic) species, so a bit of care is warranted - the odour and spore print is also distinctive so I should check that as well (before sauteing them in butter).

Soomaa National Park, Estonia

We were lucky enough to get away during August to Latvia and Estonia, for a wonderful break. Nature took a bit of a back seat to the beaches and medieval cities, but we did visit the Soomaa National Park in Southern Estonia. This park is huge; a matrix of forests and meadows centred around a massive raised bog - one of the biggest in Europe. The forest was quite silent in this season, but somehow the wet day (our only one of the holiday!) brought out the best in the forest fungi and bog plants.

Apple & Gooseberry Mildew

The wet winter seems to have encouraged mildew to set in on my fruit bushes. American Gooseberry Mildew (Podosphaera mors-uvae, #572) infects the fruit buds and then spreads to the neighbouring leaves, where Apple Powdery Mildew (Podosphaera leucotricha, #576) starts in the young buds on the tree. Both fungi will have infected the bushes last summer and then thanks to the wet early spring, now manifested as powdery white spores on the leaves and fruit. The apples have no blossom or fruit this year, as they cropped last year and must be a variety that only fruits alternate years. The gooseberry crop though was looking good, but now it does not appear quite so appetising.

Little Japanese Umbrellas

I’m growing some sweetcorn plants in toilet roll tubes on the kitchen window-sill, ready to be planted out in the veg patch, and these fungi popped up in the compost. They are Pleated Inkcaps, Parasola plicatilis; alternatively known (rather sweetly) as Little Japanese Umbrella fungi. They’re really short-lived - here today and gone tomorrow - and very small and delicate.