Once again we were fortunate and it was a beautiful day with the sun shining on us whilst we explored the woods. Although we had been praying for rain to give the mycelium a helping hand and produce fruiting bodies, the dry weather allowed us to use our 'precious' mushroom books. Comprehensive fungi books are quite an investment, pricey but worth the cost! On the Monday of this week we had a full months worth of rain fall over the course of one day, so the ground had a thorough soaking. After an unusually warm and dry start to autumn us foragers were anxiously waiting for the (delayed) appearance of our favourite edible mushrooms. Thanks to a couple of generous friends we had a proper mushroom feast. Lisa kindly shared her hoard of her absolute favourite 'shroom with us - parasol mushrooms. Last time we added them to the soup but this time we wanted to showcase their creamy flavour so they were simply cooked in garlic oil and served on crostini. Between last weeks foray and this weeks we managed to escape to Devon for a few days holiday. We were hopeful that the woods we were staying near would be mushroom heaven but unfortunately it was the wrong type of habitat with mostly sycamore trees. We found several breathtaking fairy rings, with hundreds of young field mushrooms peeping out of the grass, so we decided to let them grow then grab them on our way home to Cornwall. Sadly when we went to pick them they had been mowed down! Fortunately our friend Tom came to the rescue with his bumper haul of hedgehog mushrooms which made the soup truly delicious. We were joined by photographer Graeme Willetts and he has kindly provided us with lots of beautiful images of our discoveries. This is the 35* different species we found on the day: (in alphabetic order according to the scientific names) Amanita muscaria / Fly Agaric Amanita rubescens / The Blusher Apioperdon pyriforme / Stump Puffball Auricularia auricula-judae / Jelly Ear (tiny baby one) Boletus edulis / Cep (Porcini) (very small) Cantharellus cibarius / Chanterelle (pinning) Clavulina coralloides / Crested Coral Fungus Clavulinopsis Helvola / Yellow Club Fungus Coprinellus micaceus / Glistening Inkcap Coprinopsis atramentaria / Common Inkcap Cortinarius violaceus / Violet Webcap Daldinia concentrica / King Alfred’s Cake Favolaschia calocera / Orange Pore Fungus Fistulina hepatica / Beefsteak Ganoderma applanatum / Artist’s Conk Geastrum triplex / Collared Earthstar Gymnopus fusipes / Spindleshank Hydnum repandum / Hedgehog Hygrocybe ceracea / Butter Wax Cap Hypholoma fasciculare / Sulphur Tuft Hypomyces chrysospermus (parasitic ascomycete fungus that grows on bolete mushrooms) Laccaria amethystine / Amethyst Deceiver Laccaria laccata / The Deceiver Lactarius Quietus / Oakbug Milkcap Oudemansiella mucida / Porcelain Fungus Paxillus involutus / Brown Rollrim Piptoporus betulinus / Birch Polypore Pseudoboletus parasiticus / Parasitic Bolete Russula cyanoxantha / Charcoal Burner Scleroderma citrinum / Common Earthball Skeletocutis (nivea) / White Crust Fungus, potentially Hazel Bracket Trametes versicolor / Turkey Tail Tricholoma ustale / Burnt Knight Xerocomellus chrysenteron / Red Cracked Bolete Xylaria polymorpha / Dead Man’s Fingers
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After having to postpone the scheduled foray the week before we were anxious about this week's walk. We need to find specific varieties of mushrooms for effective teaching; the different subspecies display key features that help with identification skills. I want to provide the best possible experience and with no rain predicted for the week before last I decided I had to postpone the upcoming lesson. Sadly, across the country, other fungi instructors I know have needed to do the same. Fungi seasons are always fickle and hard to predict and this year has been even trickier than normal. We had an unusually early showing in the summer due to large amounts of rain, but then everything dried up and there was a period where not much happened in the fungi world. The fungi mycelium requires a significant amount of rain over a few days to grow the fruiting body (mushrooms!) in addition to a drop in temperature, which then triggers growth. The last few weeks have been unusually dry and warm, resulting in little mushroom activity. Finally the rain came in so we were able to begin our hunt. We reccied these woods three days before today's group walk and the diversity and growth from then to now was amazing. It took us ages to enter the proper woods because we found so much on the path leading in! Today finished with a hearty potato, leek, cep, parasol and chanterelle soup topped with a drizzle of cream and sourdough bread to dunk. Thankfully we had a good 'shroom harvest (thanks to our personal parasol and chanterelle spots!) a few days earlier that we shared with our lovely guests. Thanks all for coming and sharing our bounty. Here is the 36* different species we found on the day: (in alphabetic order according to the scientific names) Agaricus xanthodermus / Yellow Stainer Agaricus (too old to ID accurately) Amanita citrina var alba / White False Death Cap Amanita muscaria / Fly Agaric Auricularia auricula-judae / Jelly Ear Boletus edulis / Cep (Porcini) Boletus subtomentosus / Suede Bolete Cantharellus cibarius / Chanterelle Clavulinopsis Helvola / Yellow Club Fungus Coprinellus micaceus / Glistening Inkcap Coprinopsis atramentaria / Common Inkcap Crepidotus / Oysterling Daldinia concentrica / King Alfred’s Cake Favolaschia calocera / Orange Pore Fungus Fistulina hepatica / Beefsteak Ganoderma applanatum / Artist’s Conk Gymnopus fusipes / Spindleshank Hydnum rufescens / Terracotta Hedgehog Hygrocybe ceracea / Butter Wax Cap Hypholoma fasciculare / Sulphur Tuft Laccaria amethystina / Amethyst Deceiver Laccaria laccata / The Deceiver Lactarius / Milkcap (colours too washed out to ID) Lactarius quietus / Oakbug Milkcap Lepiota Cristata / Stinking Dapperling Mycena Oudemansiella mucida / Porcelain Fungus Paxillus involutus / Brown Rollrim Russula / Brittlegill (colours too washed out to ID) Scleroderma citrinum / Common Earthball Scleroderma verrucosum / Scaley Earthball Skeletocutis (nivea) / White Crust Fungus, potentially Hazel Bracket Trametes versicolor / Turkey Tail Tricholoma ustale / Burnt Knight Xerocomellus chrysenteron / Red Cracked Bolete Xylaria polymorpha / Dead Man’s Fingers *excluding any LBJs (Little Brown Jobs) |