 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  We ended with flair - the favourite: Amanita muscaria / Fly Agaric
 Delicious and easy to identify - Hydnum repandum / Hedgehog Mushroom  Lactarius Quietus / Oakbug Milkcap: Note the 'lactating' - the milky latex it produces when damaged.
 Cortinarius violaceus / Violet Webcap
 An invasive species first found in the UK in 2012: Favolaschia calocera / Orange Pore Fungus
 Fistulina hepatica / Beefsteak
 Hypomyces chrysospermus (parasitic ascomycete fungus that grows on bolete mushrooms)
 Oudemansiella mucida / Porcelain Fungus  Oudemansiella mucida / Porcelain Fungus
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