fungi 2011

Lovely selection Ben. Thanks for bringing some colour and life in the "dead" season!

Chris

cheers ben 

Many thanks Tim and Chubsta.

At the risk of this thread becoming even more of a blog than it already is, here's a few more then...

Boletes can be tricky to ID in the field and both myself and a much more knowledgeable member of my fungus group spent quite a while tracking this one down, but we came to the same conclusion that it's the occasional and very pretty, species Ruby Bolete which goes by several latin names including Xerocomus rubellus, Hortiboletus rubellus, Boletus rubellus





Found under Oak.

Found in Gloucester Park and commonly seen trooping or in rings on lawns, Fairy
Ring Mushrooms Marasmius oreades. Despite being very tasty, a lot of guides advise against eating them because there are poisonous lookalikes; namely Clitocybe rivulosa/dealbata, which sometimes grows with or near them.
However, in truth, that's like saying a sand lizard is a dead ringer for a common lizard. You soon get your eye in. Don't take any chances if you're not confident though FFS!
Fairy Ring Mushrooms have flattened and very tough and fibrous stems which are surprisingly hard to break, and a large, prominent nipple in the centre of the cap.



Stages of development;





Stropharia pseudocyanea. Slimy, beautiful, hallucinogenic, occasional:





Bloody gorgeous: The Bloodred Webcap Cortinarius sanguineus:



Blackening Russula Russula nigricans actually starts off dirty white in colour but slowly succumbs to the dark force as it matures, until....



Couple of spore prints of Lepista species.

Lepista panaeolus. An uncommon species of ancient grassland:



Lepista saeva and Lepista nuda:



Finally, a cornucopia of Hedgehog Fungus Hydnam repandum (the most i've ever seen in one place) from an official foray to a woodland in Wiltshire.

Easy to ID - spines not gills or tubes underneath:











Edited by Liz Heard - 26 Nov 2015 at 9:28am

Thanks Chubsta.

Here's some more finds then.

First an early fruiting species to look out for shortly. Despite the common name, it often occurs in tufted clumps on wood chips.
Opinions seem to vary regarding edibility, but they have an off-putting, mealy smell to this pair of nostrils. Yuck.

Spring Fieldcap Agrocybe praecox







Some common - but no less pleasing for it - species:

I'm cautiously sticking to genus only for Peziza. From 3 different sites in Glos, Jan 2016:












Yellow Brain Fungus Tremella mesenterica brightening up a wintry tree:



..and a nice showing for the very familiar Ear or Jew's Ear Fungus Auricularia auricula-judae:



Seen lots of Oyster Mushrooms Pleurotus ostreatus recently too. Often past their best!

great photos, wonder why there is so much more variety in Glos. than around here, we really do see very little even though we walk through loads of different woodland... Will hopefully get out in the next couple of weeks as the weather warms up and see what we can find.