U3A Exploring @ Britty Wood

Puttenham Lower Common and Britty Wood, 7 October 2022

This turned into a fungal foray and we didn’t manage to get very far due to the large amount of fungi found. Below is the report from our leader, Sara Shepley.

One of the problems with this time of year is that a walk so often morphs into a fungus foray and so it was with our October walk. After a slow start, probably caused by the summer drought, fungi are appearing everywhere and in large numbers. The recent rain and the comparatively mild weather have contributed to this plenty in no small way. Even before we left the car park we had found a fine specimen of a Brown Birch Bolete, Leccinum scabrum, a cluster of Purple Brittlegills, Russula atropurpurea, and one of the Poison Pies, which are in the Hebeloma genus. Lower Puttenham Common is typical acid greensand habitat with Birch and Scots Pine being the dominant species, so we encountered lots of Brown Rollrims, Paxillus involutus; Tawny Grisettes Amanita fulva, and Blushers, Amanita rubescens. Stars of the show were the tiny earpick fungus, Auriscalpium vulgare, which grows on pine cones and the even smaller Marasmius hudsonii, Holly Parachute which is only found on dead Holly leaves. Below is the list of what we found:

Sara Shepley
  1. Lactarius turpis – Ugly Milkcap
  2. Lactarius tabidus — Birch Milkcap
  3. Russula delica — Milk White Brittlegill
  4. Leccinum scabrum — Brown Birch Bolete
  5. Russula atropurpurea — Purple Brittlegill
  6. Amanita fulva — Tawny Grisette
  7. Amanita rubescens — Blusher
  8. Paxillus involutus — Brown Rollrim
  9. Amanita citrina — False Death Cap
  10. Auriscalpium vulgare — Earpick Fungus
  11. Mycena leptocephala — Nitrous Bonnet
  12. Chlorociboria aeruginascens — Green Elfcup
  13. Crepidotus sp. (probably variabilis)
  14. Claviceps purpurea — Ergot
  15. Mycena epipteryigia — Yellowleg Bonnet
  16. Hypholoma fasciculare — Sulphur Tuft
  17. Russula aeruginea — Green Brittlegill
  18. Russula velenovskyi — Coral Brittlegill
  19. Amanita excelsa var. spissa — Grey spotted Amanita  
  20. Mycena inclinata — Clustered Bonnet
  21. Ganoderma australe — Southern Bracket           
  22. Psathyrella piluliformis — Common Stump Brittlestem
  23. Marasmius hudsonii — Holly Parachute
  24. Marasmius quercophilus — Doesn’t appear to have an English name but Oak Parachute would fit
  25. Stereum gausapatum — Bleeding Oak Crust
  26. Suillus grevillei — Larch Bolete
  27. Lactarius subdulcis — Mild Milkcap
  28. Calocera viscosa — Yellow Stagshorn
  29. Psathyrella candolleana — Pale Brittlestem
  30. Boletus edulis — Cep
  31. Baeospora myosura — Conifercone Cap
  32. Gymnopus confluens — Clustered Toughshank (but this one was, untypically, on its own)
  33. Byssomerulius corium  — Netted Crust (one of the resupinate fungi)
  34. Neoboletus praestigiator (syn. Boletus luridiformis — Scarletina Bolete
  35. Amanita muscaria — Fly Agaric
  36. Gymnopilus penetrans — Common Rustgill (I suggested this could be G. junonius but this species has a pronounced ring on the stem which our specimens didn’t have)
  37. Russula claroflava — Yellow Swamp Russula
  38. Boletus pruinatus — Matt Bolete
  39. Russula parazurea — Powdery Brittlegill

Sara Shepley

Here are some of the photos I took

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