Fungi hit the news last week as a report on Radio 4 confirmed mycologists are becoming a rarity in the UK. It is fantastic in Scotland that BTCV and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh have already responded to this challenge with 2 apprentice mycologists, myself and Nev Kilkenny. Scotland is an exciting place to work as a mycologist as we are finding rare and new fungi species all the time, which tell us about the health and ecology of woodlands and grasslands and what effect climate change may be having. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7751000/7751915.stm)
I attended the British Mycology Society autumn meeting at Kew Gardens last weekend and learnt about what is happening in mycology around Europe and also about the rare toothed fungi we have in the UK that have a group species action plan. It was clear that there was so much we could work on but there was a serious issue of the lack of UK mycologists and funding. I think the UK could become a mycology world leader with this investment from our governments. In particular I hope that the Scottish government will support me and Nev after our mycology apprenticeships by making funding available for work in fungi conservation, education and research.
Mushrooms are harder to find now with the colder weather but wood rotting fungi is abundant and I’ll be doing field trips throughout the winter with the local Fungi Group of South East Scotland. The last few months we have been to Colstoun Wood in East Lothian and Mortonhall in Edinburgh, and this week we are going to Penicuik Woods – some photos of what we’ve been seeing are in this blog…..must get on and try and identify them now!
Happy Advent! Sam