And breathe! I wasn’t sure who would come along for a woodland fungi walk on a recent chilly morning, but I was pleased to be joined by enthusiastic volunteers from the Wood for All project of Transition Stirling. The past months of training have been intense, but it was great to finally test my knowledge. Despite being initially nervous, I was able to pass on this knowledge and enthuse others to delve further into the world of fungi. Thanks to John for lots of encouragement on the day.
Using a simple key to get started with fungi identification. Here we had the Olive Oysterling, Panellus serotinus, on a fallen log.
The weeks of the fungi season have been the best and busiest of my apprenticeship to date. National Fungus Day passed on October 12th as a success and a lot of fun. At the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh there were guided walks, fungi on display and demonstrations using mushrooms to dye fabrics. I was so inspired to contribute to next year’s event that I now have quite exciting plans up my sleeve. Watch this space.
I’ve also been up and down the country to meet mycologists and their favourite types of fungi. In October I travelled to the Natural History Museum, London for a workshop on boletes. Our leader Geoffrey Kibby, who has produced an identification aid to this group, guided us through the ID process with specimens he had brought along. Boletes are mushrooms with pores, rather than gills, and are mycorrhizal friends of many tree species. Though I’m most likely to come across boletes on a woodland foray, some are also found with those small and hardy willows up in the mountains; I’ll keep my eyes open.
Then to Treborth Botanic Garden in North Wales, where mycologist Debbie Evans held a fantastic show-and-tell session on grassland fungi. This was an opportunity to meet dozens of waxcaps and other ‘gems’ all together at once. Highlights included the rare Olive Earthtongue (Microglossum olivaceum), and the Bitter Waxcap (Hygrocybe mucronella) which tastes like a battery when put to the tongue.
Clavaria zollingeri, the Violet Coral. Just weird!
Braving the wind on a Welsh hillside. Here, you must venture to less-accessible places to find diverse assemblages of grassland fungi. Many of these are upland pastures that have escaped ‘improvement’ by input of fertilisers.
Hygrocybe calyptriformis, aka the Pink Waxcap or Ballerina. This species is quite unmistakeable and with age the edges of the cap will lift upwards to reveal pink gills, resembling a tutu. Once thought to be very uncommon in the UK, this was a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species until a recent survey revealed it to be widespread.
Back in Scotland, a trip to a busy Glasgow park was a reminder of just how exciting it is to be a field mycologist. Can you think of the last time you spotted a bird never before seen in your county? Well, I found some cool fungi without even knowing, and you may too. All you need to do is to get outdoors with your local fungus group, pull back a few fallen leaves and start looking. Without realising at the time, I managed to pick up two species that, when identified at home, turned out to be new records for Lanarkshire. Great! While this may not seem like a ground-breaking discovery, record-keeping can highlight important changes in our countryside, from changes in pollution levels to the spread of diseases. One of the species I identified was Psilocybe cyanescens, and it’s known from less than a handful of sites in Scotland. However, it is probably native to the north-western USA, and in the UK was first described at Kew Gardens in the early 1900s. The spread of this fungus is linked to the use of ornamental woodchip, turning up in borders of gardens and parks, just as I saw.
Russula praetervisa, with an olive cap with white flesh that bruises red. It is known from six other sites in Scotland
I spend a lot of time practicing species identification, but for some big picture thinking about land management I spent a little time with an organisation called Trees for Life. Last month I went to learn about their vision to restore large areas of the Caledonian forest in Scotland. Planting birch and rowan trees was rewarding work and I can’t wait to see the results in the years to come.
Tools down for now on the Dundreggan estate.
Edit: I won the Trees for Life Photo Competition 2013 with this image.
The annual National Trust for Scotland countryside conference was held this year in Snowdonia, Wales. The team met with National Trust staff who are doing good things with renewables and energy efficiency. Among other experiments, we were there to see the Snowdon hydro, which has recently been completed at Hafod y Llan, a working upland farm that also hosts some rare plant species. Building up the side of Wales’ highest mountain mustn’t have been easy, but the hydro will generate thousands of pounds through electricity, and will enable conservation work here for years to come. Done bravely and sensitively, this scheme will provide an income independently from agri-environment subsidies.
No rivalry here. NT and NTS staff sharing and learning on the Watkin path of Snowdon.
Happy Holidays!