The Fungi Diaries

    This common fungus is often found on damp rotten hardwood, sometimes inside hollow stumps, notably Beech or Eml. Found any time after June these cups are now worried by the colder winter months, in fact I'm still finding them now in the middle of February.    This fungus is definitely not an edible and if eaten raw they will cause seriously unpleasant stomach upsets.    There are several sites around Upwell and Outwell where these cups seem to flourish.     There are over 100 Peziza species, most of various shades of fawn or brown.

    Well at last we started a new year and one I think we all hope has rather less worry and uncertainty than the last couple. January is one of the slow months in the fungi world, there will be jelly ears and the odd Scarlet elf cup around but mainly we are just left with aged weather beaten fungi left from the autumn months.    I find the months of January  and February not only cold and baron of fungi here in the fens, but also a period of time in which I can plan projects that wander endlessly in my mind. These ideas and dreams include many thoughts of traveling to beautiful moss covered woods and forests where the amazing gems of the fungi kingdom await to pose for my camera lens and ancient churchyards where stunning waxcaps nestle in clean green moss knitted grass.    This year my main objective is to record a complete year's fungi finds in and around Upwell and Outwell. Here in the fens of East Anglia we lack the woodlands found in many other a...

    December has so far been a great month for me when it comes to fungi firsts and one of those was the beautiful Blue Roundhead (Stropharia caerulea).     These wonderful little mushrooms have a stunning turquoise colouring when young which explains their common name. Usually blue roundheads are found singly or in the odd small group.      I found these again on my waxcap site and some lovely examples they were too. When looking closely you get to see what an amazing colour they are. The caps do fade as these are growing on grassland rather that woodland, meaning the weather can wear some of the blue cap giving a more creamy white colouring. 

    The Waxcap hunts over the past two weeks have not only produced some nice waxcaps but a number of nice coral fungi too.  When you find a good area for waxcaps you nearly always find coral fungus, earth tongue and members of the club family too, these groups all love the same conditions, short grass sheep pasture being one.    With this post I'd like to show the different corals that I have uncovered, from the commonly found Meadow Coral to the amazing Beige Coral, all looking fabulous tucked away among the grass and moss.    My first coral find was a beautiful bunch of Meadow Coral (Clavulinopsis corniculata). This wonderful bright yellow coral is a common sight in these early winter months, tho can be difficult to spot in longer grass.     People would think being bright yellow Meadow Coral would be easy to find but I can assure you it's not always that simple. I have spent hours looking for corals without success but like many fungi onc...

    My second visit to the Waxcap site gave me some wonderful finds including the stunning Parrot Waxcap (Gliphorus psittacinus), always a exciting find for me, I don't think I'll ever get tired of uncovering these lovely members of the waxcap family.    Another unusual and interesting spot was a large area which held a good amount of Earthtongues (Geoglossum cookeanum). I've only found these black tongue-shaped fungi once before and tbh I was photographing a Snowy Waxcap when I noticed one within inches half hidden by leaf litter. As you can see in the picture below they really do have the look of a human tongue.     Within yards of the Earthtongue area I began to spot some lovely examples of Yellow Club (Clavulinopsis helvola). These bright yellow club shaped fungi despite their colour aren't that easy to spot and doing so really did pleased me.     I'm hoping to return to the site again in the next day or two with the hopes of adding to the wax...

    I've lived here in the fens for nearly 20 years now and last weekend was the first time I had made a visit to our local iron age fort/camp.    The area covers a good 10 to 20 acres and is all grassland used as pasture for sheep, so an ideal area to search for waxcaps. The waxcap family love grassland which hasn't been treated by fertiliser, they also love sheep pasture as sheep keep the grasses low allowing the waxcap fungi to spread their spore easier than in long grass.    I wasn't sure if I would find any but everything pointed to it being the perfect area and so when I entered the gates it was with excitement and hope. I needn't have worried for after only a few minutes I was spotting Snowy Waxcaps and good size ones at that. I was soon seeing Meadow Waxcaps too plus the odd puffball here and there. After around an hour I found an area of nice short mossy grass which was home to a good number of Blackening Waxcaps, the first I'd ever found.   ...