The Fungi Diaries

    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.   ...

    Another first for me this week, a lovely Slimy Waxcap(Gliophorus irrigatus). Like many fungi, I'm never 100 % sure of identification when in the field so took some examples home to research.     To my delight it was a Slimy Waxcap , another one ticked off the "wants list.

    What a week I've had, one fungi which as alluded me so far was the Bird's Nest fungus. These tiny little cups are very hard to spot but once you do then boy is it worth all the searching. Some people go years without spotting these amazing little fungi but as you have probably guessed I have at last found my first examples, in fact I found lots. Of all the places I haver searched for these little beauties I just happen to find them in my own village here in the fens.    The Bird's Nest fungus(Cyathus olla) are small cup shaped  fungi in which sit their tiny egg-shaped spores, thus getting the name Bird's Nest.    They are found on earth or mossy  areas where small twigs or sticks are part buried. The fungus itself grows on these twigs starting off as little pellet shaped eggs then forming into a real cup shaped fruiting body full of those tiny egg shap spores.    On this occasion I was bent down taking photos of some lovely bright or...

    It's that time of year, late autumn, when the waxcap family of fungi start to make an appearance. I have already found a few different members of this wonderful family including the beautiful Scarlet Waxcap. While at Thetford Forest last week I found a great area of grassland where I couldn't help but spend an hour head down looking for waxcaps of all colours.     The beautiful Scarlet Waxcap(Hygrocybe coccinea), was there in good numbers, you really can't help but be happy when spotting them. Soon after I was looking at a lovely group of Snowy Waxcaps(Cuphophyllus virgineus), pure white with like all waxcaps the most wonderful gills.    After around half an hour I spotted something that really got me excited, it was my first ever sighting of a Parrot Waxcap(Hygrocybe psittacina). These little beauties have been top of my "wants list" for a while and there was two together growing by some Snowy waxcaps. They were only small and more creamy in colour unl...