Rosy russulas

21 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

Tags

#FungiFriday, British fungi, fungus, Red russula, Russula

It’s Fungi Friday and today I have for your pleasure and delight one of the Russula species of fungi. According to the First Nature website of fungi expert Pat O’Reilly, around 160 species of Russula can be found in Britain, and I know from venturing out on past forays with the Glamorgan Fungus Group that the reddish-coloured ones can be especially difficult to identify so I’m not even going to try to put a name to these particular fungi. I just think they’re rather lovely and I hope they brighten your day as much as they did mine.

180921 Russula fungi (5) 180921 Russula fungi (6)

Little brown jobs

27 Saturday Jan 2018

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

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British fungi, brownish fungi, difficult to identify fungi, fungi, fungus, little brown job

Though I have since learnt that this expression is also used by birders, ‘Little brown job’ is a term I first heard used in relation to fungi, the many and varied, brownish-hued conglomerations of fungi that have few distinguishing characteristics (unless you’re a whizz with a microscope) and so can often be notoriously difficult to identify. Here are some I’ve seen this week.

180127 Little brown jobs (1) 180127 Little brown jobs (2) 180127 Little brown jobs (3) 180127 Little brown jobs (4) 180127 Little brown jobs (5) 180127 Little brown jobs (6)

Collared earthstars

24 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

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British fungi, Cathays Cemetery, collared earthstar, earthstar, fungus, Geastrum triplex

You can’t have a blog named Earthstar without including, every now and then, a few photos of the Earthstar fungi for which it was named. I was pleased to see this little colony of Collared earthstars (Geastrum triplex) in Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery is still thriving.

More Bird’s-nests with eggs!

11 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

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Bird's nest fungi, British fungi, Cyathus striatus, Fluted Bird's-nest fungi, fungi

How lucky am I? In the short space of just two weeks, I’ve been privileged to see two different types of Bird’s-nest fungi (the post about the Common Bird’s-nests is here), both with eggs in their nests. This second lot are Fluted Bird’s-nest fungi (Cyathus striatus; Cyathus from the Greek kyath, meaning cup-shaped, and striatus to indicate the striated or ribbed sides).

170911 Cyathus striatus Fluted Bird's Nest (1)

Fungi expert Pat O’Reilly (on his First Nature website) likens the reproduction of these fungi to a game of Tiddlywinks: I wrote about their ‘eggs’ in my previous post but Pat’s description is much the better read, of course.

170911 Cyathus striatus Fluted Bird's Nest (5)

170911 Cyathus striatus Fluted Bird's Nest (6)

170911 Cyathus striatus Fluted Bird's Nest (7)

Although these fungi are probably common, both their preferred habitat (of rotting logs in shady woodlands) and their excellent camouflage make them difficult to spot so they are rarely seen. As you can probably imagine, I was very excited when told their location by a friend and then to see them for myself. Many photographs were taken!

170911 Cyathus striatus Fluted Bird's Nest (4)

170911 Cyathus striatus Fluted Bird's Nest (3)

170911 Cyathus striatus Fluted Bird's Nest (2)

Bird’s-nests with eggs!

31 Thursday Aug 2017

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ 4 Comments

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bird's nest fungus, British fungi, Common bird's-nest fungus, Crucibulum laeve, fungus, peridiole

How cool are these?

170831 Common bird's-nest fungus (1)

Of course, you’ve guessed it – I’m not talking about eggs in the nests of birds with feathers: these are fungi, but one of the most amazing types of fungi I know. And this was the first time I’d seen them with eggs in the nests and, indeed, it was the first time I’d seen them before the eggs were exposed. And there must have been hundreds of them, all growing along the planks of wood around a raised garden bed.

170831 Common bird's-nest fungus (3)

This is the Common bird’s-nest fungus (Crucibulum laeve) and I think you can see where it got its common name. It starts off looking like small blobs of yellowy orange fur, then the furry membrane falls off to reveal its inner cupcake-shaped fruiting body and that’s where the eggs sit. Of course, they’re not eggs at all: the scientific name for them is peridioles. They’re effectively capsules full of spores that are activated when rain drops hit them, causing them to ‘leave the nest’ and begin the germination process. (If you’re as fascinated by these as I am, you can read more here.)

170831 Common bird's-nest fungus (5)

Scarlet elfcups

03 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

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British fungi, Elfcups, fungus, Ruby elfcup, Sarcoscypha austriaca, Sarcoscypha coccinea, Scarlet elfcup

It’s elfcup fruiting time! There’s a spot in one of my local woodlands where these vibrant Scarlet elfcups (Sarcoscypha austriaca) grow in profusion so I made sure to head that way on yesterday’s wander, and I was not disappointed. In their hundreds, these little beauties are pushing up through the dense moss that covers the rotting branches and logs on the forest floor.

170103-scarlet-elfcup-1

I blogged about these gorgeous fungi last year and noted then that there are two species of red elfcups, the Scarlet (Sarcoscypha austriaca) and the Ruby (Sarcoscypha coccinea). They can only be differentiated, one from the other, through microscopic examination, but I know that the elfcups in my favoured spot are the Scarlet variety as a friend very kindly checked them for me. My mission now is to find the Ruby.

Draethen Fungi Foray update

12 Saturday Nov 2016

Posted by sconzani in 'Dedicated Naturalist' Project, fungi, nature

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British fungi, Dr Mary Gillham, Draethen woodlands, fungi foray, Mary Gillham Archive Project, Walking with Mary

When I posted about our ‘Walking with Mary’ fungi foray in Draethen Woodlands last Saturday, I said I would report back with our final species list. Just as Mary and her colleagues had walked these woods in both October and November, so did we, with a site recce on 19 October and then our group foray on 6 November, so this is actually the combined list for both walks. Mary had recorded more than 90 different species of fungi; our total is 79. Being optomistic, I think the lesser number can probably be attributed to our dry autumn weather this year rather than any species loss.

161112-draethen

Here are more photos of the fungi we found, followed by the full species list for any keen fungi fans out there. You can see details of the walk and Mary’s species lists on the Mary Gillham Archive Project website here.

Scientific name	Common name
Agaricus sp.
Amanita sp.	Possibly Death Cap Amanita phalloides
Amanita vaginata	Grisette
Armillaria gallica	Bulbous Honey Fungus
Armillaria mellea	Honey Fungus
Ascocoryne sarcoides	Purple Jellydisc
Auricularia auricula-judae	Jelly ear
Bisporella citrina	Lemon Disco
Bjerkandera adusta	Smoky Bracket
Chlorociboria sp.	Green elf cup
Clavaria vermicularis	White Spindles
Collybia butyracea var. asema	Butter cap
Collybia sp.
Coprinellus micaceus	Glistening inkcap
Coprinus sp.	Possibly Shaggy Inkcap
Coprinus sp.	Possibly Common Inkcap
Cortinarius sp.
Crepidotus applanatus	Flat oysterling
Crepidotus mollis	Peeling oysterling
Cystolepiota seminuda
Daedaleopsis confragosa	Blushing bracket
Daldinia concentrica	King Alfred’s cakes
Diatrype disciformis	Beech Barkspot
Exidia nucleata	Crystal brain
Exidia sp.	Either E. plana or E. glandulosa
Ganoderma sp.	Either G. adspersum or G. applanatum
Gymnopus dryophilus	Russet Toughshank
Hydnum sp.	Possibly H. repandum Hedgehog Fungus
Hygrocybe conica	Conical Wax-Cap
Hygrophorus discoxanthus	Yellowing woodwax
Hygrophorus eburneus	Ivory Woodwax
Hypholoma capnoides	Conifer tuft
Hypholoma fasciculare	Sulphur tuft
Hypholoma marginatum	Snakeskin Brownie
Hypoxylon fragiforme	Beech woodwart
Hypoxylon fuscum	Hazel Woodwart
Kretzschmaria deusta	Brittle cinder
Laccaria amethystina	Amethyst deceiver
Lactarius aurantiacus	Orange Milkcap
Leotia lubrica	Jellybaby
Lepista sp.	Possibly Lepista nuda Wood Blewitt
Lycogala sp.	Orange slime mould
Lycoperdon excipuliforme	Pestle puffball
Lycoperdon nigrescens	Dusky puffball
Lycoperdon pyriforme	Stump Puffball
Marasmius wynnei	Pearly parachute
Mutinus caninus	Dog stinkhorn
Mycena arcangeliana	Angel’s bonnet
Mycena diosma
Mycena haematopus	Burgundydrop bonnet
Mycena rosea	Rosy bonnet
Mycena sp.
Mycena vitilis	Snapping Bonnet
Oudemansiella mucida	Porcelain Fungus
Phallus impudicus	Stinkhorn
Pholiota squarrosa	Shaggy Scalycap
Phragmidium bulbosum	Rubus leaf rust fungus
Phragmidium violaceum	Violet Bramble Rust
Piptoporus betulinus	Birch polypore
Pluteus phlebophorus	Wrinkled shield
Postia caesia	Conifer blueing bracket
Postia sp.	A crust fungus
Psathyrella sp.	One of the Brittlestem fungi
Ramaria sp.	Coral fungus
Rhodocollybia butyracea	Butter cap
Rhytisma acerinum	Sycamore Tarspot
Russula sp.
Sarea resinae
Scleroderma sp.	Earthball
Stereum hirsutum	Hairy curtain crust
Terana coerulea	Cobalt crust
Thelephora terrestris	Earth-Fan
Trametes gibbosa	Lumpy Bracket
Trametes versicolor	Turkey tail
Tricholoma terreum	Grey Knight
Xylaria carpophila	Beechmast Candlesnuff
Xylaria hypoxylon	Candlesnuff
Xylaria longipes	Dead Moll’s Fingers
Xylaria polymorpha	Dead Man’s Fingers