AFTER our recent post about toadstools and mushrooms flourishing in Burnham Beeches, we’ve been back out in the woods uncovering an even wider range of fascinating and beautiful fungi.
And what an amazing range of shapes and colours we found. The only problem is that we still couldn’t tell a tawny grisette from a glistening inkcap – not to mention a horn of plenty, velvet shank, parrot waxcap or weeping widow.
The names alone are enough to want to make you find out more – from the stinking dapperling to the charcoal burner, golden scalycap, grey knight or wrinkled peach.
So we put out an appeal to our friends on Twitter and Facebook to help us complete our captions – and the response was terrific.
All 20 pictures were taken on a single afternoon on a short woodland walk at Burnham Beeches.
Within minutes our friends in the Wild Marlow facebook group were pointing us towards the Buckinghamshire Fungus Group – and overnight, group secretary Penny Cullington was able to fill in a lot of the gaps in our knowledge.
If you have similar problems in identifying specific species, check out the group’s detailed alphabetical picture guide – look up the name in the list to locate the photo, with helpful tips about identification.
‘Mushroom man’ John Harris from Leicestershire also has an incredibly useful blog that can help with all aspects of mushroom identification, not to mention a pocket guide for those wanting to investigate further.
And sincere thanks to all those who helped in our quest and commented in forums on Facebook or on Twitter.
PICTURE 1: just a rotting fungus past its sell-by date?PICTURE 2: our friend @PipsticksWalks helped to pin this down as upright coral fungus (Ramaria stricta). Apparently there are an incredible number of species of coral fungi, but this one is pretty common in our Chilterns woodsPICTURE 3: too little detail to identify this one?PICTURE 4:Penny from BFG pointed us towards Tricholoma sulphureum, the poisonous Sulphur Knight, once known as the gas works mushroom because of its pungent odourPICTURE 5:Lycoperdon pyriforme, the stump puffball, says Penny from BFGPICTURE 6: too many possibilities to choose from here?PICTURE 7: a faded Amethyst deceiver, Laccaria amethystina, we are toldPICTURE 8: probably the common rustgill or Gymnopilus penetrans, we now believePICTURE 9: too far gone to identify?PICTURE 10:Penny from BFG identifies this as the birch bracket or Fomitopsis betulina (formerly known as Piptoporus betulinus)PICTURE 11: the poisonous beechwood sickener (Russula nobilis) is known for its bright colours and crumbly gills. It plays a vital role in the woodland ecosystem since beech trees rely on fungi in the soil to pass minerals to them in exchange for sugars from the treePICTURE 12: maybe a dappled webcap, but other angles needed for a confirmed identificationPICTURE 13:Penny from BFG suggests the bonnets in the foreground may be saffrondrop bonnets (Mycena crocata) with common stump brittlestem in the background (see below)PICTURE 14:Psathyrella piluliformis or common stump brittlestem is common and widespread in woodlands, we discoverPICTURE 15: the stinkhorn (phallus impudicus) is recognisable by its foul odour and relies on flies and other insects to transport its sporesPICTURE 16: a species of webcap, we believePICTURE 17: clustered bonnet (Mycena inclinata), known by some as the oak bonnetPICTURE 18: like Picture 4, Penny from BFG believes this is another Sulphur KnightPICTURE 19: very old honey fungus (Armillaria mellea)PICTURE 20: probably a shaggy parasol (Chlorophyllumrhacodes), says Penny from BFG, but hard to be sure without seeing the gills and stem
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