A group of 17 met for, what might
become, a most enjoyable annual field trip.
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| Common Puffball © Richard Smith |
We were welcomed by Linda and Juliet.
who in Richard’s absence, were presented with telescopic mirrors by
Duncan. These are useful for looking at the underside of fungi (gills/pores,
colour and stalk) without the need to pick other than for subsequent
identification. It has to be said,
though, that Juliet found an alternative use for the extended mirror – a
leader’s stick in the best tradition of cruise ship onshore guides!!
Linda said that it had been a
disappointing for fungi at Exbury and, recognising that we had limited time for
searching, she had collected a couple of boxes of specimens from the gardens so
that the group were aware of those to look for.
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| Grey Knight © Chris Robinson |
For those who think that LBJs
(Little Brown Jobs) are challenging in the world of birds, then they are even
more difficult in the fungal kingdom! Indeed, with the advances in technology,
many species cannot be identified in the field but need either a compound
microscope or a DNA analysis!
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| Fluted Bird's Nest © Chris Robinson |
However, notwithstanding some of the
identification difficulties especially with some of the Webcaps (Cortinarius, the largest macro-fungus
genus in Britain), we were able to name many of those we found. The principal
ones were Wood Blewit (Lepista nuda),
Clouded Funnel (Clitocybe nebularis),
Spectacular Rustgill (Gymnopilus junonius),
Fluted Bird’s Nest (Cyathus striatus),
False Chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis
aurantiaca), Amethyst Deceiver (Laccaria
amethystina), Fly Agaric (Amanita
muscaria), False Deathcap (Amanita
cirtrina), Butter Cap (Rhodocollybia
butyracea), Common Puffball (Lycoperdon
perlatum), Grey Knight (Tricholoma
terreum), Common Earthball (Scleroderma
citrinum), Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma
fasiculare), Turkeytail (Trametes
versicolor), Snowy Waxcap (Hygrocybe
virginea) and Ganoderma resinaceum. This last one, which has no English
name, was the large reddish brown bracket fungus seen on the large oak near the
pond.
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| Ganoderma resinaceum © Richard Smith |
We had the usual biscuit stop
involving milk chocolate digestives – those bemoaning the lack of the dark
chocolate variety were ignored!! (Note: stand-in
leader needs further staff training! – Editor.)
Before leaving, we were privileged
to see the Exbury Collection of Nerine sarniensis, a very attractive, long
lasting plant, native to South Africa. Theo, the expert on this species, gave
us a brief talk about the plants and the development of the Collection during
the past 80 years. DW