A spring foray with the Norfolk Fungus Study Group at an interesting site not normally open to the public.
About a dozen of us braved the continuing cold weather to explore the walled garden and woodland at Tacolneston Hall. We were joined by 'fungus royalty' in the form of Geoffrey Kibby who wrote and illustrated the marvellous 4 volume set of Mushroom and Toadstools which grace my bookshelf!
The foray was slightly disappointing for me personally as most of the fungi about at this time of year are micro-fungi that leave me a little cold. Nevertheless Common Mazegill, Golden Crust, Chaetosphaerella phaeostroma, Beechmast Candlesnuff and Xylaria filiformis (the latter rare in the county) made their way into my notebook with a quite a few other specimens taken away for study/identification. Stop press - an eyelash fungus taken has been identified as Scutelina setosa, the third county record and first since 2016
To be honest I got more of a kick out of searching for insects finding an obligingly torpid Common Mourning Bee, Green Longhorn Moth, Green Parasitic Fly, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Green-veined White, Large Red Damselfly and Aglaostigma aucupariae.
Our hosts from the hall joined us for the first hour or so and then very kindly supplied afternoon tea and biscuits in front of the hall - all very civilised!
A quick visit to nearby Ashwellthorpe Wood afterwards revealed pretty poor numbers of Early Purple Orchid but a couple of new insects for me - Common Grammoptera and Lygus rugulipennis plus Yellow-legged Mining Bee.
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