On Tuesday I took my friends Jeremy and Vanna Bartlett to Racecourse Plantation to show them the Allseed and Chaffweed they were interested in seeing. I did have an ulterior motive - the prospect of a new fungi!
We found the sticks I'd placed by the plants still more or less in situ and the plants still in good condition. Examination of the immediate vicinity revealed my wanted fungus too - the obsolutely tiny Bracken Club which grows on dead bracken stems. Vanna was in her element here and found us quite a few. Redwings were passing over in small groups and we also found Orange Peel Fungus, a scutellinia sp (probably Scutellinia olivascens, a close relative of Eyelash Fungus), Southern Bracket and Bramble Rust. We then retired back to the Bartlett's house for a cuppa where Jeremy very kindly gave me some Deadly Nightshade and Kidney Vetch seedlings which have been duly planted at Tattlepot acres!
Buoyed by the mornings success I was in the mood for fungi so decided to spend a bit of time in my local Tyrrels Wood in the late afternoon. It proved a good call with a number of species found - a really fresh Beefsteak Fungus, Rooting Bolete, Spindleshank, a pure white tricholoma sp most probably Blue Spot Knight, Brown Rollrim, Common Stinkhorn, Oak Pin, Oysterling sp, Common Puffball, masses of Amethyst Deceivers and Common Earthballs (one of which had Parasitic Bolete growing out of it), Rosy Bonnet, Deceiver, Southern Bracket and Silverleaf Fungus. Redwings were again much in evidence, a Nuthatch announced its presence and a Tawny Owl called twice in broad daylight at 15.48!
