Very heavy rain the night before and not expecting much in August and that’s how it turned out. Also handicapped by camera batteries zonking out halfway through… but still a few nice finds. First was something looking liked a typical tree-trunk dwelling fungus but growing on the ground. Closer inspection revealed it was actually growing on the large exposed root of a healthy oak. It had the colour and texture of Chicken-of-the-Woods although rather too small for that species, so I’m not sure. I’ll id it as that until I have time to see if there’s another possibility.

Then we found a very delicate specimen of something. One older cap that was so flimsy as to be translucent and a small young one beside it. No id yet.

Next a Russula. Roger calls them Brittlegills but I prefer to be old-fashioned. I’m generally disinclined to try and id Russulas in the field as it’s so damn difficult, apart from the Yellow Swamp Brittlegill. But this one was an attractive shade of pink so I had a quick look at the book and immediately found a strong contender. Russula luteotacta – smell slight and fragrant, sometimes of coconut. Yes, definitely a hint of coconut in there. Poisonous, but I had a tentative taste (quite hot) and spat it out. The last picture has a very misleading colour – not pink but brown – curious, I need to keep an eye on camera foibles.

Then a solitary fungus standing in a cow field. Looks like a Mottlegill, but camera was dying so got distracted and didn’t examine it so closely.

Then another Tuberous Polypore (See 26th May.) Unfortunately the main picture is out of focus. Still not entirely sure about this one. The book says it grows on dead twigs but I’ve only found it on thick fallen branches.

Finally a small brown mushroom growing in large clusters on dead wood. Again, the colour in the photo isn’t right. It looks pink in the picture but in the field it was definitely a mid-brown colour.

Managed to grab two hours of mushroom hunting time from a busy holiday on The Gower. Mill Wood is a mixed wood with lots of attractive but strangely alien Mares Tails growing on the boggy track margins. Some years ago I found some wild strawberries growing there but no such luck this year. There weren’t hordes of fungi marauding through the woods, just a few isolated encampments.

First found a tiny yellow mushroom. Not a good photo. Still working out various ways of getting the focus where I need it with my camera.

There was a Beefsteak Fungus growing on a huge fallen oak in a field beside the wood. Seems strange – I thought they grew on living trees at a typical height of 8 feet, but this one was on a tree at least 10 years fallen, lying on its side. Didn’t bother to collect and eat this as I’ve had one before and found the taste a bit sour although not unpleasant.

Next some scruffy looking clumps of fungi in the mud/grass of the field. They look like Mottlegills but can’t exactly see one in the book that matches. Back in the wood again there were a couple of different species growing on dead wood. Haven’t had time to sit and really try to work out what they are. But I did find a small solitary Oyster Mushroom, probably! There was only one, so hard to identify and definitely not worth trying to eat.

But finally, la piece de resistance: four large Chicken-of-the-Woods all growing on the same oak tree. Very impressive specimens, each clump being about 25 cm wide and tall. I cut one of them off the tree and took it home. We had two meals from it and plenty left over afterwards. Can’t really say it was delicious, as it had a slightly sour taste, and I only fried it in butter. I’ve a feeling it would be more satisfying in a pie combined with other ingredients, as its firm texture would keep it solid and the taste should balance well within a mixture.