Monthly Archives: October 2013

31st October 2013, Blarney Castle, Ireland

Just a quick trip back to Blarney Castle grounds to get some more of The Prince mushrooms which were exceptionally tasty. (But I didn’t take another field photo of them.) There were lots more mushrooms around but I didn’t have time to look at very many of them. Niamh found a very large mushroom at the end, but I think it will be tricky to identify!


1. Type of Russula.
Growing under oak. Cap 4-7cm. No smell. Could be a Purple Russula although the colour isn’t really purple and there are lots of other possibilities. I should have nibbled a bit to check the taste.

2. Unidentified.
Growing in grass near what look like small lime trees. Cap 4-8cm. Rather meally/decaying smell. Actually not sure that the bigger whiter specimen is the same as the smaller ones.

3. Panaeolus acuminatus.
Growing in grass beside lake. Cap 2-3cm. No smell. Some whitish and others brown. Perhaps Panaeolus acuminatus although it’s maybe too large and should smell mushroomy. ID is best guess.

4. Scaly Wood Mushroom (Agaricus langei).
Growing under spruce. Cap 3-6cm. Smell strongly mushroomy. Not certain of the id but it seems to be the most likely. ID is very likely.

5. The Prince (Agaricus augustus).
Lots of Prince mushrooms ready for cooking.

27th October 2013, Blarney Castle, Ireland

Breda’s family are from Blarney and the grounds of Blarney Castle are ideal for mushrooms, with lots of different tree species growing in wide open grassy spaces.
My brother-in-law’s mother-in-law (pay attention at the back) was telling me a tale from her childhood about gathering field mushroom and then selling them by the side of the road to passing cars. She’s about 80, so it was a few years back, but my brother-in-law agreed with her that the fields in County Cork were once thronged with Field Mushrooms. I don’t think that’s the case now, so has their frequency declined? I’d like to have a look around in the summer to find out.
Few of the mushrooms had much smell, perhaps because of the heavy rain that had been falling. The pick of the bunch was The Prince mushroom, which was very flavoursome. We also consumed some False Saffron Milkcaps which I quite like although others aren’t so keen. Identification of some was difficult as my notes weren’t very good – Niamh was running around finding more and more mushrooms, dragging me away from the one I was looking at.


1. Horse Mushroom (Agaricus arvensis).
Cap 5cm. Smell faint. Spore print dark brown. Horse Mushroom probably, although the gills are rather pink. Cap 5cm but there were only young specimens. ID is possible.

2. Blood-red Webcap (Cortinarius sanguineus).
Growing under Yew. Cap 2-5cm. ID is almost sure.

3. Unidentified.
On earth or wood/bark mulch. Cap 4-6cm.

4. Glistening Inkcap (Coprinus micaceus).
Growing on stump. Colour isn’t quite right to be Glistening Inkcap but that could be due to the heavy rain. ID is fairly likely.

5. Common Cavalier (Melanoleuca polioleuca).
On earth or wood/bark mulch. Cap 5-10cm. ID is very likely.

6. Blueleg Brownie (Psilocybe cyanescens).
On earth or wood/bark mulch. Cap 4-6cm. This is the only species I can find that has the interesting wavy look of the cap. It has mottled gills but none of the Mottlegills look anything like it. If I’d bruised the stem it should have turned blue, but I didn’t know that at the time. Strongly hallucinogenic, apparently. ID is almost sure.

7. Shaggy Inkcap (Coprinus comatus).

8. Shield Pinkgill (Entoloma clypeatum).
Cap 6cm. Lots of other id possibilities, but this one seems likely. ID is best guess.

9. The Prince (Agaricus augustus).
Growing under horse chestnut. Lots. Cap 4-10cm. Smell sort of aniseedy/almondy. Spore print dark brown with a greyish lilac tinge.

10. Skullcap Dapperling (Leucocoprinus brebissonii).
Cap 1-4cm. Possibly could be another kind of Dapperling. ID is fairly likely.

11. False Saffron Milkcap (Lactarius deterrimus).
Growing under spruce. Cap 5-10cm. Little smell. Flesh turning quite greenish when getting a bit battered after collecting.

27th October 2013, Farran Forest Park, Ireland

We were away for a week to Cork in Ireland, and so I decided to make acquaintance with the local fungal life. There doesn’t seem to be a system of public footpaths in Ireland, so it’s a bit difficult to go to any random patch of countryside and set off across the fields. But there are quite a few public amenity woods and I spent a pleasant morning having a look around Farran Forest Park. I was astonished to find that the car park charge was €5, but I managed to park down the road a bit and it turned out well as there were 3 different mushrooms growing in the hedge bank by my parking spot.
There’d been a lot of rain so the mushrooms were rather waterlogged which tends to dampen down any smell.


1. Freckled Dapperling (Lepiota aspera).
Growing in a hedge bank. Cap 10cm. Very strong mushroomy, fungusy smell. Very crowded gills. It’s certainly a Dapperling but can’t be sure it’s Freckled Dapperling. This specimen is flat which doesn’t quite fit, but the ring with dark brown scales looks right and there aren’t so many Dapperlings that it could be at this large size. ID is fairly likely.

2. Shaggy Parasol (Macrolepiota rhacodes).
Growing in a hedge bank. Cap 4-8cm. Not much smell. The 1st picture is a smaller one and the 2nd a larger one from below. ID is very likely.

3. Unidentified.
Growing in a hedge bank. Cap 4-6cm. Really not sure about this one. Could be a Fibrecap (Inocybe) except it’s too big and they don’t generally have white gills. So more likely it’s a Lepiota but it doesn’t seem to fit with any of those either.

4. Unidentified.
Growing on pine needles. Cap 3-4cm. Smell sweet and mushroomy. This will be a struggle to identify.

5. Unidentified.
Growing on pine needles. Cap 3-4cm. Smell slight.

6. Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus).
Seem to be growing on very rotten wood. Ball 1-3cm. No smell. Immature Stinkhorns. Thought these were puffballs until I noticed a jelly patch on one, and then cut it in half. They’re like alien eggs inside! Shame I can’t come back in a week to see them in their full phallic glory.

7. The Deceiver (Laccaria laccata).
Growing on pine needles. Cap 1-3cm. No smell. ID is very likely.

8. Hairy Curtain Crust (Stereum hirsutum).
Growing on beech wood I think. No smell. Very tough.

9. Tawny Funnel (Lepista flaccida).
Growing on leaf litter. Cap 8-10cm. Sweet smell. Slight doubt about this id as I don’t think the centre of the cap is normally a dark colour. ID is very likely.

10. Goat Moth Wax Cap (Hygrophorus cossus).
Growing under oak and sycamore. Cap 3-6cm. Smell a bit unpleasant. Smell a bit unpleasant, although I really can’t swear that it smells like the larva of a Goat Moth. ID is very likely.

11. Lilac Bonnet (Mycena pura).
Cap 3-4cm. ID is very likely.

12. Unidentified.
Growing in grass near a holly tree. Cap 5cm.

13. Variable Oysterling (Crepidotus variabilis).
Growing on pine twigs and cones. Cap 1cm. ID is almost sure.

14. Unidentified.
Growing on pine needles. Lump 10cm. Very little smell. The mycelia seem to be growing on the needles and not associated with the tree itself, as it could easily be picked up with the needles attached. Can’t find anything like it in my books.

21st October 2013, My Garden

A mushroom I found growing under raspberries in the garden. (Haven’t heard of any fungi that are particularly keen to live with raspberries.) Haven’t managed to identify this one yet, but I’m going to try very hard, as it is a resident!


1. Unidentified.
Growing under raspberries. A few small groups. Cap 6cm. Growing under raspberries in my garden. Spores 8-10.5µ x 4-5µ.

20th October 2013, Breakfast from Ladywell Fields

Two lovely big Horse Mushrooms from Ladywell Fields. One small patch of ground has been producing these for over a month at the rate of about 4 per week. Usually they’re kicked over before they can get this big.


2. Horse Mushroom (Agaricus arvensis).
Growing in grass beside trees. Spores seem a bit too small for Horse Mushroom. One small patch of ground has been producing these for over a month at the rate of about 4 per week. Eaten. ID is very likely. Spores 5-6.5µ x 4-5.5µ. Spores seem a bit too small for Horse Mushroom.

18th October 2013, Broke Hill Golf Course

Golf courses can be good for mushrooms and this outing was a moderate success. Curiously the first 11 finds were all growing under a small parade of willows and birch about 30m long. I didn’t collect any edibles this time even though several of the finds were edible and easy to identify. I was hoping to find some Oak Milkcaps in a place I’ve seen them before, but no luck this time.


1. Unidentified.
Growing under type of willow (?) in moss. Cap 3-5cm. No smell.

2. Earthy Webcap (Cortinarius hinnuleus).
Growing under willow or some other broad leaf. Cap 2-4cm. Little Smell. Older ones flattened with umbo. Probably a Cortinarius of some kind but not sure which, perhaps Earthy Webcap. ID is wild guess.

3. Type of Webcap.
Cap 3cm. A webcap of some kind but hard to identify as there was only one specimen.

4. Pestle Puffball (Handkea excipuliformis).
Maybe 6cm head originally, plus 1cm baby ones. Very old example with maybe 6cm head originally, plus some very young baby ones (1cm).

5. Blushing Bolete (Leccinum roseofractum).
Growing under birch. Cap 6cm. ID is almost sure. Sporeprint brown. Spores 13-17.5µ x 5.5-7µ.

6. Grey Coral (Clavulina cinerea).
5cm. Edible apparently. ID is almost sure.

7. Ugly Milkcap (Lactarius turpis).
Growing under birch. Cap 8cm. Milk taste very hot and acrid. Spore sizes don't quite match book values, but not far off. ID is very likely. Sporeprint looked white to me but the book says very, very pale cream. Spores 6-7.5µ x 5-6µ. Spore sizes don't quite match book values, but not far off.

8. Unidentified.
Growing under birch. Cap 2cm. White cap.

10. Birch Brittlegill (Russula betularum).
Growing under birch. Cap 7cm. ID is fairly likely.

11. Brown Rollrim (Paxillus involutus).
Cap 8cm.

12. Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea).
Cap 5-10cm.

13. Unidentified.
Growing under hawthorn. Cap 2cm. Smell slightly sweet and perhaps a little aniseedy. Strange double-headed cap. Won’t be able to identify this as there were only two very young ones.

14. Lactarius controversus.
Cap 10-25cm. Milk taste mild then after 10 seconds becoming very hot. Spore size is much closer to Lactarius controversus than Fleecy Milkcap which has bigger spores. Huge! This could be Lactarius controversus or Fleecy Milkcap. Book says controversus grows under poplar or Salix repens and it seems to be growing under a different willow, but very unsure of my tree id. Some of them were very big, which inclines towards Fleecy Milkcap. But spore size swings it towards controversus. ID is very likely. Sporeprint white. Spores 5.5-7.5µ x 4.5-6µ. Spore size is much closer to Lactarius controversus than Fleecy Milkcap which has bigger spores.

15. Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).
Cap 8cm. A somewhat unusual find of fly agarics as none seemed to have those characterisitc white warts. But it can’t be anything else. Apparently the warts can be washed off by rain and that also makes the colour fade a little. ID is almost sure. Sporeprint white. Spores 9-10µ x 6.5-8µ.

16. Type of Agaricus.
Growing under yew? Very old specimen so not possible to identify.

17. Mycena mucor.
Growing on spruce debris. About 2mm across. The smallest mushroom in the world. ID is very likely.

18. Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea).
Much too old for eating.

19. Common Bonnet (Mycena galericulata).
Cap 4-6cm. ID is fairly likely.

20. Clouded Funnel (Clitocybe nebularis).

21. Jelly Ear (Auricularia auricula-judae).
One photo from above and one from below. ID is almost sure.

22. Blackening Brittlegill (Russula nigricans).
Cap 5cm. Spore size seems too big for Blackening Brittlegill. ID is guess. Sporeprint white, or possible very, very pale tan. Spores 9-10.5µ x 7-9.5µ. Spore size seems too big for Blackening Brittlegill.

23. Unidentified.
Cap 7cm.