Monthly Archives: November 2013

24th November 2013, Wepham Wood near Angmering

November presses on and December looms. Too late in the year for much chance of any fabulous fungi finds. A little more than I expected but mostly small brown mushrooms and other odds and ends. However there was a couple of very young Wood Blewits and also some really old ones (not sure about these). So I went hungry this time. Decided not to eat the blewits. Very young and very old specimens can be hard to identify with certainty.


1. Unidentified.
Growing on pine needles. Cap 3cm. Faint mushroomy smell.

2. Conifer Blueing Bracket (Postia caesia).
Growing on branches. Cap 2-3cm. Slight smell. Rubbery texture. ID is best guess.

3. Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare).
Growing on pine needles or wood.

4. Grooved Bonnet (Mycena polygramma).
Growing on needles and/or leaves. Cap 1-3cm. The book says this grows on twigs or buried wood, which I may not have noticed. Could otherwise be another type of Bonnet. ID is best guess.

5. Pale Brittlestem (Psathyrella candolleana).
Growing on log. Cap 3cm. No smell. This part of the wood was mainly pine trees and this species grows on decidous wood, but I still think this id is probably correct. ID is very likely.

6. The Deceiver (Laccaria laccata).
Growing on pine needles etc. Cap 2-5cm. No smell. ID is almost sure.

7. Bicoloured Deceiver (Laccaria bicolor).
Growing on beech leaves or ground or needles? Cap 2-5cm. Not much smell. Some caps with umbo. The wood had beech and pine trees which is exactly what this species likes, apparently. ID is almost sure.

8. Unidentified.
Growing on beech leaves or perhaps on ground. Cap 2-3cm. Slight mealy smell.

9. Lilac Bonnet (Mycena pura).
Growing under beech. Cap 2-4cm. ID is very likely.

10. Wood Blewit (Lepista nuda).
Cap 3cm. Perfumed smell. These are very young blewits.

11. Beech Milkcap (Lactarius blennius).
Growing on beech leaf litter. Cap 6cm. Smell slight, perhaps a bit fruity. Milk very acrid after seconds. Could be another type of milkcap but Beech Milkcap is most likely. ID is best guess.

12. Hares Foot Inkcap (Coprinus lagopus).
Cap 3-5cm. No smell. ID is almost sure.

13. Turkeytail (Trametes versicolor).
Growing on deciduous tree log.

14. Wood Blewit (Lepista nuda).
Growing under beech. Cap 10-18cm. Somewhat perfumed or decaying smell. These are most likely very old Blewits, having lost all their lilac colour with age, but hard to be sure. ID is best guess.

15. Clouded Funnel (Clitocybe nebularis).
Cap 6cm.

16. Gold Flecked Woodwax (Hygrophorus chrysodon).
Cap 8cm. Slight mealy smell. White cap with yellowish tint in middle but also a thin darker rim. Originally thought this was some other type of waxcap, but I now have a more comprehensive book and so can properly identify it, 4 years later!

17. Elfin Saddle (Helvella lacunosa).
At the time I thought this was a decrepit old White Saddle, but obviously not, as there’s this grey/black coloured saddle with a faerie name.

10th November 2013, My Garden in Catford

I saw lots of these Field Bird’s Nest in my garden pots last year, but didn’t really pay enough attention. This year there weren’t so many, but I had a good look. They’re amazing! (Not much doubt about why they’re called Bird’s Nests.) I’ve only ever seen them growing in a few of my pots, and I’m not sure why they pick one pot rather than another.


1. Field Birds Nest (Cyathus olla).
Growing in garden pot. 2cm across.

8th November 2013, Andrew’s Wood near Shoreham

This outing had 3 objectives: Ceps, Wood Blewits, and Wood Hedgehogs. I’ve found all of these in this wood at times, but never all three on the same trip. On this occasion I got them all except the Cep. The curious thing is that each of these species is located in their own tiny patch and nowhere else in this substantial wood. The Wood Blewits were only growing very close to fir trees which is a bit curious as they’re not supposed to have any tree species preference. The Wood Hedgehogs were very large – up to 14cm. I found them on the same spot last year but then they were very small. Shame about the Ceps. When I found them two years ago there were lots, but last year and this there were none. Another good find was the Wood Mushroom. I only ever seem to find these as single mushrooms which is a shame as they’re exceptionally tasty.

I’m delighted that I’ve made an identification for virtually all of my finds, even if some of them are a bit shaky! The least likely id is Stereum ostrea (22), but you never know…


1. Tripe Fungus (Auricularia mesenterica).
On dead oak (probably) branches. 2-3cm long. No smell. Jelly like. Never seen any fungus like this before! I think it must be a very young example of something that will enlarge and become lobed later. Something like Tripe Fungus or Witches Butter. ID is possible.

2. Purple Jellydisk (Ascocoryne sarcoides).
On dead oak (probably) branches. Single bits 1cm across, but clustered in groups. Rubbery. ID is fairly likely.

3. Wood Mushroom (Agaricus silvicola).
Under pine and oak. Cap 12cm. Smell sweet aniseed. Spores seem a bit too big for Wood Mushroom, but I'm still fairly sure of the ID. Single specimen only. Eaten. Sporeprint very dark purply black/brown. Spores 5.5-7µ x 4-5.5µ. Spores seem a bit too big for Wood Mushroom, but I'm still fairly sure of the ID.

4. Unidentified.
Growing on leaf litter. Cap 4-6cm. Slight mushroomy smell. Very variable appearance. Sporeprint white. Spores 7-9.5µ x 4-5µ.

5. Lilac Bonnet (Mycena pura).
Growing on leaf litter. Cap 5cm. Very slight meally smell. Not sure on the id but Lilac Bonnet is the closest I can find. ID is very likely.

6. Ochre Brittlegill (Russula ochroleuca).
Cap 4-7cm. ID is almost sure. Sporeprint white. Spores 8.5-10.5µ x 7-8.5µ.

7. Clouded Funnel (Clitocybe nebularis).
Growing on leaf litter close to rotting wood. Quite a lot of these in groups around the wood. Cap 7-11cm. Smell slight, sweet and pleasant. Very tough stem. Possibly Clouded Funnel except that I happened to notice that the stem was very tough and the Clouded Funnel should have an easily broken stem. ID is fairly likely. Sporeprint pale ochre. Spores 5.5-7.5µ x 3.5-5µ.

8. Jelly Rot (Phlebia tremellosa).
Growing on birch logs. Jelly Rot should have a white top which this doesn’t, however the underside looks exactly right. ID is fairly likely.

9. Ugly Milkcap (Lactarius turpis).
Growing on or through leaf litter around beech trees. Cap 7-10cm. No smell. ID is very likely.

10. Lemon Disco (Bisporella citrina).
Small yellow dots on rotting wood. This is an experiment with a narrow aperture. The 1st photo is macro auto-focus, and the 2nd is with an aperture of f/8. Neither is very successful. The 1st is only in focus for a narrow section (as expected) and the 2nd is has very deep focus depth but looks slightly out of focus everywhere. Could be that it was affected by a bit of hand shakiness.

11. Tawny Funnel (Lepista flaccida).
Growing on leaf litter under beech. Cap 8-10cm. Slight smell. ID is almost sure.

12. Butter Cap (Collybia butyracea).
Growing under beech. Slight mushroom smell. ID is almost sure. Sporeprint whiteish. Spores 5-7µ x 3-4.5µ.

13. White Saddle (Helvella crispa).
6-10cm high. No smell. 10cm is very tall for this species.

14. Rooting Shank (Xerula radicata).
No smell.

15. Unidentified.
12cm. A very old ugly thing.

16. Lactarius fluens.
Growing under beech. Cap 4-8cm. No smell. Milk tastes immediately hot. Not certain about this id, but seems likely. ID is fairly likely.

17. Common Puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum).
Including a rather rude looking one.

18. Wood Blewit (Lepista nuda).
Growing under fir and seemingly avoiding broad leaved trees. Cap 6-12cm. Smell perfumed. Eaten. Sporeprint very pale pinkish. Spores 7-8µ x 4.5-5.5µ.

19. Clouded Funnel (Clitocybe nebularis).
Cap 8-12cm.

20. Stump Puffball (Lycoperdon pyriforme).
Growing on rotting wood. 2-4cm.

21. Beige Coral (Clavulinopsis umbrinella).
Growing on ground. It looks like Beige Coral, although that is rare so might be something else. ID is best guess.

22. Stereum ostrea.
Growing on rotting wood (beech wood?). Cups 1-2cm. This looks exactly like Stereum ostrea but that’s most unlikely as Roger Phillips says it’s very rare with no confirmed British records. (But it does appear in greenhouses as it’s a tropical species.). ID is best guess.

23. Wood Hedgehog (Hydnum repandum).
Cap 7-14cm. Smell faint. Taste a little bitter after a moment. Eaten. Sporeprint white. Spores 6.5-8µ x 5-7µ.

24. Pestle Puffball (Handkea excipuliformis).
Growing in grass under trees. Up to 15cm high. Huge and impressive!

25. Coconut Milkcap (Lactarius glyciosmus).
Growing under birch. Cap 3-5cm. Smell was more fruity than coconutty but perhaps fruity is near enough. Milk tastes very mild. Slimy look is misleading as photo was taken just after a very heavy rain shower. Probably would have said this was a Grey Milkcap but that has hot acrid milk so it can’t be that. ID is fairly likely.

26. Purple Russula (Russula atropurpurea).
Growing under some kind of broad leaf tree, not sure which. Cap 6-8cm. No smell. Taste hot. ID is very likely.

3rd November 2013, Ladywell Fields

Found these large mushrooms growing in the grass beside an alder in the park. I feel that they should be related to the blewits due to the perfumed smell, but not sure which. Flowery Blewit is the closest match, although I found one that was 15cm across and 10cm is the largest width according to the books.


1. Flowery Blewit (Lepista irina).
Growing in grass near to alder. Cap 7-15cm. Perfumed blewit type smell. ID is fairly likely. Sporeprint pale tan. Spores 7-8.5µ x 4.5-5.5µ.

2. Shaggy Scalycap (Pholiota squarrosa).