Monthly Archives: August 2015

29th August 2015, Brooklands Pleasure Grounds, Lancing

The drought is over and autumn is here!

There used to be a small riding outfit at Booklands before it decamped a year or so ago. Their old paddock has lots of muddy rotted wood chips and sawdust – very good for our fungal brethren. Without trying very hard I found 9 different mushroom species, some in the old paddock and some around and about. There were lots of big Deer Shields, which I’ve seen here before from a distance, but this time I closed in and took some pics. The Yellow Shield is a new find for me. There was an interesting white mushroom that doesn’t seem to fit any species I can find – it’s very white with a tiny coloured umbo, and white spore print. Can’t be a Clitopilus (spore print pink) and either doesn’t look like, or doesn’t have the right habitat for, any of the Clitocybes. It’s the second place that I’ve found Agaricus gennadii which Roger Phillips says is very rare so perhaps I’m misidentifying it? Other finds were Field Mushroom, Fairy Inkcap, Coprinus silvaticus, Clustered Toughshank, the last two also being new species finds for me.

I was using Breda’s camera so the photos aren’t great – tending to be a bit over-exposed. (Can digital photos be over-exposed?… white-overloaded anyway.)


1. Field Mushroom (Agaricus campestris).
Growing on grass amongst scattered oak and poplar trees. Several scattered around. Cap 3-5cm. Pleasant mushroom smell. Gills pink on unopened buttons, brown on older open caps. ID is fairly likely. Sporeprint Dark brown.

2. Unidentified.
Growing on earth/wood debris amongst grass. Growing in troop and sometimes clustered. Cap 1-6cm. Short stem 1-2cm. Smell mushroomy, slightly sweet, almond. Rim inrolled on small caps, small slightly yellow coloured umbo, brown flecks on some stems. Can’t be a Clitopilus (spore print pink) and either doesn’t look like, or doesn’t have the right habitat for, any of the Clitocybes. Sporeprint white.

3. Coprinus silvaticus.
Growing on earth/wood debris amongst grass. Several scattered around. Cap 0.5-3cm wide and about the same high, on young ones. No smell. Not totally sure that the old flat ones are the same species as the young ones, but seems likely. ID is fairly likely. Sporeprint black.

4. Yellow Shield (Pluteus chrysophaeus).
Growing on old straw or wood chips. Several scattered around. Cap 1-3cm, stem 2-5cm. No smell. Could be another type of Pluteus but Yellow Shield seems most likely. ID is fairly likely. Sporeprint Pale brown.

5. Deer Shield (Pluteus cervinus).
Growing on earth/old straw/wood debris. Many scattered and clustered. Cap 6-12cm. Smell earthy. Gills first white then pinkish tan. ID is almost sure. Sporeprint pink/flesh coloured.

6. Clustered Toughshank (Collybia confluens).
Apparently growing on old sawdust but amongst leaf litter. Several large clusters. Cap 1-5cm. Smell musty/mousey. Wrinkled/lined caps. Clustered Toughshank is supposed to have compressed stems which these didn't seem to have, but otherwise they look exactly right. ID is almost sure. Sporeprint white.

7. Fairy Inkcap (Coprinus disseminatus).
Growing on earth amongst sawdust/wood debris. A few large clusters. Tiny cap up to 8mm. Mashed up they had a slightly mushroomy smell. Tiny mushrooms - photos make them look bigger than they actually were. Sporeprint blackish brown.

8. Agaricus gennadii.
Growing under larch trees. Several scattered around. Cap 5-10cm. Somewhat chemically smell. Roger Phillips says this is very rare. ID is very likely. Sporeprint dark brown.