This was a quick visit, and I was mainly hoping to find some edible mushrooms that I’d found in previous years – False Saffron Milkcap and The Prince. No such luck. But my eye was caught by a few Psathyrellas.

The Psathyrella tephrophylla was striking in its abundance with hundreds of conical mushrooms scattered over a small area of grass not far from the castle. The Psathyrella pseudogracilis is a very tentative identification. The mushroom looks distinctive and the ones I found around the grounds were all quite similar, but I can’t find a very good fit for its small non-striate dark brown cap and tall stem.

I’ve been neglecting Ladywell Fields this year, after my big survey last year, but thought I’d better have a quick look around. There wasn’t much around but I took some pictures of two finds.

The Agaricus altipes is a very uncertain identification. They were growing under some conifers about 1-2 metres from the site of some other Agaricus mushrooms that I found last year. This year’s and last year’s finds were similar in some ways and not very similar in others, although the spores do look identical. Those ones I provisionally identified as A. gennadii, although actually I’m having severe doubts about that now. So these ones I’ve recorded as A. altipes and I’ll probably go back to the others and re-assign them. Both species are quite rare and so not very likely to be found, but the cap colour (white), habitat (under conifers) and spore size (6-8µ  x 5-6.5µ) reduces the possibilities quite a lot. They might even be A. bitorquis, which is fairly common in the park, although I doubt it since I didn’t see a double ring.

Last year I went on an organised fungus foray in Beckenham Place Park which was great fun and quite informative. This year I’ve just been too busy, which is a bit sad. I must try harder. But anyway, for me the highlight of that visit was the earthstars growing under some cypress trees. Beckenham Place Park is good for fungi generally, although I’ve not visited recently. I was there about 15 years ago and found a delicious Wood Mushroom, and also a Liberty Cap (the only time I’ve ever found that species). But on my cycle ride back from Hayes Common I was determined to pop in and see if I could find the earthstars again.

So, success! There was a couple of Striate Earthstars under those cypresses, plus several old casings. If I hadn’t known they were there I’d have probably missed them. The first picture shows how hard they can be to find when the star’s been covered by leaves. (The last two photos were taken with a small aperture and long exposure, in order to give a greater depth of focus, and I like the pictures although they have an overall kind of celluloid, unreal, quality.) Why do I never find any earthstars around and about? Either they’re quite rare, or hard to spot, or my eye isn’t attuned.

I’d never thought of going to Hayes Common before, but had to visit John’s college in Hayes in the morning so decided to explore the common afterwards. It seems to have a long history as a mix of heath/woodland so was quite hopeful to find some mushrooms…, and I wasn’t disappointed. Seven species that I’d not found before: Lilac Pinkgill, Fleecy Fibrecap, Tawny Grisette, Laccaria striatula, Snowy Waxcap, Hygrocybe helobia, Conifer Tuft. I have to admit some of my identifications are uncertain but that often happens with new finds. Apart from these I also found a Russula that smelt strongly of ripe cheese! It must be either Camembert Brittlegill or Sepia Brittlegill, but no pictures unfortunately.

I’ve come to love Waxcaps with their bright colours and slightly cartoonish appearance, so it was nice to find Snowy Waxcap and Hygrocybe helobia. Snowy Waxcap is good to eat and I must try it the next time. Formerly I never found any Waxcaps, tramping around woods as I did, but now that I’ve broadened my habitats to include unimproved grassland, I find loads. (But not in Ladywell fields.) Here, all the Waxcaps and some other fungi were in a small patch of grass around the main crossroads, which was a little surprising. Perhaps that same patch of grass has been there for hundreds of years.

Tawny Grisette is a large attractive looking Amanita which I’m surprised not to have seen before as it’s common and there were quite a few around. It claims to be edible but I can’t see myself eating any of those nefarious Amanitas anytime soon. Today my favourite find was perhaps Laccaria striatula which I think should be called the ‘Stripey Orange Deceiver’. I don’t generally much like Deceivers but this one has a pleasing kind of frozen craggy look.

Oaken Wood is an ancient woodland over 400 years old with lots of sweet chestnut coppice. Recently planning permission was controversially granted to turn a large part of it into a ragstone quarry. When I was there I did indeed see a huge cleared area in the wood that was being actively excavated by many diggers.

In the past I’ve not found sweet chestnut to be a very good fungal companion but there was quite a lot of other tree types. The chestnuts were mainly accompanied by many and various Deceivers. I often don’t record these since they’re common and a bit boring, but really I should try to record a complete collection. The Deceiver that I recorded here is a somewhat doubtful identification because it looks like an Amethyst Deceiver but the spores are too small for that. So perhaps I photographed Amethyst Deceiver but collected spores from The Deceiver.

Anyway, I still found a lot of new (to me) species: Trumpet Chanterelle, Lepiota felina, Blushing Wood Mushroom, Common Birds Nest, Magpie Inkcap, Veiled Poisonpie and Macrolepiota konradii. It’s a bit surprising how often I still find common species for the first time, although sometimes I see something common but just can’t be bothered to record it. I keep seeing Brickcaps, which is very common, and I really should take some pictures for my collection. Also Poisonpies I see quite often and recognise them immediately, but I hadn’t previous realised that there are quite a few separate species.

The Trumpet Chanterelle was very attractive and if I see it again then I’ll collect a few to eat. There’s quite a few Agaricus mushrooms similar to Blushing Wood Mushroom and I tend to lump them all together under the heading of The Prince, but I need to pay more attention. They’re all edible and tasty so no problem there. Lactarius controversus infected by Hypomyces lateritius was a strange find. I didn’t know what to make of it at first but after quite a lot of internet searching I finally managed to work out what was going on with its weirdly disintegrated gills. The big Magpie Inkcap at 35cm high is the tallest mushroom that I’ve ever found! Unfortunately it was quite thoroughly deliquesced and I didn’t get a great picture of it.