Monthly Archives: November 2017

15th November 2017, Andrew’s Wood near Shoreham

The weather this autumn has been quite mild and dry, so I was hoping that a bit of rain in November would bring out some mushrooms, but there was very little to find in Andrew’s Wood on this foray. I particularly went here because I know it has Wood Blewits and they’re a late autumn species, but I didn’t find any. So only 6 finds in total, which is most disappointing.

There was just one species that I’ve not seen before, which was Conocybe velutipes, although the id is not certain as there are several very similar mushrooms. I did find more Stereum ostrea which is a controversial id, but I do find it on every visit that I make to this wood.


1. Stereum ostrea.
Growing on rotting beech branch. Many tiers of small brackets. Brackets up to 5cm across. Sweet fungus smell. Thin and papery. It's controversial to claim this is Stereum ostrea as it's a tropical species thought to be very rare in the wild in this country. However, I have found this species twice before in this wood, and there is no other id that I have been able to make. ID is best guess. Spores 10.5-14µ x 7-10µ.

2. Conocybe velutipes.
Growing through beech leaf litter. Two. Cap 2cm wide. Stem 10cm. No smell. Hairy stem base. Could easily be another very similar Conocybe instead, like C. apala or another. They're very hard to distinguish for certain. ID is possible. Spores 9.5-11µ x 6.5-8µ.

3. Trooping Funnel (Clitocybe geotropa).
Growing in mixed woods, mainly oak. Around a dozen growing in a 4m long arc. Cap 6-20cm. Perfumed mushroomy smell. Cap funnel shaped but also with umbo. Large bulb at the stem base. Sporeprint Whitish. Spores 5.5-7.5µ x 5-6µ.

4. Goblet Parachute (Marasmiellus vaillantii).
Clusters and groups on rotting branch. Around 20 in the whole group. Cap up to 1.7cm. Stem up to 1.5cm. No smell. ID is almost sure.

5. Butter Cap (Collybia butyracea).
Growing through leaf litter. Lots all around. Cap 2-6cm. Perfumed mushroomy smell. Cap is paler than usual for a Buttercap, but the smell and spore size make it more likely than Russet Toughshank. ID is very likely. Sporeprint White. Spores 5-7.5µ x 3-4.5µ.

6. Lactarius controversus.
Growing in grass/leaf litter under broad leafed tree. Troop of several. Cap up to 16cm. No smell. Exuded a little milk, which tasted mild then gradually became bitter. Fat stem. Found at the entrance to Broke Hill golf course. L. controversus grows with poplar or Salix repens. I wasn't sure of the tree id at the time, but that is possible. ID is almost sure. Sporeprint White. Spores 4.5-7µ x 4.5-5.5µ.

10th November 2017, Cobham Park

It’s quite late in the season, but full of optimism I ventured out to one of better venues for fungi that I know. Cobham Park is interesting because it’s the modern view of what lowland Britain used to look like before humans totally modified the landscape, i.e. open woodland with tree density reduced by the presence of large mammals (in this case highland cattle) wandering around, eating and trampling young trees. The theory is described in Oliver Rackham’s ‘Woodlands’, which I highly recommend.

As far as it goes for mushrooms, there was nothing very spectacular but when I got home and started identifying some of the finds it started to get quite interesting. Assuming that my identifications (some very tentative) are correct then I got eight species that I haven’t recorded before.

There were lots of small inkcap/brittlestem/mottlegill type mushrooms, of which I could only be bothered to record one species – Coprinellus hiascens. I suspect there were at least two other similar species there. Bitter Oysterling is quite a pretty mushroom, but I’m not familiar with it, otherwise I would have tasted it to check out the bitter taste. I always get a frisson from finding deadly mushrooms so Funeral Bell is a great one to come across – one of the most poisonous species in the country – quite pretty as well. Yellow Brain is only small but very striking – the name is so evocative that I’d been looking out for it for years. Macrolepiota mastoidea is another find to add to my list of parasol type mushrooms and the breast shape is very distinctive. I’m surprised that I hadn’t recorded Trooping Funnel  before. I tend not to get very excited about these largish whitish funnels so perhaps I’d previously seen and ignored it, although it is edible so I might bear that in mind next time. The other new finds were Iodine Bonnet and Conocybe exannulata although both of these are very speculative.

Apart from the mushrooms I also found two other fungi: Cobham Park has a lot of cow pats and I’m always expecting to find fungi on them but never do. So when I saw the small orange spots I decided to take an interest. Cheilymenia granulate is quite boring really, but gets more interesting when magnified. And when I was looking at one of those pictures at high magnification I noticed anther interesting artefact: Hat Thrower Fungus. These are a fraction of a millimetre across, with a black dot on top of sac of fluid on a stalk. I can’t see a stalk below the fluid sac, due to angle of shot, but presumably it’s there. When the fluid sac bursts the black dot is thrown forward at incredible speed, travelling up to 2m.


1. Coprinellus hiascens.
Growing on soil amongst grass in very open woodland. Several scattered singly. Cap 2cm, stem 7cm. Slight fungus smell. Very fragile. Really could be any one of many similar looking mushroom. Opting for C.hiascens because it looks right, has the right spores and habitat is exactly correct. ID is possible. Spores 7-9µ x 5.5-6.5µ.

2. Yellow Brain (Calocera viscosa).
Growing on ash tree twig. A few clumps on the twig. Around 1cm across. No smell.

3. Conocybe exannulata.
Growing in earth amongst grass near to ash tree. Two. Cap 3cm. No smell. Small bulge in stem. Identification is somewhat doubtful, but this is the closest I can find. ID is wild guess. Spores 7-8µ x 5-6.5µ.

4. Unidentified.
Growing in earth amongst grass. Several scattered around. Cap up to 7mm across. No smell. I've given up trying to identify these as they all looked like young specimens which doesn't give enough information. Spores 9-10µ x 5.5-7.5µ.

5. Candlesnuff Fungus (Xylaria hypoxylon).
Appeared to be growing from earth but think they were on buried wood as they were very firmly rooted. A few scattered around. Up to 4cm high. No smell. This must be Candlesnuff, although I've not heard of it ever growing on buried wood rather than just wood.

6. Iodine Bonnet (Mycena filopes).
Growing on buried twig. Two. Cap around 5mm, stem up to 6cm. No definite smell. Identification is very tentative. There was no iodine smell that I noticed, and the size is rather small. But the woolly base and long stem are right. The caps I collected didn't produce spores which doesn't help. ID is wild guess.

7. Bitter Oysterling (Panellus stipticus).
Growing on fallen trunk. Many large clusters. Rosettes up to 3cm across. Fungusy smell. Didn't taste them, but next time I will to see how bitter they are. Short rudimentary stems. Spores are actually supposed to be smaller than I measured, but my measurement technique probably overestimates the size of small spores a bit. Sporeprint Not enough to be sure, but whitish. Spores 3.5-5µ x 2.5-4µ.

8. Funeral Bell (Galerina marginata).
Growing on rotting oak branch. Several scattered. Cap up to 3.5cm. Slight fungus smell. Did not taste, fortunately, as deadly poisonous. Hemispherical. ID is almost sure. Sporeprint Pale reddish brown. Spores 7-9µ x 5-6µ.

9. Trooping Funnel (Clitocybe geotropa).
Growing through leaf litter under oak in open woodland. Two or three scattered. Cap 14-20cm. Mild sweet fungusy smell. Sporeprint White. Spores 6-7.5µ x 5.5-7µ.

10. Horse Mushroom (Agaricus arvensis).
Growing through grass under large ash tree in open woodland. Several scattered in a group. Cap 3.5-8cm but mostly young. Slight smell. I didn't think these were Horse Mushrooms at first, due to lack of almondy smell, but this now seems the most likely identification. ID is best guess. Sporeprint Dark chocolate brown. Spores 6-7.5µ x 4.5-5.5µ.

11. Lepista sordida.
Growing in grass in large clearing in wood. Several small groups. Cap up to 4cm. No smell. Look at the wierd forking stem on one of the specimens - never seen that before! ID is almost sure. Sporeprint Not enough to be sure, but whitish. Spores 5-6.5µ x 3.5-4.5µ.

12. Macrolepiota mastoidea.
Growing on earth amongst grass in open woodland. A few, scattered separately through the wood. Cap around 10.5cm. Stem 12cm. No smell. Guess what the latin name means! Sporeprint White. Spores 10-13.5µ x 6.5-9µ.

13. Lilac Bonnet (Mycena pura).
Growing on earth in open mixed woodland. Two. Cap 3.5-4cm. Raw potato or radish (which smell the same to me). This is my most recorded mushroom species, so I'll give a miss next time. It's hard to ignore as it's so colourful. ID is almost sure. Sporeprint White. Spores 5.5-8µ x 4-5.5µ.

14. Unidentified.
Growing on earth in woodland clearing. Two or three. Cap 3.5cm-5cm. Stem up to 7cm. No smell. Cap has gold/brown tinge, stem has hint of blue. Despite its distinctive look, I just can't identify this. Could be a Pholiota or a Psilocybe but I can't get any of them to fit, even remotely. Sporeprint Terracota. Spores 5.5-8µ x 4-5.5µ.

15. Cheilymenia granulata.
Growing on cow pats. Large swarms of small discs. Each disc up to 2mm across. Not in any of my books and not very interesting to look at until magnified, but then starts to take on an almost extraterrestrial appearance. ID is almost sure.

16. Hat Thrower Fungus (Pilobolus).
Growing on cow pat. Fraction of a millimetre across. Black dot on top of sac of fluid on a stalk. Can't see a stalk below the fluid sac, due to angle of shot, but presumably it's there.