10th October 2017, Joydens Wood

This was my first visit to Joydens Wood. It’s an ancient woodland so should be a happy hunting ground for fungi, but was unfortunately vandalised by the Forestry Commission onwards from the 50’s. (They cleared existing flora and planted alien tree species/varieties.) But it’s now in recovery…

I honestly didn’t find many mushrooms. The habitat has a lot of variety with many different tree species scattered throughout, so should be good, but something with the weather this year must have discouraged them.

No matter, there is some advantage in not finding any striking distinctive mushrooms, in that I pay more attention to the drab boring ones! So Wood Woollyfoot (assuming that my identification is correct) is one of the most common species but not recorded by me before. Then there’s lots of different Bonnets and they all look fairly similar, but Angels Bonnet is new one for me and quite striking in the way it has grown in a curve around its branch. Pluteus cinereofuscus is just a moderately unimpressive looking type of Shield but it only took me 20 minutes to identify (at home) so I must be getting better at this. I wouldn’t normally bother with Sulphur Tuft or Brick Tuft as they’re so common but beggars can’t be choosers. The Sulphur Tufts were much prettier than usual. The Charcoal Burner wasn’t in the woods but beside the busy North Cray Road. I tasted a small part of this one (as the mildness or heat can be important for identification) and it was mild and quite nice. I need to pay more attention to Russulas as this one is good to eat according to my books.


1. Stump Puffball (Lycoperdon pyriforme).
Growing in big clusters on rotting logs. Lots of clusters. Up to 4.5cm across. No smell. Sporeprint Dark grey brown. Spores 4-5.5µ x 3.5-4.5µ.

2. Unidentified.
Growing beside rotting log, on soil/humus or maybe buried wood. Lots scattered in small area. Cap up to 1cm across, stem up to 3cm long. Faint smell, perhaps fungusy. Poor pictures as the mushrooms were in a dark place on a dark day under thick dark tree cover! I've given up on identification due to poor pictures and lack of distinctive features. Sporeprint Whitish but not enough to be sure. Spores 6.5-8µ x 5-6.5µ.

3. Pluteus cinereofuscus.
Growing on rotting log. One. Cap 2.5cm, stem 3cm. No smell. Striate cap. It's hard to discriminate between the various types of small Shield, especially when there's only one specimen, but P.cinereofuscus is likely. ID is fairly likely. Sporeprint Pale terracota. Spores 6-7.5µ x 5-6.5µ.

4. Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare).
Growing on large rotting log in clusters. Lots of clusters. No smell. I photographed the perfect looking young specimens, before their spreading and flattening. Sporeprint Dark grey brown. Spores 5-6.5µ x 4-5µ.

5. Brick Tuft (Hypholoma lateritium).
Growing on rotting log. Some clusters. These had caps up to 2cm across but I think they're very young specimens. No smell. Very young specimens so still covered with veil material. ID is very likely. Spores 5-6µ x 3-4.5µ.

6. Wood Woollyfoot (Collybia peronata).
Growing through needle litter under pines. Several single mushrooms dotted around separately. Cap 3cm, stem 6cm. Slight fungusy smell. Very woolly foot. This doesn't look so much like the pictures of Wood Woollyfoot that I've seen but it is a variable species and these do have very woolly feet! ID is fairly likely. Sporeprint Whitish but not enough to be sure. Spores 6.5-9µ x 4-5.5µ.

7. Angels Bonnet (Mycena arcangeliana).
Growing on dead branch. Big clusters. Cap up to 1.5cm across. No smell. Quite woolly foot. Could be another type of bonnet, but Angels Bonnet is the most likely. ID is very likely. Sporeprint Whitish but not enough to be sure. Spores 5.5-8µ x 4.5-6µ.

8. Charcoal Burner (Russula cyanoxantha).
Growing through grass near to beech tree. A few scattered around. Cap 4cm, stem very short. Hardly any smell, perhaps fruity. Old decrepit ones smelt of fish. Very mild taste. I think these were young, as the stems were still quite short. ID is almost sure. Sporeprint Whitish. Spores 6.5-7.5µ x 5-6.5µ.