25th April 2014, Woods and Fields in Cobham Park

There’s several items on my 2014 Fungal Action Plan:

  • Enhance the website.
  • Do much more with spore pictures and measurements.
  • Venture out more in Spring and Summer, not just Autumn.
  • Put effort into a proper survey of fungi in Ladywell Fields.
  • Become proficient in photoing mushrooms with new camera (Woo-hoo…, it’s an Olympus E-M5.)

So for a start I made a serious effort to find some St. Georges Mushrooms. (I’ve only found them once before – outside Wickes in Catford a few years ago, growing on a scrappy verge.) Traditionally it appears on St Georges day – 23rd April. This year the weather was quite dry for a week or two in mid April, but then it rained on the 20th and following days, so on the Friday I took a day in Cobham Park trying to find one. No luck, unfortunately. And nothing outside Wickes either. Maybe the extremely mild winter has confused it?

I did find three mushrooms of marginal quality. The Golden Scalycap was rather decrepit, but still it’s the first time I’ve seen it. The Cramp Ball is something I often see, and this time decided to take a picture.


1. Golden Scalycap (Pholiota aurivella).
Growing on end of large log. One. Cap 9cm. Not much smell. ID is almost sure. Spores 8-10µ x 5-6µ.

2. Cramp Balls (Daldinia concentrica).
Growing on oak logs. Several. Cap 2-6cm. Spores 12-15µ x 7-8µ.

3. Unidentified.
Growing on dead branch. Three. Cap 6-8cm. Faint mushroomy smell. Leathery top has concentric rings and bottom has soft crumbly white spines, but the big lump is a rather amorphous mass. Spores 7.5-8µ x 5.5-6µ.