The Lyons Share

Another day out with the West Weald Fungi Recording Group and another day where I saw dozens of new species. In fact, I added 24 new fungi yesterday. This time we were out of the county up in the Surrey Hills at Norbury Park and I was pleased to start chipping away at the dull brown fungi that I usually walk away from. However, I think the star of the show was the fantastically named Plums and Custard above.

This Lactarius bled orange milk. Found beneath spruces, this was the False Saffron Milkcap (correction, this is actually the Saffron Milkcap, or if you like, the False False Saffron Milkcap!)

And this is probably the Orange Milkcap (correction - this is actually the Tawny Milkcap) but needs confirming (see, I told you!). This one was growing in chalk-grassland rich in Common Rock-rose. Apparently, there are a number of fungi associated with this plant that occur at Norbury Park but I don't think this was one of them.

This huge fungus is one of the cavaliers but lacks an English name. It's Melanoleuca grammopodia.

Elfin Saddles are always good value. How many faces can you see in this one!?

My favourite photo of the day though was of these Agaricus phaeolepidotus. Due to an odd trick with the depth of field and the lighting, it looks photo-shopped! It's not at all but I also like how it looks like something off Strictly Come Dancing!

The list of species was vast, not just the new ones either. We saw Dog Stinkhorn, Collared Earthstar, Sessile Earthstar, Verdigris Roundhead, Black Bulgar, Stinking Dapperling, Poisonpie, Wood Woolyfoot (see below) and the ridiculously named Chicken Run Funnel among many, many more. So, with all this fungus madness and the leaf-miners Tony has been helping me with, I'm on 4659 species. A massive thank you to the WWFRG, particularly Ray Tantrum for being so helpful. 

Another flash flood occurred at Woods Mill on Monday and have learnt through observation where vast amounts of flood debris gathers there. A field gate sits right in the middle of the debris zone, well in fact most of the flood debris is captured by the fence. In the small gap between the gate and the gate post, large numbers of invertebrates gather for a short time there before dispersing. I have found that if there are invertebrates there, then there are even more in the surrounding litter but I was amazed at how many were there this time. I spent about 30 minutes sieving and gathering specimens. In no particular order, here is the list so far, those in bold are new for me.

Beetles

Nebria brevicollis                      5

Poecilus cupreus                       1

Clivina fossor                           1

Pterostichus diligens                 3

Philonthus cognatus                 2

Agriotes lineatus                       2

Bembidion obtusum                7

Amara communis                     2

Amara lunicollis                      5

Cassida rubiginosa                    1

Stenus bimaculatus                    1

Quedius levicollis                       1

Psammoecus bipunctatus          1

Notiophilus biguttatus               2

Bembidion properans                 2

Rugilus erichsoni                     1 (male gen det)

Megasternum conccinum         1

Stenus ossium                           1 (male gen det)

Lathrobium longulum             1 (male gen det)

Philonthus carbonarius            10 (2 males gen det)

Philonthus cruenatus                1

Quedius semiobscurus               1

Philonthus albipes                   1

Spiders

Centromerita bicolor               3 (males gen det)

Pachygnatha degeeri                Many

Pachygnatha clercki                 1

Walckenaeria acuminata          1 female

None of the 8 beetles new to me could be considered scarce but I find it amazing that only a few metres from my office I can find so many new species with so little effort. I mean, my beetle list currently stands at 636 species and I work this site regularly. I think this shows two things. One is that 636 is only about 13.5% of the UK fauna, I'm still only scratching the surface. The other is that flood debris is a great way of finding invertebrates from a whole portion of a catchment in one small area. I'll be going back after the next flood!

Over the last couple of weeks, I've really got back into fungi, adding 32 species since the start of October. I had a great day yesterday with the West Weald Fungus Recording Group at the Mens. I added 15 new fungi and nine new leaf-miners (thanks to Tony Davis). So, I'll start with the showiest of the lot, the Veiled Oyster. We only saw one of these.

Not a rare one at all but many common fungi are still new to me, this is the Clustered Bonnet.

And along with Saffrondrop Bonnets, which are everywhere in the Mens and Ebernoe, we have the Burgundydrop Bonnet shown below.

'Self founds' are always the best though and yet again I managed to find something new minutes after talking about it. I was asking one of the recorders about Beechmast Candlesnuff and he said he had only seen it twice in 30 years of recording, mostly down to the fact that you have to specifically look for it as it's so small. I turned over a log to look for inverts and there was Beeechmast Candlesnuff! This is a tiny fungus, only a fraction of a millimetre in diameter.

I also found these tiny Slender Clubs, another new one for me.

But the species that Barry Hughes got most excited about was this probable Lactarius romagnesi. This one will need to be confirmed though. Not the best photo as the light was really poor under the Holly at times. I also had a taste of the milk of Fiery Milkcap, quite unpleasant.

These odd Stump Puffballs were also new for me but I am sure I have seen these before.

Here we have a single Dead Man's Finger.

Other highlights included Jellybabies, Crystal Brain, Magpie Inkcaps, White Saddles, Sulphur Knights, and Spectacular Rustgills. A huge thank you to Barry Hughes and the recording group and the rest of the Sussex gang for a great day out, you really are mushrooms to be with! I never did get that joke.

I've had a few other nice self found fungi ticks recently too, including these TINY Holly Parachutes at Ebernoe. They actually grow out of decomposing Holly leaves.

And nearby on Ebernoe Cricket Pitch there has been a number of Orange Grisettes, I like the stipe.

So I end the day on 4608 species and my fungi list has reached 241. I'm thinking I might have to start taking fungi more seriously and get into spores...

If you look really closely in the above photo, you might just be able to make out Cornish Elm. Yesterday I found myself thundering down the M5 with Mark Telfer, Neil Fletcher and Seth Gibson to, at very short notice, twitch the Hermit Thrush down at Porthgwarra. It put up a fight and we didn't see it for two hours or so, so it was all the better when it did show some five hours after being last seen. Prolonged views were had by all. I threw coffee all over myself and was only part way through my pasty when the inconsiderate bird appeared. It was indeed a pretty little thing. However, I was really surprised when I saw the above photo to see how small Mark's arms appear in relation to his head.

We called in VERY briefly at Penzance to see the beautiful Maidenhair Fern. So quickly that I forgot to take a photo. Several donuts later around B&Q car park and the immature Rose-coloured Starling was nowhere to be seen. I was itching to get down to the seafront and turn some stones over so we headed to Longrock Beach. I attempted to search for the White-rumped Sandpiper but my heart wasn't in it and I had non-avian ticks on the mind. Seth, scopeless, was already on the beach where he found these amazing Blue-rayed Limpets. A stunning species I have wanted to see for years. Grey Top Shells were also present.

Hope you don't mind me using your photo Mark!

I turned over some stones and found a very cool looking coastal staph called Cafius xantholoma that Mark identified. Also nearby was a cool little red linyphiid I identified called Ostearius melanopgyius also new for me. Mark found three specimens of a very scarce snail known as the White Snail Theba pisana. 

Mark also showed me a few slugs, I still struggle to be interested in them. The thing that has got me most excited though was a specimen I collected from under a stone Seth turned over. It certainly didn't look like anything I had seen before and after dismissing the orb-weavers, I realised it was a well marked theridiid. It soon dawned on me that it was one of the more interesting Enoplognathas and after a few frantic emails back and forth to Peter Harvey today, he told me it is unfortunately not yet quite mature. No wonder I struggled to match it up to a species. It would seem that the most likely option is that it is Enoplognatha oelandica, which is RDB3 and would perhaps be new to Cornwall. If it's not that, it might even be more interesting. Here's the problem. I might have to keep it alive as long as May/June for it to reach maturity. So you might be watching this space for quite a while yet.

A massive thank you, particularly to Neil for driving all that way, that takes real stamina. The exchange of species during these encounters with other listers is thrilling, I really enjoy these times. Salad days indeed.

So I added at least 10 species, ate one Cornish pasty, watched a grown man lose it over a cloud formation (it was a VERY cool cloud formation), travelled for 15 hours over 600 miles to spend five hours in Cornwall but loved every minute of it and ended the day with this photo at a service station. What are the chances of that?! So where we going next?

Has to be the most awesome name for a fungus. I am fairly confident that this little fungus that I found on tightly grazed chalk-grassland at Seaford Head on Sunday is a Mousepee Pinkgill. It did smell funny but I must admit that I don't know what mousepee smells like. The fact that the stem bruised a strong blue-green seems to be a good identification feature as does the habitat. Just a quick one, busy day tomorrow...

When attending field trips, it's usually a good idea to start at the correct meeting point. I usually stand by this advice but yesterday I found myself in the wrong car park and missed the BBS field trip to Seaford Head. Rather than head home with my tail between my legs, I headed down to Hope Gap to see what I could see. Having recently developed an interest in leaf-mines, I was keeping an eye out for any species of plant that I knew might have something lepidopteran in them. It didn't take long to find Caloptilia syringella on Wild Privet. I then picked up a mine from Agrimony but it wasn't until I got home that I realised I had picked up something interesting...

...a sinuous gallery becoming a blotch mine with the pupae remaining inside the blotch on Agrimony keys it out to Ectoedemia agrimoniae. The fact that the cocoon is lilac is a further clincher, and was quite a surprise when I opened the leaf up. Now the cool thing about this moth is that it is pRDB3 but has not been seen in Sussex since 1906 at the latest! It was then only ever known from Abbot's Wood. How cool is that?! I've only been doing leaf miners for three days and have only seen nine species. It just goes to show that there are good things to be found EVERYWHERE in Sussex but also that there are relatively few people recording difficult groups here too! October continues to be one of the best months this year for me and I end the day on 4569 species.

Thanks to a tip off by Steve Gale I was luck enough to catch up with yet another novelty alien fungus up in Surrey, the Red Cage Clathrus ruber. It was however already way beyond its best and was looking a little deflated by yesterday morning. Not all that different to the closely related actor Nicolas Cage Clathrus crapactor, also beyond his best, here he is expressing joy at discovering a rare leaf-miner on the set of the latest David Lynch film, 'Pan-species Listing: The Movie'. Early reviews suggest Cage's performance is lacklustre and that he wasn't even looking AT the leaf in this scene! 

Anyway, I met up there with Seth Gibson and as we both had the day off work, we headed into the field to see all manor of interesting things. We went back to the Aseroe site, as Seth hadn't been over to look at the freaky Starfish Fungi of which we saw many, including this one that was just opening up. It didn't smell at all compared to the ones I saw last week. I agree that Anemone Fungi works better.

Whilst trying to identify a webcap (as if!), I stumbled upon a fungus which was a tick for both of us. The rather smart Earpick Fungus that grows out of decomposing pine cones. Once you get your eye in there are loads there.

Seth is really good on leaf miners, an area of natural history I am ashamed to say I have not really ventured into. Seth showed me this Stigmella tityrella mine on Beech. You can see the larvae still feeding at the end of the mine. I can't believe this is the first Stigmella I have ticked! With very little effort, I saw four new moths, all very common. This is a vast reservoir of species that I am now a little more inspired to access. Thanks Seth!

We also found lots of the alien Girdled Snail which was a new one for me.

And this common but distinctive millipede was also a tick being Nanogona polydesmoides.

I must do more of this sort of thing. So far Seth added 10 new species from the day and I added 11 which I guess is about even. I ended the day on 4559 species. It's good for making me aware of how much stuff I miss right under my nose! I'll happily host next time somewhere in Sussex anytime any of the listers fancy a day out and I'm free!

I've been out to Ladys Winkins again today with my good friend Howard Matcham and his sidekick, Barney the dog. I saw lots of cool species and added at least four new fungi and one very rare moss. First up we saw loads of these Sessile Earthstars, the first earthstar I have seen other than the common Collared Earthstar.

Howard found these Foetid Parachutes in the area a few days ago and I was glad to refind them as this is quite a scarce species. It really does smell bad, like rotting cabbages.

These Cucumber Caps smelled a little more refreshing of, you've guessed it, cucumber. Another new species for me. A specialist of wood chip piles.

This Rooting Shank is a relatively common species that has passed me by until now.

By far the rarest thing we saw though was this moss that was actually discovered new to Britain by Howard and Barney this year! It's Ditrichum pallidum and is not even the books yet! I'm only the third person to see it in the UK.

I also saw lots of other interesting species that I rarely come across like Magpie Inkcaps, Lapidary Snails, Golden Scalycaps and Nut-tree Tussock larvae. Also, this is only the second time I have seen Dog Stinkhorn. There were at least 20 fruiting in one small area.

Always nice to see White Saddles too.

And of course none of this could have been possible without Howard and his owner Barney. A big thanks to them both for getting me back into fungi today!

This was the first fish I caught yesterday whilst rock pooling at St Mary's Lighthouse and I soon realised I was looking at a young Lumpsucker Cyclopterus lumpus!!! It was only the size of a pea but there is no other possibility with the shape and the suction cup underneath. I have wanted to see this fish ever since I bought a guide to the sea shore when I was on holiday in Wales as a kid. If you look at the UK distribution on the NBN Gateway, it is well known from this stretch of the English coast line. In cellebration of my little Lumpsucker, have a listen to this.

I wasn't completely sure so I wanted to rule out Montagu's Sea Snail so I googled a few images of this species before carrying on dipping. Guess what the next fish I pulled out was?!

I watched the Montagu's Sea Snail change colour from an almost yellow to a dark brown in a matter of seconds.

I caught one wrasse which in the field I thought was Rock Cook but in hindsight I think this one is likely to be a young Ballan Wrasse, Rock Cook is very much a west coast thing and it doesn't have the right amount of spines on the anal fin. Quite obviously not the Corkwing that we see down south but as with the other two fish, I only caught one of this species. There are records of Ballen from St Mary's too so I'm happy with that.

There are also records there for this attractive goby, the Two-spot Goby which is highly distinctive to do with the spot at the base of the tail.

And this little fellow which I believe to be either a young gurnard or a dragonet as some people have pointed out. Either way these are difficult groups of species as adults so I won't be getting it to species. It was very small, barely a cm long but as soon as I put it in the tray it went from looking like a typical fry to this amazing little fish. I wish I could confidently say what it was. Most of the fish I saw were very small, making some identification a challenge. The largest (and most abundant) fish I saw was a Shanny. The only other fish I saw more than one of was the Butterfish.

Here is the full list of fish.

Words cannot describe how awesome this was. Every time I put the net I was pulling out something new! Despite driving rain off the north sea, I was loving every minute. Interestingly I must have started on the best bits because at one stage all I was pulling out were Shannys, I think I must have gained altitude slightly without realising. I'll definitely be having a look there every visit up to Whitley Bay, with an ecosystem that resets itself EVERY twelve hours, you can't afford to miss an opportunity!