There's not mushroom for anymore fungi at Ebernoe Common...

...yet we managed just that on the course I ran there on the 8th November. This is the third year I have ran the 'introduction to fungi' course there and despite a huge site list, we usually find something new there. The aim of the course is to show the limits of what can be done without microscopy. After a brief indoor session talking the attendees through the anatomy of fungi, we headed out onto the site. In 2016 we recorded around 50 species in the field, last year it was 60. This year it was a little less at just over 40 due to the dry autumn. It is perhaps a little unfair that some of the most exciting species were identified after the course but I will start with one of them as it was so striking.

First up we have a fungus with a conservation status. Not new to Ebernoe (last seen there in 2004) but it was new to me. This is the Gilded Bolete, a Near Threatened species that has only a couple  records in Sussex and these were both from Ebernoe. Well done to the attendee who spotted this one. It keyed out really well using Kibby due to the small size, pink & slimy cap and exceedingly bright (the photo above does not do it justice) and large pores. Here it is from above, you can see flies and other detritus stuck to the slimy cap. I was pleased that Martin Allison agreed on the ID.

This species has been turning up all over recently, it wasn't too much of a surprise that one attendee spotted Plicatura crispa (I was surprised to see it now has an English name in Recorder being Crimped Gill). I recorded this new to all reserves two years ago at Flatropers, it's now been recorded on four of our reserves at least. 

We bumped into Pete Flood who I met a couple of years ago on a lichen day in the New Forest and he tagged along and was a great help. I was pleased that by weight of numbers, we were able to find Holly Parachute without too much effort in the poor light. Thanks to Pete for letting me use this photo. I had never noticed how much this looks like human skin with hair coming out of it. Like someone crossed a fungus with a person. What a weird little thing, love that it only grows from dead Holly leaves.

Nearby (and another one of Pete's photos) we found some Pipe Club.

The Spectacular Rustgill we found was a candidate for one of the biggest mushrooms I have ever seen. It was utterly spectacular but without anything in the image to scale, I was left with an underwhelming brown mass in the photo below that looks like a Vic Reeves drawing of a face. Seriously, it was amazing. You had to be there.

Visual highlight of the day would have to go to Parrot Waxcap in the churchyard. We went on our annual pilgrimage to Ebernoe Cricket Pitch and for the first time ever, there was not a single waxcap anywhere to be seen. Sadly no Pink Waxcaps in the churchyard this year.

And Scarlet Caterpillar Clubs were also good value.

Who doesn't love a Magpie Inkcap?

But it was this earthstar that turned out to be the real highlight. First up I need to apologise to everyone for incorrectly identifying this in the field. Last year there were earthstars in the same area that were spotted by Mark Colvin and I was pretty sure we had identified them as Sessile Earthstars and that's what I incorrectly called this as on the course. When I got home and looked at the photo I came to think it might actually be Rosy Earthstar. A quick text to Mark and he was able to go and locate the exact specimen the next day and get it to Martin. It was in fact Arched Earthstar, which I have knowingly seen only once before in Easebourne Churchyard. This is a great record being not only new to Ebernoe Common but also new to all SWT reserves! Thanks Mark and Martin.

And this moth was also new, not an easy thing to get for Ebernoe being heavily 'mothed' over the years. Grey Shoulder-knot, the 659th moth recorded there.

We have recorded 1389 species of fungi on our 32 reserves so far and 967 of them have been recorded at Ebernoe Common, that's 70.0% from one site! No wonder it is one of only around 10 sites in the UK to be designated for its fungi. I love that we are still learning about that too. How long will it take to find another 33 species and get to a 1000?!  A big thank you to everyone who attended and also to Pete, Mark and Martin for their input too. 

Here is the full species list for the day (those marked with an asterisk were confirmed before or after by Martin Allison):

Vernacular	Species
Arched Earthstar	Geastrum fornicatum *
Bay Bolete	Boletus badius
Beech Jellydisc	Neobulgaria pura
Beech Milkcap	Lactarius blennius
Beech Woodwart	Hypoxylon fragiforme
Birch Polypore	Piptoporus betulinus
Blackfoot Polypore	Polyporus leptocephalus
Blusher	Amanita rubescens
Blushing Bracket	Daedaleopsis confragosa
Butter Cap	Rhodocollybia butyracea
Candlesnuff Fungus	Xylaria hypoxylon
Clouded Funnel	Clitocybe nebularis
Clustered Bracket	Inonotus cuticularis *
Crimped Gill	Plicatura crispa
Dead Moll's Fingers	Xylaria longipes
False Death Cap	Amanita citrina
Fluted Bird's Nest	Cyathus striatus
Fly Agaric Garlic Parachute	Amanita muscaria Marasmius alliaceus
Gilded Bolete	Aureoboletus gentilis *
Glistening Inkcap	Coprinellus micaceus
Glue Crust	Hymenochaetopsis corrugata
Golden Waxcap	Hygrocybe chlorophana
Hen Of The Woods	Grifola frondosa
Holly Parachute	Marasmius hudsonii
Lemon Disco	Bisporella citrina
Lilac Bonnet	Mycena pura
Magpie Inkcap	Coprinopsis picacea
Oak Bracket	Pseudoinonotus dryadeus
Parrot Waxcap	Gliophorus psittacinus
Pestle Puffball	Lycoperdon excipuliforme
Pipe Club	Macrotyphula fistulosa
Porcelain Fungus	Oudemansiella mucida
Saffrondrop Bonnet	Mycena crocata
Scarlet Caterpillar Fungus	Cordyceps militaris
Scurfy Deceiver	Laccaria proxima
Sheathed Woodtuft	Kuehneromyces mutabilis *
Snowy Waxcap	Hygrocybe virginea
Spectacular Rustgill	Gymnopilus junonius
Stump Puffball	Lycoperdon pyriforme
Sulphur Tuft	Hypholoma fasciculare
Tawny Grisette	Amanita fulva
Tiered Tooth	Hericium cirrhatum
Trooping Funnel	Clitocybe geotropa
Turkeytail	Trametes versicolor
Tyromyces chioneus	Tyromyces chioneus *