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There's not mushroom for anymore fungi at Ebernoe Common...
Posted by Graeme Lyons , Wednesday, 28 November 2018 18:13
...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 * |
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Thanks Graeme, it was such an interesting day - I have since been back and wondered where the Earthstar had gone - now I know!