Cry “God for Harry, England and St George’s Mushrooms.”
Tomorrow is St George’s day, which is an important day in my calendar. That’s not because I’m particularly nationalistic, swept away with …
Dead Man’s Fingers
It’s cold on Dartmoor but it’s always worth making it to Fingle Bridge. I’m looking forward to a pint in the pub …
A Red Belted Conk
There’s the familiar orange-red band on this Red Belted Conk. Lovely, isn’t it? Its scientific name is Fomitopsis pinicola. It cheers me …
Purple Curtain Crust
I do love a good fungusy twig. Here’s one with Purple Curtain Crust, Chondrostereum purpureum, rippling on it like a cuttlefish. Don’t …
One of Britain’s rarest fungi
So you think it doesn’t look like much? I think it looks fabulous. It’s growing in the short grass around a car …
Yellow fingers grow from the short sward
There are apricot-yellow fingers of fungus growing in the short sward at Emsworthy Mire. Fabulous, aren’t they? They are the eerie fruiting …
Deadly
Here’s a fungus you should learn to identify if you’re interested in foraging and eating wild fungi. It’s the Deadly Webcap, Cortinarius …
Orange Peel Fungus
Orange Peel Fungus, Aleuria aurantia, is unmistakable. Just look at it: I’ve written about it before, and posted beautiful illustrations of it …
Pine-cone Bonnet
The Pine-cone Bonnet, Mycena seynii, is a beautiful fairy-bonnet cap which grows on pine cones. It’s so beautiful I wish I’d brought …
Spectacular Rustgill
There’s a strange group of fungi on this dead tree stump in the grounds of Exeter University. I’m out again on a …
Spotted Toughshanks
There are fungi I don’t recognise in the woods. They look as if they’ve been given a little too much bicarbonate of …
Black Bulgar Pontefract cakes
How many people know what Pontefract cakes are? Surely not just people who live in Yorkshire? Maybe some people who live in …
Scarlet Caterpillar Club
Here’s a thrill. It’s the pupa of a moth, which has been been infected with a fungus called Scarlet Caterpillar Club, Cordyceps …
A Shaggy Inkcap story
I’ve been enjoying looking through this 1947 copy of Edible and Poisonous Fungi from 1947. It has one of my favourite edible …
Fly Agarics and the Board of Agriculture
Here’s one of my recent purchases, Edible and Poisonous Fungi. What’s this? Bulletin No.23? The Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries? Published by …
Egghead Mottlegill
There’s a beautiful domed fungus on this lump of poo on Dartmoor. Naturally I have to pick it up and have a …
Dog Stinkhorns
Dog Stinkhorns, Mutinus caninus, aren’t easy to find. It’s not just that they like growing in overgrown areas, it’s that they don’t …
Big Boletes
To find wild mushrooms at their peak you really need to visit a likely spot for them every three days. As they’re …
The oaks have tongues
We’re on an organised fungus foray with the Devon Fungus Group when our leader spots a Beefsteak Fungus, Fistulina hepatica, on a …
Woolly Milkcaps with fantastically fuzzy edges
There’s a beautiful pinkish-white mushroom on the floor in this Birch woodland. It’s got a marvellous fuzzy-jumper top. Gorgeous, isn’t it? It’s …
Chanterelles
When life gives you apricot-scented fungi, you’ve found Chanterelles.
Return to the Drumstick Truffleclub
Here’s a fungus from last October which escaped my editing until now. It’s the Drumstick Truffleclub; a fungus which grows on a …
Piggy Cows
Suillus bovinus means Piggy Cow. It’s the scientific name of a common fungus of coniferous forests and commercial pine woods. They pop …
Sulphur Tuft
They’re an unearthly yellow colour. They sprout at the bases of decaying trees. They grow in tufts and tight bundles. They are …
Autumn Parasols
One of the exciting finds at Killerton on our fungus foray with the Devon Fungus Group is a Parasol Mushroom. Our leader …
St George is late to the rescue
Have you noticed the weather. There’s a possibility that you’re reading this in the UK, so it’s likely that you’re similarly obsessed …
An Artist’s Conk on an evening trespass
There’s a lovely woodland nearby. It seems as large as any of the local public-access parks and yet it is privately owned. …
The Elder jellies
I’m tramping through scrub on a path used by dog walkers and alienated teenagers. It’s only rubbish which catches my eyes and …
Staying local
In the first lockdown it was revealing just how much nature was all around me. I didn’t need to spend ages preparing …
The riches of Dartmoor dung
There’s something about dung which should worry you. In my childhood the local fields of animals had rich dung pats, full of …