Year of the Pinkgill

It's been a reasonable year for fungi in general but a spectacular one for Pinkgills. Part of it may be that I have been locked down here looking every day and part of it down to slowly increasing knowledge and better id books but even so the list of Pinkgills has grown significantly and that just shows it was a very good year for them. This year I have recorded as new for the site the following Pinkgills: Cream Pinkgill (Entoloma sericellum) Big Blue Pinkgill (Entoloma bloxamii) Enoloma juncinum Entoloma exile Recorded before but also seen this year: Lilac Pinkgill (Entoloma porphyrophaeum) Felted Pinkgill (Entoloma griseocyaneum) Indigo Pinkgill (Entoloma chalybeum) Star Pinkgill (Entoloma conferendum) Mealy Pinkgill (Entoloma prunuloides) Still sorting out: Entoloma infula Papillate Pinkgill (Entoloma papillatum) Pimple Pinkgill (Enoloma hebes) In addition there were two or three species that I thought were new but which I couldn't get an ID on. I'll have to up my skills by next year! The photo is one I didn't id - looks like a darker E prunuloides, maybe a variety of or a related species.

New Species - Micropterix calthella

Like a researcher discovering something in the museum archives I have identified a micromoth from a four year old photograph. I was looking at some photos I had taken of Spring Sedge in May 2016 and I spotted a couple of micromoths which I was able to identify as Micropterix calthella (no English name) using my two field guides. The Micropterididae are the only moths with chewing mouthparts and have been around for 100 million years as they evolved in tandem with flowering plants.

New Trail Camera - Badger photographed

The old trail camera should been replaced months ago and the new one is delivering already. A Fallow Stag on night one and a Badger on night 2.

Jelly Ear

I have seen Jelly Ear fungus (Auricularia auricula-judae) a few times here as we have lots of its favoured host trees - Elders. There is a partiularly good outcrop of them near the house at the moment.

Waxcap #24 - Crimson Waxcap

This was the last Waxcap seen here this year - and I am not expecting more after some recent frosts. It has actually spread from one or two fruiting bodies last year to two or three clumps this year. Not a great photo but it shows the distinctive features that separate it from the Splendid Waxcap - the cap colour and stipe shape.

Waxcap #23 - Orange Waxcap

Not seen much this year in our fields but it has been a year when some species have proliferated and others seldom fruiting or absent. In particular I have not seen H miniata, G vitellinus or even C. irrigatus here this year.

Waxcap #22 - Snowy Waxcap

There seemed to be a lot of these this year when they eventuually arrived. They are so similar to the Cedarwood Waxcap which came earlier in the season except for the smell. Sometimes its difficult to be sure at first as the smell feature is so subjective and variable but without it it would be very difficult to differentiate the two species.

Waxcap #21 - Butter Waxcap

The fungi are pretty much over now and this find was a few weeks ago - just catching up with the waxcap records

New Species - Dewdrop Mottlegill

It took me a while and some help to identify this as the Dewdrop Mottlegill (Panaeolus acuminatus) as it looks at first sight similar to other Mottlegills such as the Brown Mottlegill and the Turf Mottlegill. I am happy now that this is a new Mottlegill for the site.