Scarlet Elf Cup

I found this striking fungus on some dead wood in the forest near the Biggs Weir bridge. It is Scarlet Elf Cup (Sarcoscypha coccinea. It is reputed to be edible but looked like it might be a little chewy and it seemed a pity to remove it.

It's waxcap central......

To my surprise there are extensive fruitings of waxcaps in the third of the main fields around the house. I was surprised to find them in a second field a few weeks ago but this field is less botanically diverse than the two other fields with waxcaps and I wasn't expecting them to be there. There are also fairly profuse. One interesting aspect is the timing of the appearance of the fungi in the different fields. They have only just appeared in this field which is probably about eight weeks after they fruited in one of the other fields. There seem to be around four species, a single robust H. citrinovirens and lots of H. chlorophana and I think H. ceracea. The fourth example which I have not identified is pictured above.

New Species - Common Darter

I haven't actually recorded a dragonfly on site before although I have spotted a few large hawkers. We have no ponds on site (yet) so I don't really expect dragonflies in any great quantity. However Common Darters are found away from ponds and one posed patiently on the doorstep yesterday so I thought it was time to kick off the Odonata species list.

Waxcap heaven

At last the waxcaps have appeared in the 'waxcap' field and in some profusion although the set of species is not the same as when I was lasy able to record them in detail in 2011. In fact I am struggling with some of the identification and await the only UK book on waxcaps which I have just ordered. There are also more waxcaps in the other field where they have appeared this year. In that field I have seen Meadow Waxcap (Hygrocybe pratensis) and what must be Snowy Waxcap (Hygrocybe virginea) to add to the species already seen there. In the main waxcap field there are a couple of the iconic Pink Waxcaps (Hygrocybe calytriformis)and swathes of other waxcaps including H. chlorophana (Golden Waxcap) and H. ceracea (Butter Waxcap) plus others I am still working on. The picture is of H. calyptriformis.

New Species - Eyebright

Another delightful flower seen for the first time in our fields this week is Eyebright. It is in a different field to the Red Bartsia I came across a couple of weeks ago. Eyebrights are difficult to differentiate, not only are there 20 microspecies but they hybridise. Our example looks to be Euphrasia nemorosa but I shall get an expert opinion when I can. Update - 20 September First of all I had a more structured effort at an ID and I decided that actually it was more likely to be E. rostkoviana (which has now been renamed E. officinalis). However today I got some more expert help and using a recently devised key we came to the conclusion that it is either E. confusa or E. nemorosa. One critical element of how erect it is points towards confusa but this flower is rarely found here in this neck of the woods, if at all, so maybe it is nemorosa. I shall take some measurements but unless something definite is found then a formal ID will have to wait until next year when some samples can be sent off.

New Waxcap Species - Hygrocybe citrinovirens

The waxcap discoveries continue. I suspected one of the examples I found a few days ago was H. citrinovirens but I was working from cut up pieces. I found a couple of fungi in situ and I am pretty sure these at least are citrinovirens. The cap and stem were non-slimy, the gills were bright white and most importantly google images is showing me something that looks identical. Note added: 6 October - having received the only book on Waxcaps I can find I am starting to have some doubts about this ID. It is described as rare and the pictures in the Boertmann book don't look like these examples. However citrinovirens has been found in the area so I'll just have to get an expert opinion at some point.

More and more waxcaps

Still not a single waxcap in our 'waxcap' field but more are appearing in the field that hasn't until now presented any waxcaps or at least the field where I have not until this year recorded any waxcaps. I have been cutting the field today as part of the management programme and never having seen waxcaps here I did not cut early. Consequently I have been coming across pieces of chopped up waxcap which does make identification difficult. The photo is of two waxcap bits where I have made an ID. Firstly the Pink Waxcap a critical species of which I found at least four chopped up fruiting bodies. With it is Hygrocybe chlorophana (I think) or Golden Waxcap. I am less certain of two further species although one may be Hygrocybe citrinovirens (Lemon-green waxcap) as it definitely has a green tinge and the other is a deep orange waxcap I cannot ID from the pieces. Given that I had identified around nine species from our 'waxcap' field in 2011 and there are at least a further four species in another field this year, we are up to around 13 species in total. I look forward to adding to the list.