Lots of new Fungi Species

Now I have the list through from the Gwent Fungus Group foray I am delighted to see a raft of new species for The Beeches list. These are in addition to those I saw on the day and have already commented on. I would add that the Lepiota ignivolvata identified by me has been confirmed by the County Recorder and it turns out to be the first Gwent or South Wales record. On the list are the following: Stereum hirsutum - Golden Crust Russula ochroleuca - Ochre Brittlegill Tricholoma stiparophyllum - Chemical Knight Tricholoma ustale - Burnt Knight Hebeloma sacchariolens - Sweet Poison Pie Hypoxylon fuscum - Hazel Woundwort Psathyrella conopilus - Conical Brittlestem Rhodocollybia butyracea - Buttercap Rhytisma acerinum - Tar Spot This site has a serious fungi list.

New Species - Ramalina farinacea - Shaggy Strap Lichen

This piece of Hawthorn twig just keeps giving. I am happy with the id of this third Lichen species as it has these distinctive 'sorella' or little disks on its thin branches.

New Species - Evernia prunastri - Oakmoss

Another lichen identified (I think) from the same small Hawthorn twig. The distinctive features on this are the flat grey green forked branches with whiter undersides and it's common and looks just like the photos from Google! I'll return to the Hawthorn twig tomorrow.

New Species - Ramalina fastigiata - Dotted Ribbon Lichen

Now the fungi season is over the search for new species has drawn me to Lichens. One piece of Hawthorn branch seems to have several Lichen species and some Mosses too. The first one I feel confident about is Ramalina fastigiata which has distinctive flattened fruits which are a bit of a giveaway. I took the plunge identifying a few Moss species a while back and now I'll try one or two Lichens until my head hurts.

New Species - Shaggy Parasol

Way past its best but a Parasol on one of the compost heaps was identified as Shaggy Parasol (by the County Recorder so I know it's correct). That takes Parasols to four examples (if you count var Konradii of the Slender Parasol a separate example). We have on site Macrolepiota procera, M. mastoidea, M. mastoidea var konradii and now Chlorophyllum rhacodes (aka Shaggy Parasol.)

Lesser Horseshoe Bat

The bat has been using our shed for six years (to my knowledge) and generally that usage has been during the summer, perhaps for just a night or two or sometimes it seems for longer periods. It is difficult to be precise because I don't routinely check on whether it is there partly because I don't want to disturb it. I was surprised that it seemed to be there for the last six weeks or so as we have moved into and through November - I was expecting that it would have gone somewhere more protected to hibernate. However the weather has been unduly warm. The frosts of the last few days seem to have finally caused it to move and I can breathe a sigh of relief that is not simply a corpse hanging fron the shed ceiling!

Fungi Summary 2021

Overall it's been a good year for fungi here - in particular the number of new species which excitingly were augmented by an Earthongue and a Caterpillarclub at the GFG foray here on 7th November. As regards Waxcaps we ended up with 23 species which compares with 24 last year. We missed seeing Vermillion, Pale, Glistening and Orange this year. There was a great crop of Pinkgills but my id skills mean I didn't id them all. A notable new Pinkgill was the Shield Pinkgill (Entoloma clypeatum). Another new Spring species was the Spring Fieldcap (Agrocybe praecox). Also new is the Fiery Milkcap (Lactarius pyrogallus)and Beech Milkcap (although that was seen previously but not formally identified) and Agaricus Comtulus of which I saw a single example last year but which was positively identified this year. One of the best new species was the Mealy Meadowcap (Pseudotricholoma metapodium), a single example of which appeared in the South Field in September. The photo is the Mealy Meadowcap.