This post was first published last year, an introduction to some of the reserve’s beautiful fungi.
A message with beautiful pictures from photographer Simon Knight:
Continue reading “Amethyst deceiver”Amethyst deceiver
Inkcaps
Inkcaps are a group of fungi with gills that liquefy as they mature and drip an inky black liquid that, in the past, was frequently used to make ink.
Read on for more about inkcaps:
Wood Wide Web
Researchers have discovered that the trees in a wood are connected by a network of mycorrhizal fungi that grow around and in their roots, a phenomenon they have called the Wood Wide Web.
Continue readingDead man’s fingers
Message from Tree Officer Rich Murphy:
I’m not sure if the quality of the picture will be much good but I found some dead man’s fingers in the copse in Simpson’ Field – I don’t know if they are on the list for known fungi within the park.
Thank you, Rich; and no, they are not on our list of known fungi in the reserve.
Continue reading “Dead man’s fingers”
Turkeytail
A fungus called turkeytail (Trametes versicolor) photographed in the reserve by Clive Knight and identified for us by Tree Officer Rich Murphy.
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Orchids!
Yesterday, while surveying pollinator networks in the reserve, Ian Bushell discovered a colony of bright pink pyramidal orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis), an important new species for the reserve.
Continue readingFairy rings
One of several fairy rings in Lambrok Meadow, caused by the mycelium of a subterranean fungus.
Continue reading “Fairy rings”
Collybia velutipes (winter fungus) photographed in the park by Ian Bushell
Oak factoid
There are 2,300 species associated with oak, 320 of which are found only on oaks. Here is a gallery of wildlife photographed in the park’s oaks.
Header picture: Oak Bridge by DKG
Wood ear
This post was first published in January 2019
Auricularia auricula-judae is one of the few fungi that produces fruiting bodies all year round. Winter hardly seems to trouble it and we found these specimens in the strip of wood between Lambrok Meadow and Kestrel Field, in the second week of January with the early sunshine just beginning to melt the frost that had covered them overnight.
Continue reading “Wood ear”
Candlesnuff fungus
A tiny candlesnuff fungus, Xylaria hypoxylon, growing in the rotting wood and moss of the old willow tree (number 5477 ) by the footpath alongside the Lambrok Tributary.
Continue reading “Candlesnuff fungus”Mycena pseudocorticola
by Simon Knight
I was looking for fungi recently in the park, but because it’s now getting late in the fungi season, I wasn’t finding anything that interesting. I was about to head home when the moss on a nearby oak tree caught my attention.
Continue reading “Mycena pseudocorticola”
Sulphur tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) growing on dead wood in the copse between Sleepers and Sheep Field.
Continue readingWood Wide Web
Our trees have internet!
Amethyst deceiver
A message with beautiful pictures from photographer Simon Knight:
Continue reading “Amethyst deceiver”Fly Agaric
This is fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) found, rather unusually, under a willow tree in the park; birch and pine are its preferred partners.
Read on:
King Alfred’s cakes
Daldinia concentrica: known as King Alfred’s cakes or coal fungus grows on the park’s trees, in this case on a dead ash tree.
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The latest update on the phenomenal growth of the shaggy bracket fungus on the ash tree at Fiveways.
29/08 
03/09 
16/09
Inonotus hispidus
The shaggy bracket fungus on the ash tree at Fiveways, first reported by Clive Knight and identified for us by our Tree Officer Rich Murphy, has grown HUGE.
Continue reading “Inonotus hispidus”
Shaggy parasol
There is a group of shaggy parasols, the fruiting bodies of Chlorophyllum rhacodes, just coming up under the first oak tree as you come through the park’s main gate.
Pictures by Suzanne Humphries
Identified!
The fungus that Clive Knight photographed on the ash tree at Fiveways is Inonotus hispidus commonly known as shaggy bracket, shaggy polypore or velvet fungus. Our Tree Officer, Rich Murphy, identified it for us.
Continue reading “Identified!”
Q&A
Question from Tom Martin:
Found this on the pavement near my house. Do you know what it is?
Half time score
It’s June and we are nearly half way through 2020. Here is the round dozen of species that have been identified in the park for the first time this year.
Continue reading “Half time score”
