The Shroom Room

Oftentimes we can get so caught up in looking where we're going, that we forget to look up. I am especially guilty of this, as I'm always on the lookout for fungi, scanning the sides of paths and fallen logs everywhere I go. It's quite easy to forget that trees are very tall, and that fungi can be found at many heights. It's a good job I looked up when I was standing beneath a cluster of Variable Oysterlings , or Crepidotus variabilis. They were growing off a twig on a dead tree. Oysterlings are unlike any other fungi I've seen, as they generally don't have stems and from below look like little circles. From above, they are a kidney shape. They are relatively common and can be found growing in large groups from late summer to winter. Characteristics Habitat:  On dead twigs and other decaying material, including at the base of hedgerows. Cap:  0.5-2cm across, kidney-shaped. White in colour. Stem: No stem. Gills:  Moderately crowded, radiatin...

I am perhaps one of the few people who, upon hearing it was going to rain all day today, jumped for joy. My husband and I had planned to go for a walk through the woods today as soon as we heard it was going to rain. What better way to celebrate the start of mushroom season than by looking for them in prime conditions? We weren't disappointed either, as we found many species poking through the woodland, including the Collared Parachute , or Marasmius rotala. These babies are even smaller than the Twig Parachutes that I wrote about a few weeks ago , so it's a miracle I even noticed them. Luckily, their distinctive white caps, though tiny, stood out amongst the greenery. There were quite a few groups of them growing on fallen twigs. Despite their small size, Collared Parachutes tend to have extremely long stems, some of which reach the length of 7cm. Needless to say, they are extremely fragile. They get their name from the way their gills attach. While most mushr...

The fungal kingdom is fascinating in many ways, if not only because in the same step you can find a mushroom as big as your head, and one smaller than your finger. There is a whole world around us which we can't even begin to imagine, and it is quite special when you spot one of these tiny treasures. In my case, my latest tiny find was the Twig Parachute , or Marasmiellus ramealis. Had it not been for the sheer number of these mini mushrooms, I'm not sure I would have seen them. They were growing on a pile of fallen twigs - hence their name. Their caps are white with a pink tinge to them, and they are usually darker at the centre. They start out convex and become increasingly flattened over time. The curved stem becomes darker towards the base and their gills are white to pink in colour. Characteristics Habitat:  On twigs, usually old ones. Often in large groups. Cap:  3-10mm across, convex then flattened. White to pink in colour, darker at the...

The start of mushroom season is finally upon us, and I couldn't be more excited. Although the bouts of rain weren't ideal for our wedding last week, they did mean lots of exciting finds during our honeymoon, walking through damp North Wales. I will no doubt make many posts about the intriguing finds we stumbled across during our time away, but I wanted to start at our first fungal encounter, the Dung Roundhead , or Stropharia semiglobata. Scattered across the huge pastures we were walking through were hundreds of them. And though the name suggests they grow exclusively on dung, the majority of them were in fact beside dung. The gills are adnate and ranged in colour depending on the age of the mushroom. Younger ones had a more purplish tinge to them, while the more mature species had black gills. The spore print is a dark purplish-brown colour. Characteristics Habitat:  On or beside dung, usually in pasture. Cap:  1-3cm across, hemispherical. Cream to y...

Going for a walk on a weekday is really rather peaceful, as everyone is at work. It can feel like you have a whole section of the world to yourself, like your own little secret. That's how I felt today walking down the Rhymney Trail . There were loads of birds and dragonflies about, but other than that, I was pretty much by myself. It wasn't until I was on my way back that I found any mushrooms. I came slightly off the path to look at a pile of fallen trees and, just as I was about to give up, I spotted a cluster of mushrooms, nearing the end of their life. It's been really dry the last couple of days, so it's likely they ran out of moisture. When I looked to the floor next to me, I saw some more poking out of the ground. They looked similar to a cluster I'd found in March, which I'd only recently identified. I went home to make a spore print and look at my old pictures, and concluded that these elderly fungi were Pale Brittlestems , or Psa...

Lately I've been seeing mushrooms pop up all over the place, which of course excites the little nerd inside of me. Unfortunately, most of the time when I've seen a cluster of mushrooms, I've been on the bus and, being as awful at directions as I am, I can never remember where I saw them. Such is life. Today I spotted a couple peeking out from the grass not far from where I found the Milky Conecaps last month. In fact, at first glance I thought that's what they might be. However, it was the afternoon and we hadn't had any rain since yesterday, plus their caps weren't quite long enough. I like to describe Milky Conecaps as looking like almost-closed umbrellas. Instead, these mushrooms looked like tiny hats. So I snapped some pictures, put one in my bag and went on my way. Although they turned out not to be Milky Conecaps, they are still somewhat closely related. These small buddies are called Common Conecaps , or Conocybe tenera. They enjoy simil...

As the sun has been shining a lot recently, I've been making an effort to enjoy it. After a busy week, I chose today to do some more exploring around our new neighbourhood. There's a nature trail nearby, so I had a walk through there, keeping my eye out for mushrooms as always. I wasn't expecting much, as it's been really dry recently. The Turf Mottlegills which I found last week had already disappeared. But when I walked off the main path into a more wooded area, I caught sight of a cluster of Fairy Inkcaps , or Coprinellus disseminatus. While most Inkcaps  auto-digest into a black liquid, Fairy Inkcaps don't do this. They do, however, darken with age, and their caps expand outwards as they mature. For this reason, two Fairy Inkcaps growing next to each other could look completely different! They tend to grow in clusters, sometimes hundreds in numbers, on or beside dead wood. The cluster I found today were on the bottom of an upturned tree. It...

Often, I will find a mushroom and never be able to work out what it is. I will spend days searching the internet and looking in books, but never able to solve the mystery. It can be really frustrating. This happened to me at the beginning of May, when I was walking home from an appointment and saw a white mushroom poking out of the grass nearby. It was the first time I'd seen a mushroom in over a month, so I was pretty excited about it. I did what I usually do: took pictures, examined it, made notes. Then I went home to do some research, and couldn't find anything. So I forgot about it. Yesterday, whilst I was doing research for another mushroom, I accidentally clicked on a wrong link and ended up on a page describing the Milky Conecap , or Conocybe apala.  I had an "aha!" moment, as I recognised instantly that it was the same mushroom I had spent so long trying to find a name for. Let me tell you, there's nothing more satisfying than putting the final pieces...

First of all, apologies for the lack of posts these past couple of months. Things have been quite hectic, and I've been really busy. In the last two months, I've handed in my dissertation, completed two exams, moved house and started an internship. Needless to say, there's hasn't been much time for mushroom hunting, not that there were many about in April and May anyway. Regardless, I have finally got a few days to relax, so I thought I'd go for a wander around my new neighbourhood this morning. What I discovered were loads of mushrooms scattered in the grass around me. Excited, I picked one and took it home to make a spore print. It's likely that they sprung up due to the huge amounts of rain we've been having here in Wales. They were wet, so their caps looked shiny. Unfortunately, I have managed to misplace my mushroom identification books during the move, so had to use the internet to try and discover what these little brown mushrooms were. Luckil...

Another day, another nature reserve. I found Forest Farm & Glamorgan Canal Nature Reserve  completely by chance, as I saw it on the map when working out how to get somewhere else. As I had a couple of hours to spare, I thought I'd take a little stroll to see what was there, and I was awestruck with how beautiful it is. It's a really big reserve, so I didn't get very far, but what I managed to see was breathtaking. There's a canal path that you can walk along, a public footpath that goes through a wooded area, or open fields. Along the wooded path there are the sounds of lots of different birds and the smell of wild garlic. And, to my delight, lots of species of fungi. As I came across a rotting stump, there was no way I could have missed the clumps of Sulphur Tuft , or Hypholoma fasciculare. Aptly named, they are sulphur yellow in colour and grow in tufts on dead wood, pretty much all year round. They have a very distinctive mushroom smell, and their gills ...

Spring is finally upon us, and whilst greenery is emerging and bright flowers are peeping through the cracks that winter has left, things are still somewhat quiet in the fungal world. With the main mushroom season being late summer and autumn, there is a way to go before we can see mushrooms at every corner. However, as the weather is beginning to warm, there are a few species that are starting to emerge. One such mushroom is the  Common Inkcap , or  Coprinopsis atramentaria . Common Inkcaps have a long season, beginning to appear in spring and continuing to fruit until the end of autumn. Like the majority of their Inkcap cousins , their caps expand outwards, eventually becoming an inky liquid.         They tend to form in groups and grow on buried wood. Most of the ones I've found have been under trees in grassy areas, such as parks or fields. I like to think their caps look like arrows pointing out of the soil.        ...

Rain is usually a consciously-avoided element of mine; however after the dry spell we've been having, I welcomed it with open arms this week, hoping that it might encourage some fungi to emerge. I was not disappointed! In an attempt to expand our mushroom-hunting horizons, Matt and I have been researching new areas to go. On Saturday, we drove to Cwm George and Casehill woods in Dinas Powys for an early March stroll. This wood is over 500 years old and it's beautiful. We had a great time walking around and found loads of different species of fungi. I've chosen today to focus on one in particular: the Velvet Shank , or Flammulina velutipes (the scientific name is fun to say out loud!) These lovely fellas are out from autumn til spring, so I've seen them around quite a lot in the last few months. They like to grow in small groups on dead wood, and most of the ones I've found have been on stumps. They have an orange cap which is often sticky to touch, and the...