October 11th – Spotted on the way to work, again on the rich, undisturbed grass of an industrial estate verge, some kind of tricholomo – probably dingy. These medium sized, grey and almost downy toadstools were really pretty in their way and I’ve not seen them before.
Every year seems to throw up new fungi to me. I love to find them and puzzle over what they might be.
August 9th – Spotted on the way to work, quick mobile phone pictures of something I was ages about. On Sunday, I found a fresh puffball on the Chase, and posted a quick snap on social media. Someone asked what it was, and noted that they’d found one and when touched, it ‘deflated’.
This ripe puffball was just on the edge of a verge in Central Walsall, so I recorded it whole and squashed – I didn’t feel too bad about squashing it, as that’s how it works; the body case crumbled and the millions of spores – the grey-brown smear in the second image – escaped like a cloud of smoke to be dispersed by the wind.
Thus the puffball rises, and lies waiting to be spit by debris or passing animals. Or a large-footed cyclist, in this case.
Of all the plants and species of life, sometimes fungi seem the most opaque, yet fiendishly, simply clever…
September 24th – I can’t make up my mind at the moment if fly agaric – the red and white spotted toadstools of folklore – are having a bad year or if I’m just a bit early.
I’ve found a few examples – notably a good specimen on August bank holiday on the Chase – but all the favourite spots like the bank before Anglesey Wharf on the canal at Brownhills are empty save for a few dog-eared or faded specimens.
This one at the top of the above bank seems quite elderly, as the spots drop off and the colour fades as they mature – but where are it’s usual companions?
They had an extraordinarily good year last year so perhaps it’s natural balance.
August 2nd – Another late summer and autumn bounty is fungi. A prime hunting ground for edible treats like these lovely field mushrooms and puffballs are the verges of industrial estates. Usually undisturbed, fungi prosper quietly here, and tend to go unstomped by mischievous kids.
From now until late autumn I will carry a cotton bag and knife to perform an impromptu harvest of anything tasty that would otherwise go unplucked.
This time of year does have some excellent things to commend it.
November 16th – Not sure what this large fungus actually is, but it was handsome and glistening with collected dew and rainwater as I passed through Victoria Park in Darlaston in the early morning.
To my sadness, the fungi haven’t been terribly prolific this year – some did explode into life late, like the fly agaric, but this year I’ve hardly seen any puffballs, very few shaggy ink caps and the brackets seem well down too.
I do hope the unusually dry autumn hasn’t scuppered chances of seeing rosy earthstars at Clayhanger again…
October 20th – Spotted from the canal towpath as I zipped past, a forest of toadstools growing on a fallen log in the scrub at the back of Queen Street Cemetery in Walsall.
I think they might be honey fungus, but I’m not sure. There were hundreds of caps, all growing in clumps, feeding on the decaying wood. Ranging in colour from a dull weigh to a dark burnt umber, they were beautiful and fascinating.
Best crop of toadstools I’ve seen for a while.
September 27th – I was lucky to spot this Japanese parasol toadstool fully open on Clayhanger Common on my way to work. They are generally so short lived that actually catching one fully open is quite hard to do.
When open, you can see just how these delicate little fungi got their name – fragile, with a pleated cap no bigger than a 10p piece, they’re one of my favourites.
Twelve hours later it will have disintegrated to nothing.
September 15th – With some damper weather, the fungus is coming on well, and few better places to spot it than the relatively undisturbed verges of industrial estates.`This venerable specimen was spotted in Wednesbury, and seems quite old, although it does appear to be growing. About the size of a small plate, it’s fascinating, and also a home for lots of bugs.
It looks like some kind of lactarius and was part of a fair-sized group.
September 9th – Found in Kings Hill Park in Darlaston, a sign of the oncoming autumn. Glistening ink caps, shooting up after a night’s rain; tiny spores waiting in the ground until exactly the right combination of light, temperature and moisture. Then – ping! – instant toadstool forest.
Isn’t fungus incredible?
September 3rd – Shooting through Weeford on my return, expecting the rain to start again, I noticed these mushrooms growing on a verge. They were huge, and their presence reminded me that now we’re coming on Autumn, watching out for the fungus could be productive.
Wondering in the rosy earthstars and orange peel fungus will be back on Clayhanger Common this year?
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